Peachtree Road Farmer's Market

I have always loved going to open air Farmer's Markets, even when I was younger. There's just something about being able to select your fresh food out in the open air and knowing where your food comes from that makes it worth paying a little bit more for it, especially if it's organic, grassfed, etc. That being said, I finally found a farmer's market intown that is worthwhile. Peachtree Road Farmer's Market (www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com; Cathedral of St. Philip- 2744 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30305) is located in a church parking lot in Buckhead every Saturday morning from April 10, 2010 to December 18, 2010. Up until August it is open from 8:30AM to 12:30PM. From September to December it will be open from 9AM to 12:30PM. It is important to note that you should bring your own reusable bag if you want to look like a regular and make sure you have plenty of cash. A few of my favorite vendors so far include Holeman & Finch Bread Co, Atlanta Fresh Artisan Creamery, Costa's Pasta, Pine Street Market, and Riverview Farms. The best part of all is most of them have free samples!!!

H&F Bread Co has a wide variety of breads and pastries and everything is extremely fresh. So far, I've tried the multi-grain baguette, the hotdog buns and a loaf of the multi-grain bread. They were all very tasty but unfortunately only last a few days since they don't have preservatives in them. It's usually not a problem for us though because we love bread. I was even able to use the hotdog buns for some kielbasa I bought from the Pine Street Market vendor. Perfect one-stop shopping for a great meal. Definitely don't miss out on Pine Street Market's applewood bacon either. It is thick cut and has a wonderful flavor. I wanted to buy salami from them too for when we have company over but ended up passing on it and opting to buy some chevre goat's milk cheese with walnuts and cranberries in it instead. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the vendor where I found the cheese but they also sell cow's milk cheese and Johnson Family Farms' milk. If you've never had this milk before, do yourself a favor and go pick up a half gallon. You can find it at Alon's, Sawicki's in Decatur, Whole Foods or Your DeKalb Farmer's Market. It's a little bit more expensive but the milk is pasteurized not homogenized so nothing is added or taken away from the milk meaning you can really taste the cream in the milk. Delicious! At the Atlanta Fresh Artisan Creamery tent, I bought a ball of fresh mozzarella, which I used for a pasta dish later that night. I thought it was good but couldn't really tell the difference between it and what you can buy in the store. At Costa's Pasta, I bought a box (36 pieces) of butternut squash ravioli which I split with one of my friends. The owner said it will keep for a month or so if you freeze it. I ended up using it about 2 weeks later and he was right, it still tasted fresh. Although, I have to admit it was not as good as Via Elisa's pasta. If only she was still in business. I think you can buy her pasta sauce at Whole Foods but it's just not the same as her fresh pasta. Anyways, one of my absolute favorite vendors at the market is Riverview Farms. Everyone I've met from there has been very friendly and takes time to explain what meats they have that day. I've tried the ground sausage in a pasta dish and it was to die for! It definitely did not taste like the tubed sausage from the grocery store. It was much more juicy and crumbly versus dried out and chewy. My friend tried the pork chops (only seasoned with salt & pepper) and said they were the best she'd ever had. Another review I read describes Riverview Farms' pork chops as the Kobe beef of pork. I can't wait to try them but they were sold out when I went last time. Did I mention the best part? All of their meat and vegetables are certified organic and they have grass-fed beef and pastured Berkshire pork. I can't wait to try their steaks either but I have to have something to keep going back for. They also recently added whole chickens to their selection. The other thing I love about Riverview Farms is that they will sell you a huge brown bag of basil for $2-$3. Unbelievable! Can you say homemade pesto? Yes, please.

I've also bought some other things at the market, like raspberry honey and strawberry-lavendar jam, but I can't remember the name of the vendors where I found those. Other vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables but they seemed a little pricey to me. You can also buy herbs to plant in your garden if you're feeling courageous. All in all, this farmer's market is a great way to spend your Saturday morning. You can even have breakfast or lunch there. They have vendors selling dancing goats coffee, made-to-order crepes, popsicles, cookies and even wood-fired oven pizza. My only suggestion is to get there early because some stuff does sell out quickly. As for parking, turn into the church at the stoplight by Felini's on Peachtree and they will direct you where to park. The market even allows you to bring your pets too if it's not ridiculously hot out. Final suggestion: Take a bottle of water with you. I didn't see any vendors selling cold beverages.

Westside

I don't know why it's taken me so long to finally check out 5 Seasons Brewery (1000 Marietta St NW, Atlanta 30318; http://www.5seasons.info/). I love the fact that they brew their own beers and they have a pretty killer rooftop patio, if the weather is nice, with a great view of downtown. Unfortunately, we went on a Saturday night and someone was having a private party upstairs so we had to sit in the main dining room. When I first entered the restaurant, I was surprised that there were only 3 flat-screen TVs and they were located at the bar. I figured the brewery would have more of a sports bar vibe for some reason with plasmas everywhere. Another wrong assumption I made was that the menu would only consist of glorified "bar food". Luckily, I was wrong. Very wrong! All of the beers they serve are brewed in-house but they offer a wide variety. To start off, my husband ordered the BR-549 Pale Ale. It is an American Pale Ale brewed with British barley. It is copper in color and has a nice citrusy aroma that comes from the American whole leaf hops. Later on with the meal, he also tried the Venus, named after the goddess of love. It is a Belgian white beer and brewed with orange peel and coriander as well as wheat, barley and a touch of oats. Both were very good! The first beer resembled a Sierra Nevada and the second was like a Blue Moon.

