Carl points to this extensive interview on Eater with Cakes & Ale’s cofounder Chef Billy Allin.  The Q&A includes his thoughts on the challenges he’s faced at the restaurant and the current Decatur restaurant scene. Here’s a taste…

Now, Decatur Square is a restaurant row. Good or bad, I don’t know. But if you come to Decatur, you have a lot of options, and they’re solid in most cases across the board. The outlook, I think, is positive. More and more people are coming to Atlanta from other parts of the country because of costs of living, there are more businesses opening. You’re getting people who are well-traveled, who are used to different experiences, and that’s fueling a boom in the restaurant world of Atlanta. Decatur, I think, is almost in the forefront— there are a few other little areas, Westside being one, Roswell doing a good job— really booming and catering to not just people who have lived here, but a lot of people that are coming from elsewhere. That’s a net positive in the long run because there’s going to be a flush out of restaurants all the time— some of them may be good, some may not be good. But in the long run it will keep intriguing other restaurateurs, hopefully a lot of independent restaurateurs, to put both feet in and go for it.

As I always say (even in non-applicable situations!), let the AJC Food & More blog do the culling of Atlanta area chefs and restuaranteurs and then just pick out the ones with a Decatur relationship!  Here they are for 2013…

Outstanding restaurateur:

• Ford Fry
• Mike Klank and Eddie Hernandez, Taqueria del Sol

Best Chef Southeast:

• Billy Allin, Cakes & Ale

The AJC’s John Kessler reports that Cakes & Ale’s pastry chef since the restaurant’s inception, Cynthia Wong, is departing and heading to Empire State South “within the month”.

As Kessler notes, this is a bit of a hiccup for the restaurant, which is currently opening a bakery adjacent to its under-construction new location along Sycamore @ Church Street in downtown Decatur.

However, C&A’s chef and owner Billy Allin tells Kessler that they’ve got people in place to fill in during the interim until Allin can rustle up a new executive pastry chef.

The James Beard Award nominations were just announced last night and both Cakes and Ale’s Billy Allin and Cynthia Wong were nominated for awards. Allin was nominated for Best Chef: Southeast and Wong was nominated for Oustanding Pastry Chef.  (Allin is also up for a “People’s Best New Chef: Southeast Award by Food & Wine.  You can vote for him online HERE)

Additionally, the local chain Taqueria del Sol was nominated in the “Outstanding Restaurateur” category.

Two Decatur chefs are listed among the semi-finalists for this year’s James Beard Foundation awards.

• Scott Peacock of Watershed fame is one of 20 semi-finalists in the Outstanding Chefs category.
• Cakes & Ale’s Billy Allin is one of 20 semi-finalists in the “Best Chef: Southeast” category.

Peacock was an “Outstanding Chef” semi-finalist last year as well. This is Allin’s first nomination.

Congrats to both Decatur semi-finalists!

Jump over to CL’s Omnivore (who also gets the hat-tip!) for a wrap-up of all nominated chef’s with kitchens around Atlanta.  And for the full list of semi-finalists across the nation, click here (PDF).

Photos ripped from the restaurants’ respective websites.

Wow.  Huge honor for Billy Allin, Cynthia Wong and all the folks at Cakes & Ale.

According to Grub Street New York, which got a “sneek peek” of Bon Appetit’s upcoming issue, which includes “10 Best New Restaurants in America”, Cakes & Ale is among the honored.  The recommended dish from the listing is “Citrus Arancine with Pecorino Cheese”.

They’ll be more when the issue hits newsstands August 11th.  Stay tuned.

For now, I think “Congratulations” are in order!

h/t: Running With Tweezers (via Twitter)