Oh wow.  John Kessler posted this press release from Everybody’s owner Andy Kurlansky…

After 41 great years in Emory Village, we are retiring from the restaurant business.

We are proud to have served some 3 million pizzas to multiple generations of Atlantans since 1971.

Here’s to all who had their first dates at Everybody’s, met their spouse at Everybody’s, or celebrated other of life’s joyous events with us.

Thanks to all in Atlanta who have been loyal fans of our pizza, and who have been guests in our “home.”

But most of all, we thank all of the wonderful folks who have worked with us throughout these 41 years, for they have been the true heart and soul of the place.

Without their dedication and love, none of it could have happened.

Photo courtesy of Everybody’s Pizza website

The AJC dining critic, John Kessler, has talked a lot about Cakes & Ale lately.  But as he notes himself, he hadn’t reviewed it since it’s move to its new, larger digs at Church & Sycamore.

Today’s review of Cakes & Ale and its accompanying bakery is lengthy and in-depth.  It is gracious and occasionally critical.

Kessler provides this summation at the start…

So let me cut to the chase: With the move, Cakes & Ale has taken a tremendous step forward and now counts among the handful of top Atlanta dining destinations. The restaurant no longer seems a work in progress. It’s here. More than just about any spot in the metro area, it celebrates local produce. Though far from vegetarian, the menu lets vegetables in season call the shots and determine the flavors in nearly every dish. It’s a Southern restaurant inasmuch as the menu feels deeply tied to place, but Allin’s seasonings and cooking ideas range broadly.

The bakery is a different beast, with a different menu and guiding spirit.

In the end, a relocated, more mature Cakes & Ales garnered four out of five stars from Kessler, while the still evolving bakery received three.  A four-star rating places Cakes & Ale in the top echelon of Atlanta restaurants with Bacchanalia , Rathbuns, and other top tier of Atlanta restaurants (which I can’t fully list because the AJC maddeningly doesn’t have an obvious grouped list of restaurant reviews on its website!).  Last I had heard, there are currently NO five star restaurants in Atlanta, according to the paper.

Congrats C&A!   A huge accomplishment!

Photo courtesy of Cakes & Ale’s website

The front of the AJC’s Sunday Living section today features an extensive recent history of Decatur by John Kessler, told through the eyes of its restaurants and bars.  Here’s the intro…

The Acunto pizza oven lays claim as the Maserati of kitchen equipment — beautiful, sleek and powerful. Handcrafted in Italy, these racing-car-red ovens can transform a pile of burning wood into an inferno capable of cooking a pizza in 90 seconds.

Of the three restaurants in greater Atlanta that boast Acunto ovens, two sit 500 feet apart in Decatur. The new pizzeria Sapori di Napoli occupies former office space and promises to give the east side of metro Atlanta some of the cheesy magic of Antico Pizza Napoletana on the west side. No. 246, about two blocks from Sapori di Napoli, offers a hugely ambitious Italian menu in the space that old-time residents knew for decades as the Square Table, a down-home diner.

The Square Table was a stalwart of a very different Decatur.

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.

UPDATE: The Decatur Farmer’s Market has clarified to both Andisheh and in a comment to Kessler’s post stating that Nazifa “was never formally part of the market and can’t be because her ingredients aren’t local or organic.”  Rick posted the AJC comment in full below.

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John Kessler’s got a great piece on his Food and More blog about Nazifa Garib, a native Bosnian making the most in-demand Iraqi flatbread in the Atlanta metropolitan area.  Her store is located in the Fox Trot Center on North Decatur Road, a “no-man’s land” that really is an “everyman’s land”, according to Kessler.  (I concur, as we lived out in this area for 5 years before migrating in-town.)

But as Andisheh points out in an email, don’t come to the Decatur Farmer’s Market looking to buy Nazifa’s breads anymore.  Take it, Kessler…

Now she is looking for ways to expand beyond traditional customers from the nan-eating world. Which, as the crow flies, is close.

A stall at the Decatur Farmers Market earned her praise but it came to a quick end after another merchant there complained she was taking away too many of his customers. (Market manager Duane Marcus confirms this.) This season she may try a stall at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market.

The AJC’s John Kessler reports that Drew Belline – “longtime chef” at Floataway Cafe – will take the helm at Ford Fry’s recently announced, but yet-to-be-named Decatur restaurant, which will take over the Eurasia Bistro space along East Ponce in the coming months.

As we previously reported, the restaurant will be “Italian-inspired”, but Kessler gives us some context, stating that Fry “cites San Fransico’s A16 as inspiration.”

Hot diggity!

The AJC’s John Kessler tweets…

Ford Fry (JCT Kitchen) signs the Eurasia Bistro space in Decatur. “High profile chef” to sign on for Mediterranean menu.

Very interesting.  Here’s a little background on Chef Fry in case you’re interested.