Saturday, May 18 is jam-packed with performances from noon until six o’clock.

Here are just a few of the acts that I want to see.

Keep an eye open for Dance Brasil performing samba accompanied by a drum ensemble. The costumes are brilliant–bring your camera.

I can’t wait to see how local artists and illustrator Janis Dunckel will involve the community in creating something original on the spot.

And The Skipperdees, twin sisters out of Athens, will perform with Troy Cono. The Skipperdees, according to their website, play “folk music for pop culture.” You can hear them here. 

There’s lots more: remember, performances begin at noon and again at three.

Every Saturday afternoon in May (and through June 8) it’s Sidewalk Saturdays from 3 to 6 PM.  Over 20 acts, ranging from artists to musicians, dancers and performers, have been booked to appear at various locations in downtown Decatur and in Harmony Park in Oakhurst.   You won’t want to miss a single Saturday!Sidewalk Saturdays

You can grab a lunch to go at any of the nearby restaurants and enjoy the Blue Sky Concerts every Wednesday in May from Noon to 1:00 PM on the Square in Decatur. Or grab a dinner to go or pack a picnic dinner and enjoy the Concerts on the Square every Saturday night starting at 7:00 PM. The Decatur Business Association presents both series of these free concerts, along with the help of our local sponsors who provide free prizes that are raffled off during the shows.

Saturday Concerts on the Square

Memorial Day weekend features the Decatur Arts Festival on Saturday and Sunday on the Square.  To celebrate our 25th year, Shawn Mullins will be headlining our Performing Arts Stage with a special 90 minute show on Saturday at 3:30 PM.  Don’t miss this opportunity to see a great singer and songwriter!

Shawn Mullins

During the Decatur Arts Festival, we’ll have continuous live music on the Square starting at 11:15 AM Saturday and Noon on Sunday, including the Jacob Jefferies Band, Bonaventure Quartet and many others.  Delta Moon closes out our musical program Sunday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM.  Go here to see the full lineup on the main stage on the Square.  There is also a separate Acoustic Palette Stage at the Arts Festival for an unplugged musical experience.

Thanks to the Decatur Arts Alliance for organizing Sidewalk Saturdays and the Decatur Arts Festival, the Decatur Business Association for organizing the Blue Sky and Saturday Concerts on the Square, the City of Decatur, and all the sponsors and volunteers who make these events possible.

We were judged on the quality of our food traditions, whether our chefs had national recognition, as well as our residents having access to cooking schools, farmer’s markets, and food festivals. Also included in the consideration was whether our city had craft breweries and a good wine culture. And lastly, we were judged on whether our city offered a high quality of life in which restaurants are just one of the amenities that help residents thrive. Yes to all of the above.

In the article the writer said that Decatur looked like it had been planned by a foodie, with block after block of independent, chef/owned restaurants, pubs, and cafes. They mentioned Café Alsace, Café Lily, Cakes & Ale, No. 246, Parkers on Ponce, and the Iberian Pig as some outstanding examples of what Decatur has to offer.

Livibility.com is on online resource on more than 500 of America’s Best Places to live, work and play — in between big cities. Check this out:

http://livability.com/top-10/top-10-foodie-cities-2013-second-helping/decatur/ga

And it doesn’t stop there; a friend of mine who lives in DC sent me an article from the March 31, 2013 issue of The Washington Post entitled “Three Bold Restaurants Stirring up the South.” The article was a full page in the post and did detailed assessments of their three favorite restaurants. Our own, Cake & Ale was one of the three. The other two were The Optimist who is owned by Chef Ford Fry – owner of our No. 246; and the last one was General Muir, a deli at Emory Point – not far from Decatur.

Restaurants are such an interesting partnership between the owners, the customers, and the city government. They all have to be healthy and thriving for any one of them to work. Thanks to all of the hard working, creative restaurant chefs and owners, the city staff that make Decatur a good place to live and work, and you, the customers who support it all.

Naty’s Closet just opened up two weeks ago in the 335 building on West Ponce de Leon Ave. and I’m already smitten. Why? Well, check out these dresses in the photo below:

 None of them are more than $50! Can you believe it? They’re all perfect spring dresses and they won’t break the bank.

The same can be said for all of the colorful jewelry:

Naty’s Closet also carries Lindsay Phillips flip flops. Have you heard of these before? They’re ingenious. You can switch out the top straps for different color combinations so your flippies can match your dress, pedi or both.

