Teaspace

1133-B Euclid Avenue Atlanta, Georgia

404-577-9793

Teaspace is a tearoom and patio restaurant, serving a full menu of source-conscious cuisine, fresh seafood, locally farmed produce, homemade desserts, beer wine and sake, and over 100 different teas and tea cocktails including BOBA Bubble Teas. We offer a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian dishes along with frequent specials featuring fish or meats. While focusing on local and regional ingredients, the French, Italian, Asian and Latin American influences on our chefs create a diverse menu of healthy, tasty starters, entrees and desserts.

Tea is the oldest beverage in the world dating back to India, China, and Japan. Camellia sinensis is the plant whose leaves are technically known as “tea”. The drying and handling of these leaves create different varietals such as the most common green, oolong, and black. Like wine, Camellia sinensis leaves have flavors which reflect the area in which the plants are growing. These subtleties create vegetal greens with hints of pine, earthy oolongs and floral blacks. While the Camellia sinensis leaves are what we cultivate and classify as tea, any herb or plant steeped in water is also considered a tea. In many countries tea is used as a daily tonic, providing anti-oxidants and Vitamin c.

Chef and Owner: Ward Bradshaw

I started my culinary career very young with the help of my grandmother. She is one of my greatest advisors. She never had any formal training except that she had to get food on the table every night for three hungry kids and a husband. I remember when I was about three watching her make mini biscuits with home cured ham and sweet mustard sauce.

When I was in high school , I got a job working at a juice factory (Arden’s Garden). I was responsible for pressing, mixing, and bottling the juices. I really grasped the importance of fresh products working with all the fresh fruit and veggies. In my junior year of high school, I got a job at an upscale pizza joint (Everybody’s in Virginia Highlands) washing dishes, then quickly moved up to salad prep. Within a year or so I was running the pizza line, making dough, sauces, and all the glorious things involved with running a pizza restaurant. I worked there for about two years (and during vacations from culinary school).

After Everybody’s, I got a job at Chops Lobster Bar in Buckhead. That place really gave me an intro to the food service industry. There was about 10 line cooks serving a few hundred people a night. I worked the Garde Manager station for the time I worked there. I made pastries, salads, appetizers, and an occasional family meal. Then I went to Johnson & Wales U. in Providence, Rhode Island. Hated the city, loved the school. I learned a lot about cooking and the food service industry. I did some filming for the Food Network my second year. The show was called “Cooking School Stories”, and followed six students (me being one) for our last class, International cuisine. The classes are nine days long. They also filmed a lot about our social lives, where we worked, what we did in our spare time, school social functions, etc. I received an Associate degree in Culinary Arts with honors.

In 2000, Landon Brown and I came up the idea for Teaspace. We shopped around for a location for a while then found the back alley hole in the wall which is now Teaspace. We spent about 8 months building out the space and opened Sept. 7th 2001. That was a very rough week. We had our ups and downs. I left Teaspace in 2002, moved to California, worked for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse for a while. In 2003 I moved back to Atlanta. I have been back at Teaspace since. After my return, Joel was already working there. He and I hit it off from the start. Our philosophy on food and our work ethic was one in the same. Since the first night we met we have been creating some of the best food in the city. Here we are today.

That’s my bio, I hope you found it interesting and useful.

Pastry Chef: Joel Cammett

At the age of eight, Joel began his self-directed apprenticeship under the tutelage of Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, Justin Wilson, Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet), Julia Child, and many of the great chefs of the world from the comfort of his own home. Nearly every Saturday morning began with the ritual of flipping flapjacks with his three younger sisters, followed by public television cooking lessons, which often led him back into the kitchen by early afternoon. From there he never looked back, except to check the bread in the oven behind him. Actually, bread helped start Joel’s culinary career in earnest.

During high school he worked at a local bakery café, doing everything from washing dishes, to making drinks as a barista, to baking bagels, breads, and pastries. Following a year of college, and a summer spent touring western Europe, Cammett decided to tackle the professional training of the industry in lieu of a culinary school degree. Since then, he has worked tournant at Chateau Elan Winery/Resort, been sous chef for a catering company, assisted the director on a culinary-themed independent film (Invisible Kitchen), and was head pastry chef for Commune in Atlanta. He has cooked for celebrities such as Toni Braxton, Barry Manilow, India Arie, and Moby, and is currently chef de cuisine at the restaurant/tearoom Teaspace in Atlanta, where he and partner Ward Bradshaw run a source-conscious kitchen collaboratively. Their collective efforts produced over 100 original bread-based recipes for the Panera Bread Cookbook. Joel also has a film degree from Georgia State University, and occasionally works on local independent films in lieu of sleep.

