Richard Blais' - the Spence in Atlanta

Jack with his favorite chef Richard Blais

When we travel for "work" we always take the time to nourish our hardworking selves with fabulous food.  On our trip to Atlanta for market this past weekend, 

there was no doubt where we we would go...  

The Spence!

Caroline & Jack at the Spence in Atlanta

Jack (an avid chef himself - lucky for me!) has been a fan of Chef turned chef/restauranteur Richard Blais since he began the challenge of battling it out on Top Chef several years ago.

the atmosphere is open & airy & the expansive windows allow for natural light. 

We love the style of the menu (which changes DAILY!) with an old-world key on the cover.

and we loved how the menu includes a random list of "things that inspire" ...  

from Irish Butter...

to legendary wine expert Serge Hochar...

to Le Tre Lune Farms...

to, hey why not? NY Mets player RA Dickey...

with a menu as original & genius as this, it makes sense that Blais' inspiration would come from many a varied thing.


The wine/drinks list(s) in themselves were incredible and would take weeks to try & truly appreciate.

and after a couple of those you feel like this...

yours truly with our precious waitress named Rory. loved her!

at every table they serve warm, fluffy, buttery rolls with a smear of sweet butter sprinkled with sea salt.  (we ate those before i could photograph them. :-/

for our appetizer we ordered what was quite possibly my favorite part of the meal...

Oysters & pearls, which is raw oysters dotted with "pearls" of nitrogen frozen vodka & horseradish over black sea salt.  

The really cool part is that chef Richard Blais was tirelessly working the restaurant making sure every plate was perfect and that everyone was taken care of and happy...

yep, everyone was happy...

Richard Blais & Jack Mayberry from perch. at The Spence

Jack got the beef short ribs with prawn ravioli & carrot butter.

I had the roasted tuna steak...

By dessert time we were overwhelmed and went with what any normal human being would...

peanut butter & chocolate!

milk chocolate, peanut, burnt banana ice-cream = heaven in a bowl.

jack & caroline post dinner (and drinks!) inspired & well fed at The Spence.