Tantra Restaurant & Lounge

Signature dish - seared ostrich with mushrooms and onions. This is one tasty steak, and healthier for you than beef too.

I was invited to try Tantra back in May. Located on Peachtree Road, next door to Imperial Fez, Tantra is a real treat. Calvin and I enjoyed a spectacular meal with great ambiance and service. The hummus with lamb and the scallops were my favorite dishes and the desserts were awesome too. They also offer an ostrich filet, which is very tender and delicious - something different is always fun too. This is a great special occasion place and with the lovely bar, also a nice place for drinks and appetizers or dessert!

Tasty, although a bit salty, flat bread provided at the beginning of the meal with a tasty herb butter - we liked the butter so much we had to ask for more!



Lamb tartar with shallot butter on matzah - very tasty and unique, but not as much lamb flavor as the hummus with lamb, below.



Hummus tahini with sauteed lamb - one of my favorite dishes of the evening. Absolutely delicious!



Mussels with red bell pepper coconut broth - also outstanding.



Basil Caramelized Scallops - another winner. I love this dish. Basil, scallops, whipped potatoes and greens. Yum.



Tantra has several inventive cocktails including the Tantric, left, which includes fresh thyme and Elderflower liquor.



Lemon scented Italian doughnuts + warm white chocolate cake with vanilla-lavender ice cream and berries. Both of these are wonderful and unique. I was already full when I got to the dessert course but I had to taste these anyway - so glad I did!



Espresso and Sambuca drink - great way to end the evening.



The dining room is dark, romantic and sensual - as it should be at a place called Tantra!



Nicely decorated bar area.

Brunch at Parish Foods and Goods

Beignets - a nice touch for Parish's Sunday Brunch.

After a full bachelorette weekend back in March I took a couple of my bridesmaids to Parish Foods & Goods for Sunday brunch. We must have been hungry because I neglected to photograph anything other than the complimentary beignets, which were quite tasty. I also had the Shrimp & Grits, a worthy version with a poached egg on top - I love poached eggs. My friends seemed to enjoy their selections as well - French Toast, which I tasted and the American Breakfast. This was my first time eating in the dining room, although I've eaten in the cafe downstairs several times. I definitely enjoyed it and hope to have the chance to return soon.

Urban Pl8 - Brunch, Lunch and Dinner

Double-patty Banh Mi Burger - a delicious concept, adding pickled veggies and jalepenos to a very good burger. There is also a lamb burger on the menu.

I'm intrigued with the (fairly) new Westside spot Urban Pl8, where I have dined for brunch (no photos), lunch and dinner. The restaurant recently expanded their dinner service to Wednesday through Saturday. Interestingly, their lunch and dinner menu is identical, although it changes quite often (even daily, sometimes). The look here is garage/warehouse turned restaurant and the whole place is really one big room with a nice, long bar and the kitchen visible from the dining area. I like this concept, although I think it may be difficult for them to control the temperature (especially during colder months). There is also a patio, which I hope is in full use now that spring has sprung and we are heading for HOTlanta's warmest months.

Hummus appetizer. Good, fairly standard hummus.



Lamb Pizza appetizer: the flavors did not mesh as well together as I'd hoped. This is not on the current menu.



Sweet potato gnocchi - winter item now off the current menu. This was so tasty! I am not usually a gnocchi fan but through I'd give it a try since this was a sweet potato version. Paired with duck confit and braised kale, it was delicious! I hope they bring it back next winter.



Stir-fry Brown Rice and Vegetables. Calvin ordered this and liked it but wasn't crazy about it.



Hangar steak - tasty; I think the new menu changes the base, but these white beans were delicious.



Veggie Burger.



Doughnut dessert.



Banana Toffee Cream Pie - tasty and fresh.

The above was from a family dinner. I also had lunch with a friend on a cold winter's day. Below are the photos from lunch.

Sweet potato soup - very creamy, sweet and delicious. This made my day!



