ReportWire

Tag: big bad breakfast

  • Atlanta Restaurant Roundup: Food Hall at Phipps champions locally-owned businesses 

    [ad_1]

    Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

    Part of Atlanta’s charm lies in its diverse food scene, from the rich culture to the bold flavors. The saying often goes that “Atlanta isn’t a real place,” and what makes it unique is the bustling array of dining and drinking spots on every corner of the city’s neighborhoods, catering to every palate. Lucky for locals and tourists alike, there’s never a shortage of places to visit, especially when new businesses are rolling in every month.

    Here is a roundup of updates on your local favorites and recently opened restaurants.

    Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

    Local Updates

    Food Hall at Phipps

    3500 Peachtree Rd NE

    The Food Hall at Phipps is in full swing, embracing its transition from Citizens Culinary Market to a locally owned small-business haven. Featuring Stackhouse Burgers & Shakes, Pizza Jeans, Mad Dad’s Philly’s, Wasabi Hibachi Sushi & Ramen, Deallo’s Seafood + Taco Co., Lokma Mediterranean Kitchen, Buckhead Bar, and Cultivate Coffee, the 25,000 square-foot food hall is bringing local flavors to Atlanta’s upscale business district. 

    “Once we went through the rebranding of Food Hall at Phipps, we turned around and we looked at the community, and we said, ‘OK, who is going to be in alignment with our brand? Who’s going to be the best people to come in and really bring back the community?” said Britt Harrison, director of marketing at Phipps Plaza.

    Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

    Chef Tony Sharpe is the owner of two restaurants in the hall, Stackhouse and Mad Dad’s Philly’s. A chef for over 25 years, the venture into entrepreneurship showed him the importance of betting on himself. He went from a ghost kitchen in Buckhead to four Mad Dad’s locations and opened the first Stackhouse location at the Food Hall at Phipps. 

    “Doing business for yourself, a lot of people don’t understand it. It takes a lot of hard work, takes great partnerships, and we’re looking forward to the future and growing our brand worldwide,” Sharpe said. 

    Chef Deallo Frazier, owner of the Cajun seafood restaurant Deallo’s, said, “It means a lot” that Phipps Plaza and Simon Property Group reached out to local businesses to make their new vision a reality. 

    “Local brands just know what the people want locally. When you bring people in from outside, like Citizens Market did, it just wasn’t working. And so when bringing in local business, we know how to cater to the local people.”

    Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturdays from noon-6 p.m.

    Recently-opened restaurants 

    Lo Kee

    2 Interlock Ave. N.W.

    West Midtown has welcomed a new addition to its corridor of restaurants at The Interlock. Lo Kee is an Asian-fusion restaurant with a Southern twist, melding both cultures to create a menu that brings both creativity and comfort. Think King Fu Fried chicken, oxtail spring rolls, and Shanghai spare ribs, accompanied by a variety of entrees, satay options, dim sum, and noodles/rice dishes. Those familiar with celebrity hot spot Sei Less in New York City might be familiar with the restaurateurs behind Lo Kee. Dara Mirjahangiry and Ivi Shano are bringing what has made their NYC restaurant a hit to Atlanta, with a flair that pays homage to both cities. 

    Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m.-1 a.m.

    Big Bad Breakfast

    1952 Howell Mill Rd., Suite 200

    James Beard Award-winning chef John Currence has opened a new Big Bad Breakfast location in Buckhead, marking the breakfast spot’s first location in Atlanta. The restaurant is located in the former space of Cultivate, keeping the brunch vibes alive. Known for its hearty, Southern classics, the New Orleans native has taken the “most important meal of the day” and fused it with flavors from his childhood and staples that have kept bellies full for years.

    Guest can expect dishes such as fried oyster scramble, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken sandwiches, shrimp po-boys, flapjacks, and a variety of other breakfast/brunch classics and favorites. 

    Hours: Open Daily, 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m..

    [ad_2] Laura Nwogu
    Source link

  • Let’s join together, Triangle and NC residents, and make breakfast great again

    Let’s join together, Triangle and NC residents, and make breakfast great again

    [ad_1]

    Fresh biscuits are a staple of a good breakfast for many in North Carolina

    Fresh biscuits are a staple of a good breakfast for many in North Carolina


    Juli Leonard

    File photo

    Could the most important meal of the day change the Triangle’s image as a welcoming, non-judgy place?

    It’s not as if the cool cities clique keeps shoving us into the lockers. But when you’re a city — or, in our case, a metroplex – first impressions and first meals matter for longtime locals, selfies-hungry tourists and visiting entrepreneurs.

    Nothing says breakfast renaissance like another Biscuitville opening in the Triangle, this time in Clayton.

    There’s more.

    Big Bad Breakfast, founded by James Beard winning chef John Currence of Oxford, Miss., is opening soon in Durham.

    Birdie’s Barroom & Kitchen is expected to open this summer as LM Restaurants injects new life into downtown Raleigh. You have to appreciate their moxie: “Fayetteville Street is not only Raleigh’s Main Street, but the Main Street of North Carolina,” LM Restaurants VP of brand strategy Katherine Goldfaden told The News & Observer’s Drew Jackson.

    If you’re an economic developer or a true politician of the people, perhaps it’s time to think of breakfast as the bipartisan, buzz friendly opportunity to feed a community’s desire to break bread — make that biscuits — together.

    We travel often, and my first Google search typically is “best breakfast near me.” In the best of places, those four words rarely disappoint while keeping us within 0.8 miles of our hotel.

    It’s the cheery Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe just off the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Or the elegant Pershing Square across from Grand Central Station in Manhattan. We recommend Counter Cafe and 1886 Cafe and Bakery in the Driskill for those visiting Austin.

    For in-state roadtrippers, you can’t go wrong with Kate’s Pancake House in Carolina Beach, Henry’s Restaurant in the Outer Banks, Biscuit Head in Asheville, and the unpretentious, all-cash Pinehurst Track Restaurant in Pinehurst.

    North Carolina knows breakfast

    North Carolina is built to become a great state for breakfast — and the Triangle as its centerpoint — because the first-meal trinity is our specialty:

    • Eggs — We are all about Big Poultry in North Carolina (despite the lack of state oversight that hurts independent farmers).

    • Pork — Any savvy restaurateur knows that inserting the word “Carolina” in front of ham, sausage or bacon is a menu-closing-I’m-ready-to-order moment.

    • Carbs — Yes, more could be done to highlight North Carolina’s abundant crop of sweet potatoes into breakfast menus. But local chefs know how to feed our bodacious love of biscuits and appreciation for doughnut artistry.

    Ever since Audrey Hepburn made the croissant relatable AND glamorous in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” aficionados have debated the essence and definition of breakfast. Do you have to sit at a table to qualify as breakfast? Or can breakfast come in a waxy bag?

    The Triangle has plenty of quality brunch spots, and food writer Drew of The N&O has astutely chronicled the rise of innovative bagel artisans such as Benchwarmers Bagels and Isaac’s Bagels.

    “Breakfast is our most lived-in meal. For most people on most days, it’s a collision of convenience, milk and cereal thrown together in a bowl, maybe a mug, maybe poured directly into a mouth. Or if time allows, the peaceful symphony of pillowy scrambled eggs whipped until airy and soft — a miracle in a minute. On the best mornings, breakfast for us is maybe a sack of pastries at the Durham Farmer’s Market, croissants pulled apart like flakey confetti as our toddler houses one,” Drew offers.

    He also adds: “Brunch is something else.“

    Breakfast can bring us together

    I agree brunch is a separate entity, especially if you need an excuse to chow on crab legs in the morning.

    Breakfast as a bipartisan experience — for the young, for the old, for the fussy eaters — shouldn’t be tightly defined. It can bring a community together.

    Many were bummed that Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe became a victim of the pandemic. The longtime Chapel Hill breakfast joint on Franklin Street was one of my favorites well before we moved here.

    The Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe on Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street closed in late 2020.
    The Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe on Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street closed in late 2020. Julia Wall jwall@newsobserver.com

    “Our business model is intimacy, it’s immediacy, it’s feeding people on the spot,” co-owner Melissa Peng told Drew when it closed in 2020.

    How poetic.

    Can we build community around morning meals that become moments, that don’t judge our choice of omelet toppings, that feed on our instinctive needs for intimate, immediate relationships?

    Yes, we can make breakfast great again, Triangle.

    Even if it comes in a waxy bag.

    Bill Church is executive editor of The News & Observer. His favorite breakfast Monday through Friday is a bowl of Cheerios without milk.

    Related stories from Raleigh News & Observer

    [ad_2]

    Bill Church

    Source link