Restaurant Review: Woodfire Grill

Have any of you watched the most recent season of Top Chef on Bravo? Top Chef is one of my favorite shows, which I have watched since pretty much the first season (years and years ago). This season was completely out of control. There were so many talented chefs, most of whom already own and operate their own restaurants. Some of them have worked with pretty big names in the culinary world, already proven, in a way. I was especially into this season, as it had THREE contestants from Atlanta competing for the title. One of them, Kevin Gillespie (Beardo), is the executive chef and owner of Woodfire Grill, which is just a 5 minute drive from our place.

Anyone who watched the show will agree with me that Kevin was THE BEST (except my friend Asheley, who has a thing for the Volt Brothers). Kevin consistently won challenges and had such a great personality, it's no wonder he won fan favorite over and over again. It makes me so MAD that he didn't win the whole thing. As Nathan would say, It was a TRAVISHAMOCKERY. Aw, Kevin. You are so great. Let's be friends.

Now, I'd been to Kevin's restaurant, Woodfire Grill, with the girls several months before the season started, and really enjoyed it (we all got the tasting menu), but after watching him throughout the season, I knew I had to go back and try it again (and this time pay more attention). The restaurant is obviously completely packed at all times now. We got a reservation for last night (Saturday, at 8:30pm) THREE WEEKS ago, and I think we got it because someone canceled right before we called. For those of you not in Atlanta, it's RARE to need to make a reservation for a restaurant more than a day in advance, so, let's just say that a reservation at his restaurant is a hot ticket these days. Reservation. Restaurant. I can't stop typing these words.

We got to the restaurant slightly hungover after our super late night on friday (ugly holiday sweater party!), but super excited. I had a fantastic glass of sauvignon blanc in the bar area and Nathan had a Dogfish Head beer, while we waited for our table to open up. By the time we sat down for dinner, we were feeling less hungover and more hungry.

The menu overall was fantastic. I got the three course tasting menu, and Nathan ordered one item from each course: The arugula and walnut salad, The Diver Scallop and mushroom second course, and the Berkshire Pork Loin.

The salad was fantastic, it had a yogurt dressing that we are going to try and recreate at home. The Berkshire Pork Loin was great (and you have to have pork at Kevin's restaurant, for goodness sakes!), but let me take a moment to talk about the scallops.

THE SCALLOPS WERE THE BEST THING EVER. Nathan nailed it when he said "This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth." Everyone in Atlanta, get yourselves to Woodfire and try the diver scallops. First, they were cooked perfectly. Seared on the top, and not rubbery at all. Second, here's the description of the rest of the dish (from the menu online):

hedgehog mushrooms. sweet corn. roasted garlic. scallion. foie gras jus.

Doesn't that sound amazing? The combination was unreal. I'm going to dream about this dish. If he had cooked this dish in the finals, he would have won it all. Do you hear me, Tom Colicchio? YOU MADE THE WRONG CHOICE.

Okay, this is quickly turning into the longest post I have ever written. God, I love good food.

Next, on to my tasting menu. First, they brought me a scallop over arugula pistou and cauliflower, and I loved it. The flavors were all mild, but went together well and I sopped every last bit of it up with bread. My main course was a piece of pork belly and a half a quail, with a garlicky sauce and a mixture of collard greens and other greens, in vinegar. I'm not a huge quail fan, but it was cooked really well and the pork was divine.

The only thing we didn't like were the veggies accompanying Nathan's pork loin. They were SO SALTY, and it definitely seemed like a mistake. But that was it.

For dessert, they brought me a chocolate crepe filled with cake batter, on top of a latte pool, with creme. Nathan got the pumpkin flan, which was terrific (better than mine, but I'm just not a huge crepe-for-dessert fan.)

The only bummer of the night was that Kevin was not there himself and cooking in person. Our waiter said he was home with Pneumonia, but we'll be back to see him.

I need to give him a high five. Go Beardo!

Our First Christmas Tree: Part Two- Decking the Halls

Last night Nathan and I decked the halls while rocking out to the Charlie Brown Christmas CD (which reminds me of when I lived with Ris in NYC, Hi Ris!). I'm quite impressed with our decorating skills. My mother in law was so sweet to send us home with tons of Christmas decorations last time we were in Smithfield, and I think she'll be impressed that we put them all to good use!

What do you think?

