DINING

Neighborhood District Dining

By Marcia Caller Jaffe

Staycaytion secret Vinings Jubilee is the charming centerpiece holding a collection of boutiques and one-of-a-kind specialty stores nestled in a winding town center. With turn-of-the-century architecture, the family-owned center surrounds a clock tower and white buildings, some brick, some siding, amid the nostalgia of lanterns. Easily located in the back row of the center, Paces & Vine has easy parking right out the front door and ample outdoor dining space.

Dine-around Atlantans may recognize that Paces & Vine is owned by Dave Green from The Select, a popular Jewish destination adjacent to the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center especially with Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and other events there.

General Manager Michael Kunz extols that Paces & Vine bistro-style smaller plates menu aligns with its wine menu. In response to how COVID has affected Paces & Vine, he observed that seniors didn’t come out as much, as customers skew younger. At one point, they closed for lunch, but then recreated a more casual format where orders were taken at the bar, self-seating, minimizing contact and not waiting for the check.

In terms of dinner, the restaurant went from 10 traditional structured entrees to five full-size ones, yielding to a huge list of shareable starters and salads available in half portions. Removing some seating, they added Plexiglas between tables, and are in the process of expanding the patio now with built-in heat lamps, seating 45 and soon longer-term loosening of COVID rules, seating 90.

Kunz, whose background is in wine management, notes the intense new movement and interest in wines and proffers recommendations for both value wines and more upscale ones. Of the former, he said, “By the glass, a white burgundy /chardonnay from North California that is clean and crisp with no oak is our Brocard $10 a glass. Another good try would be Chateau Bordeaux for $11 a glass.” He also recommends red blends that are “super easy, cleanly made, laissez faire like merlot with Cabernet.” “Most people’s heads today are into red wine. A good choice would be Pax, a Syrah $88-a- bottle from the Sonoma hillside, the next wave out of California with high alcohol content with subtle dewy, very foodfriendly with notes of olive, black pepper, very savory. Better wines have no sulfur additives, and drink like European wines.”

Sampled Menu Items

Top choices: kale salad and fish preparation.

The kale salad was a bounteous bouquet of tastes, colors and flavors. Feta bites, watermelon radish, sunflower seeds, topped with shards of candied ginger. A special presentation.

The fish dishes were very well “chef prepared,” moist on the inside, well braised exterior.

Appetizer

Starter: Sea bass on black wild grain rice, firm button mushrooms, side of zippy spicy sauce.

Small Plates

Tuna poke: Brilliant purply cubes were smothered in black sesame seeds, nori, ponzu, avocado, wontons, $14.

Butternut squash soup: Pistachio garni, curry oil. Rich and thick, $7.

Kale salad: Mandarin orange dressing, over sunflower seeds, feta, radish, with shards of candied ginger on fresh kale made this a top choice.

House Caesar: Fresh romaine and generous shreds of quality parmesan, housemade croutons. Nice shareable salad. Not for anchovy lovers; more on the mild side.

Sea bass: Orange miso, pickled shitake, baby bok choy, over black rice. The fish was divine and perfectly prepared. The rice was on the crunchy side, $18.

Plated Entrée

Charred salmon: Over firm broccolini and colorful purple cabbage and sweet potato gratin. Contrast in tastes, sweet and savory champagne Dijon cream. An artistic Picasso palette of contrasting shapes and colors, $26.

Paces & Vine Restaurant is owned by Dave Green and located on Paces Ferry Rd.

Kale salad was a top choice, accented with sunflower seeds, feta, radish and candied ginger.

Vinings Historic Preservation Society // A fun hour walking around charming Vinings Jubilee could end with dinner at Paces & Vine. Tuna poke: Purple cubes are smothered in toppings.

Sea bass: Orange miso sauce, pickled shitake, baby bok choy, over black rice

Side

Brussels sprouts: Nice sized portion with accents of raw red onion. Intense sweet and spicy flavor. Could have used less oil.

Desserts

Made in house, the most interesting of which is the Apple Galette, a rustic individual apple pie with the dough pinched, wrapped and topped with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. ì

Paces & Vine at 4300 Paces Ferry Road is closed Mondays. There is live music on Thursday nights with special drinks for ladies.

Photos by Duane Stork Photography // Jackie Howard enjoys her Florida room swing with poodles Cuddles and Angel. Background: Russian paintings bought back from Leningrad. The cocktail table is papier-mâché. Small chair collection below. Chai Style Home

A Most ‘Lovable’ and Historic Collection

Grand mother of nine, energetic Jackie Howard takes us on a jaunt of her Smyrna town home filled Marcia with Tramp Caller Jaffe art, chandeliers, memories and objects from the turn of the century. A sunny overflowing of orange, bronze and citrine hues, toy poodles, and remarkable history from the family’s Lovable Brassiere Company.

“I would describe my house as a museum including a lot of found objects,” Howard said. “My interior evokes Primitive American, including Tramp art, a lot of ‘funk’ and color, and most things I’ve been collecting for over 50 years. I’ve taken doors off closets and found antique metal pieces purchased for my store and repurposed for my home.”

Tour Howard’s captivating off-beat commentary on her robust, sunlit wonderland.

