Bites and Flights

A few years ago, Chicago's media maven recommended the versatile spread/sauce on her "O List" of holiday gifts, and surprise, surprise—it's still the Atlanta-based company's best-seller. Bella Cucina has lots of other tasty pesto offerings—the charming Virginia-Highland gourmet shop offers samples of everything from classic basil to seasonal pumpkin—but I keep coming back to the artichoke lemon, and not because it boasts Oprah's seal of approval. It's really just addictive.

Stirred with a little mayo and Parmesan and baked in the oven (the super-simple recipe is on the jar), it makes an impressive "homemade" artichoke dip for any party. But it's also great straight out of the jar on crostini or even, um, a spoon.

One of my favorite weeknight meals requires nothing more than a box of rotini pasta and a jar of this stuff. The spirals hold the sauce perfectly, so you get bits of artichoke with every bite. $12 for a 6 oz. jar is a bit pricey (it's on sale right now at the store for $10.50), but it goes a long way on noodles and the cold leftovers provide lunch for the next day: perfect pasta salad.

Owner and Italophile Alisa Barry imports many of her ingredients from Italy, but all products are made at Bella Cucina's kitchen facility in East Point. So if you want to get legalistic about it, their pesto doesn't meet strict locavore standards, but I'm happy to support a local business as I devour it.—Sara Levine

Bella Cucina's products can be purchased at the store (1050 North Highland Ave.; 404.347.6476) where there is always an array of samples to test, too. You can order the products online at bellacucina.com 

 Bella Cucina's addictive artichoke pesto

The store's tempting sample table

Savannah’s not exactly our backyard, but I was looking for any possible Georgia connection as an excuse to obsess about the new season of Top Chef. Tragically, Fort Stewart-based Lauren was booted off before the cast even made it to their swanky NYC digs.

Side note: the real-estate crisis is doing wonders for reality-show accommodations. The number of vacant luxe condos available for product-placement pimpery is rising steadily. You could do a whole series in the vacant towers of Buckhead, at least according to news about the new Urban Land Institute (ULI) report that calls our real estate market out for being “goofy.” Really. I plowed through the whole ULI white paper to see if local reporters accurately quoted the think tank’s use of the word. Yup. But there’s nothing to goof about. The ULI also talked about a real estate “bloodbath.” Great. To distract us from our plummeting property values someone should produce “Survivor: Buckhead.” Contestants could set up camp in vacant condo buildings, forced to scavenge for leftovers from Bone’s while competing in such challenges as valet parking speed trials and tanning bed endurance matches.

Anyway, back to cooking. So Lauren was kicked off first, and next to go was her cooking school classmate Patrick, leading my 16-year-old to observe, “it must not have been a very good cooking school.” Patrick unwisely prepared black-rice noodles that turned into a swampy mess, which again prompted commentary from the teen critic. “Seriously? Even I know rice noodles are sticky.”

It promises to be a high-drama season. I’m rooting for Gene, the self-taught cook who worked his way up from dishwasher to Las Vegas chef.
 

"We've been reading a lot about the raw food movement and wanted some solidarity with it," says Ullio, who also owns Sotto Sotto, Fritti, and Cuerno. "At Beleza we've been using those philosophies from the beginning, as far as being healthy and making food that's good for the body."

Raw foodists believe that foods lose much of their nutrient value when cooked at temperatures higher than 110 degrees. A few Atlanta restaurants such as R. Thomas and Soul Vegetarian offer some raw dishes, but Beleza will be the first place in the city with an exclusively raw menu, according to Ullio.

Though much of the restaurant's food is already raw and health-conscious—desserts are dairy-free and sweetened with agave nectar—Ullio and his cooks are busy tweaking the menu's "cooked" items and experimenting with new techniques. For example, from now on Beleza will use dehydrated vegetable chips instead of fried or baked ones with its dips and salsas. Raw "baked" goods and grains pose the biggest challenge: "We've done some sprouted bean salads that were really nice, and a raw carrot cake—our convection oven can go as low as 90 degrees."

Many raw food establishments—like Manhattan's Pure Food & Wine which Ullio calls "the most groundbreaking raw restaurant in the country"—are strictly vegan. Beleza, however, will (fortunately!) continue to serve its applauded fish ceviches and crudos as well as raw cheeses. Ullio even hopes to add meat specials—think carpaccios and tartares—in the future. —Sara Levine

Beleza, 905 Juniper St NE; 678-904-4582; http://www.sottosottorestaurant.com