2011 Brookhaven Arts Festival- Call for Artists

Just a reminder, the Brookhaven Art Alliance is hosting the 8th annual 2011 Brookhaven Arts Festival this October (October 15-16) behind the Brookhaven MARTA Station on Apple Valley Road. The deadline for artists to fill out a booth application is June 12. Booth fee's are $125.00 and will go to marketing the arts festival. 

If you want to learn more about this event (and others like it!) and how you can help out- visit their website here or contact Gretchen Roberts at 404-210-4107.

Dresden Walk

Cory and I were walking around the Village Place development (Library, Verde, Kaleidoscope, etc.) this week, and we noticed a sign across the street on Dresden. It seems to be a public notice that a developer is doing some preliminary design work for a new development called "Dresden Walk".

I had heard a rumor months ago that the property was under contract to be Two Brookhaven, a high-end residential condo development with homes starting from the $1,000,000 (Bleh!) and a sister property to One Brookhaven which is off of Peachtree across from Cherokee Plaza. There are wonderful houses in my neighborhood with smaller (not by much) price tags, and some of those haven't sold in years. As WhatNowAtlanta wrote about, the condo market is ruining Atlanta, and I cannot imagine much of a market for condos in that price range.

From the Dresden Walk public notice, the developer and consultants are doing some stream remediation/preliminary design to prepare the property for development. This piece of land is the one across from the Mom & Pops convenient store, and runs almost all the way to Fernwood Drive (see map for rough estimate). They have even already torn down the house on the corner of Ellijay and Dresden (it also partially burned last year...). The notice only mentions a "mixed-use residential and commercial development". So who knows what that means. It's definitely a pretty substantial parcel, and the Village Place could use something across the street to spur some more development, and maybe even kick the MARTA plans into gear (one can dream, right?).

My only concern for them is parking- I hope they incorporate a parking deck to accommodate all the recent traffic that has been plaguing that area! Sometimes it's ridiculous if Cory and I just want to stop by the Library to grab a quick beer (now all under $3 a glass!). But I guess that's what city living is like, and it does encourage us to walk the 1 mile over there more often.

We will keep you all posted on this development and any updates-it's most likely still pretty far off (1-2 years). Hopefully they don't clear-cut it and then lose funding or decide to pull out like the Streets of Buckhead project, which is only now starting to move again. But it is exciting to see new development coming- with the success of Village Place, we could use more bars and restaurants!

Town Brookhaven Updates- Let's move this along....

Are you ready for Town Brookhaven to be completed? We are too. Lot's of new openings have definitely increased traffic, which is a good sign for the development but there is still a ton of construction and For Lease signs. Since we've moved to the area, this development has continued to pique our interest with the new shops, stores and restaurants coming to it. Now... I think were just ready for it to be completed. Well, news now is that Town Brookhaven is officially getting another apartment complex. At least that's the word from Bisnow Atlanta. It's a renter's market out there right now, and the planned condominium development on the last large parcel (top left in aerial) has been purchased by Fairfield Residential who plan to build a 280-unit class A apartment complex. No word on exact time-frame yet.

The Town Brookhaven development currently has two apartment complexes already on site, along with a Costco, Publix, La Fitness (under construction with a late-summer planned opening), movie theatre (under construction), and numerous shops and restaurants. Our official opinion would be that this new residential complex is good for the development. More everyday foot traffic always brings a more competitive retail and restaurant environment. But it also drives higher rent prices and keeps out more mom & pop stores and restaurants that could add some local flavor and character. What do you think?

We will keep you posted on more updates as they come along!

Georgia 13.1 Half Marathon and 5k

As I've said before, Cory and I had a lot of fun in the Publix Half-Marathon Race a few months ago. We've signed up for a few races since then including the Warrior Dash this past weekend, the Peachtree Road Race, and the Blue Ridge Mountain Triathlon. This seems to be the season for races, and if the weather stays nice and temperature stays in the 60s like it is today (ha, there's no way that's happening in August...), training will be a breeze.  Signing up for these races is a good way to keep us motivated to work out.  Also, it helps justify this, Friday nights here, and the occasional stop here.  Oh, and here and here and here and here (can you say, link overload?).  I guess we should start hitting up some healthier places...

Any way... the reason for the post.... there is another race that is coming to Brookhaven this fall called the 13.1 Marathon Series. This race is highly produced and loaded with entertainment and runner perks (Craft Tech tee & spinning finisher medal).  Also, what's better than it being right in your neighborhood, along your regular training routes?

The Georgia 13.1 Half Marathon and 5k will be held on Sunday, October 2nd and the course will go throughout the Brookhaven neighborhoods and start/finish at Town Brookhaven (course map coming soon!). If you are interested in registering, register here and enter promo code CMM131 to save $10 off registration (valid through 5/19).

Happy training! Thanks Stacy for keeping us in the loop with all these races and making us feel lazy, forcing us to sign up for more!

Brookhaven Cityhood

I'm hearing more and more about the possibility and progress with Brookhaven becoming a city. I understand that a group of officials, representatives, and citizens is working on creating by-laws, raising the necessary funds ($25,000), and spreading communication about this endeavor. If incorporated, our community of over 50,000 people would be the largest city in DeKalb County (take that Decatur!).

Did you know that Brookhaven was once a city? Most of the area was formerly incorporated as North Atlanta, which disincorporated during the 1960s. The North Atlanta name has been largely forgotten and replaced by "Brookhaven".

