Cheers to the H&F All Stars

You may have heard the news: Holeman and Finch Public House is all grown up. Well, maybe not quite, but we have just turned three. Yup, our third year anniversary just passed and since we've got that plus lots of other things to celebrate --- such as spring and all the amazing produce it brings, and the recent opening of the H&F Bottle Shop, and our bakery is killing it now that all the farmer's markets are open (did we mention that the H&F Bread Co. was named one of the top ten bakeries in the US by Bon Appetit Magazine?) --- we thought we'd run an All Stars cocktail menu. For the rest of the month come in and find our greatest hits from the past three years. Have you been craving the Edgewood Cocktail? Celia 39? Rhythm and Soul? A Punch in the Rye? Angora Sweater? Muddy Waters? Jacks' Press? Soul Grabber? Harrier? And, yes, of course, the Southern Cola? They're all on. Come n' get it.

Oh yeah, and thanks for three fantastic years! Y'all are the real All Stars!!!

Atta Boy, Squirrels, May the Force be with You

Seems like everything southern is hot right now, or maybe it always is. The upcoming Imbibe Magazine is all about drinking in the south. We're happy to see so many of our friends and colleagues featured so prominently in this ode to liquid culture. To further support our point, we'd like to announce that our very own Michael Searles (pirate name "Squirrels) is taking some of this heat to New York City this weekend to represent Atlanta in the Cocktail World Cup, an international event co-hosted by 42Below and the US Bartenders Guild. Searles is advancing to New York because he killed it in the regional competition held earlier this year with his "Betty Rampage."

Says Squirrels, "The drink's a bit girl-friendly, but those drinks have their place, damnit! The peaches I'm using are from Gaffney, South Carolina, who beats Georgia in overall production, to this day, and the ginger ale is Blenheim's spicy variety. The cocktail's color and opacity represent a uniquely Southern U.S. red clay that's given life to our local foodways and ruined every pair of white tennis shoes I've ever owned. I've named it for a true Southern Belle who's not afraid to engage in a bit of roller-derby violence. It's sweet and sassy and not at all shy, which again encapsulates (through our character, the Belle) all I've learned and love about the South."

We'll all be cheering for you on Sunday, Squirrels, and can't wait to see you move on the final round in New Zealand.

For those of you who might like to try this at home, we submit the recipe here:

The Betty Rampage

1) Coarse chop one pecan, cut a small wedge from a 2nd pecan

2) Add chopped pecan, .25oz white wine vinegar, 3 dashes Angostura bitters to a tumbler

3) Add 1.5oz peach preserve to tumbler... Canned peaches will suffice

4) Add ice and 1.5oz 42Below vodka to tumbler

5) Top with .75oz spicy ginger ale or ginger beer, though be aware and adjust (more vinegar or more bitters, respectively) if the ginger ale is either overly sweet or the ginger beer is overly citric

6) Shake vigorously

7) Double strain into double Old Fashioned over rocks

8) Garnish with the near-whole pecan and sprig of spicy green such as arugula or rapini

Enjoy!

btw, the Bottle Shop is opening next week.

Silent Night, Burger Night

What makes the Holeman & Finch Public House burger so darn good?

Attention to detail .... house-made everything (from the buns, to the ketchu to the pickles to the mustard to the perfect custom-grind of local pastured beef) ... the fact that sometimes you can't have it?

All of the above and more. It is perfectly delicious; the epitome of burgerness and usually we only serve twenty-four a night, but December 24th, we're serving burgers all night long --- our present to all you burger fans. Join us for a new holiday tradition.

Our Daily Bread

Yes, it's a corny title, but we really do get amazing bread from our bakery, the H&F Bread Co., daily. Chef Linton Hopkins was so keen on ensuring that we serve the best, freshest of everything that he up and started a bakery. Our delivery comes by cart every day right at 5pm. Greatest hits include: the soft pretzel, pan au levain, sesame crackers, bacon caramel corn and, of course, the burger bun. Speaking of burgers, we are serving burgers all night on December 24th --- our little gift to you.

And speaking of the the H&F Bread Co., you can order holiday treats for your home (including the bacon caramel corn) by visiting the website, and clicking on "place your holiday bread order."

Many more good things to come soon...

