Last week I was introduced to the delicious food at 5 Seasons Brewing Company.  While having ‘Brewing’ in the name made me a little concerned that this would be a beer-focused establishment, I was impressed by the large selection of food on the menu, all of which uses fresh, quality ingredients.  Most of the produce at 5 Seasons comes from local farms and the restaurant’s specials are based around what’s seasonally fresh in this area.  I love any local business that supports local people and farmers and the 5 Seasons folks are big advocates of Georgia Organics and Slow Food Atlanta.

I went to 5 Seasons not once, but twice, last week, the first time for lunch earlier in the week.  I was so impressed by my meal, I insisted that David and I take our friend, Ken, who was visiting from out of town, for dinner on Friday night.  5 Seasons has three locations, but both times I went to their Westside location, which is really close to where we live and has lots of seating.  Located on Marietta Street, right across the street from Octane, 5 Seasons is close to a lot of different Atlanta neighborhoods.  On Friday night we sat outside on the second floor, giving us a great view of the Atlanta skyline.

So now to the food…on my first trip to 5 Seasons I ate the salmon entrée, which the waiter highly recommended.  The salmon was served over rice and a huge portion of fresh, steamed vegetables.  The best part about the salmon was the Thai chili/curry sauce that accompanied it.  Spicy, but not too spicy.  I ate the entire thing and loved every bite.  Great flavors and I feel like I got a meal that was unique to that menu and not found at every lunch spot.

When I returned to 5 Seasons later in the week, I was eager to share my discovery with David.  The menu has a large selection, with all prices and sizes.  5 Seasons has everything from small plates to pizza (unfortunately not GF) to huge meals to share.  For dinner I was interested in tasting their small plates and I’d noticed some unusual salads that I wanted to try.  So I ordered edamame for an appetizer, which was very cheap and a huge portion.  I love salted edamame.  It’s a simple app that you can make in your own home.  For my meal, I ordered the small plate special, sweet potato with walnuts and powdered sugar, and their balsamic roasted beet, goat cheese and walnut salad.  Yum!  The sweet potatoes were sweet and the walnuts added a nice crunch.  My salad had so many delicious beets that were colorful and well complimented with the goat cheese.  Everything tasted so fresh and each dish had complex flavors but wasn’t overly rich.

The wait staff was really friendly and accommodating each time I ate at 5 Seasons.  My lunch waiter was not afraid to ask me questions about Celiac, which I appreciated and both times my waiter told me to pick out what I was interested in having and the chef would try to make it work.  Both of my meals, however, were naturally gluten free and didn’t necessitate any changes.

Also, the Westside 5 Seasons is supposed to be getting a gluten-free beer in later this fall.  I’ll let you know when it arrives.