BURNAWAY supports local businesses and homegrown talent, so we teamed up with Scoutmob to bring you suggestions for unique art experiences paired with cool unique restaurants around Atlanta. Think of it like a wine pairing: What sort of taste might make a nice match for the show you plan to visit next weekend?
See below for Henry Detweiler’s top recommendations for arts events, plus food pairings by Gray Chapman of Scoutmob, for the month of October 2012.
ART: The Devil Tree / October 13–28
After the success of their film noir-inspired comedy, The Red Herring, the Collective Project is back with the second production of their 2012 season, The Devil Tree, at the Goat Farm Arts Center. (BURNAWAY published a preview last week.) Described as “Big Fish meets The Twilight Zone,” The Devil Tree is set in the fictional south-Georgia locale of Laurel County, bringing together eight original short stories by Atlanta writers to paint a picture that’s both quintessentially Southern and sinister. The Devil Tree will run Thursdays through Sundays, October 13-28.
FOOD: Southern Fried
Quintessentially Southern, you say? Smells like fried chicken. For a true taste of the South, dredged in flour and deep-fried, make your way over to our city’s fried chicken strongholds: the Colonnade, Busy Bee, or, if you’re feeling fancy, JCT Kitchen, which also wins points for being right around the corner from the Goat Farm. Of course, you can’t go wrong with the timeless duo of chicken ‘n waffles, either. Thank goodness for Gladys Knight’s.
ART: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis / Wednesday, October 17
{Poem 88} will close out their Films for the 99% screening series with neorealist auteur Vittorio De Sica’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Set in the late 1930s, the film tells the story of a group of young friends who spend happy days playing tennis on the estate of the wealthy Jewish Finzi-Contini family as the rise of Mussolini’s anti-Semitic Fascism draws ever nearer. During its nearly six-month run, Films for the 99% has used film to create a space for political discussion. Coming into an election month, this seems all the more relevant. The free screening begins at 8PM on Wednesday, October 17.
FOOD: Cheap Eats for the 99%
If you happen to fall in that 99% category, or if you don’t but your chef has the night off (drat!), few places give the most bang for your buck than Eats. The Ponce mainstay has lasagna servings sized to approximately one square foot. For just under six bucks, you can feast on a gyro from Mediterranean Grill, whose walls are justly bedecked in awards (and whose Greek potatoes are perfectly seasoned). And with foot-long hot dogs ringing up at $4 and change, Zesto can sate just about any budget. (Just be sure to save a little extra change for a milkshake, perhaps using Scoutmob’s deal in Little Five Points.)
ART: Brian Dettmer at MOCA GA / October 19
Brian Dettmer’s new exhibition, Elemental at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), will feature work created during his tenure in the museum’s Working Artist Project. His elegant and information-dense sculptures use books as a raw material to examine the persevering relevance of books in the age of quickly accessible information. The Atlanta-based artist has exhibited his work both locally and internationally, and I for one can’t wait to see what he brings to MOCA GA. An opening reception for Elemental will be held on Friday, October 19, and the show will be up through January 5, 2013.
FOOD: Midtown and South Buckhead
Where do we begin? There’s truly no shortage of great food in this part of town, but we’ll start with a classic: R. Thomas is an all-time local favorite for just about any dish at just about any time of day (or night), so long as Mr. Thomas brings out his trick-performing birds. Meanwhile, next door, the dark and cozy Sufi’s has perfected the art of the flame-roasted kabob alongside other Persian specialties. But honestly, if you’re already in the area, you have a perfect excuse to scope out the new Brookwood iteration of Chef Joe Truex’s Watershed. We’ve heard very, very good things about the catfish goujonettes.
ART: Jason and the Argonauts / Wednesday, October 31
Emory Cinematheque continues their Movie Magic screening series with Ray Harryhausen’s 1963 stop-motion masterpiece, Jason and the Argonauts. This surreal classic features live actors pitted against giant living statues, hordes of armed skeletons, and a beastly seven-headed hydra. This special Halloween screening of a 35mm copy of the film is a rare chance to experience Jason and the Argonauts on the grand scale that it was intended. The free screening begins at 7:30PM on Wednesday, October 31, at White Hall on Emory’s main campus.
FOOD: Halloween!
What better place to top off an evening of skeletons and beasts than Bone Garden? The Mexican cantina on the Westside is festooned with spooky Dia de los Muertos-inspired decor, not the least of which is a veritable Hell’s Angel of a skeleton swooping down from the ceiling aboard a motorcycle. (It’s worth noting that they also stock a mean menu of margaritas.) And then there’s Escorpion, the Midtown tequila bar and cantina whose larger-than-life metal arthropod scaling the side of the entrance is no match for their mezcal selection (depending on how you pick your poison).
