Really Great Food By Kevin (Woodfire Grill)

Last Friday my wife and I had the pleasure of dining at The Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. This restaurant has a recently famous executive chef, Kevin Gillespie. Kevin was a "cheftestant" on season 6 of Top Chef, which aired last fall. Kevin won many of the challenges and made it all the way to the final three. We were rooting for him to win it all, but he came in third. Ever since the season finished Kevin has become quite popular and so has his restaurant.

We wanted to go sooner but were unable to make it happen until this past weekend. But it was definitely worth the wait.

Cavalia!

Happy New Year everyone!

Before the old year ended we went to see Cavalia, a Cirque du Soleil spinoff with horses. They have been performing in Atlanta since the end of October and when they were "held over" for additional performances, we grabbed up some good tickets for an afternoon performance. My oldest daughter is a horse nut, so this was an easy choice and a good fit.

I had in my mind an idea of what this show would be, and it turns out my idea was way off. I was thinking of a traditional horse "trick riding" show with some acrobats. Starting with this somewhat biased vision I quickly grew disappointed in the first 15 minutes of the show. I thought it started slow with lots of pointless focus on props and the human performers. In my mind I kept shouting "bring on the horses already." But the problem, as it turns out, was with me and not the performance. This isn't a horse show. This is a performance with horses.

Rain and Flooding

A year ago the Atlanta area was dealing with a drought. Experts were predicting that our main reservoir (Lake Lanier) would hit record lows and that we would run out of drinking water by January. Today Lake Lanier hit record highs and the river it feeds in to has risen well above flood stage. For years we got little to no rain, and that led to one of the worst droughts ever seen in the southeastern United States. This past week we have had nonstop rain, saturating the ground. The rain reached a climax Sunday night and Monday. Heavy downpours and thunderstorms rolled through the area for nearly 2 days, and yesterday most of the area saw over 8 inches of rain in a 24-hour period (some areas saw over 12 inches). That much rain on saturated ground led to flooding, and lots of it. Hundreds of roads were closed due to rising waters in creeks and rivers. The downtown connector, I-75/85, which runs through Atlanta, was shut down for hours due to flooding. I-575 near our house was also shut down and did not reopen until this morning. I-285 (the loop around Atlanta) is currently closed over the Chatahoochee River due to flooding.

I ventured out yesterday afternoon to run an errand and could not believe what I saw. Water where it isn't supposed to be. Roads closed, creeks nearly swamping their bridges, and traffic of nightmare proportions. My wife's commute home yesterday evening took 3 hours. Most of that time was spent trying to find a passable road in to our town. With I-575 closed, there were only 5 roads leading in to town. And four of them were closed. The good news is that our house is fine. Despite all the rain we never saw floodwaters get anywhere near our house. At last report one of the closed roads was opened, and I-575 has opened. And thankfully the rain has stopped. But the waters are still very high, many creeks well above flood stage. If we get any more rain I think things will get worse very quickly.

Last dinner at a fine restaurant

One of the best restaurants in Atlanta is closing at the end of this month. The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead is the only restaurant in Atlanta to receive both a Five-Star rating from Mobil and a Five-Diamond rating from AAA. Only three restaurants in the United States have received the Mobil Five-Star award for more than 10 years, including The Dining Room. It has launched the careers of several successful Atlanta-area chefs and it has been a true gem in the Atlanta restaurant scene. Sadly, The Dining Room is scheduled to close on October 1. Chef Arnaud Berthelier is moving on to Shanghai, and we don't really know what the hotel will do with the space, but we do know that The Dining Room will be greatly missed. Rowdy Food did a brief video from their recent visit.

My wife and I have dined there for most of our recent anniversary dinners. We have enjoyed the experience so much that when we heard the restaurant was closing we decided we had to go back for one last meal. That event was last night.

The service was impeccable as always. We were addressed as "the gentleman" and "the lady". The hostess knew us by name (and knew how to pronounce our name, which is quite an accomplishment). The chef had prepared a special dish to meet my wife's dietary needs, and recommended one of the menu items as an appetizer. I ordered the tasting menu. All the food was superb. The only bad mark on the evening was the wine served to my wife. Ordinarily the sommelier visits our table and recommends wine, but last night one of the waitstaff poured her a glass of Chardonnay. Despite it being a French wine it still tasted watery and unimpressive.

After an amuse-bouche, I had a golden chanterelle soup with egg, chive oil, and smoked salmon. I don't like mushrooms but as usual this dish was so delicious that I forgot I was eating them. I was served a glass of 2007 Albert Boxler Sylvaner from Alsace to go with the soup. My wife had Marble Soup with melon balls and peas. For my second tasting course I had Lobster Preserve with polenta, chanterelles, tomato, and basil. The entire dish was cooked and served in a glass preserving jar with a sealed lid. The jar was placed in front of me then unsealed by the waitress, and a broth was poured over the lobster meat. Once again, utterly delicious. The lobster may have been a touch undercooked but since I don't normally eat lobster it is difficult for me to judge. For the main course I had Beef Coulotte with foie gras, french horn and shimeji mushrooms. The meat was prepared perfectly, sliced thin, with a broth poured over at tableside. I have never tasted anything like it before. It was definitely a wow dish (although I avoided the foie gras, not being a fan). With my main dish I was served a glass of 2003 Salentein Syrah from Mendoza, Argentina. My wife was served her special entrée, which had lobster mushrooms and chantelle mushrooms, along with the vegetable salsify.

