Around Atlanta: Summer At Briza

On Monday, I was invited to preview Briza’s new summer menu along with several other bloggers who live in Atlanta. I don’t know if you remember I dined at the restaurant last year when it opened. It’s located in Midtown Atlanta and prides its self on serving fresh farm to table ingredients. The current chef at the restaurant Janine Falvo has been named a top rising chef by James Beard and she competed on the last season of Bravo’s Top Chef.

The entire Briza team welcomed all of us with a warm welcome. I brought my friend Sonya as my guest. We drank several glasses of wine and noshed on five amazing courses. Each course was paired with a glass of wine hand selected by their sommelier.

We all started off the night with a glass of champagne as soon as we arrived to the restaurant. We were first served a small amuse bouche oyster with a green tomato-black pepper mignonette. That course was paired with an iron horse “russian cuvee”, green valley champagne.

Next, we were served a nice heirloom tomato salad with watermelon, basil caviar, and burrata cheese. This was one of my favorite courses we were served. The cheese tasted so fresh and went well with the tomatoes. We continued drinking the champagne with this course.

We continued enjoy the night and gave our belly’s extra room for the next course, a artisan foie gras served in an fried pie along with a side of strawberry –rhubarb compote. This course was served with my favorite wine of the evening, a Spanish red wine called Castillo de Monséran Garnacha Cariñena. It was a medium-bodied red wine with sweet flavors of black cherry and plum.

For our next course we were served an Alaskan halibut with lobster, home fries and a truffled hollandaise. The combinations of flavors on this plate were amazing and all went really well together. This meal was paired with a Pinot Noir from California. I wasn’t a fan of this wine and think this didn’t really go well with the halibut.

Our last main course was a 48 hour short rib. Janine cooks this short rib in her office overnight for 48 hours. It was amazing! The meat just melted in your mouth and it was so tender that you probably could cut it with your fork. This was served on a bed of vidalia onion puree, rattlesnake beans with a stone fruit watercress salad. This was paired with a nice glass of 2009 joseph carr merlot.

For dessert we were served one of my favorite southern desserts, a sour cream pound cake. The pound cake was served with grilled peaches and a crème ice cream. This was paired with a glass of my favorite Moscato di Asti, by Paolo Saracco from the Piedmont region of Italy.

The night was amazing and I can’t wait dine at Briza again in the very near future. If you are in the Atlanta area or plan to visit sometime soon stop by Briza for dinner and then head up stairs to their rooftop bar where they have amazing hand crafted cocktails. The ambiance at the restaurant makes for a perfect date spot! They are also on Scoutmob so you may be able to save a few dollars if you head there before the coupon expires.