Georgia makes Travel + Leisure’s global Top 50 list

TRAVEL + LEISURE MAGAZINE has named Georgia one of its “50 Best Places to Travel in 2019.” The far-ranging annual list includes cities, locations, states and nations from New York’s Adirondacks and Alsace, France, to Malaysia, Cambodia and the Florida Keys.

Of Georgia, Travel + Leisure specifically mentions Atlanta and Savannah, saying: “With so much happening in the Peach State, Georgia should be on the mind of any savvy traveler these days. Atlanta continues its rise as a culinary capital. Notable openings include the Local Pizzaiolo, a downtown pizza spot, and Masterpiece, helmed by James Beard-nominated Rui Liu, while food halls like Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market are constantly adding new vendors. Meanwhile, the remarkable transformation of Hotel Clermont from a seedy motel into a dapper boutique property — complete with a superb French-leaning bistro and rooftop bar — has both locals and visitors buzzing. And the city famous for its gridlock is increasingly bike-friendly, thanks to the ongoing growth of the Atlanta BeltLine, a mixed-used trail that will span 33 miles when it’s completed in 2030.

The picture gallery in the lobby of Savannah’s Perry Lane Hotel.

“On the coast, Savannah is hopping with a flurry of hotel openings, including newcomers The Alida, a luxe riverfront property, and the upscale Perry Lane Hotel in the Historic District. Openings in 2019 include the Liberty and the Lark. On the food front, the Grey Market, a hybrid of a New York-style bodega and a Southern lunch counter, opened in late 2018 under Johno Morisano and Mashama Bailey, Savannah’s most celebrated restaurant team. It was inspired by their beloved restaurant, the Grey, which does Southern-inspired cuisine in a refurbished Greyhound bus depot and has earned a slew of accolades since its 2014 opening.”

To read about all 50 destinations, go HERE.

Travel + Leisure editors sought recommendations from travel writers. The team then reviewed locations at the forefront of conversations worldwide and made its recommendations based on what destinations are of most interest to travelers. The magazine has a global audience of more than 16 million.

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The Atlanta Ballet presents A WHOLE NEW ‘NUTCRACKER’

Atlanta Ballet’s first fresh holiday show in 2 decades

was 2 years in the making. Creators hint

that it will be brimming with surprises.

Atlanta Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” runs Dec. 8-24 at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.892.3303. 

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CURTAIN UP on the glow and oh-so-pretty snow. It’s finally time to crack open a whole new Nutcracker because, as Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin says, every generation deserves its own.

Choreographer Yuri Possokhov in rehearsal for the new “Nutcracker.” Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin describes his friend as “a child in big-person pants” and calls his work “amazing.” Photo: Kim Kenney

Nedvigin, a Bolshoi-trained artist, became the fourth artistic director in the company’s 89-year history two seasons ago. He last danced with San Francisco Ballet, and moved to Atlanta knowing he’d help oversee an all-new Nutcracker ballet.

Young people who grew up attending its predecessor, a storybook production staged for 23 seasons, are continuing the tradition. The old version was set against rich, jewel-toned backdrops that evoked 19th-century Russia. It blended clever comedic moments and ethereal classical ballet sequences with thrilling pas de deux.

Nedvigin’s new $3.7 million staging, choreographed by friend and Russian-born dancer Yuri Possokhov, returns to the original source material: German author E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 fantasy story, “Nutcracker and Mouse King.” It places the opening Christmas Eve party scene in a small German village.

A magical uncle

With dream-versus-reality notions, along with toy soldiers and snowflakes and such, The Nutcracker opens its imagination wide to artistic invention. But its central story line often remains: a magical uncle figure brings handmade toys to children at the party. Among them is a nutcracker, which is soon broken. A young girl named Marie checks on it in the middle of the night and discovers it has come to life. The nutcracker battles a mouse king, and then turns into a prince who carries Marie off to a fantasy kingdom inhabited by dolls.

