Omnivore - Notes: Cardamom Hill taking a new path, y'all

• cardamomhill.net
• Asha Gomez

Here's some interesting news: Asha Gomez of Cardamom Hill is taking her menu in a different direction - a fusion of Indian and southern American cuisines. She's already well known for her take on fried chicken, so we'll see what she does with shrimp and grits...

Nine of us dined at Chateau de Saigon recently. I'm still addicted to the "crunchy rice" topped with caramelized pork cooked in a clay pot. The dish mimics the rice stuck to the bottom of the pot in which it's made. Other meats are also available as a topping.

Other dishes on the table were do-it-yourself rice-paper wraps filled with a variety of herbs, noodles, and meat; a bun dish; basil chicken; and a few others. Everybody cleaned their plates...

Gio's Chicken Amalfitano (1099 Hemphill Ave.) is slated to open this weekend. Like Bantam & Biddy, this new venture from the Antico Pizza people (obviously) features chicken dishes - five of them, such as classic Sorrento Lemon. Like Antico's original setup, this is take-out with room for expansion if it catches on. (The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently published a story and slide show about the newbie.)

Latest irresistible dishes from Todd Richards at the Shed at Glenwood: parsnip soup with pear relish; lamb "osso bucco" with a gingery rutabaga hash dotted with pecans; beef tartare with deviled-egg sauce; and pork belly with a quail egg and baked beans with caramelized apples and Worcestershire sauce....

Yay! Bread is really, really good for you. It can improve your cardiovascular health, according to a new study reported in Science Daily.

Maybe it's not a problem, but I couldn't help noticing that the study, conducted in Spain, "is part of the Functional Foods Consolider-Ingenio Project and is promoted by the initiative Pan Cada Día," That means "Bread every day." You decide.

CORRECTION: Gio's Chicken Amalfitano is planning to open next week, not this weekend. Sorry.