Southern Sojourn

Sunday, November 17th
Atlanta, GA
Light Rain - 68 Degrees

Well, hello again, friends.

When last we were in touch, we left you floating in the South Pacific on the French Polynesian island of Raiatea. We won't Bora Bora you with Moorea stories from the South Pacific right now. That Papeete mache might give you the Nuku Hivas. But, rest assured that we stuck together (more or less), stayed afloat, and circumnavigated the South Pacific to return to the Pacific Northwest. The archive is still under construction, the historical record will be complete. In the meantime, here we go again...

This is the year of the Southern Sojourn, in two parts:

1. The Southern Charm Road Trip
   Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale in a Chevy Impala, through Charleston and Savannah.
2. The Caribbean Sojourn Cruise
   Roundtrip Fort Lauderdale on the Seabourn Sojourn, through the Caribbean.

This trip is neither adventurous, nor exotic, but we will try to keep you regularly posted, and occasionally entertained.

To those of you who say, "What's with all the food? Don't you ever do anything but eat?" Well, food is good, and yes, but only because something has to come in between. If you still don't get it, take a walk down Beale Street in Memphis, and take their advice...

...we're going to.

We have about 18 hours in Atlanta before we hit the road. Better get started. Celebrity Chef, Top Chef Judge and Masters Cheftestant, Hugh Acheson is a four-time nominee and the 2012 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Southeast. He made Athens, Georgia the best tasting college town in the nation with Five & Ten and The National. He was no less ambitious with the opening of Empire State South, "Southern Food in Midtown Atlanta."

The vibe here is somewhere between country chic and midtown sleek, high-backed leather banquettes are fronted by rough-hewn bare wood tables. On the "Midtown Mile," ESS sits at the base of an office building on the other side of a bocce court from a corporate hotel. The clientele is no less eclectic: a little family celebrating an adult birthday with toddler in tow, 5 o'clock shadow hipster dudes with iPhones on the table in constant chirp, a four-top of fogies who don't look like they get out much, and a maybe celebrity holding court at the bar. Each of them, all of them, like the service, unfailingly nice.

"Empire State South takes a modern approach to creating authentic Southern dishes, relying on the beautiful foods of this region. A community restaurant that appeals to a broad range, Empire State South is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a to-go lunch program, courtyard bocce ball and an extensive coffee bar."

The food was more along the lines of good and interesting, than great and satisfying. An extensive list of hand-crafted cocktails is long on gin and whiskey. They are "liquor forward, not sweet."  "Snackies for the Table" include mini mason jars of southern spreads with toast soldiers. Pimento cheese is a southern staple, all the better with smoky-sweet bacon marmalade. We don't boil peanuts in the northwest. We eat them, or butter them, but they are legumes after all, and they make a damn fine hummus. The charred octopus was the dud of the night, all dry and dark with nothing to lighten the mood. The snout-to-tail tour-de-pig started with pork belly, but went well beyond, garnished with strips of leathery-crisp ear. The farm egg delivered the best story of the night. The chefs were on a culinary tour of Las Vegas and had a Hangover-caliber night of "drunken debauchery." The next afternoon, they awoke with no memory of where they had been or what they had done, but the vivid memory of this Vietnamese dish of crispy rice and runny egg. We finished on a breakfast note as well with the fall French toast, great in any season, for any meal.

Empire State South Menu:

• The Westview
  pear infused bulleit rye, amontillado Sherry, aromatic bitters
• In Jars
  pimento cheese & bacon marmalade, boiled peanut hummus
• Farm Egg
  pork sausage, shiitakes, broccoli, crisp carolina gold rice, kimchi puree
• Charred Octopus
  sea island red peas, smoked onion-squid ink puree, orange confit, urfa, ginger
• Pork Belly
  cider glaze: cotechino, fritter, huckleberry, trumpet mushrooms, baby carrots
• Fall French Toast
  pumpkin brioche pain perdu, pumpkin ganache, caramelized banana, maple sugar, banana ice cream

When the last of the banana ice cream had melted away, we got one last scoop for the night. Chef is opening a new restaurant in Savannah next year. His manager has been in The Hostess City scoping out the food scene. Word is she wasn't impressed, but we did get some recommendations. We'll figure it out. There are 426 miles and ten meals between here and Savannah, and we have plans for every one of them.

Next Stop:  Charleston, SC