A costume fitting with designer Sandra Woodall. Photo: Kim Kenney

Hoffmann’s tale contained bleak, even scary elements. As a leader in the German Romantic movement, he was accustomed to writing fantasy and Gothic horror, with tales full of inanimate objects coming to life. In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas toned down much of the darkness in Hoffmann’s story. An all-new Nutcracker, which premiered in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia, paired the lighter Dumas telling with the familiar Tchaikovsky score.

The ballet was not an immediate hit, finding success gradually and chiefly after 1954, when George Balanchine created a version for New York City Ballet. Atlanta audiences have seen that version, too, and until now the one choreographed by Possokhov predecessor John McFall. Possokhov’s ballet is unlike either of those.

“Yuri is truly a child in big-person pants,” Nedvigin says. “He has such a great sense of creativeness inside him. The dancers can prove my words. He truly becomes a child and runs and plays when he is creating. It’s amazing to watch him. We’ll be having dinner, and you will see him just sort of float away. You discover he is making steps in the air.”

The ‘firepower’

Atlanta Ballet hints that its new  Nut “will rival a Broadway show in terms of production firepower.” A versatile team was assembled to help make that happen:

A costume rendering for Christmas Eve party guests by designer Sandra Woodall.

SCENIC DESIGNER TOM PYE sometimes designs costumes as well. He received a Tony nomination for the scenic design of Broadway’s 2004 Fiddler on the Roof revival.

COSTUME DESIGNER SANDRA WOODALL has done costumes and scenery for prominent ballet companies around the world. She designed costumes for Atlanta Ballet’s Helen Pickett-choreographed Camino Real (2017). A “costume can be absolutely stunning,” Pickett says, “but it cannot take away from what the body is doing … how the body describes the story … and Sandra understands that.”

LIGHTING DESIGNER DAVID FINN did lights and scenery for Camino Real. Next for him are world premieres of The Little Prince for the National Ballet of Canada and Frankenstein for London’s Royal Ballet.

PROJECTION DESIGNER FINN ROSS did scenery for Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Frozen and Mean Girls. He won London’s Olivier Award (2012) and Broadway’s Tony Award (2014) for the scenic design of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He and his team spent nine months making the short, three-dimensional film shown during the overture.

And that’s not all. Robert Allsopp, known in  theater circles for his sculptural costumes, was hired to create mice costumes and some headpieces. His work is among more than 250 costumes this Nut uses, many hand-dyed and handcrafted in the United States and three other countries.

Friends & colleagues

Possokhov and Nedvigin have known each other for 18 years. Both were San Francisco Ballet principals near the ends of their performing careers, which also is when Possokhov’s choreographic reputation began growing.

“Oh, so many wonderful surprises,” promises artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin. “So much more is possible.” Photo: Hyosub Shin

“The Nutcracker is rooted in Tchaikovsky’s music,” Possokhov says, and gives choreographers “much room for imagination.” Its magic is “its ability to bring people together — children, parents, grandparents, friends, people from all different backgrounds and various faiths.”

Atlanta Ballet calls the new production “a Nutcracker for our time,” without getting too specific. “You will lose your mind to it,” Nedvigin says, “and will forget what is outside the theater walls. You will be transported to a completely different world.”

Nedvigin and Possokhov want audiences to have a hard time discerning what is and isn’t real “but in a good way.” Almost whispering, Nedvigin says, “Oh, so many wonderful surprises. So much more is possible. One time will not be enough to see it or love it.”

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Giant sculptures return to Atlanta Botanical Garden on May 5

THE GIANT TOPIARY EXHIBITION Imaginary Worlds returns May 5 to the Atlanta Botanical Garden with an all-new menagerie of living plant sculptures. The show runs through Oct. 28 and can be seen at both the Midtown and Gainesville locations.

Photos: Atlanta Botanical Garden

Imaginary Worlds first lumbered into the Garden in 2013/14, returning now by popular demand and mostly with creations that have never been seen before. The sculptures, which will be seen inside and out, are mostly custom-made and come from  the nonprofit International Mosaiculture of Montreal.

