The art of plating and hospitality
Tuesday, Jun. 2 — Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
Today’s “Family Meal” features a conversation with Demetrius Brown of Bread & Butterfly and Chef Karl Gorline of Avize about the artistry behind plating dishes at their restaurants. It was a really cool conversation about their process, what inspires them, and if they feel plating is a form of artistic expression through food.
For my “Editor’s Pick,” I’m talking about the hospitality experience and my favorite noodle dish at Kamayan ATL in Doraville.
We’re continuing our World Cup recipes series. Through mid-July, expect recipes from local restaurants representing some of the countries playing at The Benz. This week, Daily Chew offers a recipe for South African peri-peri chicken wings served with peri-peri sauce and garlic labneh.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
MORE THAN A PRETTY PLATE OF FOOD
🍽️ There’s nothing random about the presentation of a plate of food at a restaurant, especially at a finer dining establishment.
The arrangement of ingredients, the color scheme, textures, layers and height, even techniques used to compile a plate of food are all deliberate choices by the chef.
A medallion of filet mignon garnished with a fresh salad of micro-herbs, cushioned on a pillow of creamy potato puree with crispy tuiles of blanched greens is by design.
The brush stroke of ruby red raspberry sauce streaking across a stark white plate beside a French silk brownie, or edible flowers carefully plucked with tweezers from a container to form a delicate bouquet atop creme brulee have a purpose.
Color choice, the interplay of light and dark, creating depth and height, the total composition of a plate served to you at a restaurant is meant to capture your attention. After all, wasn’t it the 1st century Roman epicure Apicius who said, “We eat first with our eyes?” Now that includes the cameras on our phones.
🥗 Plating for the senses
Chefs have always played up the sensual nature of food through plating, creating edible masterpieces on fragile canvases of bone china, weathered wood, artisan ceramic, simple stoneware, or pastel-hued Depression-era glass.
In fact, the techniques for styling and plating food are part of the curriculum at culinary school. For budding chefs, acing food presentation is just as important as mastering menu planning, learning to make the five mother sauces, and honing your knife skills. The visual appeal of food sets expectations. Lose a diner at first sight, and you’ll likely lose them before first bite.
Demetrius Brown, chef and co-owner of Bread & Butterfly in Inman Park, and upcoming restaurant Heritage in Summerhill, believes social media has only upped the ante for chefs when it comes to food presentation.
A stunning photo taken of a colorful salad filled with the bounty of the season can become a calling card for a restaurant online.
“In the day and age we live in now, social media is everybody’s best friend. The more people taking pictures of your food, and the more visually striking it is, hopefully, the more attention they’ll bring to your restaurant,” Brown said.
Plating principles
Building a simple plate of food is based on the rule of three. It’s the same principle used by artists and architects meant to create balance and symmetry and not overwhelm the eye.
Classic plating is neat and tidy, with a protein, vegetable, and starch usually arranged in a clockwise fashion. Chefs often use this basic plating principle as a starting point for styling, which can range from adding swooshes, splatters, and dots of sauce and purees for visual interest, to forming geometric shapes out of vegetables to create structure.
When it comes to plating, Chef Karl Gorline, the owner of Avize on the west side of Atlanta, takes a slightly unique approach to the rule of three.
“I have this kind of quirky obsession with having a unique piece of China for all the dishes so they have their own space. Plates are all ingredient-driven, with the inspiration being seasonality,” said Gorline. “We work in sets of threes – three elements and then three iterations of each one of those elements. There’s also a little superstition. We work in odd numbers only.”
3️⃣ As a young chef, Gorline worked at a restaurant in Jackson, MS, owned by Dan Blumenthal. Gorline recalled one night neatly arranging six asparagus on a plate. Blumenthal quickly told Gorline that he only plates in odd numbers because even numbers are bad luck. Whether Blumenthal was ribbing Gorline or not didn’t matter. His mentor’s word was enough. Blumenthal’s plating methodology stuck, becoming part of Gorline’s process.
Even after two decades in restaurants, Gorline said his plating style is still a work in progress, constantly evolving as he learns and grows as a chef. Sometimes his approach leans organic and minimalist, showcasing ingredients as naturally as possible. Other times, Gorline plates in full-on maximalist mode to create awe-inspiring moments that prompt his guests to ask questions.