Jaffe: You describe yourself as a motorcycle riding /beatnik/ innovator and fourth generation member of The Temple on Peachtree. What’s your mojo? Howard: I was born at Emory Hospital and lived at the Briarcliff Hotel, across from the Plaza Theatre on Ponce de Leon. I grew up in Buckhead near the end of West Paces Ferry as the oldest of four siblings, the only girl with three younger brothers. [One of them is Atlanta consumer advocate Clark Howard].

I worked at Grandfather’s company Lovable, an international women’s undergarment/lingerie manufacturer headquartered here, where I quickly learned how to operate every machine in the factory. My official title was assistant in the sample department. By today’s standards, it was essentially the design department.

I designed my own bra (1966) with the original prototype now hanging in the powder room. We call it the first “Spanx.” Think of the ad slogan, “I dreamed I was a college freshman in my Lovable bra.” I also framed every Lovable employee Christmas party picture since 1938.

Almost 50 years ago on my kitchen table, I started Paces Papers by Jackie, which still operates today. Interestingly I designed the logo still used by The [William] Breman Jewish Home and the old logo of the [Atlanta] Jewish Community Center.

Jaffe: Why Smyrna? Howard: Before I started looking, I made a list of everything I wanted in a house. The main things were natural light and big windows. Also, the neighborhood felt safe as a single woman. Jaffe: Elaborate on your fondness for unusual lighting. Howard: The art deco chandelier in my master bedroom was from [a nowdefunct boutique] in Buckhead.

I found the classic crystal chandelier in my dining room at a flea market in Paris.

I commissioned the Czech crystal dark orange (my favorite color!) chandelier in Prague. My dream is to source Venetian glass for the master bathroom.

Jaffe: What are some of your eclectic collectibles? Howard: Brown Decorating in downtown Atlanta was the place to buy furniture. I found this Flemish dresser. At that time, it was not in vogue, so I bought it. I loved its beautiful intricate inlay. This is a treasure that I will pass on to my children.

I have an Asian bar that a Lovable employee brought home from the war and sold to Frank Garson, Lovable’s

Howard wanted her living room to evoke a lodge atmosphere. The fireplace painting is by Peggy Ellman. founder. The exterior is carved in a deep relief and every part opens with secret compartments.

I have a collection of children’s chairs, one made out of roots I found 55 years ago in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It was 150 years old then.

Another my parents bought as a door-todoor salesman’s sample in a miniature version. Then one from the waiting room of my family pediatrician, Dr. Joseph Yampolsky, who cared for three generations of my family.

Jaffe: Who are your favorite artists? Howard: I don’t really focus on artists. I have an affinity for the “decorative,” but I do appreciate the arts. For my wedding, mother’s two friends Shirley Rohm Wender and Peggy Ellman created original paintings hanging in my home today. I grew up going to camp in Maine. There’s a portrait that my camp counselor drew of me at 15 in tempera hanging in the kitchen. I have an oil in pastel tones in the master bath by Phyllis Franco.

I designed and built my previous home as an ode to my summer camp lodge in Maine, also inspired by my first visit to Jackson Hole in the 1960s. I fell in love with the entire scene there. When I moved from my log house, I took the art nouveau doors, had them cut into the headboard for my master bedroom.

My office is filled with art created by my children and grandchildren.

Jaffe: How do you use your “open” Florida room?

Below, A skilled organizer and merchandiser, Howard categories her necklace, bracelet, and earring collection by color. Top, Howard collects Tramp art. Shown here is a wooden table in the Florida room with an oil-painted tree design. Above, Jackie’s powder room houses Lovable Brassiere Company nostalgia, including the bra she designed. Below, Howard was quite the stunning Southern belle in the '60s.

Top, Under Howard’s family portraits sits the deep relief carved chest with openable parts and secret compartments. Above, A camp counselor created this tempera portrait of Jackie at 15.

Above, Howard treasures this handmade silver menorah from her Mexican relatives inherited through her grandmother. Howard: It’s centered around a single bed-sized suspended swing so I could face directly outdoors and see my favorite tree and “to-die-for” patio. The table is papier-mâché from my shop that we had redone in rust. The glass lights are from a shop in Atlantic Station. Five original Russian drawings are of figures from various areas like Ukraine. I got them in Leningrad. The pair of taxidermied deer heads, well that’s another story from my log cabin days.

Jaffe: Relate your fascination with Tramp art.

Howard: It was generally made from after the Civil War through the Depression by itinerant men traveling the country in exchange for food and a place to sleep.

Jaffe: Do you have any Judaica? Howard: My grandmother’s sterling silver menorah. I was told by maternal grandmother Gussie Garson that it was a gift from our relatives in Mexico. I got it because I promised that I would never have a Christmas tree. I’ve honored that promise even though I grew up having one every year.

Sentimentally from all that is collected here, my grandchildren are most keen on the tiny fragile antique birdcage from Germany.

Jaffe: Are you done collecting? Howard: What I’m doing now is what’s next: jewelry. I discovered eBay! ì

Below, The Howard home exterior is framed by Lady Banks roses, which bloom only 15 days a year. Above, Howard’s master bedroom is in powder blue featuring the headboard redesigned from her former house. The chandelier is from a now defunct boutique in Buckhead. The side lamps were vases converted to lamps.