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Stories by John Kessler
Time for a saucy comeback
When I came of restaurant-cooking age in the late 1980s, “sauce” had started to become a dirty word. In restaurant reviews, the word was often associated with the adjective “heavy” and the noun “to mask.” A typical sentence would go like this: “The chef uses heavy sauces to mask inferior ...
Fine dining times three: A fresh look
Our annual spring dining guide paints a big picture with a lot of players — like a Hieronymus Bosch or “Where’s Waldo” tableau. Jenny Turknett, Jon Watson and I visited many restaurants in every part of the city, at every price range, and of every available genre, to cull a ...
Indian street food the draw in Decatur
At Chai Pani — a Bollywood-meets-contemporary-cool spot that opened in March in happening downtown Decatur — executive chef-owner Meherwan Irani is assisted by chef de cuisine Daniel Peach in creating what he calls “mind-blasting” Indian street food. That means sourcing produce from local purveyors and farmers and making their own ...
New dining luxury: intimacy
Consider the cloche: That shiny metal dome that covers and shields a plate of food as it makes its journey from the kitchen to the table in a certain kind of restaurant. The cloche is there ostensibly to keep the food warm during its perp walk through the restaurant and ...
Here’s how we chose restaurants for this list
Last year, when I made the decision to bring the Atlanta 50 back after a long hiatus, I used the power of executive fiat and chose all the restaurants for the list. This time around, I invited Jenny Turknett and Jon Watson to the judges’ table to hash out the ...
Who's in, out on Atlanta 50
A total of 17 restaurants — or more than a third of this list — are new from last year’s Atlanta 50. This realignment reflects, in part, our new, democratic system reflecting the judgment of three critics, not just one (See how we chose restaurants for this list). But it ...
Fare often creative, but hit-and-miss at Seven Lamps in Buckhead
Seven Lamps is a case study in contradictions, juxtapositions and, well, little oddities. This irregular five-sided space across from Lenox Square features a roomful of communal tables facing mixologist Arianne Fielder’s libation laboratory. Chef-owner Drew Van Leuvan calls the restaurant his “workshop” and says you should expect a completely different ...
The Atlanta 50: Rathbun’s to Woo Nam Jeong Stone Bowl House
Here are the Atlanta 50 — the restaurants that we feel define the best of dining in the greater metropolitan area today. All of these capsule reviews are based on recent visits by members of the AJC dining team. Initials indicate they were written by John Kessler (JK), Jenny Turknett ...
The Atlanta 50: Where to eat in metro Atlanta
Has the mint overrun your garden? Have you bitten into a local strawberry that’s red to its core? Have you had your first meal on the patio? Are you happy it’s spring? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dining team certainly is, because this is the time of year when we have the ...
The Atlanta 50: Gio’s Chicken Amalfitano to One Eared Stag
Here are the Atlanta 50 — the restaurants that we feel define the best of dining in the greater metropolitan area today. All of these capsule reviews are based on recent visits by members of the AJC dining team. Initials indicate they were written by John Kessler (JK), Jenny Turknett ...
The Atlanta 50: Alma Cocina to The General Muir
Here are the Atlanta 50 — the restaurants that we feel define the best of dining in the greater metropolitan area today. All of these capsule reviews are based on recent visits by members of the AJC dining team. Initials indicate they were written by John Kessler (JK), Jenny Turknett ...
A tale of two sushi bars
What’s that? You want some advice on where to go for good sushi in Atlanta? That’s fine. I’d love to help. But first I need to ask a simple question: Who are you? When you say you’re looking for “good sushi,” does that mean you’re pining for buttery yellowtail topping ...
Grab a fork during the Final Four
Need to find a meal during The Big Dance? A word of advice: start walking away from the predictably thronged chain restaurants near Georgia Dome and CNN Center in any direction — to Castleberry Hill, the Luckie-Marietta District or the streets of downtown Atlanta — where far better choices await. ...
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