The chefs prepared:

• Grilled Halibut with charmoula and genmaicha Israeli couscous
• Strawberry-rhubarb pie with chamomile-vanilla ice cream

Grilled Halibut with Charmoula and Genmaicha Israeli Couscous

For the charmoula:

• 2 t. cumin, toasted and ground
• 1 t. coriander, toasted and ground
• 1 t. smoked paprika, ground
• 1/4 t. cayenne pepper, ground
• 2 cloves garlic, minced and sautéed
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T. flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 T. cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 ea preserved lemon, pulp removed, fine julienne
• 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, halved or Roma tomatoes, small dice
• 8 ea. good-quality olives (i.e. Kalamata, Nicoise), pitted and halved

Method of Preparation:

In a medium bowl, whisk together spices, lemon juice, and slowly add olive oil, then herbs. Reserve one-quarter (1/4) of this mixture as marinade for the fish. Add remaining ingredients to the other three-quarters (3/4) of the mixture.

For the Israeli couscous:

• 1 T. Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T. shallot, fine dice
• 3 c. genmaicha (or other green) tea, strong-steeped
• 2 c. Israeli (also called pearl or maftoul) couscous
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method of Preparation:

In a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, sauté the shallot in the olive oil, then add the couscous, stirring continuously to avoid browning. Lightly season with salt and pepper, then add the tea. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover, simmering about 8 to 10 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente. Adjust seasoning and fluff with a serving fork or spoon.

Grilling the Halibut:

• 4 ea. Halibut filets (preferably Alaskan), boned and skinned
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method of Preparation:

Fire up your grill and preheat oven to 500F. Season the fish with salt, pepper, and the reserved 1/4 marinade. Grill the halibut to medium well (3-4 minutes per side), remove from grill to a hotplate or pan, dress with remaining charmoula, and bake for 2-3 minutes, until sauce is heated through. Serve over the couscous, along with roasted or grilled vegetables. Serves 4.

Strawberry-Rhubarb pie with Chamomile-Vanilla Ice Cream

For the chamomile-vanilla ice cream:

• 2 c. heavy cream (36-40%)
• 2 c. milk, 2%
• 1/2 ea. vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 oz. chamomile flowers or tea, dried
• 8 ea. egg yolk
• 2/3 c. sugar

Method of Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, bring cream, milk, and vanilla bean to just below boil. Remove from heat, add the chamomile, and allow to steep 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Strain the cream through a chinois (fine sieve), and temper the egg yolk mixture by slowly adding the cream, little by little. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat until coating the back of a spoon, 5-7 minutes (this can be done over a double boiler, if desired). Strain again, then cool thoroughly in an ice bath or under refrigeration. Spin in an ice cream maker when the mixture is very cold.

For the tart dough (piecrust):

• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 T. sugar
• 1 T. kosher or sea salt, fine ground
• 7 oz. unsalted Butter, chilled and 1/4” cubed
• 1 ea. egg, whole
• 2 ea. egg, separated
• 1/2 c. ice water

Method of Preparation:

In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt, then using a pastry blender, fork, or blade, cut in the butter until coarse, pea-sized crumbs are formed, making certain not to work into a dough at this point. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, whisk together, in a separate bowl, the whole egg, two yolks, and the ice water, reserving the two whites for later use. Add the egg mixture to the flour/butter mixture, and mix just until a cohesive dough is formed. Cut the dough in half, and roll out on floured parchment to 1/8 ” thickness. Rest the dough, refrigerated, at least 15 minutes, then punch out into twelve 4” rounds. Press 6 of these into buttered and floured 3” (or 4”) tart tins. Set aside, refrigerated, until ready to fill.

Macerating the fruit, assembly, and baking of the pies:

• 3 pints ripe strawberries, stems removed and quartered or sliced
• 4 ea rhubarb stalks, peeled and sliced 1/4” thick crosswise
• 3 T. vanilla sugar
• 3 T. all-purpose flour
• 3 T. sherry vinegar

Method of Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and set aside to macerate at room temperature for at least 5 minutes and up to 1 hour. After fruit has macerated, fill each of the prepared pie shells, slightly mounded, to about 1” above the sides of the shells. With a pastry brush or your finger, lightly brush the inside rim of each shell with some of the reserved egg white. Cover each pie with the remaining crust rounds, seal well along the edges with your fingers or a fork, then lightly brush the tops with more of the whites. Cut a small X or hole in the top of each pie (this is important, not only for presentation, but to allow the pie to “breathe”). Place the pies on a sheetpan, then into the oven, immediately reducing the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust tops are golden, and juice begins to bubble through the holes in the tops. Serve the pies warm with a scoop of ice cream, and maybe agave nectar or a fine honey. Yields 6 miniature pies and 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream.