a toast to allen jones

the client list that consultant allen jones carries with him is the face of the atlanta restaurant scene. though many are unaware of the remarkable contribution this brilliant man has made to the way atlanta dines.  a talented entrepreneur, business consultant, market feasibility consultant, political organizer, and networking leader, allen's excellent organization and leadership skills have proven successful to many of atlanta's most successful and longest living atlanta restaurants.

for one night only, join a 'Toast to Allen Jones' to honor his talent, uncommon character and unique contribution to the atlanta restaurant scene. 

guests will be enjoy an informal evening of delicious food and creative drink in a casual walk-around tasting/grazing format to laud allen's remarkable work.  proceeds will benefit the Feed My Lambs foundation that allen has started to benefit and empower under-served children and communities.

location: 4th & Swift

date: sunday, january 29, 2012

time: 4:30pm - 7:30pm

toast to allen: 6:00pm

restaurants and chefs include jay swift of 4th & swift, chris hall, todd mussman and ryan turner of muss & turner's and local three, steven satterfield of miller union, todd ginsberg of bocado, linton hopkins of restaurant eugene, samantha enzmann of the mercantile and ryan hidinger of staplehouse!  

libations from holeman & finch, kimball mill (new restaurant coming soon) and kevin brag of 4th & swift.

price is $100 per person (+ small fee to brown paper tickets) and 100% of proceeds go to charity.  contact seth roskind of 4th & swift at 678-904-0160 or brown paper tickets for more info.

post copy courtesy of grapes and hops.

hors d'oeuvres

staplehouse hors d'oeuvres!  this weekend jen and i hosted our neighbor thom and his closest friends for some bites.  good ol' southern fair... biscuits with butter and orange marmalade, fried chicken with red onion jam, heirloom grits with bbq pork white cheddar and arugula, celery root soup with pecans and parsley and smoked salmon with capers and preserved lemon.  for dessert, staplehouse 'hazelnutters' and custrard with jam . 

thanks to everyone for stopping by and hanging with us for the evening!

christmas 2011 in LA

this year christmas was a much needed break for jen and me. what is typically a busy stress filled week of driving, flying, eating-bad-food-as-fast-as-you-can-so-you-can-get-on-to-the-next-house, sleeping for a few hours and staring all over again... was anything but.

we headed to los angeles this year.  yeah i know, LA weather for christmas, not right.  but honestly, atlanta chritsmas weather is about the same, but in LA we had the beautiful santa monica mountains to our east, the pacific to our west and family and bad ass restaurants in between. right out of the gates, landing the tuesday before, we stop at in-and-out burger for a couple double doubles. could this trip start any better?

entertainment for the in between eating moments, remote controlled helicopters. yes, i am a child...  no, i don't want to grow up and yes, that is a draft beer tap coming out of the counter with a painting of 'sloth' from goonies behind it.  just try to imagine a better setting for me to reset my engine.

aside from catching up with loves ones our mission for this trip was to eat at as many restaurants on my hit list as possible.  first up, animal.  all i can say is, GO.  the flag ship restaurant of chefs, jon shook and vinny dotolo is every bit as good as you may have heard.  crispy pigs ears with chili, lime and sunny side up egg, unreal.

our list for this trip: animal, son of a gun, lukshon, waterloo and city, a-frame, mb post and jonnie's pastrami. i'd say we did well for the holiday.

time for recess.  jen heads out with my brother scott for her first motorcycle ride. can't think of much better ride than his fully overhauled 2007 triumph bonneville to a custom, blacked out, bratt bonnie. if you are into bikes, check out http://bratbonnie.blogspot.com/ for a play by play on scotts labor of love.

a toast! to family, near and far, past and present.   it's tradition in the family that christmas eve scott puts out a spread of snacks in honor of our grandmother.  kids are to excited to sit down and eat dinner the night before santa arives, so plates full of bbq meatballs and all sorts of goodies are laid out for us to do a fly-by on in between viewings of elf and toy helicopter missions.

ah the beach!  christmas morning we have a quick breakfast and head out to the beach for some bocce ball and wine.

christmas dinner.  ham, buessles and stuffing.  scotty's now famous sweet potato cheese cake.

a chistmas elf and a sleeping old friend.

a sunset with family.  thanks scott, blair and cora for hosting us all, what a great week.

denny dinner

STAPLEHOUSE hosted a dinner this past weekend for our dear friends dick and marg denny and their family.  over the years we have met many great people through muss & turners and dick and marg are two of our favorites.  always kind, honest and generous, we were thrilled to host them.  below are shots of some of the amazing wines they brought and the food we made to go with them.

 

crab soup with preserved meyer lemon and tarragon

salad of local beets, navel orange, avocado, feta and champagne vinaigrette (not shown)

sweet potato agnolotti with bitter greens bacon and grain mustard jus

braised beef short rib with celery root puree, baby carrots, beet greens and cipollini onions  

goat cheese cheesecake with orange marmalade and walnuts

jezebel magazine - december 2011

page 36 of the december 2011 issue of jezebel magazine

STAPLEHOUSE is honored to be mentioned in the decemeber 2011 issue of jezebel magazine.  thank you to freelance writer, ashley hizer and her photography staff, 'Party Hearty' can be found online and on shelves now!

STAPLEHOUSE small batch program

STAPLEHOUSE small batch is underway.

what is small batch?  STAPLEHOUSE small batch is a new program where STAPLEHOUSE produces limited quantity specialty items, such as soup, hot sauces, pickles, mustards and jams -- all made scratch from local product, and all first-come, first-served.  with each email we send, we list that weekends offering and provide all necessary details about suggested donation and such.

oh, wait.  there's more.  STAPLEHOUSE also offers free delivery to certain atlanta area neighborhoods, but you need to be on our email list to see where those are!  otherwise, picking up from our grant park home is the option.

to date, STAPLEHOUSE has offered a different small batch soup each weekend for the last 6 weeks. from roasted local chicken & dumplings to pork rib & udon noodle.  below was a bowl of our smoked berkshire pork & beans that hit the spot!  a huge hunk of warm corn bread, slathered with good butter softly nestled underneath the glory of pork & beans is magic.  truly magic.  all STAPLEHOUSE small batch soup is limited to 2 quarts per person or family.  1 quart equals 2 servings. all of our soups are labeled with hand written batch numbers.

photo curtsey of a friend

small batch label for 12/3/11

STAPLEHOUSE small batch will be in addition to our prelude dinners. 

happy birthday andy!

last weekend staplehouse hosted a surprise birthday dinner for our friends andy and erika, here are some shots of the night!

north georgia apples, shaved fennel, hazelnuts, goat cheese and grain mustard vinaigrette.

white bean puree with pickled chili and rosemary-garlic oil.

roasted hudson valley duck breast with sautee of smoked mushroom and parsnip, roasted grape and taragon salad and parsnip puree.

melt in your mouth short rib that we braised in red wine and soy sauce, lacinato kale ginger-potato carrot puree.

our melting ice cream sandwich. peanut butter cookie with peanut butter gelato from honeysuckle gelato and housemade brown turkey fig preserves.

a huge thank you especially to erika, jen's great friend AND hair stylist, for organizing this surprise birthday dinner for andy!