The  sculptures — steel forms covered in soil-and-sphagnum moss and planted with thousands of meticulously groomed plants — will be staged in 14 installations. In Midtown, look for a giant phoenix towering over the Alston Overlook, as a mermaid lounging beside Howell Fountain, a massive dragon and sleeping princess near the Great Lawn, a peacock inside the Fuqua Orchid Center, and three camels making their way through the Skyline Garden. The Gainesville landscape, meanwhile, will see such characters as a friendly ogre, panda bears and frolicking frogs.

The process began taking root about six months ago when conceptual drawings were done in Montreal, metal frames were fabricated and plant palettes were chosen. The empty frames were shipped to Atlanta in January, where the Garden’s horticulturists began covering them with a mesh fabric and stuffing them with soil. More than 200,000 plants, mostly annuals, were inserted one by one. The sculptures were built in sections and planted inside a greenhouse outside the city, then trucked to the Garden when the weather warmed for assembly. 

The exhibit is free with Garden admission ($21.95; $15.95 ages 3-12; under 3 and Garden members free in Midtown). From May through October, the Garden is open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday; and 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Thursday featuring illuminated sculptures and Cocktails in the Garden. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.876.5859.

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BATTLE ZONE

by Julie Bookman

FOR THIS VISIT,  ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER LEADER ROBERT BATTLE LOOKS TO THE PAST — 1960, THE 1980S, 2004 — TO ENTERTAIN, PROVOKE AND INFORM THE FUTURE.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs Feb. 14-18 at the Fox Theatre. Tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499. 

“ALMOST SPIRITUAL.” That’s how Robert Battle describes Atlanta’s passion for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

“The black experience,” says Ailey artistic director Robert Battle, “is not a one-note samba.” Photo: Andrew Eccles

“The love and electricity we feel every time we’re there is the kind of excitement and commitment that’s usually reserved for pop culture — like for rock stars,” says Battle, artistic director of the nation’s pre-eminent modern dance company.

This visit the 32-member company — in which no one is a star but everyone dances like one — brings 13 pieces for six performances. You’d need to attend four of the six to see them all. What you can count on is plenty of powerful, athletic dance and Revelations as the finale. The spirit-rousing, visually stunning piece created by founder Alvin Ailey dates to 1960.

“Revelations is a light in a dark place,” Battle says from New York. “As we look at this world and our country, Revelations gives us a sense that tomorrow the sun will shine.”

Battle, on the job since 2011, is the third artistic director in Ailey’s 60-year history. He was chosen by his predecessor, Judith Jamison, just as she was chosen by Ailey himself. Battle’s Mass, created in 2004 for the Juilliard School, is new this year to Ailey dancers.

He was inspired to create it after seeing a choral performance of Verdi’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall. “I found myself inspired by the sort of pageantry of a chorus of a hundred people, even how they entered in a somber way and the precise way they organized themselves on the risers, the juxtaposition of it all.

“When they sang,” he says, “the juxtaposition was their voice, like a passport to the world that could travel freely.” The choir leader “was almost like the preacher figure or chosen one born out of the mass. I found myself thinking about it all — the individual, the group or huddled mass, the chosen one freeing himself from the group.”

You never know where you’ll find inspiration, he says.

A scene from the Robert Battle-choreographed “Mass.” Top of page: “Twyla Tharp’s Golden Section.” Photos: Paul Kolnik

Battle’s choreography often features sharp, ritualistic movements and intricate patterns. He’s comfortable endorsing one phrase used to describe his style: rapid-fire movement. “My last name is Battle, and I think that says it all.”

As always, Ailey audiences can expect some social consciousness in the program. A highlight is likely to be Shelter, created in 1988 by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder and artistic director of Urban Bush Women, the Brooklyn- dance troupe whose works often illuminate the disenfranchised.

Ailey dancers first performed the 22-minute Shelter, described as a hard-hitting interpretation on homelessness, 25 years ago. This is its first revival in 15 years.

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s “Shelter.” Photo: Paul Kolnik

One day in New York, Zollar says, she found herself stepping over a homeless person. “When it became normal and didn’t have any impact —when I stopped seeing it — that is when I thought we were losing portions of our humanity.”

Since the piece premiered, New York’s homeless population has tripled to 63,000, according to a recent NBC News estimate. Georgia has about 14,000 homeless people.

