Chow Down Atlanta

A couple of weekends ago, the Cooking Channel was in town to celebrate summer. It was hot — 95° in the shade and muggy, a normal for Atlanta this time of year. To help cool things off, they brought an ice cream truck with Jake’s ice cream for everyone and Roger Mooking.

I got to talk to Roger, a talented chef and an award-winning musician. He hosts Everyday Exotic and uses exotic ingredients in his cooking. Here’s what he has to say.

On his favorite ingredient
Love. Roger believes that anyone can follow a recipe and two people can follow the same recipe exactly the same but the one who gives more energy, intent, focus, and passion into the recipe is guaranteed a thousand percent that his dish will taste better. Oh, and also salt. Season with enough salt for taste.

On the most difficult ingredient he has ever had to work with
Can you guess which one? It’s none other than… anchovies!

On the transition from music to cooking
He has always wanted to be a chef from the time he was 3. He comes from a family of restaurateurs so it was only natural that he grew up in kitchens. He started working in a kitchen professionally at 14 and he would take all his money earned and go to the recording studio. He’s been doing it ever since. He is equally passionate about both music and cooking and cannot fathom doing just either one or giving up one or the other. He is happy that he can do both and if given the chance to choose and do just one, he can’t. The opportunity to cook and do music at the same time is providing entertainment for everyone around him.

On the perfect meal
I asked Roger if I ever get lucky enough to be invited for a meal at his house, what would he feed me. Just like great chefs, he doesn’t plan a meal based on dishes. Instead, he will go to a farmer’s market or grocery store and find what’s fresh and make a meal out of all the freshest ingredients he could find.

On his favorite cuisine
Dim sum!!!

Check out Roger on Everyday Exotic. Now!

Technorati Tags: Cooking Channel, Atlanta, Roger Mooking

So I’m late in the game, I know. But here’s what went down anyway. Last Saturday, I circled Hwy 52 for 30 minutes trekked up to Dahlonega to join my homies Eat It Atlanta, Savory Exposure, and Foodie Buddha on a food/wine conclave hosted by Montaluce Winery. In the interest of full disclosure, Montaluce provided a delectable 5-course luncheon plus wine pairings and wine tastings to us bloggers at no charge.

my stash

I’m such a lightweight when in comes to alcohol (I hardly ever drink) that I think I was drunk (and beet red) after 5 sips of wine (you can ask Jimmy– he was making fun of me!) But I found something that I really liked and bought 3 bottles for my dad — 2 risatas and a viognier — smooth, and a tad sweet.

I really had such a great time and met so many nice people. And I can’t wait to go back. Shout out to the nice people:

@montalucewine
@hogballs
@winetonite
@biskuitATL
@EatBuHi
@BlackTieBBQ
@frenchtart
@leoghann
@hoplessfoodie
@suburbanwino

More pictures here.

[Side note: I was supposed to go to Conyers in the evening for a birthday party but all the eating and wine followed by a big Shoya dinner did me in. To Dylan: Happy, happy birthday. Sorry to miss your party.]

Montaluce Winery & Estates
501 Hightower Church Road
Dahlonega, GA 30533
Phone: 706.867.4060
Fax: 706.482.0120
Email: info@montaluce.com

Our parents made us go to the BGE cooking demo last week. We grew up on BGEs. Our parents (who have 4 at home in varying sizes) are hard-core fans so we are forced to go to almost every BGE event. The cooking demo happens at the mother ship in Tucker every Thursday evening at 5:45PM. General Manager Bobby Cresap, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, heads up all the classes.

Although we were the youngest ones there by at least 25 years, we still had fun. It’s like being in a cult, but in a fun way. The best part? The eating part.

Check out the class schedule here. Wine, beer, soda, and bottled water, plus food cooked in the demo are all included in your registration fee.

Big Green Egg
3417 Lawrenceville Highway
Tucker, GA 30084
770-934-5300

Technorati Tags: Big Green Egg, Tucker, cooking demo

If there’s one food event you must not miss then this one is it. Every year since 1998, the makers of the Big Green Egg puts out a huge meat fest called Eggtoberfest. It is held on the 3rd weekend of October. My parents have been making us go for close to a decade now.

sample of a serving: every person gets one each

The festival kicks-off on a Friday with a catered dinner (from Bold American this year) and an open bar followed by an all day meat fest the day after. There are 350 BGEs that are fired during the event where participants outdo each other by cooking the best barbecue, pizza, breakfast fare, chili, and whatever else they can cook in a BGE (which is just about everything). You are free to take all the samples you can eat. Mind you, these samples aren’t the itty-bitty ones you usually see in festivals. These are almost full size servings and most are! There was so much steak, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish that you are literally full after just an hour. Sodas, water, and beer are included in the ticket price as well as a gift bag filled with goodies and a t-shirt.

Don’t miss it next year. Tickets go on sale sometime in August and sell out within the hour. There were over 1000 people on waitlist last year and no one ever clears. No one cleared this year either.

Pictures here.

Technorati Tags: Eggtoberfest, Big Green Egg, festivals

With this year’s change of venue, my main concern was parking. But I really didn’t have any problems snatching a free spot on Spring St., about half a block from the back entrance, which was really nice. I noticed a few new things this time and most were an improvement from last year’s event.

The new layout makes the event seem bigger as the food stalls were more scattered. This also meant there was less overcrowding especially when a line of people waiting to get their food prevented event-goers from passing through the main roads. The main cooking stage was more exposed so you can get a good view even at 50 feet away. All entrances are barricaded so there’s no way for someone to get in for free. In previous years, I saw so many people just walk through without paying the entrance fee and I’m glad they did something about it. This is my third year going to ToA and they just keep getting better and better organized.

Joli Kobe

Joli Kobe

Blue Moon Pizza

Cupcake Studio

I also noticed that participating restaurants have better food presentation and displays. Notable ones include Joli Kobe, Blue Moon Pizza, and a Chinese restaurant which I forgot the name of.

I had to keep buying more taste coupons so that I could stuff my self silly and try all the goodies from just about every restaurant. But my one splurge was this: the Cookie Studio — where I spent 10 taste coupons in one shot!

This is a fun food event so don’t miss it next year!

More pictures here.

Technorati Tags: events, Taste of Atlanta, Tech Square