The shop also has cute odds and ends like brightly-colored cell phone cases, make-up bags and cute, printed t-shirts. I’m sure I’ll be getting a lot of my summer wardrobe from Naty’s this year. I can just picture myself in that coral cut-out dress and matching flip flops, sipping on an iced coffee outside of Cakes & Ale Bakery.

Naty’s Closet 
335 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
404-378-4555
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Leon’s Full Service and the Decatur Arts Alliance: there’s a perfecta!

Join your friends at Leon’s Full Service, 131 E. Ponce de Leon Ave.  in Decatur, on Saturday, May 4, for a Derby Day celebration featuring a hat contest, mint juleps, horse betting and more, all to benefit the Decatur Arts Alliance. See you then!

Get out your big hats!

I was standing on a noisy corner

Waiting for the walking green

Across the street he stood

And he played real good

On his clarinet, for free.

Picture this: it’s Saturday evening and you are headed to Native for dinner (highly recommended, especially the porch) and you encounter Awalim Dance Company.

Or you are cutting across Harmony Park after picking up dinner fixings from Oakhurst Market and suddenly you get to enjoy a pop-up concert by Troy Cono. 

Or you are headed to Little Shop of Stories and suddenly there’s Elizabeth Dulemba illustrating the sidewalk. 

On your way home with a fresh mani-pedi at Natural Body and wait! Here’s a tuba concert by Larkin Taylor-Parker

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Saturday afternoons from three til six o’clock in April, May and June all of downtown Decatur and Oakhurst’s Harmony Park become performance space. The City of Decatur will sponsor Sidewalk Saturdays, a street-side celebration of the arts. The pop-up art program will redefine your idea of diversity. Comedy, lots of music, dance, spoken word, acrobatics, chalk, and more.

Here are just a few of the performances scheduled for April which grabbed my attention.

•  Elizabeth Dulemba:  a noted children’s book illustrator, Elizabeth will turn her talents to sidewalk chalk art. She will mix serious illustration with interactive illustration where kids can pose in the art for fun pictures.
• Larkin Taylor-Parker:  plays an incredible variety of songs on her tuba
• Lew Lefton and Joel Byars:  will assemble an entourage of local comedic talent
• Luis Stefanell:  a conga drummer and singer whose repertoire includes cha-cha mambo, samba and afro-cuban funk
• Troy Cono:  singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist
• Os Ossos: Brazilian Jazz
• Velero Flamenco. Flamenco! I love flamenco!

The title of this post, Real Good for Free, is a little misleading. I was thinking about public performances and remembered the Joni Mitchell Song. These performances are free to us (yay!) but are paid performances for the artists, thanks to grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Georgia Council of the Arts, and the support of Decatur Downtown Development, the Decatur Tourism Bureau, and of course, the Decatur Arts Alliance.

See you Saturday!

Okra fries were a hit.

 Our first stop was Chai Pani, billed as an Indian street food restaurant. The vibe is exotic and warm with colorful posters and bright red walls. Many of the dishes offered are snacks to share. They also have sandwiches, salads, and a couple of full dinners each night. Many of the dishes are kid-friendly, with suggestions on the menu for kid’s plates.

 An order of puri 

Everything on the menu sounded so good that we might have over eaten at our first stop. In all, we ended up with five plates filling our table with food. We ordered papadum – large crispy lentil crackers served with tamarind and green chutney dipping sauces. This was a great beginning.  Next came the Sev Potato Dahi Puri which is a puffed flour crisp filled with potatoes, onions, cilantro and chick pea noodles, then drizzles with yogurt dressing. The five little bite size puffs were gone in a flash. The Okra Fries were the biggest hit, with every last paper-thin piece of okra devoured. The Chicken Pakoras (bite-size nuggets with a spiced curried chickpea batter) and the Kale Pakoras (kale fritters) come piled high on the plate with certainly enough to share — we ended up taking some home. These were all great tastes for our 10-year olds to have fun trying.

 Next stop – Farm Burger. We decided to forego the popular burgers and try a variety of side dishes. The deviled eggs are very tasty, but the mac and cheese and cheese grits were the favorite. I had to eat the kale salad all by myself  — too many other good gooey tastes available.

