Elite Event: Sippin’ & Snackin’ at Max’s Wine Dive

Started 2015 with my first Elite event ever! I finally got to meet the people behind all the reviews I always read. I felt very welcomed to the group, so thanks ATL elite for that!
I wish I caught the name of the red wine that was served. I loved it.
My favorite dish (and many others’ too): Famous Southern Fried Chicken — the crispiest and most delicious fried chicken wings you will find at any bar, paired with a savory sweet & spicy dipping sauce.
My second favorite: Max n Cheese. Most places mess up their mac n cheese by adding too much cheese. That wasn’t the case here. The cheese amount was perfect. However, I will say that it was missing something… some sort of kick to make it especially unique.
My least favorite was the Pork Belly Risotto. I was left wondering what the chef was trying to achieve. The risotto was great by itself, but the various flavors in the dish didn’t blend well. Chef Patric said it was a new item, so I’m hoping he might change it a bit.
Chef Patric shared his professional history, and I am definitely a fan of his previous restaurants. Now, I want to meet every chef behind my favorite restaurants!
Thanks for this event and the warm welcome!

I was delighted to attend a Unilocal Elite Event here. This place will definitely be put into the «hangout» list. The atmosphere is hella cool and the food is great! I had the white wine option (don’t remember the name of it but i’ll post a pic of it). It was very nice and will be added to the bar at home! The food options were quite tasty. The macaroni & cheese was made with 4 cheeses and cooked to perfection. I’m an advocate of «you can never have to much cheese.» The 4 cheeses blended perfectly and made for a tasty dish. I’ll definitely be ordering it when return!
THE FRIED CHICKEN… LISTEN! LISTEN WELL! This is one of the best renditions of fried chicken that i’ve tried in this city outside of Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint. I WILL BE GETTING FRIED CHICKEN EVERYTIME I RETURN HERE! And the honey chipotle sauce that comes with it just makes it even better! If a friend committed a crime and they offered me this fried chicken, i’d strongly consider rolling on them. lol… that’s how good this chicken is!
Pulled Pork Stuff pepper — it actually surprised me how good these were. The Pulled pork was tender and seasoned to perfection and the pepper was a creative way to package it. This was my second favorite dish behind the fried chicken.
Pork Melon risotto — this was my least favorite dish out of everything. I just felt like there were too many clashing flavors going on here. I think whoever came up with this in the lab (kitchen) may be on to something but simply needs to go back to the drawing board. I understand that all great chefs take chances and i totally see the potential in this dish but it just needs more work in my opinion.
I’ll definitely be back here. The only downside that i can think of here is the parking situation. Parking is REALLY expensive. If you simply wanted to come hang out here for a few hrs, the parking rates are insane. I’m very glad that they validate parking but even with that it’s still expensive. I’d probably find parking elsewhere and walk here if possible. Other than that one thing, i give this place a two thumbs up. Try it out!

Fried chicken and wine? Max knows the way to a girl’s heart.
I was super excited to get a spot in this awesome Elite event just two blocks away from my apartment. The fried chicken truly was on point (with a gluten free option as well!), but the truffle mac n cheese really stole the show for me. Thus far, my favorite mac n cheese in Midtown has been at World of Beer, but I think Max’s could give them a run for their money.
It was a really nice touch hearing Chef Patric personally describe his dishes for the group. I definitely plan to come back and drag the boy with me. Great food, atmosphere, waitstaff, and company – met some wonderful fellow Elites! Thanks for planning a great event, Ben!

I can’t imagine a better Unilocal event to kick off 2015! It started with a champagne toast and continued with flowing wine and wonderful fried goodness… It was one of those meals where at the end our waitress asked our table what everyone’s favorite dish was, and we started listing off everything we had eaten. «Definitely the fried chicken, wait no the tater tots, wait the mac and cheese, no the fried chicken…»
I was very impressed by Max’s Wine Dive — I can’t wait to return and try their full menu. Inside the restaurant is the perfect mix of posh (trendy art, beautiful bar) and upscale dive bar (wood paneled walls, celebrity mug shots on the wall). The food was outstanding. The fried chicken was hard to beat, but the truffle oil mac and cheese and tater tots gave them a run for their money. Our servers were outstanding all night and were great about telling us about each food item and bringing around seconds.
All around a knock-​out Unilocal event to start out the year! I loved spending the evening with my table mates and other Eliters. Cheers!