If you're interested in learning more about this effort, sharing your opinion, and/or learning how you can help out- the Ashford Park Civic Association is holding a meeting next week to discuss the WHAT and HOW of the current City of Brookhaven proposals and the various options available to the residents. At this time, there are three potential options available to us - City of Brookhaven (most popular), annexation into the City of Chamblee, or remain in unincorporated Dekalb County. This meeting will be held on Thursday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m in the cafeteria of the Ashford Park Elementary School.

The agenda for this meeting will include: information regarding the current City of Brookhaven bill that is in the "hopper" of the GA State Legislature; a brief discussion from citizens who were involved with the founding of the City of Dunwoody and the recent annexation of Huntley Hills and beyond into the City of Chamblee; followed by a question and answer period.

A vote for cityhood could take place as early as November 2011. This is an exciting time to be living in Brookhaven and I, personally, would love to see my tax dollars spent more locally on parks, transportation, and improvement.

If you have an opinion on any of the three potential options, I would love to hear them! Please comment  below.

Panahar: Mother's Day

Many of you know how much we love Panahar: great food, wonderful service, and BYOB makes for a winning combo in our book- plus it's only about a mile from our house! A few weeks ago we were enjoying some pakoras with Stacy and Chris, when our server let us know about some of their upcoming brunch events. Apparently they do a lot of these events, pretty much unbeknownst to anyone not on their email list. So we quickly signed up for said list, and today I received a notice about their Mother's Day Special Buffet.

An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet this Sunday, May 8th from 11:30am - 2:30pm for brunch and 5:30pm -10:00pm for dinner. See below for the delicious sounding dishes available! The buffet is $22 a person (including sales tax) and also comes with unlimited champagne and indian beer (so don't worry about BYOBing it... unless you really dislike your mother)!

Soup
KAACHA AAMAYR KHEECHURI: Bangladeshi specialty with ‘Moshoorer & Moog Daal’ (lentils), rice, green mangoes, sweet corn, carrots, green peas, etc.

Appetizer
MAA-CHAYR CHOP: Mini pancakes with Tuna fish, chopped mint leaves, chopped ginger, onion, cumin, coriander, turmeric, breadcrumbs, etc.

Entrees

• TILAPIA MOOG: Boneless Tilapia fillet sautéed with ’Moog-Daal’ (yellow lentils), grilled onions, garlic, turmeric, and other herbs & spices. 
• CHINGRI KODOO: Peeled ‘Chingri Maach’ (shrimp) & freshly sliced ‘Kodoo’ (Opo squash) sautéed with ginger, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin. 
• KOLA NAAR-KAYLEE LAMB: Lamb cooked in cream sauce with almonds, raisins, sliced ‘kola’ (bananas), chopped apple, shredded ‘naarkayl’ (coconut). 
• CHICKEN TIK-KA MOSHOL-LA: Chicken breast marinated in special Tondoori sauce, freshly ground aromatic herbs and barbecued in ‘Tondoori Oven’. Cooked again in a special buttery herb sauce with peeled tomato, cream, ‘methi’, and other spices. 
• BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH CUT GREEN BEANS: Black-eyed peas cooked with cut green beans, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, turmeric & other spices. 
• PAALONG SHAAG PONEER: Chopped ‘Paalong Shaag’ (spinach) cooked in a creamy herb sauce, with cubed homemade ‘Poneer’ (cheese). 
• MISHTEE KOOMRA MOTOR SHOOTI: Mishtee Koomra’ (calabasa) & green peas sautéed with grilled onion, whole red chili, and Chef’s special spices. 

Rice & Bread

• SHOBJEER BIRIYANI: Aromatic Baash-motee rice, sautéed in ‘ghee’, with carrots, peas, beans, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, celery, etc. 
• NAAN: Soft unleavened hand rolled white flour flat bread made in the ‘Tondoori Clay Oven’.

Dessert

• MISHTEE DOI : Homemade baked Bangladeshi ‘Doi’ (yogurt), made from milk sweetened with honey. 
• BORFEE: Bangladeshi dessert, made with milk whey, shredded coconut, raisins, sugar & butter. 

So if that all sounds alien to you, don't be deterred! While we may not understand all of the dishes they are describing, let us assure you, they will be tasty. So bring your mom (or not) and make reservations for this event-call them at 404.633.6655, send them an email at: panahar@aol.com, or check them out online at www.panahar.com.

Enjoy!

Brookhaven Cinco de Mayo Happenings!

Hola! Cinco de Mayo (aka- May 5th) is fast approaching. If you haven't planned out your evening, here are a few events going on in Brookhaven this Thursday:

Kaleidoscope Bistro & Pub

They will be collecting donations throughout the night for Leukemia/Lymphoma research. They also will have live entertainment ("Ever been to 10 Degrees and heard a great guitar player? Well, we got him!"), and numerous food & drink specials:

Food Specials:

• $4 Chips and Roasted Poblano Queso
• $5 Olivia's Pulled Pork Sope w/ Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa with Mexican Slaw
• $12 "Posole Rojo" with Chicharrones, Tostado, Hominy, Cotija, Epazote
• $2 Churros

Drink Specials:

• $5 Margaritas (including): Ashley's Local Organic Strawberry Rita
• Ray's Tequila Sunrise
• Jared's House-Infused Jalepeño Tequila Mint Mojito
• Nick's Skinny Ritas
• $6 Blood Maria's with Chef Joey's Local Organic Heirloom Tomato Bloody Mary Mix
• $2 Dos Equis

Library Coffee Co

The skinny: drink specials ($2 Corona, $2 Tecate, and $5 Nachos & Quesadillas), outdoor patio

Noche Brookhaven

The skinny: food & drink specials, special outdoor space, live music

Verde Brookhaven

The skinny: all day food & drink specials, outdoor patio

I'm trying to find out more so I'll update these events as I get more details. Enjoy!