 Last stop, Ted’s Montana Grill. Our boys think the milkshakes are a huge treat. The servers always bring the milkshake in the big silver cup that the milkshakes are churned in along with a glass and straw. There is always a little more than a glassful in the silver cup, which is a tasty windfall. French fires, onion rings, and chili seemed to do the trick for our last stop. At one point I noticed the boys holding their stomachs in painful delight.

Owner and raconteur Bill Bibb is marking The Seen’s tenth anniversary with a show and a celebration from seven until ten o’clock.

For the 10th anniversary celebration Bill will display work by most of the 40+ artists he currently represents along with others who have contributed to The Seen’s history and success. Expect work in a wide variety of media, including glass, painting, bronze and clay sculpture, photography, and metal.

Some of my favorites:

artist Keri Straka

artist John Geci

artist David Robinson

And because this is a party, there will be music by Dane Hildreth and Sydney Rhame.

And good food from Badda Bing (I love Chef Michael’s cooking) and A Slice of Life.

And beverages. All surrounded by art, art, and art.

The Seen Gallery, 415 Church Street, Decatur GA 30030

Don’t know where to eat in Decatur? Now you will be able to visit many of Decatur’s popular restaurants on-line in a video tour. Beginning Spring 2013, the VisitDecaturGeorgia.com website makes it easy for you to choose a restaurant to suit your needs. Simply visit the site and click on “Decatur Restaurant-Tour” to take a virtual tour of several local restaurants. You will meet the chefs, experience the restaurant’s ambiance, see what’s on the menu, and share some of the behind-the- scenes kitchen secrets first hand. Mary Moore, chef and owner of Cook’s Warehouse, will be your tour host. With her experience as a chef and as a business owner, she will knowledgeably lead you on this fun and informative tour.

With new restaurants popping up monthly, that restaurant tour will be very welcomed. And the restaurant scene just keeps getting more and more diverse and exciting. Chai Pani, which opens March 1. 2013, brings us a taste of Indian street food. Located in the old Watershed space, it has a completely different look, with a warm vibe and exotic excitement. It offers snacks and small plates such as samosas, kale or chicken pakoras, crisp okra fries; salads; uttapam (crepes filled with veggies; as well as sandwiches and wraps — lunch or dinner. Victory Sandwich Bar, opened late February, with a clientele just waiting to jump in. A big bar dominates the open and bright space. Small $4 sandwiches and snacks are just right for those times when you want a little something with your beer or frozen Jack Daniels slushie. Two new Mexican restaurants are in the works to open before summer of 2013 (we hope) – Mar and Hola.  Mar’s menu plans are for Mexican coastal seafood and tacos. In the old Feast space, they have kept that wonderful wood burning oven for seafood roasting. Across the street from Mar, preparations will start on the old depot for a casual yet edgy spot by the Brick Store Pub owners along with a couple of partners. Lawrence’s Cafe is now open on College Avenue serving Lebanese cuisine – soups, salads, kabobs, gyros, and seafood – made from scratch daily by chef Tony.                   

Our chefs and food creators are becoming super stars. The James Beard Foundation announced their 2013 Semi-finalists – several of our chef/owners made the cut. Billy Allin from Cakes & Ale is a semi-finalist for Best Chef-Southeast. Ford Fry, owner of No. 246 Decatur is a semi-finalist in the Outstanding Restaurateur category as are Eddie Hernandez and Mike Klank from Taqueria del Sol. Mixologist Mike Macquarrie from Leon’s Full Service was featured in the February 2013 issue of Southern Living magazine, doing his mixologist thing. Exciting things are happening in Decatur.     

Or this one, a picture of the “decorated” tunnel that runs under the railroad tracks toward Agnes Scott College.

The blogger/photographer is Mike Fink, a Decatur resident, who writes that photography is his hobby. He shoots whatever he finds interesting while walking in and around town.

I have never noticed this flour de lis before, although Mike writes that it’s right on Ponce de Leon near Terra Mater Salon. I’ll have to look for it.

And I was happy to find that he also admires this bas relief (is that the phrase?) on the building that houses Little Shop of Stories and Vivid Boutique.

I am happy that Mike is documenting these scenes. He’s got pages of them, go take a look. They remind me to look around when I’m walking and also that things change when we are not looking. One more  and then I’ll go. This one of the windows at the Presbyterian Church. Nice, don’t you think?