What better way to ring the new year than with champagne and the new Unilocalers!
I had a wonderful time sipping and chatting with my new Unilocal friends, Audrey, Audrey and Jackie! Although I know that seated events (where you find a place at a table and are there for the night) may be limiting for wide-​spread interaction, but I actually prefer them. I’m a lot more likely to get to know a person when I’m sharing a meal with them than I ever do at party-​style events.
The wine was just fine (BEN, can we do a beer-​oriented event soon?) and the food was rockin’! We enjoyed:
–TRUFFLE MAC N’ CHEESE– I would eat this every day. Seriously.
–FRIED CHICKEN– a wonderful crispy batter. Chicken was moist. Nicely done.
–TRUFFLE TATER TOTS– not my favorite (contrary to my tablemates’ opinion) — I think that a tater tot is simply too simple a canvas on which to paint the truffle flavor. It didn’t carry it well.
–POPCORN CHICKEN– served in popcorn bags. Presentation IS everything.
–PORK BELLY RISOTTO WITH PICKLED MUSHROOMS– the risotto and mushrooms were so good– the pork belly could’ve been a little juicier
–CHILE HONEY SAUCE– This one deserves it’s own bullet point– SO SO GOOD! The combination of smooth honey and that spicy chile too the chicken from «bueno» to «slap yo’ momma, good!»
Thank you to the owner and the staff for attending to us and giving us a thorough backstory of how Max’s came to be!

First Unilocal event of 2015 at an upcoming new restaurant called Max’s Wine dive in Midtown on Crescent. Elites only! noobs plus those who’s been around a while. no +1; it really allowed all of us to just come together as a group and to get along with fellow Unilocalers.
Max’s Wine Dive prepared several items for us.
1. Champagne + a choice of red/​white as you are seated. a girl can’t say no to bubbly and red.
2. Truffle mac n cheese. Flavorful and i like to choice of pasta. I just would have preferred an additional texture to it. Perhaps a crunchy topping. Very one note.
3. Fried chicken wings with a honey sauce. I absolutely loved the fried chicken wings. chef patric explained that he marinated the chicken over night in a buttery jalapeño compound. Helped retained the moisture within the meat. Great. However, I wasnt feeling the honey sauce with specks of chili. It was too sweet for me, borderline maple syrup.
4. Red pepper stuffed with pulled pork. Omgosh those were to die for. The pork also had a cheese mixed in with. It was overlaid ontop of some chipotle sauce. Just the whole combo was amazing. I’d eat a plate of those and take some home.
4. tater tots with truffle oil. Great flavours. I could eat those all day.
5. Popcorn chicken. It was served in an adorable popcorn bag. Loved the idea of it. chicken was marinated the same way as the wings and was juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. thumbs up.
6. Pork belly risotto. not for me. the pork belly was good. But the addition of the pickled mushrooms really threw me off. It was soo sour. Didnt compliment the dish at all. Really could have done without it.
Overall, a really fun night trying new dishes. i will be coming back for the great friend chicken. and FYI, the parking deck that is connected to the building is ridiculously expensive. i was there for less than 2 hours and i would have needed to pay $ 30. At least Max’s validate.
Again, Great night spent with fellow Unilocalers. I could have asked for better company and a better person to help set this up. Ben and his wife always go out of their way to make sure everyone is having a great time. Love attending their events and am looking forward to the next!