Battle sees Shelter’s relevance expanding. “I think we’re having to think about shelter and protection in larger ways. There’s a real fear out there of needing shelter from the very laws that are supposed to protect you.”

At least two other pieces in the lineup date to the 1980s, as well:

TWYLA THARP’S THE GOLDEN SECTION (1983). This 16-minute piece, set to a New Wave score by David Byrne, was the finale to Tharp’s The Catherine Wheel, an acclaimed 1981 project. Two years later, it became a stand-alone piece “celebrated for its expression of blissful joy.” In 2006, The New Yorker described Ailey’s re-staging as “daring, driving choreography with breathtaking leaps.”

STACK-UP  by Talley Beatty (1982). Beatty’s piece examines “an urban landscape and all the things that can happen within that context,” says Battle. More plot-driven than most Ailey pieces, it’s a colorful, energetic number of physical pyrotechnics done to a disco vibe from the Fearless Four, Grover Washington Jr. and Earth, Wind & Fire.

An Ailey performance promises a wide range of themes, moods and emotions. “The black experience,” Battle says, “is not a one-note samba.”

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT | Jan-Feb 2018

by David Danzig

The barbecue is bountiful at 4 Rivers Smokehouse near Mercedes-Benz Stadium downtown. Photo: David Danzig

ATLANTA REMAINS BULLISH ON ITALIAN; FORSYTH COUNTY’S HALCYON ADDS 4 MORE EATERIES; AND FORD FRY TRADES TATTOOS FOR TEX-MEX.

WITH THIS COLUMN, we salute brilliant brisket and new brews news, take a look at former strip-club/dive-bar the Clermont Lounge and its plans to go upscale (!!!), and report the brick-and-mortar demise of corn dogs and boozy milkshakes in Avondale Estates. Grab a snack, and read on.

Well done

The banana pudding at 4 Rivers comes with a graham-cracker crust, fresh banana slices and Heath Bar crumbles. Photo: David Danzig

That waft of smoldering hickory you smell near downtown’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium comes from 4 RIVERS SMOKEHOUSE, a Florida export from pit master JOHN RIVERS. Rivers retired as president of a multibillion-dollar health-care company to perfect his love of Texas-style brisket.

With 13 locations now running in Florida, Atlanta now gets its own version, in a refurbished 1915 firehouse on the West Side. The smoker produces brisket, chicken, St. Louis ribs, burnt ends and even brontosaurus-size beef ribs.

The sides — sweet potato casserole, fried okra, baked cheese grits and Brunswick stew — are bona-fide barbecue stuff. Sandwiches like the Texas Destroyer (made with brisket), barbecue brisket tacos and a smokehouse Cuban sandwich show that 4 Rivers can crank out the meats and put them together in amazing ways. For dessert: banana pudding made with Nilla wafers.

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Suburbanites continue to demand restaurant excellence and get it. The latest example: FROM THE EARTH BREWING CO., a smart new brewpub in Roswell. It pairs house-brewed craft beers with a menu of sophisticated yet approachable comfort food and pulls it all together in a cozy but hip environment.

You’ll probably want to start with a flight of house drafts from brewmaster JAMIE PARKER. Golden ale, hefeweizen, IPA and double IPA, imperial stout and Belgian tripel are among his creations. The brews also are available to-go.

Take a flight at From the Earth Brewing Co. on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell. Photo: David Danzig

From the Earth’s one-page menu changes often but generally includes a house-made pretzel, crispy Brussels sprouts, a double-stack cheeseburger, barbecue brisket tacos, fried chicken, seared salmon and an iron-skillet pork chop. All are simple plates served beautifully with locally sourced ingredients. Owner TIM STEPHENS has an impressive intown restaurant pedigree and is now on his own on Holcomb Bridge Road.

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At Donetto, the Fritelle Donetto is made with fresh Pecorina Romana and cured prosciutto. Photo: David Danzig

A bull named DONETTO has charged into West Midtown. The gorgeous Italian restaurant is named for the heaviest Italian Chianina bull ever weighed (3,800 pounds).