Our First Christmas Tree: Part One

Thanksgiving was so wonderful! We did nothing but hang out with the family, eat, and drink. It was the first time Nathan and I stayed with Arya in his new apartment, and it was great...Arya did such an awesome job of furnishing and decorating. And how many 22 year olds have a nice apartment with a fireplace? I was impressed.

I've been unusually spirited this Holiday season. I think it must have something to do with the fact that this is our first Christmas in the new house, but I've been irrationally excited about getting a Christmas tree, decorating the house as much as possible, baking holiday cookies. I'm out of control.

Our neighborhood's elementary school has a Christmas Tree sale every year to raise money for the PTA, and we swung by last Friday to buy our FIRST TREE.

My camera is horrible, and the battery was about to die, but here is a picture from our tree buying adventure. We offered to pick up our next door neighbor, Susan's, tree as well. Two big trees on Nathan's poor car!

A Few Things Before Thanksgiving

Did you all enjoy Nathan's rant? I'm giving him an assignment to recap his thoughts on the season finale of Mad Men, because I thought it was incredible, but I'm sure he'll find something to rant about regardless.

We're heading up to DC for Thanksgiving next week, which makes me so happy, since I've already started craving my Aunt Lis' Grand Marnier Apricot Stuffing, and the entire family will be there, including Gigi and the gang from Boston. So fun.

Last night Patricia and The Payne's, minus Carson, decided to have a BIG NIGHT. We started with Pizza and cocktails at the house while the Tar Heels played (and lost). Then we headed out to the bar at JCT kitchen, then back to the house for more drinks and some Cranium.

And guess what? The LADIES WON, suckas! Da Da-Da, de doo, De Da Da DA DAA! (That's me singing while doing a victory dance).

Need a visual? BOOYAH.

Mad Men Rant - Volume 1: Draper's Anatomy

Welcome to the first installment of the Mad Men Rant...brought to you in stunning High Definition by the fine folks at Maidenform. This feels right! This is Leila's charming, witty, handsome (and humble) husband, Nathan, and I'll be your guest columnist for periodic musings on Leila's favorite show. I know that Leila's faithful blog reader(s?) signed up for her, not me...but that's tough. Given that Leila's blog output has crawled to about one post a month, it is obvious that she is starving for some content. Plus, she's not allowed anywhere near the laptop after a Sunday evening session with Jon Hamm -- drool tends to muck up the keyboard, you know?

On to Mad Men.

I'm pissed. The first few seasons were so great because of the wonderful dialogue, in depth character development, and - especially - Don Draper doing his thing in the conference room and the bedroom. I swear the man had me craving some Lucky Strikes and a slide projector. In Season 3, the writers have turned a wonderful dialogue-driven show into nothing but a glorified soap opera that relies on cheap surprises and cheesy hook-ups for "excitement." Child, please. Peggy and Duck? Barf. That State Government douchebag that Betty digs? Groan. If I wanted this garbage, I'd watch Gossip Girl or The Hills or some of the other tripe that's on TV these days. I have almost given up on the show. I literally stopped watching about 15 minutes into the show two episodes ago and went to bed. I would have been done for good if Leila didn't convince me to give it another go. "That guy Betty's in love with is gone," I heard. Well, last Sunday night I watched the rest of the episode I walked out on and caught the new episode. Garbage, soap opera bulls***. I averaged about one eye roll per scene. It would have been more, but I didn't want to upset Leila while she was watching her "stories."

I think entertainment awards are irrelevant. Most movies that win Oscars suck. The musicians that win Grammys are usually no-talent ass-clowns. The Emmys are no different, but they get things right a little more often than others (gotta put a plug in here for the best show in the history of television...The Wire). The Emmys got it right early on with Mad Men, but I don't care what the award folks say now...Mad Men just isn't good anymore. Sure, the costumes and sets are still spot on, but the writers are pissing me off. From now on, before the writers submit any new ideas, they need to RUN IT BY ME. Here are four simple steps to make Mad Men worth watching again:

1) More time in the office. Seriously, 90% of the time should be spent at Sterling Cooper. I'm not interested in living in the 'burbs in real life...I'm sure as hell not interested in seeing it on TV.

2) Once we bring the action back to Sterling Cooper, how about a little...uh...you know...ADVERTISING talk. More Don Draper ad pitches. More Peggy Olson in the office. More Ken Freakin' Cosgrove. More Roger Sterling. More, more, more, more.