We moved on to the cheese course. I had a small cup of a creamy goat cheese. It had the consistency of a soft spread, and was served with membrillo (Quince paste), olive oil, and summer truffles. My wife got the cheese tasting tray, and the waitress selected a variety of cheeses, including some cow cheese, goat cheese, and a sheep cheese from the Pyrenees. I snuck in a few tastes too. As a pallete cleanser we both had a serving of a buttermilk panna cotta with apricot sorbet.

The dessert was just as fabulous as the rest of the meal. We both had a chocolate soufflé with crème Chantilly and a slice of chocolate served on the spoon, accompanied by a hazelnut ice cream. We broke the top of the soufflé with the spoon and put the crème and the chocolate slice inside to melt. Delicious!

The dinner was ended with a selection of petits fours and, unfortunately, the bill. As we left (with our souvenier menus and a serving of french bread to take home) we met the chef in the hallway. We thanked him for his years of fine food and wished him success in Shanghai.

Atlanta gas shortage caused in part by EPA

The Atlanta Metro area is required by the EPA to sell a low sulphur fuel which supposedly burns cleaner. This is "boutique fuel" and isn't made in large quantities by refineries. So when refining capacity decreases, so does the supply of our "boutique fuel". This is also why they can't just truck gas in from other areas. Well today, finally, the EPA has given the area a waiver on the low sulphur fuel, allowing stations to sell standard stuff. Unfortunately we have so much pent up demand that I think it will be a minimum of one week before we see a comfortable level of supply. More likely it will be two weeks. This was a completely forseeable and avoidable crisis, triggered by a hurricane but exacerbated by our slow thinking and acting, dimwitted bueraucrats, both at the state and national levels.

Here are the stories:

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/09/21/atlanta_gas_pumps_low.html

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/09/22/atlanta_gas_problems.html

It is definitely getting worse

I drove by a Kroger on my way to drop my daughter at school. This Kroger usually has gas in the mornings. Last week waits varied from 5 to 15 cars. This morning there were no less than 70 cars waiting in 2 lines to get gas. I talked with the manager (who was out in the parking lot) and one of the drivers. Wait time seems to be 45 minutes. By far this is the worst I've seen since the whole nonsense began. We didn't go far last weekend even though there were things we wanted to do. We stayed home instead to save the gas for the daily commute and errands. Now an official with AAA South is saying it will be another two weeks before we see normal again.

Oh and it seems our governor can't be bothered with this, since apparently he is out of the country.

Gas Crisis may be over

I'm seeing good signs today. Better than good: great signs. On Monday I posted that lines were the longest I had ever seen them: 70-100 cars deep with waits over 45 minutes. Tuesday I still saw lines but not as long. Yesterday the lines were very short, perhaps 5 to 10 cars, but I still only saw one in 7 stations with gas. Today, for the first time in almost 2 weeks, I have seen a station with no line. In fact, I have seen several stations open and selling gas with no lines. The Kroger by my house has consistently had gas almost every morning and has consistently sold out of gas by 1 pm. Today even at 1:30 they were still selling gas and there was no wait. Two stations near my house that have been without gas for 10 straight days were selling gas today. So supply is nearly back to normal, and the lines have almost completely disappeared. I am relieved. I should be able to fill up my wife's car tonight or tomorrow morning.

Gas Shortage: Day 16

It's been 16 days since Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston, Texas. At first the fuel crisis in Atlanta seemed to be minor: a few stations were out and prices were up, but generally fuel could be found and there were no lines. But as the days progressed fuel supplies dwindled. More and more stores ran out and fewer were being resupplied. There are no official percentages that I can find indicating how many stations have gas, but I know that in my area the percentage did not improve during the week last week. If anything it grew worse. Very few stores have had gas: on my average day I would see one in 7 with gas. Last weekend I was able to get gas without waiting. Last Wednesday I waited behind two other cars (10 minutes only because the SUV in front of me had big tanks) but two days ago (Friday) I waited over 15 minutes in a long line. And Friday afternoon I saw gas lines much worse than the one I experienced that morning.

Demand was up significantly yesterday as nearly 250,000 people drove to or through Atlanta on their way to various college football games. I have not ventured out much this weekend, but I did pass by the 4 stations closest to my house and they were all empty. Personally, we are set until Thursday. All of our cars are full or nearly full and only one has to endure a long commute.

So why did this happen? And why is it so much worse than the few days of shortages after Hurricane Katrina? Here is an article from the AJC that provides some insight:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/09/28/gas_shortage_explainer.html

Brother, can you spare a gallon?

On the eve of the landing of Hurricane Ike I checked the tanks in all our cars to make sure we had plenty of gas. I added 10 gallons to the Jeep that night anticipating that we might have shortages as we did the week after Hurricane Katrina. Well the shortages didn't appear right away. Last week most stations had fuel although the prices were a bit higher.

We did WHAT?

We just bought a house. Or, rather, we bought the idea of a house. Or, rather, we bought the promise of the idea of a house. The house itself doesn't really exist yet. It's only there on paper. In fact, most of the neighborhood doesn't exist yet either. But we put a deposit down and signed a contract to have a house built just for us. Now some folks may wonder why in the world we would want another house when we have a perfectly fine house already. Well, I'm wondering that too. Is it a vacation home? No. Is it in a different metropolitan area? No. Is someone changing jobs? No. Does it put me or my wife closer to work? A little bit. Are the schools better? No, they're about the same. Is it smaller or less expensive? No, actually it's a bit bigger. Is it on lots of acreage? No, the lot size is about the same. Well, then why would we do this? Primarily because we want to. But also partly because we like "new" and we don't like what has become of the area around our current house.