Athens, Ga.
Off the Eaten Path
By Vanessa Lavorato
Photographed by Emily B. Hall
Clockwise from top left: The outdoor patio at Farm 255; Tenor, the legendary pig of Pork Chop Hill, with Jake O. Francis; lampchop at the National and outside of the National.
Birthplace of the Waffle House and Chick-fil-A, Georgia is known for its fried chicken, hangover cure-all waffles and peach pie. But after a week in Athens, an offbeat town just outside of Atlanta, I learned that Georgia has more to offer gastronomes than biscuits and gravy. Athens has long had a reputation of being a creative incubator for musicians (R.E.M. and The B-52s both formed there) and artists, so it makes sense that its food scene should follow suit. Any and every popular restaurant in alternative and creative enclaves throughout the United States is serving up seasonal fare from their local farmers, but Athens marks an evolution in food -- forget farm to table, it's all about farm and table.
Although I'm well-versed in the local, sustainable movement (I hail from the Bay Area, where Slow Food is our religion), the idea of farm and table was a new concept to me. So I asked my hosts, Bryson Tedford and Moses Archuleta, who have a supper series in Atlanta called Baton -- for which they source a majority of their ingredients from Athens -- to show me what makes the Athens food scene special.
First they took me to Farm 255, a restaurant run by the farmers of Moonshine Meats and Full Moon Farms, who dish out the very food that they produce. After my whole trout on a seasonal vegetable ragout, it was clear that it's one thing to shop at the farmers market and another to dine at one.
Clockwise from left: A fish dish and kale chips at Farm 255; a requisite Waffle House; The Four Coursemen.
Amid my lamb-chop-induced food coma at another local favorite restaurant, The National, I realized that most of the waitstaff in Athens are farmers. (The farm scene is so thriving, in fact, that there is a forthcoming documentary about it called GROW!). And when I overheard the cute bartender at The National mention his friend's 700-pound pig named Big Tenor, I had to go see him. The next day I headed over to Jake O. Francis's pig pasture, which is aptly named Pork Chop Hill, where he showed me his operation and explained what makes a tasty pig: "You have to treat them with kindness respect and love," Francis says. "Then you honor them on the plate." When I first laid my eyes on Tenor, he was wallowing in the mud. I was hypnotized by his sheer size, fiendish grin and above all, his enormous balls. Tenor is a bit of an icon in Athens -- some people even ride him -- so when I asked if Tenor's future involved BLTs, Francis reassured me that his balls are off the chopping block for good.
It turns out that Francis lives with Noah Brendel of underground supper club The Four Coursemen. Local celebrities, they use PCH pigs for their intimate dinners and pig roasts. For the uninitiated, the Four Coursemen have a popular show on the Cooking Channel, which involves the six chefs traveling the country cooking up local, sustainable food. Back at home in Athens, supper clubbers sit around two farm tables in a shotgun millhouse, while the chefs bring out course after course of elaborate dishes. And while they are rooted in their Southern heritage, the Four Coursemen are committed to putting their own new spin on the classics -- blue-cheese ice cream, anyone? "Here in Athens," Brendel says, "most things are one-part country, and one-part rock and roll. The same can be said about our food, our restaurants and ourselves."
Birthplace of the Waffle House and Chick-fil-A, Georgia is known for its fried chicken, hangover cure-all waffles and peach pie. But after a week in Athens, an offbeat town just outside of Atlanta, I learned that Georgia has more to offer gastronomes than biscuits and gravy. Athens has long had a reputation of being a creative incubator for musicians (R.E.M. and The B-52s both formed there) and artists, so it makes sense that its food scene should follow suit. Any and every popular restaurant in alternative and creative enclaves throughout the United States is serving up seasonal fare from their local farmers, but Athens marks an evolution in food -- forget farm to table, it's all about farm and table.
Although I'm well-versed in the local, sustainable movement (I hail from the Bay Area, where Slow Food is our religion), the idea of farm and table was a new concept to me. So I asked my hosts, Bryson Tedford and Moses Archuleta, who have a supper series in Atlanta called Baton -- for which they source a majority of their ingredients from Athens -- to show me what makes the Athens food scene special.
First they took me to Farm 255, a restaurant run by the farmers of Moonshine Meats and Full Moon Farms, who dish out the very food that they produce. After my whole trout on a seasonal vegetable ragout, it was clear that it's one thing to shop at the farmers market and another to dine at one.
Clockwise from left: A fish dish and kale chips at Farm 255; a requisite Waffle House; The Four Coursemen.
Amid my lamb-chop-induced food coma at another local favorite restaurant, The National, I realized that most of the waitstaff in Athens are farmers. (The farm scene is so thriving, in fact, that there is a forthcoming documentary about it called GROW!). And when I overheard the cute bartender at The National mention his friend's 700-pound pig named Big Tenor, I had to go see him. The next day I headed over to Jake O. Francis's pig pasture, which is aptly named Pork Chop Hill, where he showed me his operation and explained what makes a tasty pig: "You have to treat them with kindness respect and love," Francis says. "Then you honor them on the plate." When I first laid my eyes on Tenor, he was wallowing in the mud. I was hypnotized by his sheer size, fiendish grin and above all, his enormous balls. Tenor is a bit of an icon in Athens -- some people even ride him -- so when I asked if Tenor's future involved BLTs, Francis reassured me that his balls are off the chopping block for good.
It turns out that Francis lives with Noah Brendel of underground supper club The Four Coursemen. Local celebrities, they use PCH pigs for their intimate dinners and pig roasts. For the uninitiated, the Four Coursemen have a popular show on the Cooking Channel, which involves the six chefs traveling the country cooking up local, sustainable food. Back at home in Athens, supper clubbers sit around two farm tables in a shotgun millhouse, while the chefs bring out course after course of elaborate dishes. And while they are rooted in their Southern heritage, the Four Coursemen are committed to putting their own new spin on the classics -- blue-cheese ice cream, anyone? "Here in Athens," Brendel says, "most things are one-part country, and one-part rock and roll. The same can be said about our food, our restaurants and ourselves."
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