Dogwood restaurant

This epicurean event takes us to a restaurant in Midtown Atlanta- Dogwood. For this adventure, we are accompanied by two of Donna and David's friends. It was good having them with us.

Dogwood is a Southern cuisine restaurant with an upscale flair. When David 1st suggested this restaurant, the 1st thing that stood out about this menu was their grits. :-)

Dave suggested Chappellet Mountain Cuvee as the wine of choice for the night. GOOD CHOICE!









The ladies are breaking down the menu. It is always interesting to see what the ladies order with the different types of palates...

The grits with pulled pork and a tea BBQ sauce topped with coleslaw was incredible.

Grits with bay scallops and mushrooms in a sherry cream sauce. VERY GOOD. ( At this point, David and I are thinking that we could just come here for grits and wine,)

Dogwood sports an open kitchen. Good to see that they have nothing to hide. ;-)

Even though the grits flight was top on my list, I opted for the chicken liver mousse, bacon jam, grilled country bread and apple jelly. It was pretty darn good.

Dave ordered the caramelized goat cheese, hydro mache (we had to ask our waitress what it was), red wine vinaigrette, and apple-pear chutney. It was a really good taste combination.

This salad was wonderful! Arugula, red grapes, red onion, marcona almonds(YUM),and apple cider vinaigrette. This was so good...I only got one bite.

The soup of the day was a veggie beef soup with rosemary popcorn on top.




I opted for the braised short ribs with glazed fall veggies. I opted to switch out the potatoes for grits...good choice.

Donna opted for the springer mountain chicken with the baked mac and cheese with collards.

Porter can always be counted on to try something different. Way to go!

He had the quail with low country stuffing, grits, brown butter, and fried sage. The flavors were pretty good when you tried everything together.

The restaurant was not able to get fresh flounder that day and substituted halibut as the fish of choice for this dish. The only downside to this dish is that the fish was overcooked. Note: there is a short window of cooking time with seafood. It can go from perfect to horrible in a matter of seconds.

This is the herb grilled NY strip with grilled asparagus, trumpet mushrooms, onions and fingerling potatoes.

Donna does not do greens...they were pretty good.

Chocolate martinis were ordered and I think they came close to getting it right after a couple of tries( Just CLOSE though).

Desert was pretty darn good. I had the chocolate creme brule with a toasted marshmallow and graham cracker biscotti. It was a good take on a S'mores.

The bread budding was not bad at all.

We added some of our chocolate to the martini to try to help it out... No such luck

Synopsis: Dogwood was a pretty good restaurant. The decor was befitting of it's upscale southern appeal. Overall we had a good meal, but I would not say it was great. It is worth checking out and the bar has quite a few innovative cocktails on the menu. Compared to comparable restaurants of it's style, I would put it near the top of the list...but only compared to other restaurants with southern-style cuisine.

Brookwood Grill- Alpharetta/Roswell

The Brookwood Grill

After the wedding, the wife and I decided to use one of our coupons from restaurants.com to grab a bite to eat. We wanted something nearby and decided on Brookwood Grill. I had only been there once after a Martial Arts testing for a Burger with a friend (it was a good burger). We get there and the atmosphere was pretty nice (really steakhouse-esque). Our waiter is on point and runs down the specials for the evening and we order. We were without our camera and had to opt for the camera phone.

I had the special for the night. It was a pan seared 9oz Hallibut fillet with a caper sauce and the gorganzola Mac and Cheese. The Halibut was perfectly prepared and the caper sauce was really good. I can hardly wait to recreate the Gorgonzola mac and cheese...it was THAT good.

Angela opted for the grilled marinated chicken breast which was perfectly grilled and NOT dried out. The pineapple marinade was a nice touch. The garlic mashed potatoes were really good. There was not much one could do with some steamed broccoli.

For desert, we shared the grilled strawberry shortcake. It was pretty good. They grilled the pound cake until it had a bit of char on it and the strawberries had this bananas fosters cooked in some sauce kind of thing going on with it. The only thing that was missing was a scoop of ice cream to round it all out.

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Once again a chance to make use of Restaurant Week! Ruth's Chris Steakhouse is one of those spots that I had been meaning to try and never made it to try. Restaurant Week was just the excuse that I needed to make my visit. The ambiance was pretty cool and had the "upscale steakhouse" thing working. It was also cool that this location was in a nice hotel and the validated the Valet parking.

The salad was as good as it looked. The greens were fresh and the dressing was pretty darn good.

