What’s more appealing than a group of restaurants offering multi-course meals for a special price during a certain week? A restaurant week that’s actually scheduled to last for two weeks, of course!
That’s more than enough time to check out some of, if not all, the nine eateries taking part in Buckhead Life Restaurant Group’s Ultimate Restaurant Week. It’s scheduled for Oct. 5 to 10 and Oct. 12 to 17. Each restaurant will serve one prix-fixe menu the first week, followed by a set of different selections during the second (all menus are subject to change).
To celebrate Buckhead Life’s 29th anniversary, each meal is priced at $29. Remember that tax, tip and beverages aren’t included in the price. Also, you’ll want to be sure to make reservations long before heading out for an evening of food and fun.
Here are ten reasons not to miss Buckhead Life’s Ultimate Restaurant Week:
1. Start at the beginning with dinner at Pano’s and Paul’s, which opened in 1979 and was the very first Buckhead Life restaurant. Be sure to try one of the many Georgia dishes on the menu, from the Plantation Farm quail appetizer with roasted corn and Vidalia onions and pancetta jus to the Ellijay apple parisienne tart with fall spice ice cream.
2. Bask in the glow of the neon sign at the Buckhead Diner, where the food is anything but common fare. During week one, sample the Ashley Farms chicken parmesan with fresh mozzarella, tomato fondue and bucatini or the pan-roasted halibut with caramelized fennel and warm coriander seed broth. In week two, go for the jumbo lump crab cake appetizer and the entree of grilled Elysian Farms lamb loin, roasted fall root vegetable ragout with black olive lamb jus.
3. Satisfy your desire for steaks and seafood at Chops Lobster Bar, which offers entrees like the broiled 12-ounce New York strip with rosemary fingerling potatoes, caramelized onions and garlic gremolata and a sauteed Loch Duart salmon with stewed tomatoes and Neil Taylor Farms field peas during the first week. For the second week, try the sauteed butterfish with organic squash caponata and fresh oregano.
4. Conquer your cravings for awe-inspiring antipasti at Veni Vidi Veci with tempting starters such as grilled calamari and Gulf shrimp with chickpea puree and an olive vinaigrette (week one) and mini eggplant parmigiana (week two).
5. Add some spice to your evening with a meal at Nava, which begins with the restaurant’s appetizer trio. Week one features a blue-corn taquito with cilantro-garlic chicken, a green-and-red-chile petite crab cake and the south of the border mini cheese tamale. Week two’s trio is made up of green chile chicken with Aztec cheese, wild mushroom and herb epazote and Yucatan duck with dried cranberries.
6. Go off the deep end (and we mean that in the very best way) at the Atlanta Fish Market. During the first week, swim straight for the barbecue shrimp appetizer, followed by the crab cake ravioli. For the second week, don’t pass up the shrimp and grits appetizer and the scallops curry entree.
7. Make sharing with friends a top priority at Kyma, where the meal will begin with three appetizers meant to be split among everyone at the table. In week one, choose from Greek-style meatballs crisped in olive oil with Greek fries and tzatziki, a salad of watermelon and cheese, a soup of imported Greek lentils, crispy chips of yellow squash and green zucchini or the warm scallop carpacio. In week two, the selection includes the squash and zucchini chips, grilled calamari, a soup of organic pearl barley, oven-roasted beets with arugula and shaved fennel and Greek-style meatballs with cracked green olives and cumin yogurt.
8. Mix it up on Tuesdays at Bluepointe’s martini night. The perfectly shaken (or stirred) cocktail makes an ideal complement to a meal that might include Georgia wild shrimp wontons with shiitake mushroom ginger broth (week one) or the local kabocha squash ginger soup with five-spice creme fraiche (week two).
9. Savor the flavors of Italy at Pricci, where you can try the artisanal corkscrew pasta from Paglia with wild Georgia shrimp and Taylor Farms zucchini caponata (week one) or a dish of tagliatelle with prosciutto di Parma, Taylor Farms peas and panna triple cream salsa ducale (week two).
10. Plan carefully so that you also can fit in additional visits to each eatery during Ultimate Restaurant Week—or at least head to your favorites again.
Info
At Buckhead Life Restaurants: Atlanta Fish Market, Bluepointe, Buckhead Diner, Chops Lobster Bar, Kyma, Nava, Pano’s and Paul’s, Veni Vidi Vici
Oct. 5-10 and Oct. 12-17
Prix-fixe meals for $29
