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10 FLA6POLE.COM MAY 9,2012
Just Opened: I usually make it a practice to
give new places around six weeks before I
visit, to give them time to work out the kinks
and get their act together, but sometimes I
can't wait Athens Bagel Company (268 N.
Jackson St.) has only just opened its doors,
and its official grand opening, with the
promise of a full menu in place that includes
sandwiches, isn't scheduled for another week,
but the anticipation of fresh bagels, properly
made, provoked excitement that couldn't be
tamped down. I wasn't the only one. Sven
with only a soft opening, a tiny menu and lim
ited hours for now (usually 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
but check the Facebook page), the place is
mighty busy, suggesting all kinds of folks have
been jonesing for the same thing ever since
Zim's closed some years back.
Athens Bagel Company
•
So, here's all you need to hear: the bagels
are good. If you're going to get super picky,
they're a little large and they could use a
tiny bit more salt, but they are indeed boiled
prior to baking, and their texture shows it
Toppings include onion, garlic, poppy seeds,
sesame seeds, everything and salt {kind of like
a pretzel, with kosher salt dotting the top),
and they cost $1.10 each or $12 for a baker's
dozen. The folks in the kitchen are having fun
experimenting with different cream cheeses,
offering flavors including strawberry, bacon,
jalapeno, roasted red pepper, vegetable, honey
pecan and even snickerdoodle, which presum
ably incorporates cookie crumbs. Those are
fine, but the plain is all you need. Really, you
don't even need cream cheese on a bagel this
nicely made.
If you need something more substantial,
the place also offers breakfast sandwiches
made on its bagels, with bacon, egg and
cheese available in various combinations* and
these, too, are satisfying and well executed.
If you must have lox, you can get that, but
at $9.99, the bagel that includes it (as well
as chips, capers, red onion and tomato) is a
little pricey. For now, that's all that's avail
able, although six taps promise beer on draft
eventually. ' „ ' £,. ,' ^
They are undoubtedly still working out
some of the kinks in their counter service and
the aesthetics of the space, but I can pufup
with that. I would put up with worse, too. The
product is worth it
Brand Expansion: After a month or so driv
ing by The Dogg Pound (1660 W. Broad St)
lately, noticing the sign that promises BBQ,
and thinking about popping in to check it out,
I finally pulled the trigger this past week. I
have a great fondness for the hot dog restau
rant that occupies the spot of the legendary
Walter's, which has been home to several cue
joints over the years. Sure, it's not much for
frills, but the hot dogs
are good, the marketing
reliably creative, and the
people who work there
are nice as all get out
Unfortunately, the
BBQ ain't great. First o
all, it's chopped, which
admittedly is much
faster to produce but
nearly always results
in hunks of inedible
stuff mixed in with
the meat. The texture
isn't bad, considering,
but there's little in the
way of smoke in either
chicken or pork. The
restaurant also offers
beef BBQ, something
rarer in Georgia, hut
was out the day I went.
It favors hash rathe
than stew, which is
the tomatoey side,;
its coleslaw is prett
good. Folded into
of white bread,
tiny bit of the sweetish
sauce and some cole
slaw, the cue would be
an acceptable lunch, but
it's not worth going out
of your way for. Better
to order a hot dog or
two instead. The restaurant is open for lunch
and dinner Monday through Saturday and
takes credit cards.
Revisit: I've had a couple of meals at
Heirloom Cafe recently, including dinner,
and I have to say I continue to become more
impressed with its offerings. Yes, its locavore
leanings are easy to goof on, £ la "Portlandia,"
but the restaurant also knows what to do with
its beautiful ingredients, and it manages to
provide options for any dietary restriction
without being annoying about it or unbalanc
ing its menu. A pork tenderloin, battered and
fried, then paired with a carrot pufee and
perfect greens, is undeniably Southern, meaty
and satisfying, and it coexists happily with
vegan offerings. A shrimp sandwich that was
showing up as a special on the lunch menu
was spring-like and refreshing. Desserts are
reliably excellent. All of this is to say: props.
Heirloom is doing a fine job and deserves a
little hat-tip and your business, especially if
you're looking for an upscale dinner out.