3) Less Betty. January Jones is hot, but Betty's a bore. Less Peggy outside of the office. Less douchebag Henry. Less Connie Hilton (he's the infuriatingly irrational male version of Betty). Finally, take Duck's air time and cut it in half. Then take that half and flush it down the toilet.

4) To whoever wrote Joan out of a regular role: screw you. Seriously, I hope you get H1N1 or something. I don't want you to die, I just want you to suffer. Bring her back. For reals.

It's that easy. I'm going to give it a shot tonight, but I'm not getting my hopes up. PLEASE no more cheesy soap opera drama. I'm half expecting a character to get amnesia or to "die" only to find out it was a dream. Stop the laziness, writers! Get back to the snappy office dialogue. NO MORE DRAPER'S ANATOMY!


Rant over.

September

September was a busy month. Not only did I have a fun little birthday, I spent 4 days in NYC for some work, and a lot of play. I stayed with Margot and Ziggy at their FAB new apartment on Wall Street, and shared a bathroom with their toilet trained cats, Keggy and Klaus. You heard me. They use the toilet...or rather, are being trained to use the toilet. It was adventure, but they are so so cute and so so funny. (Margot, Ziggy, and the Kitties.)

When I came home to Atlanta, it was raining. I didn't think much of it, even though it had been raining for the past few weeks pretty much non-stop. Turns out, a normal rainstorm had turned evil and freakish and literally would not pass over the City. It stayed in one spot and rained and rained and rained...more than it's rained at one time in Atlanta in over 100 years.

The city flooded, and so many people lost their homes. The Chattahoochee flooded, all the little creeks nearby flooded. It was a big, soggy, mess.

We were lucky to only get a few inches in our basement, and we're thankful it wasn't worse, but it was still a big pain in the butt. Observe:

Before (regular finished basement carpet):

And where we are now:

Oh, and you aren't mistaken. That IS a Cowboy themed room in our basement. Unfortunately, we don't think it's going to make it through the renovation. I know, it's so so sad.

Our housewarming party is coming up on Saturday!

Summer Roundup

I found the cord to my computer (yay!) and realized that I have a million pictures of things we did and people we saw this summer, and there is just no way I'm going to get around to posting separately about each and every thing. So, I bring you the summer roundup!

Part of my birthday resolution is to be more diligent about updating this blog. I mean, there are 3 or maybe even 4 people who read this thing! You four are demanding updates, and I could never deny you!

So here are the highlights:

First, we bought a house, and we love it.

We went to Charlottesville for Sahar and Sam's amazing wedding at Keswick. Rocking chairs on the lawn...so cool.

The next weekend, we flew to NYC for Libby and Chris' wedding. It was a great time, and we clearly love hanging out with our business school friends. Here's Brian, Danny, and Nathan. Aww...THEY'RE BEST FRIENDS!

Our nephew, Jackson, was born in July, and we visited him when he was 11 days old, and then again last weekend. He looks like Nathan and Melissa, which is just the cutest thing.

On July 26th, we celebrated our first anniversary.

We were invited to the Beach on the Gulf Coast for a few days in August, and it was just lovely!

Brent flew down from NYC to spend a weekend with us in Atlanta. He is the best. We went furniture hunting, drank a ton of wine, hit up the High Museum, and made a kick ass Greek Feast for dinner on Saturday night. There was no way that weekend could be anything but fun.

UNC FOOTBALL IS BACK! Hide the kids!!

And that brings us to now. I have a few busy weeks ahead of me, as I'm turning 29 (yowza) and have a bunch of celebrating to do. But I promise to keep pictures and updates coming. See you later!

Oh, and today is 9.09.09. As Nathan told me earlier:

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!

No New Pictures

So, I can't find the cord that transfers pictures from my camera to my computer. I have a million pictures from all of our recent adventures, and I want to show you, but...I'm having problems.

It's been a crazy summer, filled with weddings and babies and visiting friends. Oh, and house stuff. I can't wait to show you what we've done with the place. I'm impressed with our work! We are at a place where I feel comfortable just letting things be for awhile, which is nice.

Pictures to hopefully come, but for now, here's another (older picture) of our nephew, Jackson.

