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Restaurant Roundup: More New Eateries Headed for Midtown

Mediterranean fare, a diner-style eatery and a pizzeria are coming soon.

 

Midtown foodies, here are the latest fresh, food-related tidbits.

Tomorrow's News Today reports that a Mediterranean restaurant named Couscous is planned for on Dutch Valley Road, in the space that was home to Amuse! restaurant. The new restaurant is a project by the owners of Perla Taqueria.

The Creative Loafing Omnivore blog reports that a diner is headed for a spot in Atlantic Station that used to be home to the Fox Sports Grill, which closed in early 2012.

Atlanta Magazine reports that the diner is the brainchild of Ron Eyester, owner and chef at Rosebud and the Family Dog in Virginia-Highland. The report says that Eyester also plans to open a pizzeria in Morningside, in the space that held the short-lived Waffold restaurant.

And in case you missed it, the Eater Atlanta blog has an interview with Asha Gomez, owner at chef at the Cardamom Hill, the Westside restaurant that was recently nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award. In fact, Cardamom Hill was the only Atlanta restaurant to be recognized as one of the country’s best new restaurants.

As Gomez told Eater Atlanta, she was humbled to be recognized for her effort to present Indian food "without dumbing it down." She told the blog:

"I'm not taking anything away from fantastic dishes generally associated with Indian cuisine like paneer, tandoori, naan, and so on, but I didn't grow up eating that. I grew up eating in my mother's kitchen near the coastline where seafood was abundant, and I grew up Christian, so we ate rice, chicken, beef, bread, seafood— it's a completely different cuisine from what people think of as Indian food."

See also:

Several Westside Restaurants and Chefs Named Semifinalists for James Beard Awards

Related Topics: Restaurants

Tim

9:56 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Surprisingly enough, Morroco is on the Mediterranean, along with Algeria, Tunsia and Libya where couscous is a staple food.

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Marc

10:15 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Seth, eastern Morocco (with one "r") is arguably on the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, though the small portion between Morocco and Spain is also known as Alboran Sea. However, couscous is very popular in several other Mediterranean nations, so I think its not unreasonable to name a Mediterranean themed restaurant Couscous.

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Aya Turner

10:42 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Couscous is most definitely Moroccan and eaten in southern France as well ... I hope they will make their own merguez sausage! Looking forward to it, despite that location.

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Aya Turner

10:43 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

.... and most definitely Mediterranean! J'adore!

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ATLgoofball

11:37 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I know James Beard is the man and all but the reviews on Yelp remind me that most of these $$$ places in Atlanta are highly overpriced/overrated. Even her quote rings lame to me. She's cooking Indian Fusion food and the term "dumbing it down" just calls out pretentious and someone who thinks creating "experimental" food dishes is the key to great flavors.

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VianenBrederode

12:15 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Have you been? It really is very good and it's not as expensive as you'd expect.

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MidtownAtlFan

9:29 am on Monday, April 29, 2013

Look again at the quote. She's not being 'experimental', she's concentrating on authentic food -- just not the limited selections usually offered to ATL customers. She's saying that Indian food is much more diverse than the usual paneer, etc. Just like American food is more diverse than what you find in a burger joint.

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