The latter approach to styling a plate allows Gorline and his staff to talk about the farmers they regularly source from, as well as specific ingredients, like the lamb saddles he just received from a farm in upstate Pennsylvania.
For Gorline, plating inspiration can come from just about anything, including mundane objects like a paver stone. He once based the design for a radish tartlet on a lightning bolt he photographed from the front steps of his house. While shaving radishes the next day, he was inspired by striations in the flesh of the root vegetable.
🧑🍳 Read more from my conversation with Brown and Gorline here.
A nostalgic summer vacation at Lake Oconee
SPONSORED BY VISIT LAKE OCONEE
🏖️ Looking for things to do this summer or planning a weekend getaway near Atlanta? Just over an hour away, Lake Oconee is one of Georgia’s top summer destinations, offering everything from boating and fishing to berry picking and small-town charm.
🌞 Whether you’re planning a relaxing lake vacation or hoping to recreate the “good old days” with your kids or grandkids, Lake Oconee is the perfect place to slow down and make lasting summer memories.
EDITOR’S PICK
🇵🇭 Walking into Kamayan ATL on a Friday night without a reservation means you’ll likely have to wait for a seat. When my party of six arrived at 7 p.m. (with a reservation), the line was already out the door. A handful of couples and parties of four happily stationed themselves along the rail of the covered walkway beyond the Michelin-recommended, Buford Highway restaurant. Those of us who’ve frequented Kamayan ATL for years – even before opening as an Asian Square restaurant, with the accolades that followed – know it’s worth the wait.
For owners Mia Orino and Carlo Gan, hospitality begins the minute you arrive at the host stand. On that drizzly Friday night, Orino repeatedly walked outside to offer water or fresh juice to people on the waitlist. Kamayan ATL staff occasionally peeked out to tell people how much longer it would be before their table was ready. Those little acknowledgements make people feel seen. A connection is made.
Once seated, your server promptly stops by to answer questions, provide suggestions, and bring wine glasses if you come with a bottle or two to share. Even at the frenzied height of dinner service, Orino and Gan’s staff are gracious and patient as they take orders and deliver the restaurant’s award-winning dishes. Nothing feels forced. And while food hits the table quickly, service isn’t rushed.
😋 Orino and Gan launched Kamayan ATL as a pop-up in 2018. They named it for a communal feasting style in the Philippines where tables are laid end-to-end with banana leaves, then piled high with an array of tropical fruits, roasted meats, rice, and other dishes.
“Kamayan is coming together with the people you love and trust the most or have a strong bond with. Everything is eaten with your hands,” Orino told me back in 2024. “It’s very communal, and that’s important to Filipino people.”
Restaurant hospitality is an art. It’s why restaurants win awards for it. Making hospitality and the service experience look easy requires continuous fine-tuning, understanding your guests, and absorbing and acting on constructive feedback. You’re not simply dining at a restaurant owned by Orino and Gan. Kamayan ATL is an extension of their home.
🍜 My friends and I created our own kamayan that Friday night. Our favorite dish: pancit sotanghon ($21, pictured). A stone bowl arrives with sauteed mung bean vermicelli topped with tofu, roasted halal chicken, Chinese sausage, and pork belly, along with a vegetable medley of broccoli, red cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots meant for tossing together at the table. Crispy chicken skins provide extra crackle to noodles already layered with soft, chewy, and crunchy textures.
WORLD CUP RECIPE
🇿🇦 In honor of the World Cup matches taking place in Atlanta, we’re sharing recipes representing some of the teams playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in June and July. This week, Atlanta restaurant Daily Chew offers a recipe for peri-peri chicken wings, part of a special South African menu for the World Cup.
Peri-peri sauce is an African and Portuguese sauce made from the peri-peri pepper, or African bird’s eye chili, which is native to South America and came to Mozambique through Portuguese colonization.
➡️ Get double the Atlanta food and dining coverage with “Family Meal,” edited by Beth McKibben, on Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and “Side Dish,” edited by Sarra Sedghi, on Thursdays at noon. Subscribe to both here.