Baby Jackson has Arrived

We went to North Carolina over the weekend to see our amazing new nephew, and we fell completely head over heels in love with him. He looks just like Nathan and Melissa did as babies (who looked identical to each other), and it's just so funny to see a little Nathan look alike, especially when he makes faces like the one above. We all could not stop laughing about that one.

Here's Nathan holding Jackson for the first time, and a few more darling pictures:

Melissa and Al are amazing parents, which comes as no surprise. It was great to see them, and of course we can't wait to see everyone again soon...Love you guys.

Our New Home

Of course there's a REASON I haven't written in weeks. After months of negotiating, we finally closed on, and moved into, our first house. Nathan and I OWN a HOUSE. Can you believe it? We've been living in our new place for a week, and I still experience these sudden moments where I can't quite comprehend that this house we are sitting in BELONGS to us. Unreal!

So, the next several months of posts are probably going to include tons of pictures/stories of me and Nathan trying to figure out what the heck home ownership is all about. We've started painting, and Nathan mowed our front yard for the first time last week, but there is so, so, so much still left to do. This is going to be a totally overwhelming, totally satisfying project.

Happy Birthday, My Love.

You are the best.

Smithfield, NC: Day Two

Another busy week, with many updates for you, but first I have to post all about the reason we went to North Carolina last weekend in the first place.

My beautiful sister-in-law's baby shower.

Now, there are pregnant people everywhere, and I think most pregnant ladies look great, but Melissa just looked GORGEOUS. And I'm not just saying that because she's one of the only people who reads this thing. She just looked so comfortable and chic. I mean, see for yourself:

My job at the shower was to sit by Melissa as she opened up approximately 1 million gifts and take down who gave her what. I've never seen so many onesies in one room in my life. It takes a lot of STUFF to have a baby, apparently.

There were some really cute details at the shower:





Just another month before Jackson arrives. We are so excited.

Smithfield, North Carolina: Day One

Just got back late last night from our weekend in North Carolina. Melissa (my lovely sister in law) had a baby shower that we just couldn't miss (more on that to come). Our first day in Smithfield, we hit up one of Nathan's favorite hometown spots:

Hills of Snow!

Hills of snow is an adorable stand where you can get snow-cones in any flavor you can imagine. Really, they had about 50 different flavors. I got Mango and Orange-Pineapple...nom nom nom.

Be prepared! They stain your tongue.

PISSED OFF!

I'm starting the weekend off in a very bad mood.

Last night I had a book club meeting. My friend Katie and I usually take turns driving to book club, since we live close to each other and book club meetings are usually far away from us girls who live in the city. Last night it was my turn to drive, and by the time I got back home at 1am, all the parking spots that I'm allowed to park in were taken. I was too scared to leave our building's lot and look on the street for parking...I don't feel safe walking around Atlanta by myself at 1am, so I found an empty spot near Nathan's spot (where I'm not supposed to park) and figured that if nobody had parked by 1am, I'd be safe until the morning when I left for work.

WRONG.

My poor baby car was towed at 2:30am. Forget about the fact that I left a note on the car saying that I would move it ASAP and included my phone number. I'm so pissed off.

And now I need to go downtown to some sketchy lot to pick my car up, and give them $125 for their services. I want to scream.

Wouldn't you at least call before towing someone's car? Isn't that less effort than calling and waiting for a tow truck at 2 in the morning? Some people are just assholes.

I am so grumpy right now.

Blogging at Work

I'm sitting at work, kind of stalled and waiting for an email to arrive with an answer I need before I can get back to work again. I feel like I'm doing something bad, blogging at work!

Here's what I'm excited about right now:

1. Leaving work soon, and knowing that Nathan should be home early today after working until 11pm last night.

2. Getting off from work early means we have time for my newest obsession: MAD MEN. Oh, that show is so good, and we have a new disc from Netflix waiting for us.

3. Arya got a new car! I'm still waiting to see a picture of it...another Jetta joins the family.

4. Dinner tonight. Soup and grilled cheese.

Just a basic Wednesday night, I guess. Updates to come soon on our NEW HOUSE. Yes, we may be moving in just a few weeks!

...Now I'm back to work.

Baba

As I write this, Baba is on a flight back to Iran. His trips to the US are always too short, and Arya and I get so sad when he leaves. We are trying to convince him to come back for Christmas...hopefully it won't be a full year before we see him again.

