Gold Elite Event: Farm-er To Table at SaltYard

What a mix of attendees at this, my first Unilocal event as an Elite! Wifey and I were happy to be included and enjoyed meeting some of the other Unilocalers out there. It was really loud and a bustling night at SaltYard. We enjoyed the dishes provided and want to go back and have a nice, romantic dinner without having to share a stand-​up table with 20 of our closest Unilocal friends.
We were able to have a few conversations with some of the «farmers». We particularly enjoyed hearing about growing mushrooms and getting introduced to new friends from American Spirit Whiskey who now has a distillery in Atlanta. Yes, that’s right, I spelled «whiskey» with an «e» because I’m talking about red-​blooded American whiskey, not some hoity-​toity whisky from an island (sorry «Kingdom») in the North Atlantic where you have to hold up your pinky finger while you sip it. ASW provided us with a nice sampling of their White Whiskey. Georgians call that moonshine but it’s all the rage to refer to it now as «white whiskey» because, of course, white whiskey is much less errr. potent than real moonshine. Besides, there’s that whole stigma that if you consume moonshine, you must wear overhauls and have a lower IQ than tooth-​count, but I digress.
There were a lot of other vendors too… south Ga cow cheese that was excellent paired with some tasty beers. I especially liked the giant Russian-​style desert beer that I would never drink for desert — that’s reserved for high-​pinky Scotch and such.
Anyway… wonderful event and thanks Ben and team for putting it together and graciously allowing my wife and I to attend. You guys, as usual, rock.

First of all, I’d like to acknowledge two Unilocalers that I’ve tried to emulate.
Daniel B and Addy C simply stood out from the crowd to me the moment I signed on as a Unilocal member and every year since. Their reviews are thorough, fair, factual and always on point. I truly believe it is through their superb example that I have been fortunate enough to make it to my first year as a Gold Elite. I was glad to see them tonight and after reading their reviews of this event, I just wanted to copy & paste almost everything they said!
To be honest, I am not usually as interested in the food at events as I am the people. I RARELY take advantage of these free events, but I’ve always admired pics from past Gold Elite events and absolutely could not wait to attend! It’s not often I get to have an adult night out away from my kids.
THE EVENT
It is TRULY hard to write a review of a FREE event where you are an invited guest. Equally hard is to lay criticism knowing the effort that goes into putting such an event together. If this were only for the restaurant, I would probably just skip reviewing it altogether, but my one desire here is to provide a little honest feedback.
I must admit I was surprised this was a Gold Elite event. One of the things that excited me about seeing past Gold events was they seemed more intimate and formal. Elite events tend to serve hors d’œuvre as you walk and mingle while Atlanta Gold events (which don’t happen as often) always appeared to be sit-​down dinners. So for that I was a little disappointed.
Saltyard is a decent sized restaurant, but probably too small for such an event. Only half the restaurant was open for Unilocalers while the other half continued to serve its regular patrons. Samples were initially set up on individual tables, but since they only brought out 5 or so samples of each at a time, they went quickly; Most times never making it to the table. You HAD to be in the right place at the right time to sample anything. Chef Nick Leahy and staff were gracious, but if you weren’t near the kitchen, you probably missed out on a lot.
Like many others have said, this event was crowded. Representatives from the food industry were at each of the different tables to share their knowledge and provide samples of their products. The items included:
CHEESE & TAVERN BEERS
Cheeses from Sweet Grass Dairy & tavern beers by Ale Sharpton were available at a large table near the entrance. Although I’m not normally a connoisseur of fine cheese, I did partake in some nibbling. The bleu cheese was outstanding & surprisingly not bitter. Made me want to take it home and make bleu cheese burgers. The beer was not to my liking, but then again most beer isn’t. When you’ve grown up seeing the negative effects it has on a loved one first hand, you just tend to loose any desire for it.
MUSHROOMS, COLLARDS & ARUGULA
I thought the mushrooms were one of the best items I sampled. The arugula was presented as a salad coated with only olive oil topped with sheets of Parmesan cheese, so it didn’t have much flavor. I was not a fan. The collard greens were nicely cooked but a tad too bitter for my tastes.
SHRIMP
I had the opportunity to sample shrimp two ways: One as a tasty ceviche (although normally I’m not much of a fan of ceviche) and the other was as a grilled skewer, which I loved. In my opinion, the arugula sauce drizzled over the top took away from the flavor of the grilled shrimp rather than complimented it.
SOUP & CASSEROLES
Several Unilocalers raved about the ‘Beer Soup’, but one bite and I was done. I found it to be very bitter. However, the Kohlrabi Au Gratin was outstanding.
BREADS
Another dish I really enjoyed came with a quarter slice of bread, a rich creamy mushroom sauce & a flavorful chunk of lamb sausage mixed in a cup-​sized bowl. Also served throughout the evening were cheese breads with roasted pears. Tasty, but probably not something I would order from the menu.
DRINKS
Ben (our CM) gave out 2 drink tickets per person. These were to be used at the bar for pre-​selected beers or a mixed drink. I used one ticket for the mixed drink, but I never used the second ticket. I didn’t have to because one of the owners, Christian Favalli, came out of nowhere and offered to make drinks for me and a few others staying nearby. He made me a cucumber & mint flavored drink called ‘A Step in the Right Direction’, which I truly loved. Light and refreshing without a strong alcohol taste. Awesome!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thank you Ben. It wasn’t what I expected a Gold Elite event to be, but I am grateful for the night out! Looking forward to the next one.