March 31 – For more information please call 404-467-9000 or contact Sanaa@garestaurants.org or visit www.garestaurants.org.

March 30 – 8:00 am to 6:00 pm at the South Cob Recreation Center, 875 Six Flags Drive, Austell. 

For more information please call 404-518-6123 or visit www.garestaurants.org.

March 28 – 8:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown, 590 West Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta. 

For more information please call 404-518-6123 or visit www.garestaurants.org.

March 28 and 29 – For more information please visit www.jlatlanta.org/tok.

Despite the struggling economy, J. Christopher’s enjoyed a year of growth in 2008. The Atlanta-based collection of casual dining restaurants opened two new restaurants in 2008 and achieved two to three percent comparable sales growth.

Last year, J. Christopher’s opened two restaurants in the Atlanta area. New 2008 locations included Alpharetta Highway in Roswell, GA and Town Center in Kennesaw, GA.

J. Christopher’s has already opened one of 8 planned restaurants for 2009. The newest restaurant is in Macon, Ga. and is owned by Rhode Hill and Chris Brogdon. Chris is a co-founder of J. Christopher’s and is also developing J. Christopher’s restaurants as a franchisee. The new restaurant is the first franchised location in Georgia and the first J. Christopher’s in Macon.

Additional 2009 openings will include the Atlanta suburbs of Johns Creek, Brookhaven, Woodstock, East Lake and possibly greater expansion in Nashville. The Johns Creek location is planned for opening in late April 2009 and will be the second company-operated restaurant in the Atlanta metro area. The Johns Creek restaurant will be the new prototype and feature new, more colorful and comfortable décor. J. Christopher’s has also selected new equipment that will provide greater operating efficiency and employee comfort.

J. Christopher’s announced its franchising program in the fall of 2008 and has targeted several suburbs of Atlanta and markets throughout the Southeast for expansion, including Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, NC, Jacksonville, Fla., Birmingham, Ala. and Charleston, SC.

March 26-28 – High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction.  For more information, please visit www.atlanta-wineauction.org.

March 25 – 2:30 pm through 4:30 pm at the Bacchus Wine Bar, Savannah.  For more information, please visit  www.garestaurants.org 

March 25 – 10:00 am to 11:30 am.  If you would like to attend this meeting, please contact Holly Elmore at Hollyde@bellsouth.net or call 404-467-9000.  For location and time, visit  www.GreenFoodserviceAlliance.org.

Many of Atlanta’s best restaurants participated in Open Hand’s 17th annual Dining Out for Life on April 22. Their donation of a minimum 20% of sales that day will help Open Hand provide home-delivered meals and nutrition education to seniors and individuals living with diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer.

Dining Out for Life 2009 co-chairs are: Leigh Catherall, Open Hand Board member and Owner of Here to Serve Restaurants which include Aja, Home and LOLA; Darryl Evans, Executive Chef for The Restaurant at Verve Lounge, and Harrison Rohr III, Director of Catering and Conference Services at soon-to-open St. Regis – Atlanta.

Open Hand, which recently commemorated its 20th year of service to the community, has grown from delivering 14 meals each day in 1988, to providing more than 5,000 meals daily across 17 counties in north Georgia. Ninety-one percent of Open Hand’s clients live at or below the federal poverty level

For more information, go to www.projectopenhand.org or DiningOutforOH.org.

The Atlanta Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier (LDEI) announced this week that it plans to give $14,000 to Georgia Organics, a non-profit organization working to integrate healthy, sustainable and locally grown food into the community. The donation will be used for the Local Food Guide publication, conference production and general operations.

This year for the first time ever, the LDEI Atlanta president, Barbara Pires, presented the donation at Georgia Organics’ 12th annual conference. It was held at 8:00a.m. until 5:00p.m on March 20 – 21 at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga.

“They have been one of our best supporters over time,” said Barbara Petit, president of Georgia Organics. “Typically, donations are not presented at the conference, but this year Georgia Organics wants to formally recognize the long-term commitment of LDEI Atlanta.”

Since 2003, Les Dames has donated $67,000 to Georgia Organics. “Six years ago in rough financial times, Georgia Organics came to LDEI Atlanta looking for support of their annual conference, which is the touchstone of the organization, and the support has continued ever since,” said Pires.

“The initial gift truly gave the organization the boost it needed, not only to survive at that critical juncture, but to transform itself into the dynamic organization that it is today,” said Pires. “We’re excited to continue our relationship in 2009. The organizations have formed a strong partnership, working towards the mission of bringing local, sustainable food to the state of Georgia.”

LDEI is a worldwide society of women in the culinary field.