MMMmmm...Chocolate!

Cynthia Wong will be the featured pastry chef at Atlanta Botanical Garden's Chocolate Sunday on December 12 at 2:00 p.m. She'll be demo'ing Dulce de Leche German Chocolate Cupcakes -- you won't want to miss this! For more information, click here.

Historic Bakery Sign Cakes & Ale

Here is the historic sign we uncovered at our new bakery space. Just perfect! It happens to be on the left wall of what will be the Cakes & Ale Bakery.

After months of designing our new restaurant space at 151 Sycamore, redesigning some of the historic parts of the building, and talking to lots of contractors, engineers, and so forth, we've finally started construction! For all of you who love seeing a project evolve (like us!), here are some photos of the spaces that will be Cakes & Ale.

This is a "before" photo of 155 Sycamore, which will be the main dining room/bar of our new space.

Here's a "before" photo of what will be the bakery at 151 Sycamore.

The photos below are from 11/17/10 and show the beginning of the project: demolition. This is the rear of the bakery in what will be the bakery kitchen. We love the rounded doorway and the brick/plaster. We also found a doorway to the Cakes & Ale restaurant kitchen that we didn't know existed!

Here's a view of the middle space (153 Sycamore) that will house the private dining room and some seating.

Doorway connecting the bar dining room with the private dining room.

We uncovered some old transoms above the front facade that will be restored.

The side of the building will have a few windows installed and outdoor seating along Church Street. (outdoor seating!)

We'll also have a rooftop garden.

Fried Okra

With summer coming to an end. Only one more week of Cakes and Ale's fried okra!!

August 1st Sunday Supper

Phatty Cakes turned into ice-cream sandwiches! Can you believe it?

This is a picture of juicy melon from Cimino Farms with delicious prosciutto from La Quercia Billy says, " One of the best ham producers! "

Our guests cooled off on Sunday with our cocktail of the night this Cool Cucumber Mint Julep. The Julep is a mix of mint, cucumber, Bernheim Bourbon, and powdered sugar! Yummy and refreshing!

Fall 2009

Cakes & Ale Fall 2009

We had a great time at our "Murder Mystery Dinner Theater" Sunday Supper on November 1st, 2009! These are a few picts from "Murder on the Orient Express:"

Here are some of our guests in costume, studying their lines to get ready to play their part.

We created a menu with classic dishes from the 1920's, so the finale was a flambe where the chefs came out of the kitchen and fired crepe Suzette tableside.

The garden is in full swing, with our new "Hoot Owls" monitoring the garden to keep the bunnies away (which did work for awhile!).

We have fall lettuces, baby kale, carrots, turnips, radishes, and kohlrabi growing now. The kale graced our "veggie bowl" for a few weeks and the lettuces are now being used in our salads. We may have some broccoli and cauliflower if the rabbits don't get them first!

On the menu now, braised striped bass in a tomato/red wine sauce, and a beautiful salad with lettuces and Ashley Farms Guinea Hen.

Upcoming Events:
New Year's Eve Parties:
Our early party (four course chef's menu) is almost sold out, and our late party (passed appetizers and drinks) is filling up. The early party/four-course menu is reservation only between 5:30pm - 8pm. The late party/passed apps is reservation only from 10:30-1am. We will have music at the late party to ring in the new year. For information, call us at 404-377-7994.

Holiday Hours:
We will close December 24-25, open every day from Dec 26-31 (including Sunday/Monday), and close for vacation Januray 1-6. We reopen for our normal schedule on January 7th and our Sunday Supper on January 10th will be a Twelfth Night celebration.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Sunday Supper August 2nd & New Wines

We enjoyed a delicious Caribbean Feast on Sunday, August 3rd. Our next Sunday Supper is September 6th, during the Decatur Book Festival. We're not sure what the menu will be, so check online in the next week or two. Reservations are recommended!

A few picts from the Sunday Supper:

Yes, we served Goat Curry this Sunday! If you've tried goat cheese, goat milk, or goat yoghurt, you've already started on the path to trying a "new" meat (new to most of us in the US, at least). We purchased this goat meat (called "Chevon") from a farm in Westminster, South Carolina called Billy's Boer Meat Goat Farm. According to the people at Billy's Boer, Chevon is high in protein and lower in fat, calories, saturated fat and cholesterol than chicken, beef, pork or lamb. The taste reminded us more of pork than of lamb, and it was delicious. Who knew?!

Okra on the stove.

Seafood salad with spicy escabesh and avocado dip.

Friends enjoying the feast!

Other news:

We have two new wines on our list. The first is a Greek wine from Gaia Estate (Episkopi Vineyard) in Santorini. The grape is Assyrtiko (pronounced ah SYR tih koh). This is an intense, dry white wine with minerality and citrus notes. It's a lovely wine on these hot summer nights!

The second new wine is a Primativo from Mosby Winery near Santa Barbara, California. Primitivo is a grape grown in Puglia, Italy, and is known as the "father of the Zinfandel grape." We wanted to see how our friends on the West coast were growing this Italian varietal, and we're impressed!