Dinner was a much harder decision. There were a lot of things on the menu I wanted to try like the homemade pretzel, the beer braised PEI mussels, chili seared sea scallops, 5 spice crispy duck leg and the mahi mahi special. After careful deliberation, I ordered the 3 fish tacos with chili slaw, mango and green tomato salsa, and skate wing which was the fish of the day. The fish was very mild and served with a side of black beans and rice. The mango had the perfect sweetness for a fish taco and was refreshing on a hot summer night. My husband ordered the organic salmon coated in a spicy red Thai curry sauce with a side of vegetables and organic rice. His plate was empty. Enough said. Finally, his uncle that was visiting us from Key West ordered the ropa vieja. This dish consisted of braised all natural steak, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic over a pile of lime avocado mashed potatoes and plantain chips. Even though the mashed potatoes were an interesting green color due to the avocado, he said he loved the flavor. All three meals were absolutely delicious. I think the best part of all was the easy parking, especially for downtown Atlanta. There's a lot directly next door that had plenty of empty spaces. If you're too lazy to cook one night and you want a casual but tasty meal, I recommend making a trip over to 5 Seasons.

Yeah-yer! Burger

Having a bunch of foodie friends, a couple of them convinced us to go to Yeah! Burger for opening night last night. Surprisingly, it was not nearly as crazy as I thought it would be. The place was busy but it was not too overwhelming. Shaun Doty was there walking around with a purple handkerchief on his head and making sure everything was running smoothly. You have probably heard of Shaun Doty because of his restaurant in Inman Park called Shaun's. Before that, he was Seeger's apprentice and then worked at Mumbo Jumbo, Midcity Cuisine and Table 1280. He has definitely made his rounds in the Atlanta restaurant scene.

The concept of Yeah! Burger is simple. Almost everything in the place is either organic, gluten-free or recycled. The flour used for the hamburger buns is organic or gluten-free depending on which option you select, as well as the fries. Also, the napkins and straws are both made out of recycled products. I love the "green" presence because somehow it made me feel less guilty about chowing down on a huge burger. Anyways, the menu lays out various options for selecting your bun (white, wheat, gluten-free), type of burger (beef, turkey, bison, veggie), toppings (lettuce, tomato, onions, etc) and sauce. Yeah! has quite the selection of sauces, although we only tried two. Unless you like mustard, I would stay away from the Mississippi BBQ sauce and opt for the other BBQ sauce. My husband and I ordered the bison burgers while our friends checked out the beef. Both were very good. The bison was pretty thick while the beef had two patties to double up on its thickness. The fries were pretty good as well but had a lot of seasoning (salt & pepper) on them. Nothing about them blew me away but they were a nice compliment to the meal. The other thing I like about Yeah! Burger was the selections of beer they offer. On tap, they have Harpoon, Brooklyn Lager, Sweetwater and two other options that were a bit off the beaten path. They even have an organic beer option in one of their bottles. Unbelievable! Overall, it was a great experience and a lot of fun people watching since we sat outside on the large patio.

Sushi House Hayakawa

I have been trying to find a fresh sushi restaurant in Atlanta for awhile now, especially one that doesn't break the bank. My in-laws, husband and I decided to venture to a little gem known as Sushi House Hayakawa last night. The sushi chef's name is Atsushi "Art" Hayakawa. Boy did he earn his name. Every dish that came out was an incredible work of art. Art grew up in Sapporo, Japan and started his journey to become a sushi chef at 15 years old. He became a certified sushi chef in 1998 and then moved to Atlanta to put his skills to use working at Shiki, Haru Ichiban, RuSan’s, MF Sushi, and Sushi Huku. Thank goodness a few years ago he decided to open up his own restaurant in Doraville. All the fish served at the restaurant are seasonal specialties flown directly to his restaurant from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. It doesn't get much fresher than this in Atlanta.

We started off with the seaweed salad, vegetable tempura and crab fritters. Each dish was unique. The seaweed salad was excellent. It had delicate, thin slices of seaweed with a subtle vinegar sauce. The crab fritters, on the other hand, were some of the most unusual I've ever tried. They were cooked properly with a crisp, fried outer shell but the cheese on the inside was very unusual. Almost like a melted neufchatel cheese with lumps of crab mixed in. They were pretty tasty but the vegetable tempura was the appetizer dish that stole the show. It was absolute perfection. The tempura batter was so light that it almost felt as if we weren't digesting any calories while consuming it. It is served with a light soy mixture but it's so good that it seemed unneccessary. For dinner, we ordered an assortment of dishes to share, including a sushi and sashimi platter, a spicy tuna roll, and a specialty roll which I think was called "the Hayasan box". The sushi and sashimi were both excellent and incredibly fresh. Our platter included squid, tuna and salmon for the sashimi portion. The squid looked a little bit like linguini and was different than what you would expect, but in a good way. The sushi portion of our platter had tuna, mackerel, yellowfin, salmon, sea bass, flounder, egg and six pieces of a tuna roll. All of these were excellent. The spicy tuna roll was also pleasantly unusual. It had toasted sesame seeds on the outside which gave it a texture almost like it had been fried. The tuna was very flavorful and had just the right amount of spice thanks to a nice dab of sriracha sauce (hot chili sauce) on top. But, the dish that blew us all away was the specialty roll that our waitress suggested. It was unlike anything we had ever tried before. The Hayasan Box roll had the perfect combination of flavors. First, a slice of fried asparagus was rolled up in seaweed, rice and sesame seeds. On the top and sides of the roll was a generous slice of tuna, avocado, salmon and yellowfin. Of course, it had to have a tiny dab of sriracha on top as well to give it an extra little kick. This dish was incredibly tasty and definitely one we will go back for. The service was a bit surprising. Our waitress seemed a little slow or out of it, but the food definitely made up for it. If you love sushi but are a little disappointed by the offering of sushi restaurants in Atlanta, try Sushi House Hayakawa. It will be refreshing!