Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once remarked, "The history of the world is on the plate," and this is resoundingly true in Georgia, its soulful, sweet-toothed culinary narrative written in international influences and ingredients.
Low Country cuisine, shared with South Carolina, mixes Creek Indian origins with West African, Spanish, French and British elements. North America’s first-recorded barbecue may have happened along Georgia’s Ocmulgee River in 1540, where Spanish conquistadors, familiar with Caribbean "barbacoa," discovered Native Americans grilling meat on a raised platform. Shrimping, once Georgia’s premier seafood industry, was pioneered by Sicilians, Greeks and other nationalities. Scottish and Irish accents define Georgia’s Appalachian menu.
Unabashedly flavorsome and filling, Georgia comforts palates with the familiar—fried chicken, mac and cheese, black-eyed peas, grits, biscuits and peach cobbler—while tempting taste buds with intriguing options such as red-eye gravy, rabbit eyes (blueberries), Brunswick stew and native muscadines and scuppernongs (both grapes).
"With an abundance of world-class restaurants, Georgia is a foodie’s paradise, says Kevin Langston, deputy commissioner for tourism for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and an avowed foodie himself. "Georgia provides the perfect backdrop for culinary experiences, including our wineries, food festivals, cooking schools, pick-your-own farms and more."
So come fix your grits, raise a glass of sweet tea—the "champagne of the South"—and get Georgia on your meetings menu at these eight culinary peaches around the state.
THE INN AT SERENBE, PALMETTO
In 1991, Steve and Marie Nygren bought land in rural Chattahoochee Hill Country, just 40 minutes from downtown Atlanta and 25 minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Like a fertile seed, their vision of urban development balanced with land preservation has since flourished into the 1,000-acre Serenbe community.
A singular model for sustainable living, Serenbe is also a dream for meeting planners. Set on 36 acres and providing three conference spaces along with 19 guest rooms in six guest buildings (with another 11 rooms in the community), the inn personifies the Nygrens’ ongoing passion project.
"There is nowhere else in the Atlanta area where up to 40 conferees can have the run of a full-service property like this," says the inn’s general manager, Garnie Nygren, who was just seven when her parents founded Serenbe.
The inn’s celebrated Farmhouse restaurant is reason to book alone.
"Over 300 different vegetables grow in our gardens and Serenbe’s 30-acre organic farm," Nygren says. "Our menu planning typically just follows what’s fresh."
Chicken fried in buttermilk or prepared with goat cheese and hot pepper jelly are among the highlights of the creations of Marie Nygren, "director of culinary beauty." Cooking is in her blood; her mother Margaret Lupo founded Atlanta’s legendary Mary Mac’s Tea Room.
SCONYERS BAR-B-QUE, AUGUSTA
Established in 1956 on the outskirts of Georgia’s second-oldest city, this local shrine barbecues meat the old-fashioned way, pit-cooked for 24 hours over oak and hickory. Weighing in on the eternal debate over barbecue supremacy, Larry Sconyers, youngest son of founders Claude and Adeline and driving force behind the restaurant’s national success, adheres to a time-honored philosophy.
"The best barbecue is what you grew up eating, and that’s what we serve, not just a meal, but our original hole-in-the-wall experience," he says.
Sconyers’ signature pork barbecue and hash has made it all the way to the White House and the Georgia State Capital, but for groups joining Sconyers’ many loyal Augustans across the creek bridge leading to the restaurant, it’s all about going home.
"We want to put you in the mood of going to eat at your mother’s or grandmother’s house," he says.
Open Thursday through Saturday, Sconyers also offers a full event catering menu.
FIVE & TEN, ATHENS
Passionate about cooking since childhood, Ottawa, Canada-born chef Hugh Acheson came to Georgia "to be in a place with true culinary heritage." Since opening Five & Ten in collegiate, artistic Athens in 2000, Acheson has adapted that heritage to high acclaim, including five consecutive nominations (2007-2011) for the James Beard "Best Chef in the Southeast" award.
"We are in a historic agricultural region, abundant with grains, livestock, poultry, dairy and other resources," says Acheson, comparing Georgia’s bounty to similar regions in California, New York, even Lyons, France, and uniting these ingredients in a delicious American South-meets-Europe style.
Groups of up to 92 can book the entire restaurant or the 34-seat enclosed patio; Acheson customizes menus for events, and along with his James Beard-nominated Sommelier Steven Grubbs, educates guests on wine pairings.
Among Five & Ten’s devotees is Mike Mills, bassist for Athens super group R.E.M.
"The arrival of Hugh and his world-class restaurant, 5&10, was one of the brightest days in Athens’ food history, and I take advantage of it as often as possible," Mills says.