First Elite event of the year for me. Food and service was awesome! Started off with their famous fried chicken. I have to say it was one of thee best southern fried chicken that I’ve ever had. Followed by some pork belly risotto with pickled mushrooms… When I heard the word pork belly I was kind of hesitant but then I remembered my motto (Always try something once) and it was great! I’ll order it again when I get a chance to go back, We were also served real popcorn chicken served in cute little popcorn bags, chicken was flavorful and juicy not like any popcorn chicken that I’ve ever had before. Usually when you hear popcorn chicken it’s basically just skin. Oh I forgot we were also served a delicious red wine that I can’t remember the name of. All in all I had a great time and I left with a full Belly:) Thanks Max’s Wine Dive «I’ll be Back»

A very enjoyable evening with enjoyable wine, food and friends. This was a great intro into 2015 Unilocal Atlanta!
Chef Patric (formerly of West Egg and Cruzado) did a fantastic job describing his dishes and the preparation. You can tell he loves what he does and I’m here for all of it. My favorites were the chicken wings and popcorn chicken in the popcorn bag. Cute.
Champagne was tasty and so was the house Cabernet. I will definitely venture back to check out their weekend brunch — crème brûlée french toast sounds wonderful.
Thanks to Ben and JJ for a great event! And to the friendly and accommodating staff — you guys rocked!
Sidenote: whatever you do, if you use that parking garage around the corner for the businesses and residents in that area — GET SOME PARKING VALIDATION. $ 5 for about 15 minutes, $ 15 up to 59 minutes and $ 30 for anything over an hour. Max’s provides 2 hour validation. Get it or get punked.

I was stoked to get a last minute invitation to the first Unilocal Elite event of 2015. Thank you to whoever cancelled. I had eyeballed Max’s Wine Dive a couple of times and was curious about it so this was a perfect opportunity for an introduction.
This is just the type of event that I really love… it was friendly and intimate, and I had the chance to really talk to the folks around me. We ate well, we drank well. We started off with a champagne (prosecco really) toast a la Ben. I dug right in to my truffle mac ‘n’ cheese – everyone knows that I have a particular fondness for anything truffly. What you may not know is how much I love some friiiiiiiiiiied chicken! I got all finger lickin’ when the fried chicken drummies came out – they were the real hit for me. Patric had me at the words «jalapeño buttermilk marinade” – those 3 little words – he bathes the chicken in the marinade for 48 hours. As I was dipping the chicken in the chipotle honey sauce, it brought me back to my childhood Pollard days – what good memories. I loved the added touch of the popcorn bag with the popcorn chicken keeping it perfectly moist. The other big hit for me was the pork belly risotto but I will admit the vinegar of the pickled mushrooms threw me a bit for a loop – I think just smooth sautéed mushrooms might work better for me but I still enjoyed it.
Patric, the chef, came out and shared his pride. I loved hearing his story and was glad to find that although they are of the chain caliber, that he still has most if not all of the artistic license on the menu. Seems that each Max’s maintains it’s own uniqueness.
I will definitely be back to hang out, especially now that I know they will validate for 2 hours for the parking garage behind them on 12^th. Either that or Über. Thanks Ben for another first class event and cheers to my new friends – hey this was Dan T.‘s first Unilocal Elite event ever – go Dan!

Woo first Unilocal Elite event of 2015 was at Max’s Wine Dive in Midtown near 12^th and Crescent.
Guys, I cannot emphasize how delicious their fried chicken wings and legs were. Something about being marinated in jalapeño stuff and slow cooked/​fried so that it is super juicy chicken — whatever it was, it works. I’ve now found my new favorite fried chicken spot, and have been telling all my co-​workers about it.
Chef Patric described the cuisine perfectly «redneck meets riviera». You’ll find classic southern flare like fried chicken paired with champagne. Or tater tots with some truffles. Those were the best tots in the city.
The risotto was decent, but the pickled mushroom was way too sour and didn’t complement the pork belly, it over powered it. That was the only dish I probably wouldn’t order again, but I know they’re working on tweaking it too. The popcorn chicken was decent and hearty, but didn’t have nearly as much flavor as their fried chicken on the bone.
Overall, it was a great event in a fun venue. I’m definitely bringing co-​workers here sometime for the fried chicken and drinks. And thank God they validate — that parking deck would be ridiculously overpriced otherwise ($ 30).
Thanks Ben and Max’s Wine Dive for a fun event!

