by David Danzig
Welcome to Season Eatings, a connection for your palate to the vibrant Atlanta dining scene. Each issue we will explore the most delicious, decadent and delightful epicurean happenings — past, present and future. From high-brow delicacies in the swankiest of palaces to low-brow chow in the dingiest dives — as long as it’s tasty
we’re all about it. Let’s dig in!

SPRING 2012

Cocina Muy Bueno!
At the new Alama Cocina on Peachtree Street in the heart of downtown Atlanta , we find a fusion of "modern" Mexican and Latin cuisine which effectively declares its own independence from traditional connect-the-dots Mexican fare. Chef Chad Clevenger has masterfully taken south-of-the-border comfort food and womped it into new gourmet territory starting with the guacamole enhanced with butternut squash, chipotle and queso fresco. Chips and salsa? Beside the good ole-fashioned corn chips, get your dipping hand ready for a basket which also contains plantains, yucca chips and chicarrones (or as we gringos call them, pork rinds) and three distinct salsas.   The creativity extends to a variety of ceviches made with sea bass, scallops, yellowtail tuna and red snapper. Stand-out entrees include the Roasted Chicken Mole Oaxaca, Grilled Pork Tenderloin and the Red Snapper with Swiss chard and roasted hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. For a little dolce you must confront the coconut tres leches cake. And if you are looking for your Cinco de Mayo watering hole, prepare your taste buds for something light years beyond the old salt/shot/lime sequence:   Alma's own infused ice.   Pour premium tequilas over a small Rubik's Cube-sized flavored ice cube and wait for the glorious slushy that emerges. Flavors include coconut, pineapple , prickly pear and dragon fruit.   Happy Cinco!   www.alma-atlanta.com

Yo Quiero Chuy's

Elvis has entered the market! Typically Season Eatings thoroughly eschews chain restaurants but the arrival of the Austin-based Chuy's brings a proven Tex-Mex powerhouse into a town that hasn't had anything this good since the glory days of Rio Bravo (before Applebee's destroyed it). Within the pastel colored and tackily decorated walls await gargantuan portions of barbarically delicious Mexican classics. Nothing fancy, no reinventions. Just hyper-fresh ingredients exploding within perfected recipes and served with an attitude that will make you feel like you are partying with Elvis in Tijuana.   Signature dishes include "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" Chicken Enchiladas, Stuffed Chile Rellenos and the 12" diameter "Big As Yo Face Burritos." But perhaps most emblematic of Chuy's dedication to both food and fun lies in the Elvis Presley Memorial Combo. The comically enormous assembly of a hulking beef Tex-Mex enchilada, a cheese Ranchero enchilada and a chicken Tomatillo enchilada along with a crispy taco on its own plate (they couldn't all fit onto one) was more than enough food for an entire barrio. Our server informed us that once a year on The King's birthday they even throw in a deep-fried Twinkie just in case the other 8000 calories weren't enough. Chuy's is a much-needed breath of fresh air to the scene and indications are that more will join the new Perimeter Mall outpost.   www.chuys.com

Sizzling STK

Part steak house, part chic lounge and part of The One Group family, STK ( shorthand for Steak) beings a sexy energy that M idtown had been sorely missing in its aspiration to become a global cosmopolitan Mecca. Enter through a side door at the Lowes Hotel and into a massive exposed white brick room lined with dozens of white acrylic horns jutting from the wall like frosted eye lashes. Lit dramatically like a club, a live DJ keeps the tempo just right -- poppy ' 80's music early and then transitioning to danceable lounge grooves later in the evening. But the party motif does not distract the kitchen from holding up its end of the steakhouse promise.   Start off with the Lil' BRGRs (short for Burgers), the apotheosis of a slider, made with Wagyu and special sauce on a sesame seed bun.   Up the ante with shaved truffles or even foie gras. All cuts of steak are available from skirt steak to the 34 oz. Cowboy Rib Steak but I was particularly delighted to see the bone-in filet which is unusual in these parts. Top any steak with everything from truffle butter to foie gras to a lobster. For sides the truffle fries and the mushroom pot pie almost steal the show all by themselves. And there's plenty of amazing "surf" if you are not a straight-up carnivore. Right now STK is the undisputed heavyweight alpha dog of M idtown. It's hard to decide if you should go for the scene but stay for the food or vice versa. They nail it on both counts.   www.stkhouse.com

ARCHIVES

Top Chef Happenings
Congratulations to flip Burger Boutique’s indefatigable mastermind, Richard Blais, who finaly brought a coveted Top Chef championship to Atlanta after failing to capture the title in his original season. Blais showed his culinary dexterity throughout the season and out-classed al of the other “All Stars” (other contestants who lost their previous seasons’ shows). Fans gathered at the Buckhead Theater to watch the finale and celebrated a local boy done good. With his $200,000 in prize money, we look forward to seeing more Blais enterprises in the near future.

Rumors of a hot dog restaurant have begun to swirl … While on the subject, brava to Tracy Bloom, a former Top Chef contestant herself, now Executive Chef of ray’s killer Creek in Alpharetta. Bloom assembled five of her former Top Chef alums (Andrea Curto-Randazzo, Tiffany Derry, Kenny Gilbert, Arnold Myint and Top Chef Just Desserts contestant Heather Hurlbert) and hosted a special Top Chef Dinner for nearly 200 guests, raising $15,000 for the AFLAC Cancer Center in the process. Dish after dish, the bar continued to rise throughout the night, but the unanimous winner at my table was Bloom’s decadent Sous-Vide Kurobuta Pork Bely with Smoked Blueberry Compote. And, of course, the kids at Children’s Healthcare.

2 Take Me Out to the Burger
With all due respect to the aforemen- tioned Blais, the best burger in Atlanta is not at Flip Burger Boutique this summer. It’s at Turner Field in center field. Finaly one of the worst balparks for food in baseball has something that can play at the Major League level. Atlanta Braves Al-Star catcher Brian McCann has lent his name to the new burger joint aptly named mcCann’s Burgers and they are nothing short of a home run. They’re heaping. They’re messy. They’re knee- buckling good. Rumor has it that the players themselves are sending runners up from the dugout to get their hands on them. For $15 get the single cheeseburger, fries with sea salt and a milkshake. Or for an inning or two of pure gluttony, order the triple cheeseburger — a $9 colossus of All-American glory. You might not be able to stand for the seventh inning stretch, but I promise it will be worth it.

Looking for more dining bites? Check out the rest of season eatings in the latest issue of Atlanta Social Season.