700 KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL AT THE MANSION ON FORSYTH PARK, SAVANNAH
As knowledgeable about food as he is engaging and entertaining, Darin Sehnert, chef and culinary director at 700 Kitchen, holds interactive, hands-on classes and tailored culinary events that are a must for Savannah groups. For starters, 700 Kitchen resides in one of the South’s most prestigious hotels, the AAA Four Diamond Mansion on Forsyth Park. With design flourishes including pink marble columns and cut-crystal chandeliers, this 126-room grande dame from 1888 offers more than 13,000 square feet of flexible function space, including the elegant 700 Drayton Restaurant and swank Casimir’s Lounge.
"Cooking between the lines," Sehnert’s approach is to demonstrate the "why" behind the "how" of Low Country cooking. An avid student and passionate teacher, he’ll tell you, for example, how Georgia’s signature peanut actually derives from South America and originally served animals before Civil War shortages put it on the human menu.
"We want to share ideas and experiences that translate into your cooking at home," Sehnert says.
SHRIMPING EXCURSIONS ABOARD THE LADY JANE, BRUNSWICK
With a seafaring ancestry dating back to notorious pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, former commercial fisherman Captain Larry Credle now dedicates himself to maintaining the heritage of Georgia’s once-mighty shrimping industry.
Taking groups on shrimping, fishing and other expeditions aboard his Lady Jane—a retired, 60-foot steel shrimper he says is the only commercial vessel on the East Coast certified by the U.S. Coast Guard to carry up to 49 passengers—Credle’s concept is all about educational, enlightening fun.
"We teach clients about marine ecology, while inviting them to interact with the catch," Credle says, describing his signature two-hour "Let’s Go Shrimpin’" cruise on which groups help sort out shrimp from a rich haul of marine life. While two marine biologists, plus Credle’s aspiring marine biologist son, talk about puffer fish, amberjacks and blacktips, the shrimp get cooked for a group meal.
"We’ve had clients hold sand sharks and manta rays," Credle says. "It’s a fun, interactive, authentically Georgian experience."
CHATEAU ELAN CULINARY STUDIO, BRASELTON
Set on 3,500 acres in the foothills of the north Georgia mountains just 40 minutes from Atlanta, the 322-room Chateau Elan Winery & Resort easily evokes the Loire Valley with its 16th century-influenced French chateau and full-production winery, the largest in the state.
Among the many amenities at this world-class leisure and conference resort—internationally renowned for its culinary arts and award-winning wines—is the Culinary Studio. Introduced in 2007 and led by executive chef Marc Suennemann, the purpose-built, state-of-the-art Studio serves as the stage for interactive culinary activities, including classes, private parties and team-building events.
The Studio, along with the elegant French Le Clos restaurant and Mediterranean-style bistro Cafe Elan (two of the resort’s seven restaurants), resides in the property’s winery. Winemaker Karen Van der Vort, of Dutch descent, along with German-born Suennemann and his global team of sous chefs, enhance Chateau Elan’s international flavor.
Coming off a recent multimillion-dollar room and spa renovation, this is among Georgia’s most regal destinations.
JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB HOTEL, JEKYLL ISLAND
"Working in the kitchen is so rewarding," says Abigail Hutchinson, the award-winning executive chef at this National Historic Landmark just off Georgia’s southern coast. "I wake up every day thinking of what the day will bring and can’t wait to get to work."
Extensively trained in the South, Hutchinson has put her soul into the hotel’s culinary program.
"We draw our ingredients from the ocean, marshes and fields, just as Georgians have done for centuries," she says.
Book well in advance for the multi-day cooking school package, offered twice a year, or enjoy monthly themed chef’s demonstrations (seasonal), special event catering and meals at the hotel’s celebrated Grand Dining Room. Held each fall in front of the hotel, Jekyll Island’s annual three-day Wild Georgia Shrimp and Grits Festival is a major draw.
Built in 1886 as a hunting retreat, the 157-room hotel has 15,000 square feet of meeting space, including the Morgan Center. Formerly the J.P. Morgan indoor tennis court, this circa-1929 treasure has been newly transformed into a flexible conference facility with an outdoor terrace and catering kitchen.
RATHBUN’S, ATLANTA
With three restaurants in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood—Kevin Rathbun Steak, located in an old cotton warehouse, Krog Bar, a Spanish-style tapas and wine bar, and his namesake flagship—Kevin Rathbun, chef and owner, is a star of Atlanta’s culinary constellation.
His passions for hospitality and barbecue unite at the Rathbun’s Birthday BBQ Party, his annual thank you to Atlanta (the restaurant turns seven this year), and groups can expect to find that same community spirit at Rathbun’s wildly popular cooking classes, posted online every year Oct. 1. Book fast, as the 2011 series, including classes in Japanese, Spanish and farm-to-table cooking, is already sold out.
The entire restaurant is available for parties over 100, while smaller groups can gather in the wine room, lobby or covered patio.
Served on small plates, big plates and "second mortgage" plates, Rathbun’s creative modern American cuisine includes inventions such as sea scallop Benedict on country ham grits and hot smoked salmon tostadas.
Regular Meetings Focus South contributor Jeff Heilman and Athens, Ga., go way, way back into some deep, deep R.E.M.