Chef MICHAEL PEREZ makes fresh melt-in-your-mouth pasta like tagliatelle with clams, fusilli with smoked fish, or ripiena stuffed with quail.

A 45-day dry-aged bone-in ribeye, a half-smoked chicken and octopus plated with white beans pair nicely with inventive cocktails. The “Netspritz and Chill” is made with house limonata, rosemary, aperol, prosecco and lemon; the “Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” is made with 229 gin, honey and absinthe.

Donetto, on Brady Avenue, holds its own nicely in a neighborhood chock-full of heavy-hitters, award winners and a city brimming with standout Italian cuisine.

Simmering

Nobu Matsuhisa

Big names keep bubbling onto Atlanta’s culinary stage.

Now comes international Japanese superstar NOBU MATSUSHISA, who’s building on the rubble of what was the Belk store at Phipps Plaza.

The project includes a Nobu Hotel and a restaurant called NOBU ATLANTA RESTAURANT.

Look also for MICHAEL’S GENUINE FOOD & DRINK by well-known Miami-based chef MICHAEL SCHWARTZ.

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A new steakhouse named ARNETTE’S CHOP SHOP joins Apple Valley Brookhaven, a 70,000-sq. ft. mixed-use complex a bit farther north on Peachtree Road. Arnette’s comes from MICHEL ARNETTE, who runs HAVEN RESTAURANT AND BAR (New American), VALENZA (Southern Italian) and VERO PIZZERIA, all on Dresden Drive.  Look for an opening by Valentine’s Day.

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Four more eateries have signed on to HALCYON, the 135-acre mixed-use development in Forsyth County: MidiCi NEAPOLITAN PIZZA, COCINA & TAQUERIA, PITA MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD and poke restaurant SWEET TUNA, as reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. They join GU’S DUMPLINGS, TACAYO, BUTCHER & BREW and CO-OP COMMUNITY KITCHEN & TABLE. Expect openings throughout 2018.

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Restaurant mogul FORD FRY has commandeered an old tattoo parlor at Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge roads, and is working on a new Tex-Mex concept (not an El Felix or Superica). Fry says it will be a “super-casual joint with wood-roasted ‘chicken al carbon’ at its core.” Plan on breakfast tacos, a Texas staple, to be prominent as well. The 3,500-sq. ft. space should open in the summer.

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The Hotel Clermont and Tiny Lou’s team (from left): Alan Rae, chef Jeb Aldrich and Nick Hassiotis. Photo: Heidi Geldhauser

And finally, if only the walls could talk.

The CLERMONT LOUNGE, one of Atlanta’s more infamous landmarks, is being reborn. The 1920s building, longtime home of a strip club/dive bar, will re-emerge in the spring as HOTEL CLERMONT, a boutique hotel with an all-new restaurant called TINY LOU’S.

It’s named for a 1950s stripper who pranced in the Gypsy Room, as it was called then. Legend has it that  Lou was notorious as “the girl who refused to dance with Hitler.”

The in-house restaurant will be an American-French brasserie led by executive chef JEB ALDRICH, who plans a French-American menu with Southern accents.

 

Toast

It survived the Great Recession, but Buckhead’s BrickTop’sdid not survive 2017. The steak-seafood-sandwich spot planned to shutter on New Year’s Eve. It opened in late 2007 in the Terminus 100 development on Peachtree Road, along with several other high-profile pre-recession openings, and outlasted most of them. It’s moving to Birmingham. Other BrickTop’s remain in North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Missouri. … Midtown’s GORDEN BIERSCH said danke shoen and auf Wiedersehen and closed in mid-November. The 18-year-old restaurant opened before development in the neighborhood spiked. The Buckhead location is still serving. … The deep-fried and delightfully kitschy PALOOKAVILLE FINE FOODS has battered its last corn dog and poured its last boozy milkshake in Avondale Estates. Happily, the food truck edition of the carnival food emporium lives on.

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Food for Thought, Encore Atlanta’s bimonthly dining column, keeps you up to date on openings, closings and what chefs are up to in one of three categories — well done (reasons for praise), simmering (what’s in the works) and toast (what’s closed, etc.). Email kathy@encoreatlanta.com.

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