The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Eva Marcille, Michael Sterling engaged

- RODNEY HO

Atlanta reality star and actress Eva Marcille and her attorney boyfriend Michael Sterling got engaged on Christmas Day.

Sterling, who ran for Atlanta mayor earlier this year, proposed and gave her a ring she showed off on Instagram.

Marcille, who is scheduled to appear at some point on “Real Housewives of Atlanta” this season, won season three of “America’s Next Top Model” in 2004. She attended Clark Atlanta University but left to compete on that show.

She announced that she was pregnant with a second child a few weeks ago.

Marcille appeared on VH1’s ‘Scared Famous” reality competitio­n show and made it pretty far but didn’t win.

Executive chef Adam Waller is an Atlanta native with a deep background in Italian cuisine, working in the kitchens at Sotto Sotto and STG Trattoria, before his most recent stint at Bocado.

Waller’s menu at Bar Americano ranges through “reinvented” Italian favorites, from beef, pork and veal meatballs in marinara sauce served over Parmesan polenta to Steak Florentine with roasted potatoes and salsa verde.

At the heart of the menu, his fresh and extruded housemade pastas include the likes of beef cheek agnolotti and cacio e pepe. New York-style 12-inch pizzas have fanciful names and hold hefty ingredient­s, such as The Sweats, topped with spicy pepperoni, sliced meatballs and prosciutto cotto.

“We’re going for a neighborho­od feel, with classic Italian-American food,” Waller says. “Good pasta, good pizza, and a place where people can just walk in and get a good bite to eat. So you’ll see meatballs, and pretty straightfo­rward ravioli, rigatoni and cannelloni. And everything is meant to be shared, so you can taste a lot of different things.

“We’re definitely not doing Neapolitan pizza. I consider it New York brick oven. The texture is that crispy bottom

crust, and all the flavors of the sauce and the cheese are working out real nice. The tomatoes and the cheese are coming from California, and the flour for the dough is coming from King Arthur.”

John Fogleman, the beverage director for Bar Americano and general manager of Bar Crema, worked as a barista, manager and director of education for Octane Coffee, before delving deeper into the world of cocktails.

The drinks at Bar Americano include aperitivi such as the Venetian Spritz with blanc de blancs and soda, and full-on cocktails such as the Millionair­ess with vodka, white peach, lemon, rosemary and blanc de blancs.

“Right now, the cocktail programs at Bar Americano and Bar Crema are the same,” Fogleman says. “But as time goes on, the restaurant

side will stay more traditiona­l with classic styles, and the drinks at Crema will be a little more adventurou­s and irreverent, but within the Italian tradition.”

Though they’d never worked together, directly, Waller and Fogleman knew each other well from their days at Bocado and Octane, which are located across the street from each other on Atlanta’s Westside.

“Just seeing what the bar crowd mixed with the coffee shop was like being at Octane, and then seeing what the bar crowd and restaurant was like at Bocado, it’s this weird serendipit­y that Adam and I are here together now, basically doing what we were doing before,” Fogleman says. “I think having these two bars and the restaurant together, we’re primed to be something really fun and really successful.”

 ??  ?? ABOVE: Bar Crema Cappuccino with cocoa powder and almond shortbread cookies.
ABOVE: Bar Crema Cappuccino with cocoa powder and almond shortbread cookies.
 ??  ?? LEFT: John Fogleman of Bar Crema (left) and chef Adam Waller of Bar Americano.
LEFT: John Fogleman of Bar Crema (left) and chef Adam Waller of Bar Americano.
 ?? PHOTOS CONTRIBUTE­D BY MIA YAKEL ?? The Sweats pizza with spicy pepperoni, meatballs, and prosciutto cotto.
PHOTOS CONTRIBUTE­D BY MIA YAKEL The Sweats pizza with spicy pepperoni, meatballs, and prosciutto cotto.

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