What ATL chefs jam out to in the kitchen
Tuesday, July 14 — Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the table.
Folks on the latest Discover Dunwoody trolley tour were treated to a surprise appearance from Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame giving away a tray full of free NFA burgers. The tour, which is free to Dunwoody residents, makes stops at various points of interest, including parks, historic sites, city government buildings, and restaurants. While NFA Burger has been a stop before, Waka Flocka is most definitely not part of the regular tour. Inquiring minds want to know who will be delivering batches of Billy’s double cheeseburgers on the next tour.
In other dining news, a resolution to impose a 180-day moratorium on new alcohol licenses along Edgewood Avenue was approved yesterday by the Atlanta City Council’s zoning committee. The resolution asks Mayor Andre Dickens and the city council to impose a moratorium on accepting any new alcohol license applications on Edgewood. The move comes after Old Fourth Ward and Sweet Auburn residents and business owners raised concerns about safety and traffic in the area, urging the city to take action.
FYI: Longtime bar Joystick Gamebar closed after 14 years on Edgewood this past weekend. But owners Johnny Martinez and Brandon Ley plan to reopen Joystick elsewhere in Atlanta.
On to this week’s “Family Meal,” which features the next installment of kitchen playlists, where I ask two Atlanta chefs about the importance of music in the back of house. You can check out the playlists from Bar Ana chef Claudia Martinez and Sammy’s chef Sam Pinner below.
For my “Editor’s Pick,” I tell you why La Suprema Bakery is worth the trip to Marietta not only for its pan dulce, but for tacos and a knife-and-fork-required vegetable and bean quesadilla.
Finally, Tracy Gitonga, owner of African Soulfood in Marietta, shared the restaurant’s recipe for bhajia, a popular East African street food made from fried potatoes seasoned with warming spices.
Cheers!
🍸 Beth
⚽ When the matches end, the dining begins. After cheering on your favorite teams across Atlanta, savor the city’s best tables during Buckhead Restaurant Week, July 27 through Aug. 1. More than 50 restaurants serve exclusive prix-fixe menus. Learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Kitchen Playlists
This story is part of a quarterly series on restaurant kitchen and back-of-house playlists, featuring music selections from local chefs and bartenders. Which chefs should I grab playlists from next? Email me at beth@roughdraftatlanta.com.
🎶 Restaurant dining room playlists are carefully curated to set the mood for guests, choreographed to follow the peaks and valleys of service. But music in the kitchen plays an equally important role, and one that starts well before the first people are seated in the dining room.
Starting hours ahead of service, music keeps the kitchen energized as staff prep ingredients, accept deliveries, and take inventory. When service begins, music provides the rhythm for chefs to keep pace while cooking and expediting umpteen dishes per hour. At closing, music soundtracks cleaning and powering down kitchen equipment for the day.
For this installment of “Heard,” Atlanta chefs Claudia Martinez of Bar Ana and Sam Pinner of Sammy’s and Broad Street BBQ share their thoughts on the importance of music in the kitchen before, during, and after service, along with songs playing in the back of house at their restaurants.
🍰 Claudia Martinez of Bar Ana
Having taken over the former El Bar space beneath El Ponce last year, the owners of Bar Ana take music seriously. No longer a dance club but a dessert and cocktail bar, you’ll often find DJs manning the booth just off the dining room. Toward the midnight hour on the weekends, Bar Ana’s compact seating area might even become a makeshift dance floor.
Co-owned by award-winning pastry chef Claudia Martinez, music was always part of the plan when she and her business partners were developing the concept behind Bar Ana. But while music in the dining room leans into beat-heavy rhythms meant to keep the room energized, choosing the back-of-house playlist each night comes down to whoever is working in the kitchen.
🥁 “The dining room has a specific genre of music we like to follow based off our menu, such as Afro beats, hip hop, Latin, and reggaeton,” Martinez said. “The kitchen playlists are based on each individual’s music taste.”
In the morning, sous chef Ella Holloway chooses what the kitchen listens to while they prep for service. During service in the evenings, Martinez tends to select the kitchen playlist. She opts for more upbeat, high-tempo music or pop and club tunes from the 1990s during evening service to keep things flowing steadily in the kitchen.
“It helps make it feel not like work and creates a fun environment,” said Martinez of choosing the right music for working in the kitchen, whether prepping for service or closing down Bar Ana for the night.