Unilocal Elite Events are always a great time, and this one was no exception. Max’s Wine Dive is a nice addition to the neighborhood and I look forward to getting back there to check out the new Fall menu debuting this week.
Thanks to the behind the scene efforts of Ben G and the staff at Max’s, I was able to enjoy a delicious medley of «gluten friendly» dishes. While I missed out on the Max ‘n cheese, popcorn chicken and truffle tater tots, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Max’s offers a GF version of their Famous Southern fried chicken. It’s finger-​licking good and pairs nicely with Prosecco. Max’s also brought out a side dish of Brussels sprouts for me to enjoy. They were pretty tasty, and I shared them with my new Unilocal Elite friends at our table. (Side note — I brought the cute bag of popcorn chicken home with me, and it was quickly gobbled up by my husband and one of our neighbors.)
Jordan wines were poured throughout the evening. I started with the Chardonnay before moving to the Cabernet Sauvignon. Both were good, solid wines that stood up to the food. In addition to the fried chicken, I really liked the pulled pork stuffed peppers — flavorful and filling. I thought the pork belly risotto, a new menu item, needed a little work to be a complete dish, and I’m confident Chef Patric will work out the kinks to make this dish really sing.
The vibe at Max’s Wine Dive is pretty cool. Long and narrow, the space reminded me a little of Churchill Grounds near the Fox Theatre, but with classic rock and roll blaring from the jukebox instead of live jazz.
Probably my favorite thing about Elite Events is seeing old friends and making new ones. It was great meeting Abhi K, Shelly G, Joy W and Tiff H — thanks for the lively conversation — and also nice to catch up with Daniel B, Unilocal Elite extraordinaire.

Had a really great time at this Unilocal event! Nice to see Unilocalers again after a long Holiday month.
I’m also very thankful we were given parking validation at this event… ha. Otherwise, it’d have been 30 bucks to get out of the deck. Thanks guys! :D
Overall, it was a nice casual drink & eat event. I had no idea this place existed till last night. Definitely a cool place to grab drinks & some food with buds or maybe even a go to place for a «I’ll just have 1 drink & a plate after a longggg day of work».
My favorite snack was the fried chicken wings. Those were legit. When I come back to Max, I’ll be ordering lots of those. Love wings in general! They were super delicious when presented to us.
The other snack I liked was the pork stuffed one (I forgot the name) — It wasn’t saucy, but when I took a bite of it, it had a good kick with spiciness. Love those kinds of dishes!
To me, the chicken that was given to us in a popcorn bag, was cute haha. I was like. a bar has popcorn?
Props to Chef Patrick for doing all the dishes. They were all good! I look forward to trying them out again in the future when I’m in the area.
Anddddd, thanks to Ben/​JJ/​Yelp & Max’s staff for holding the event! :D

