Restaurant Review - Good to go

Grilling out and barbecue are not the only outdoor eating to be had. Below you’ll find a list of other selections to line your picnic basket or add flare to your drab brown lunch bag. By no means a complete summary of where to pick your picnic provisions, we’ve chosen the tried and true along with the novel and new. Whether you’re preparing for a gourmet night of music at Chastain, star gazing on the lawn at Piedmont Park or an afternoon outing at Stone Mountain, you won’t go hungry.

Eatzi’s

If you’re heading to Chastain, Eatzi’s, Buckhead’s upscale purveyor of gourmet foodstuffs, has a concert menu created specifically for the overwhelmed and under the gun. The Complete Series covers a broad range of cooking styles, from Southern comfort food to Cajun, Tex Mex and Mediterranean. Prices for Complete Series picnic baskets range from $32 to $48. A word to the wise, at Eatzi’s, presentation is everything. Though you will find yourself tempted by the coffee and juice bar, the selection of every kind of soda imaginable, the deli cases, salad and sandwich stations, not to mention the hot entrée line and bakery, what you see isn’t always as good as what you get.

?Eatzi’s, 3221 Peachtree Road. 404- 237-2266.

?Harry’s in a Hurry

An abridged grocery store, Harry’s main attraction is the salad bar. Crudité and fresh fruit balance out the carbohydrate-heavy pasta, potato, risotto and bean salads that seem to dominate the salad bar, which is short on green salad fixings. Daily specials add variety to the typical fare found at the Chef’s Table: rotisserie chicken, meatloaf (not like you remember it), fresh steamed vegetables and ham. (Prices range from $3.99 to $5.99 á la carte, and $6.99 to $8.99 for a meal.) Alternatively, opt for steamed and poached salmon, glazed smoked pork chops, blackened catfish, crab cakes and knishes from the deli case. The sushi variety pack with avocado ($5.99) is a crap shoot, as the avocado is frequently over ripe. Harry’s also has a modest selection of Arden’s Garden fresh juices and specialty cheeses. And with its almost fanatical fixation on chocolate, Harry’s bakery rivals that of Eatzi’s with chocolate overdoses: chocolate chunk cookies, chocolate silk pie, chocolate banana cream pie and Chocolate Torture brownies. If you have slightly more self- control, there are also French madeleines, key lime and coconut cream pies (mini pies are $4.99), tiramisu and rice and bread puddings to soothe your savage sweet tooth.

Harry’s In A Hurry, 1051 Ponce de Leon Ave. and other locations. 404-439-1100.

Star Provisions

The quality and character of foodstuffs to be found at Star Provisions is unparalleled in Atlanta, bordering on alchemy and cultural folklore. A cook’s marketplace, it is undoubtedly the one place in Atlanta where you can purchase the only brand of olive oil that may be served to the president of Spain. (All others are forbidden by law.) You can also find dozens of varieties of honey, each of them different from one another, depending on the particular nectar ingested by the bees. Star Provisions is a selective place; it offers only locally grown, organic produce, like Georgia Heirloom tomatoes and Ranier cherries. The cheese shop is full of aged and arcane sounding cheeses, and the wine department is obviously stocked by a connoisseur. (Prices range from $15-$450 a bottle.) The bakery is similarly unassuming in appearance yet extraordinary; the chocolate caramel pecan bars I sampled were divine. Star Provisions is affiliated with the Floataway Café and Bacchanalia, considered one of the best restaurants in Atlanta. Ask any one of the friendly, expert staff for a list of menu possibilities, complete with wine selections, to grace your picnic blanket.

Star Provisions, 1198 Howell Mill Road. 404-365-0410.

Daddy D’z

Outside this dive of a rib shack, a crude sign reads: Daddy D’z, The Bar-B-Que Joynt. The entire menu can be ordered as take out, and with historic Grant Park just up Memorial Drive, you’ve got all the makings for an idyllic, all-American summer evening. I personally recommend the Rib & Chicken Combo — 1/4 chicken and 4 rib bones — with a tall glass of sweet tea. ($10.59 for dark meat, $11.29 for white. All barbecue plates come with two sides.) Fried okra melting in my mouth, I was reminded of why, as a recalcitrant six-year-old, I consented to eating vegetables. The chicken was moist and the ribs, draped in a tangy sauce, were crusted like bacon on the outside and tender pink on the inside. The black beans were spicy and substantial, the cornbread made the perfect complement to a soulful meal, and the tea went down with a sassy kick.

Daddy D’z, 264 Memorial Drive. 404-222-0206.

Buckhead Bread Co. & Corner Café

The Buckhead Bread Co. and Corner Café, owned by the Buckhead Life Group, offer perfect pastries, tarts cheesecakes and tiramisu (prices range from $2.75 for individual servings, $19-$36 for whole cakes), as well as a bounty of breads like to-die-for foccacias. All of the menu items from the Corner Café, a high-end sandwich shop, are served on Buckhead Bread Co.’s various assortment of breads, and may be ordered to go. Don’t miss the pastrami Reuben with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on sourdough rye bread ($8.95), or the grilled portabello mushroom with roasted peppers, goat cheese, and mixed baby lettuces on spinach focaccia ($8.50). All sandwiches are served with a side of coleslaw, potato, pasta or cucumber and onion salad.

Corner Café, Buckhead Bread Co., 3070 Piedmont Road. 404-240-1978. u