🎧 Bar Ana kitchen playlist
- Prep: “Mangetout” by Wet Leg
- Kicking off service: “Vibe” by Danilo
- In the weeds: “Low” by Larry Gaaga
- Winding down service: “Jo Jo” by Craig Isto
- Post-service: “ATM” by Don Toliver
- Kitchen theme song: “Voy a Llevarte Pa’ PR” by Bad Bunny
🍖 Sam Pinner of Sammy’s/Broad Street BBQ
Longtime friends and Paideia School alumni Chef Sam Pinner and Jason Furst always knew they wanted to open a restaurant together. They did just that when they opened Sammy’s sandwich shop in Adair Park last year, following it up with barbecue joint Broad Street BBQ in South Downtown earlier this summer.
While music plays a key role in the dining rooms and bars at both restaurants, it’s a different story in the kitchen.
“The dining room is where people come to relax, eat, drink, and be merry. The kitchen is a workspace where we are cooking with big knives and hot grease under constant time pressure [to get food out],” Pinner said.
🍳 “I want to hear when the water has evaporated from the pan and something goes from steaming to frying while my back is turned,” explained Pinner, who prefers the din of kitchen noises to that of music during service. “We also have to communicate a lot and yelling over music adds unnecessary chaos.”
But before and after service, Pinner lets his team choose what they listen to in the kitchen. Music in the kitchens at Sammy’s and Broad Street BBQ ranges from ranchera, norteño, and banda to cumbia and reggaeton.
“Music helps your mind wander while you’re doing repetitive prep work before service, like shucking cases of corn, or after service, while you’re scrubbing the flat top,” Pinner said. “But once service starts, the ticket printer performs a cappella.”
🎧 Sammy’s/Broad Street BBQ kitchen playlist
Kitchen theme song: “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones
Prep: “Na Na Na (Dulce Niña)” by A.B. Quintanilla III
Kicking off service: “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges
In the weeds: “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
Winding down service: “Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley
Post-service: “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” by OutKast
Where to Find Summer-Inspired Drinks in Roswell
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Editor’s Pick
🐚 Located on Cobb Parkway in Marietta, La Suprema Bakery & Panaderia features not only cases of freshly baked pan dulce, but a small grill churning out made-to-order tacos, quesadillas, and tortas.
I had come here to sample the conchas (try the chocolate) and orejas (ear-shaped, rolled puff pastry coated in cinnamon and sugar), but couldn’t resist the sizzle of meat and cheese hitting the grill beyond the bakery counter.
For $24 (with tax), we also ordered two tacos with arrachera steak (similar to skirt steak) and well-seasoned spicy chicken, both cradled in double corn tortillas, and a generous bean, cheese, and grilled vegetable quesadilla. We kept the garnishes simple, dressing the tacos with pico de gallo and jalapenos, and only adding grilled corn and jalapenos to the quesadilla.
🌮 This grill counter doesn’t skimp on ingredients, as evidenced by the supreme quesadilla on a 12-inch tortilla stuffed within an inch of its life, folded, and cut into thirds to make it easier to eat. It required a knife and fork to eat, which La Suprema supplied without even asking. Sources also tell me the chilaquiles are worth the drive for breakfast. So, that’s now on the eating agenda.
Recipe: Bhajia
🥔 This week, we’re sharing a recipe for bhajia from African Soulfood, located at the Nazareth Plaza in Marietta. The popular East African snack and street food is made from fried potato slices.
Like many iconic street foods, bhajia owes its origins to overseas trade and cultural intersections.
“Bhajia has deep roots in East African Indian communities. When Indian traders and workers settled in Kenya, especially during the building of the railway in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they brought their food traditions with them,” said Tracy Gitonga, owner and operator of African Soulfood.
⚽ When the matches end, the dining begins. After cheering on your favorite teams across Atlanta, savor the city’s best tables during Buckhead Restaurant Week, July 27 through Aug. 1. More than 50 restaurants serve exclusive prix-fixe menus. Learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Rough Cut: Lucian
Welcome to “Rough Cut,” where Sarra and I offer our first impressions on the food, vibe, and service at restaurants around Atlanta.
🍷📖 I recently dined at Lucian in Buckhead, the wine bar and bookshop owned by Jordan Smelt and Katie Barringer. TLDR: don’t sleep on the summer menu right now from Chef Jason Paolini and his team.
🗣️ Check out my full Rough Cut on Lucian here.
➡️ 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.