Goat cheese salad with truffle oil. This salad was a bit underwhelming but fresh and tasty nevertheless.



Asian Beef Salad - tasty and crunchy.



Chocolate chip cookie sandwich with Mascarpone icing. Wow - a great finale to my first lunch at Urban Pl8.

La Pietra Cucina

Fried stuffed olives and Proscuitto di Parma.

Recently I took Calvin to a (very) belated birthday dinner at La Pietra Cucina, a true Italian restaurant that opened within the past two years in Midtown. It also happened to be a place I had wanted to try for months. I suppose I was just waiting on the right occasion. We were seated by the window, which was slightly cold; however, our server soon closed the curtains, which helped with the temperature.

We started with the stuffed fried olives (very tasty) and the Proscuitto di Parma: flatbread and wonderful proscuitto with fresh-made ricotta and pineapple mostarda (photo above). In a word, excellent. Honestly I could make a lunch out of the flatbread and would love every minute of it!

See below for further details on what we ate. For a special occasion restaurant, I recommend this place wholeheartedly. It's also nice that they offer lunch; this creates an occasion to try some of the lighter dishes and end up with a lower price point.

Calamari in Sicilian tomato zupetta - perhaps the most delicious part of the meal. This is enough for a light lunch entree (with the bread).



Black spaghetti with rock shrimp, scallions and calabrese sausage - quite spicy and salty with a unique taste. Next time I'd like to try one of the pastas made in-house.



Porchetta - special of the day. This was a bit heavy, especially with the potatoes, but the meat was very flavorful.



Gelato with a cookie - yum.



Sicilian hand dropped zeppole.

These light, delicious doughnuts with thick chocolate on the side were an absolutely outstanding finish to the meal.

JCT = Still Awesome

Avocado, goat cheese, pistachio and beet salad.

With family in town, we headed for JCT Kitchen, one of my (now) favorite special occasion restaurants and a good place for a nice, but not too expensive lunch. All of the food we ordered as well as the always tasty, crusty bread with apple flavored butter, was fabulous. Somehow I neglected to photograph the shrimp & grits (probably because I was too busy lapping it up) - needless to say, this version is the best I've ever tasted. It included crusty bread for sopping and a soft cooked egg on top. The flavors blended perfectly to form a tasty, gooey mess. Top recommendations from this evening: avocado and beet salad, shrimp & grits, scallops, coconut cake and doughnuts with ice cream. JCT offers a special Sunday supper for $24/person that I'm dying to check out. I'll let you know when I do!

Creamy cauliflower soup.

Oyster fry with fried lemon slices and green beans.

Duck with duck meatball and gnocci.

Scallops - these were cooked perfectly and came with some killer scalloped potatoes.

Flounder special - tasty but a little too salty.

Braised short ribs - delicious meat.

Rum sopped coconut cake.

Meyer lemon doughnuts with espresso ice cream - my personal favorite!

Gingerbread with lemon curd.

I love it - a Lemonhead dispenser at the door!

Doughnuts - yum yum!

Here's how you'll know it!

I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd check out Sublime Doughnuts. While I'm not the hugest fan of doughnuts, I think a perfectly fresh doughnut can be very enjoyable. I was pleased to hear about this place in the AJC recently. I tried a bite of the three confections pictured below. The peanut butter cup was definitely sweet, with lots of good ole PB. I enjoyed the Boston cream pie although the cream was lacking - maybe someone forgot this one? The raspberry also wasn't full of much berry. I'd like to see more filling going in these doughnuts. Still, they were all very tasty and if I'm driving past this place again, I'll be tempted to stop and grab one. Go out and support this entrepreneur next time you're in the mood for doughnuts!

Display case of doughnuts.

Peanut butter cup doughnut - yes that's straight peanut butter on top!

Raspberry filled doughnut with powdered sugar; Boston cream pie doughnut - don't you love the heart shapes?