Omnivore - Secret fig cook and more
Some gossip
- Lance Gummere
- Giant among figs
Guess whose fig preserves I'm eating. Lance Gummere, chef of the Shed at Glenwood, handed me a jar of them last night (yeah, he recognizes me) with the explanation that he'd made them with Meridith Ford Goldman, former dining critic at the AJC.
It seems Gummere ordered 20 lbs. of figs that, thanks to the rain, split open, making them unsuitable for dinnerplate presentation, but fine for preserves. Goldman offered her help and labored in the kitchen until midnight. She did a good job.
In related news, Gummere sent me the accompanying photo of the giant fig that entered his kitchen....
About a zillion people have asked me what's going on with the old San Francisco Coffee location on North Highland south of Ponce. It's Richard Blais' Haute Doggery, of course. Alas, the bistro de les hot dogs is not opening in August, after all. Sometime...in...the...fall....
James Oxendine has an interview in Atlanta Magazine's "Covered Dish" blog with Marc Taft, owner of the new Chicken and the Egg in Marietta. Taft was formerly manager of Pacci and has hired several former fellow employees, including executive chef Joseph Ramaglia.
The new restaurant's promotional material promises "modern farmstead fare." I wish Oxendine had asked Taft about his inspiration to do that. I know it's a fad and I think it's commendable that chefs have turned to organic, sustainable, local, transcendentally gustatory ingredients, but, as Jason Hill of Wisteria told me recently, there's so much pressure to subscribe to the movement that it's not unusual for restaurants to lie about their sourcing....
Popeyes is moving its headquarters to Dunwoody, reports the twittering AJC. That means Popeyes will be the AJC's neighbor, since our "city newspaper" moved there itself last year. Meow.