Baba, we miss you already!

The Graduate

Arya graduated from college over the weekend, and the whole family was up in Boston to celebrate. We had so much fun, and are so so proud of Arya for all of the hard work he put into the last four years. He graduated cum laude! Hooray!

After graduation we went to dinner in the North End, at a cute little Italian restaurant. We all went around the table and told stories about Arya, and when it came to Uncle Bahram's turn, he told his usual round of dirty jokes, which Arya loves.

Yesterday we packed up Arya's stuff and made the 8 hour drive down to DC to help him start his post-college life down here. Though his plans for work are still up in the air as of now, we all know that whatever he ends up doing, he will be successful.

Here's to my little brother!!

Miami and more

Last weekend I had a wonderful time celebrating Elizabeth's bachelorette weekend in South Beach. The weather was perfect, the ocean was beautiful, and we spent a lot of time relaxing, tanning, and catch up. It had been too long since I had some quality time with Elizabeth and Miss Margot, and I loved every minute of it!

It's been a busy week since then, working hard to bring home the bacon, and getting ready for our big trip to Boston for Arya's graduation this weekend. I'm going to see Baba!

Plus, there might be a little something in the works, house-wise. I don't want to get my hopes up, so I'll leave it at that, but my request to you: Cross your fingers for us. CROSS THEM!

Easter Sunday

It's been a happy Easter, although we haven't left the house, and it doesn't look like we are going to. It's about 70 degrees and sunny out, but we're having a lazy day, reading the paper, watching the Masters on TV, and eating.

First, I made some seriously healthy juice. When I was little, my mom used to make fruit and vegetable juices at home every day. My chore was always to peel and cut carrots, and I remember feeling like it was the most tedious thing to do every single day, but I know now that I was SO lucky to have fresh pressed juices all the time. I think it's why I have perfect eyesight. Really.

Carrot, apples, and blood oranges, ready for the juicer:

And of course, my little Easter present to Nathan. His favorite homemade fruit tart:

Now, back to the couch.

UNC SPORTS!!

The past few weeks have been filled with UNC basketball, and it's been fantastic. It's actually been so fun to have a reason to get together with the UNC kids a couple of times a week...they constantly crack me up, and their love of UNC is infectious.

UNC won the National Championship game Monday night, and the gang came over to our place to watch. I of course had to take pictures; everyone looked cute in their Carolina Blue clothes.

Okay, pics!

First Date

Three years ago, tonight, Nathan took me out on our first date.

We went to Ole, a great little restaurant in Cambridge. Drank Margaritas and ate guacamole. I remember thinking that his accent was SO southern, and that he seemed a little nervous. I called him Nate at one point, and he corrected me. We grabbed a drink at a nearby bar afterward and I introduced him to The Postal Service. I wish I could better remember little nuances of that first date, but really, who thinks on a first date that they are sitting across the boy they are going to marry?

Happy First Date Anniversary, Love.


(not our first date)

New Year

Happy Iranian New Year! I'm a few weeks late in wishing you a happy Noruz, but I've been busy working and house-hunting and watching basketball. Lots and lots of basketball.

I've decided that I adore Atlanta in the Spring. Charlottesville wins the award for best Fall, but Spring in Atlanta takes the cake. Everything- trees, flowers, people at outdoor patio bars- have just started to BLOOM. It's all very lovely.

Arya came to visit us this past weekend, and unfortunately, it rained pretty much the entire time. That didn't stop us from having fun, of course. Friday night we met up with the UNC gang and watched the UNC game. They won. Saturday was Alon's for breakfast (what else?), then a family workout at the gym, and homemade Sangria. For dinner we went to Two Urban Licks, which was fabulous. Wines on tap? I'm sold. The live band and great food didn't hurt, either.

Arya's big day was on Sunday, when he and I went to watch the Lakers play the Hawks at Philips Arena. We had amazing tickets, but unfortunately the Lakers lost. Still so fun.

A few more pics from the weekend. Arya, come back! Come live with us, and we promise to only charge you a LITTLE bit of rent.

Where the Heck have I been?

Let's see. Here's what we've been up to for the past few weeks (besides work. Tons of work.)

Birthday Party for Patricia:

Which included a little dancing...



My love brought home some flowers...



We had snow in Atlanta...



And ate a lot of homemade birthday cake...



It's been a nice couple of weeks.