Celebrating Local --- Including Local History

You may have noticed that Holeman & Finch Public House features a Coca-Cola poster on the bar side of the restaurant. Perhaps you regular patrons have even noticed that it changes from time to time to reflect the season.

The Coca-Cola "Yes" Girl poster currently hanging on the walls of the Public House is more than a piece of eye-fetching nostalgia. It is a little bit of Atlanta history straight from the Coca-Cola archives. The poster, painted by Haddon Sundblom, was first used to promote the product in July of 1946 and received the first place award in the poster class by The Art Directors Club of Chicago in the same year. Paul Smith, art director of the D'acy Advertising Company commissioned the painting and received the award on behalf of Coca-Cola. It's almost like Mad Men come to life (a generation preceding).

Through the magic of community partnership, we select a quarterly ads from the archives to dress our wall. Next time you're in, be sure to check out this little homage to our local history.

Hunting Honey

Honey. Everyone knows what it is, but what do we really know about it?

Recently Holeman & Finch staff (and a few Restaurant Eugene friends) took a field trip to Hidden Springs Farm where Ray and Donna Lopes, beekeepers and farmers extraordinaire, toured us through their amazing 110 acre apiary in Williamson, Georgia. The Lopes have been keeping bees for over a decade, and it's not just honey they produce from their 200+ hives. They also raise queen bees to sell, as well as about 100 head of Brangus cow and enough laying hens to fill egg orders at The Peachtree Road, the East Atlanta Village and the Emory Farmers Markets.

The Lopes were kind enough to share a tremendous amount of knowledge with our staff, and a bee suit with Holeman & Finch Chef de Cuisine Ryan Smith who harbors a love of the apis mellifera. Suited up, he smoked the hives to calm the bees --- the smoke simulates a forest fire which triggers the bee's instinct to binge on honey in preparation for migration. At the first wiff of smoke, the bees become so busy filling up that they are less inclined to sting those who tamper with their colony. While the bees binged, Ryan hunted for queens and looked for full frames to rob of honey.

We took full frames from the hives inside to the extractor, a centrifuge used to spin the honey out of the comb. Then we brixed it to test the water content, and filtered it just once to remove any residual bits of wax.

Here are just a few of the bee facts we gathered on our trip:

- a single hive contains somewhere around 40,000 bees

- a hive has only 3 types of bees: 1 queen who lays all the eggs and regulates the hive, the drones which are male and exist soley to mate once with the queen and die, the worker bees which are female and do all the work of the hive (i.e. produce the beeswax for honeycomb, gather all the pollen and nectar to store for food, keep the queen comfortable - they can even unhinge their wing to fan her if necessary)

- queens lay around 2000 eggs a day

- during honey production time, a bee lives 6 weeks (in the winter they can live longer due to inactivity)

- bees die when they've worn out their wings

- honey bees visit about 2 million flowers to make 1 lb of honey

- bees communicate through pheremones, and by dancing (yes, dancing)

- bees fly about 15 mph

- to produce 2 lbs of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 time around the earth

- bees visit approximately 1000 flowers every day

- the queen slows or speeds her egg production based on the amount of pollen coming in the hive

- bees eat the honey to produce the wax for their combs. 8 lbs of honey are required to produce 1 lb of beeswax

- when it's time for a new queen, the worker bees feed royal jelly (a custardy looking substance they produce) to larvae to produce a new queen

Boudin Blanc and Mud Bug Pie

Perhaps it's to show solidarity with our high-spirited and sometimes hard-luck cousins in the gulf. Perhaps it's a hearkening to Chef Hopkins' culinary emergence in New Orleans all those years ago. Perhaps it's sous chef Jason Paolini's Louisiana roots. More likely, it's just cause the food is good. Whatever the reason, you don't have to be on the trail to get some good cajun food.

Boudin Blanc is back on the menu at Holeman & Finch Public House. Cajun style with rice and just the right amount of season. Handmade everyday by our head of charcuterie James Ellington (pictured here). We're serving the boudin with Sea Island peas. It's delicious. Come get some. Also, new to the menu tonight: Sheep's Ricotta stuffed in Squash Blossoms with English Pea Puree and Louisiana Crawfish Pie with Remoulade. oooooooo weeeeeee!