The first Unilocal Atlanta ITP Elite Event of 2015 took place last night at the new Atlanta location of Max’s Wine Dive at 12^th and Crescent in Midtown. This was an intimate event with only about 30 Unilocalers in attendance (no +1s). Present were brand new first-​year Elites such as Rian A and Dan T. For several rookies and two-​year Elites, this was their very first Elite Event. Welcome, guys!
We had the whole back section of the restaurant/​bar to ourselves and were served Prosecco (sparkling white wine) and red and white wines along with a sampling of Max’s popular snacks including a seasonal item. The chef, Patric Bell-​Good, served us himself. Here’s what we tried:
* Max ‘n cheese — cavatappi pasta in a truffle cream sauce with provolone, Gruyère and Parmigiano-​Reggiano
* Famous Southern fried chicken — jalapeño-​buttermilk marinated chicken
* Pulled pork stuffed piquillo pepper — pulled pork and cotija stuffed, topped with chipotle aioli and cilantro chimichurri
* Truffle tater tots — according to the chef, Max’s Wine Dive is the only place to get these in the city
* Popcorn chicken — served in a popcorn bag
* Pork belly mushroom risotto — seasonal item (winter menu)
I generally enjoyed the food. I can be a sucker for truffle anything so I rather liked the Max ‘n cheese and truffle tots. However, I’m pretty sure the fried chicken stole the show for most of us. The buttermilk-​marinated chicken was served hot out the fryer and was crispy and scrumptious. The stuffed piquillo peppers were tasty too. I thought the pulled pork was moist and flavorful and I really liked the cilantro chimichurri sauce on top. Seconds were available.
The popcorn chicken was OK. Pretty standard stuff. The chipotle honey sauce helped. I wasn’t a huge fan of the risotto dish. My lean bites of pork belly were chewy, the risotto soupy, and the mushrooms sharply tart.
Chef Patric spoke to us and it was interesting hearing him talk about his culinary background (he has a lot of experience around town) and the menu at Max’s. I didn’t know he worked for many years at West Egg Café and helped to develop a lot of West Egg’s menu, several items of which are still sold today.
It was a pleasure meeting so many new faces last night: the aforementioned Rian A (first-​year Elite), Pat R (Elite since ’09, triple gold), Sandra B (sophomore Elite), Sela T (sophomore Elite), Adrienne T (Elite since ’08, quadruple gold), Allison K (four-​year Elite), and Tasaday L (sophomore Elite) along with chatting with folks I don’t see too often such as Maria S and Tiff H.
Here’s to a Unilocaly 2015!

This event was just like the wait staff T-​shirt states, «you had me at Merlot»! (Love that:). Very enjoyable evening with fellow Unilocalers and fine fried chicken, truffle Mac-​n-​cheese, pork belly risotto (yes, try it!). Wine and prosecco. This place has all the comfort of a dive bar with the service of a 5-​star.
Loved hanging out w new Unilocal pals and sharing stories, favorite places, and learning about Max’s firsthand from Chef Patrick.
Terrific sampling of wings and aforementioned better-​than-​bar food treats and wine. Thanks Ben, well-​done!

What a night! And what a way to get back to into the Unilocal game after a brief break from Unilocal events near the end of the year. This was a restaurant I had bookmarked for several months now, so the second I saw this restaurant was hosting an Elite event, I pounced right away without even thinking of what was already on my calendar.
I met some amazing people, seated with some familiar faces, as well as some new ones (although, not many were new to Unilocal,for sure).
Those fried chicken wings were on point. Fragrantly fried and juicy in the middle. And I completely forgot about champagne while downing the wings so I didn’t get a chance to eat them together, so I made sure to pair it with the Cabernet I was drinking.
So much for «Snackin» because I felt like I had eaten a four course meal and was completely stuffed. To keep this short and sweet, I had a kick ass time. Thanks for the invite, Ben G!

This is my favorite kind of Unilocal Event — just enough people with some newbies that I can chat it up with, and free wine and fried chicken!
Max’s is the nicest «dive» I’ve ever been in, and I suppose that’s because they sell wine. I’m a sucker for dark wood and dim lighting and this restaurant is lovely.
Of the food we were served, I have to admit, the fried chicken was beyond perfect. I’m going to google «jalapeño buttermilk marinade» as soon as I finish this review because I want to make this at home. Crunchy skin with juicy meat… yeah, it was AH-​MAY-​ZING. Pair it with the mac-​n-​cheese (trust me on this.)
Chef Patric is totes adorbs. How can you not love him after he talks about his food?! I admire his willingness to experiment in the kitchen, and I appreciated being on a team to try out new menu items.
Thanks so much to Max’s for their generosity and to Unilocal in bringing us all together. I’ll definitely be back soon for another visit!
Unilocal 100 #6