Hillary Brown food@flagpole.com
One man's trash is another's conceptual art
assemblage, or so the saying goes. Curated
by Lizzie ZucUer Saltz with assistance from
Katie Faulkner, ATHICA's 45th exhibition
is this spring's wildly creative "Upcycle,"
on view through June 24. Focusing on the
theme of creating new artwork from found or
reclaimed materials, more than 20 artists from
all over the globe present their multimedia
works made of junk-pile detritus. As the cura
tors write, "Our artists have dreamt these
materials right out of the waste stream and
into our stream of consciousness." .
through June 24.
Featured artist Reid McCallister's assem
blage artworks are layered and complex sculp
tures made of old wooden boards, scraps of
metal and other found objects, which seem
inspired by a combination of influences from •
Thornton Dial, Georges Braque and Robert
Rauschenberg. Several pieces are about the
size of a large canvas; when hung on the wall
they make a comment on the fusion of sculp
tural construction and "painting" with the
many textures and colors of the raw materials.
Transforming pink, blue and yellow insula
tion foam into something completely differ
ent, Jourdan Jol/s "Mountain Goat Mountain"
is a life-size goat perched on a rock. The pas
tel ice-cream colors look sweet, but these poi
sonous materials are decidedly not. Similarly,
Joni Younkins-Herzog used mattress foam to
create flower-like poufs which cover 19 feet of
the gallery wall for "Pollen." Calling attention
to the toxic nature of the place where we lay
our heads, the chemical-filled synthetics that
form this piece are cleverly perverse mirrors of
the organic fecundity they represent.
Creating a cozy and mobile domestic space
using upcycled materials, Athens' Cap Man
covered a small 1960s-era trailer with rusty
bottle caps. Inside "Lil Gem," the bunks are
upholstered in fun fur, and a small kitchen
setup provides the basic necessities for camp
ing in styfe. Visitors are invited to participate
by bringing their own bottle caps to add
to the exterior decoration. While his col
lection might not be up to Cap Man's levels
yet, Jamison Edgar gathered hundreds of
Styrofoam cups to assemble "Chain 607."
The double-helix structure winds around the
wooden supports in the gallery, as impressive
a structure as it is an oppressive collection
of trash you know will end ufun a landfill or •
worse for the next few millennia.
Also referencing chemical structures,
London artist Jill Townsley recreates "Spoons"
here in Athens, with your help. The sculpture,
when completed, will be a triangular pyramid
made of 9,273 plastic spoons
and 3,091 rubber bands tying
them together. Visitors are
encouraged to upcycle their
own plastic spoons into the
construction of the tetrahe
dron or use those onsite col
lected from Athens Academy ,
art students. Another artist
hailing from London, Inguna
Gremzde, presents 64 plastic
water-bottle caps from her
"Landscape for Emergency"
series. Inside each round
a tiny and exquisitely
painted landscape. Glimpses
of the English countryside are
trapped in the plastic rings,
making something beautiful
inside a "can-
discarded,
polluting the landscape these
paintings idealize.
The exhibition continues
outside with a huge horse
composed with rusty pieces
of old plows and pick axes
by Doug Makemson and the
"Upcycle" billboard-style
sign made from thousands *
of cans and plywood by Jay
Nackashi. Inside and out,
the curators have made this
exhibition one that highlights
local recycling, upcycling and conservation
efforts. The seriously researched and detailed
texts that accompany each piece are full of
interesting (and scary) facts about how our
consumption afferts the environment and
endangers our shared future on this planet.
Balancing this educational imperative with fun
and creative art is an admirable achievement.
Our eyes are opened not only to wonderful
contemporary art and our role in the ecosys
tem of both art creation/consumption but also
to the ecosystem of the larger natural and
synthetic world we inhabit. With still more
great artworks, plus tons of fun, affiliated
events, "Upcycle" is another must-see. See the
website at www.athica.org for more details.
Also on View: Another big exhibition on right
now is the annual Southworks juried show
at OCAF in Watkinsville. Over 100 works by
artists from all over the country are on dis
play through May 11... In Athens, check out
Jeremy Hughes' vibrant and dramatic portraits
at The.Grit. These ladies are dressed in cos
tume and strike poses inspired by John Singer
Sargent's portraits. Hughes' project has taken
on greater dimensions as he adds to his cast
of characters, most of whom are local artists
and musicians. The paintings look amazing
when seen all together.
Caroline Barratt arls@flagpole.com