I ordered the filet medium with the lyonnaise potatoes. I must admit that bringing the steak on a 500 degree plate is awesome. Talk about keeping your food warm. Hearing the food sizzle as it reaches your table does remind you of a fajita plate, but the steak was perfectly cooked.

My fiance' ordered her filet well and butterflied. Note: I normally don't suggest ordering a GOOD steak well, but if you do, butterfly the filet to keep it from drying out too much or getting burnt.

The desert course really showed that this spot is one that really focuses on the meat course. The deserts were o.k., but nothing that could not be reproduced from thawing and baking something out of the freezer section of your local grocers.

We wondered if there was wine in these autographed bottles...

The synopsis: Ruth's Chris is a pretty decent spot to visit and you are definitely in for a treat when you order the steak. It may not be on the top 5 of the best meals that you will ever eat, but I will put it on the top 5 of chain steakhouses.

Morton's: The Steakhouse

Morton's Steakhouse

Once again...Restaurant Week! If you have not tried dining out during restaurant week...do it. This affords you the opportunity to try out restaurants to see if you enjoyed the food and dining experience without a large price tag. On that wise, I had been hearing lots about Morton's (some good, some bad). It does give you that "restaurant that high class mobsters in NY would frequent" feel...real "steak housey". I did like that they had an area that had lockers with bottles of wine in them. I'm assuming that these were for "regulars" so that they could house their favorite vintage.

1st course: We both ordered the Cesar salad...I had mine with the anchovies...nothing too special about it.

The filet was perfectly cooked and was not bad at all.
(not blown away though)

Now, I must admit that the Lyonnaise potatoes were darn near incredible.
I know that these were just potatoes and onions but they were great!

The grilled asparagus was pretty darn good...firm yet fully cooked with just the right amount of char from the grill.

Angela ordered her filet butterflied and well done. The steak guy really knows his stuff because it was still not dry.

I was surprised to find deserts this good in a steak house.

The chocolate mousse was wonderful.

When in doubt...get the creme brule'. It was very well done.

Synopsis: Over all, I was not not really blown away by this spot. I can not say that I would drive all of the way across town to visit this place...maybe just for Restaurant Week...maybe.

Restaurant Eugene: Private Dining Experience

RESTAURANT EUGENE

It gives me an absolute joy to blog about this restaurant! This place is on the top 5 list of my best dining experiences. This is a 5 Fork Must try!

We arrive at the restaurant to meet the crew and stop at the bar. We are greeted by the gentleman pictured. ***Please note that the fact that we took his picture speaks volumes about this guy.

I was in the mood for something different, but good. After finding out the types of drinks that I normally have, he suggests an Alexandria. It was incredible! The peach garnish on the drink is not just for show, as you sip, the sent from the peaches also help to flavor the drink....

For Angela's drink, the bartender (He needs a better title like Mixologist), finds out what she likes in a drink and asks permission to show off...wow! This guy pulls out a bottle of Aviation gin, Luxardo (a sour cherry liquor about which he gives us a brief history lesson), and Benoit Liqueur de Violette( a Violet Liqueur)...WOW!!! It was AMAZING! If you are used to going to a bar with $20 drinks that are mostly flavored sugar water and alcohol...try this place out.

It pays to have a friend that is a Certified Specialist of Wine! Dave orders, we drink. This bottle of Crasto was SPOT ON!
The bread was as good as it looked.
Chef Linton was just showing off when he put his on the menu. This Georgia Peach Salad has grilled vidailla onions, grilled peaches, and smoked bacon (They smoke their own meat).
This wild mushroom "soup" was to die for

All I can Say is WOW!!

The crab soup consisted of a crab cake in the middle of a luxorious, creamy crab soup and chives.
Diner arrives and it was incredible! I normally do a whole "break down of what we ate and how it was, but I may not do it justice. Porter's rabbit was great, Sharon did a repeat of some of the appetizers, the rest of us had fish. All I can say is WOW!!!

We could not decide on what to get for desert. Everything looked good and so did the cheeses. We made an easy choice: We got one of each desert and three cheeses. EVERYTHING was incredible! The chef sent out the pictured accompliment with the meal: chocolate truffles rolled in spicy peanuts. It was SPICY but really good.
Synopsis: Everything was great across the board. I would suggest that if you have the chance to dine there and there are no or limited food allergies, get the chef tasting menu and allow the chef to show off. The menu changes according to the season and what is available. Each time you dine is like a brand new experience.