International cuisine was the theme and purpose of Atlanta's Culinaire event on June 4 which featured foods from around the world.

The southern city playfully known as the "ATL", showed its international side during its Culinaire event at the new World of Coca-Cola. Over 500 of the city's foodies came out for an evening of food, wine and goodwill.

This new event was presented by the Taste of Atlanta in an effort to showcase small venues that otherwise would not be able to be featured in an event such as this one.  A silent auction also took place to benefit the Atlanta Chapter of the Les Dames d'Escoffier which is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women within the culinary industry.  The organizer, Dale DeSena has been in the event business for over 15 years and producing the Taste of Atlanta for the last eight.  With Culinaire, she wanted to have another culinary event that carried a different flare and food interest.

Some of the restaurants featured and enjoyed by all included The Melting Pot, Chima, The Feed Store, Geisha House, Sugar-Coated Cravings and Veni Vidi Vici.  Cuisines represented included Brazilian, Italian, Greek and American.

Of course Cuisine Noir was invited to join in on the festivities and report back our findings.  Overall, we felt that the event was incredible.  With access to the entire venue, we started with a plate from Prime Meridian. The mini crab cakes drizzled with peach chutney and hot sauce were simply delicious paired with a glass of Tramier Riesling. Fast forwarding to the dessert, the raspberry chocolate mousse knocked our socks off.

From there, we moved over to Chima, a Brazilian steakhouse that serves over 15 cuts of meat. That evening we tasted the chicken wrapped in bacon, lamb, top sirloin and sausage. Everything was made just right. Tender and seasoned to perfection.

Our favorite of the night was a surprise, Greek food from Taverna Plaka. We tried their grape leaves which were very tasty. They look like collard green leaves stuffed with meat and rice that are rolled like egg rolls. We had the beef and they had a wonderful texture and flavor.

Lastly, the sushi at the Geisha House was prepared true to its reputation. We are not big on sushi but enjoyed the selection that evening. We had a sushi roll that had cooked tuna in the middle with a wonderful sauce.

For its first time, Culinaire was very successful with plans already on the way for their 2009 event.   Its sibling event, The Taste of Atlanta is scheduled for this fall on October 11-12 at Atlanta Station and will mark its 8th year in existence.  And with a successful evening of unforgettable culinary memories, we look forward to doing this all over again.

Outside of Culinaire, Atlanta is a mecca for great food and wine and one could spend months trying new restaurants and still not experiencing them all.   Our hats go off to DeSena for creating an opportunity for others to expand their palette not only in the city they live in but in other parts of the world as well without having to leave the country.

For more information about the Taste of Atlanta, visit www.tasteofatlanta.net.