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JANUARY 10 - JANUARY 16, 2018
Activist from Afghanistan, back home to build bridges
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Local chef beats Bobby Flay; teaches top techniques to staff Chef Michael Walters brings world-class experience to Newnan restaurant
BY MELANIE RUBERTI
melanie@newnan.com Every day is a learning experience for the cooking staff inside the kitchen at Art & Jakes Sports Bar and Grill off Newnan Crossing Bypass. They’re studying under one of the top masters in the culinary field – Chef Michael Walters. “I’m in the building every single day. They can’t get rid of me,” Walters joked.
is enthusiastic while in the kitchen. “He’s very passionate about food,” Jones said. “It can be Asian, French or Italian cuisine. Michael has knowledge and background about each one and its distinct flavor. “He’ll halt an item leaving the kitchen because it doesn’t look right, doesn’t have the right height or color temperature,” Jones added.
“Every dish that comes through (this kitchen) has my name on it … every day I am on my ‘A’ game.” “Every dish that comes through (this kitchen) has my name on it … every day I am on my ‘A’ game.” Walters is not only the chef of Art & Jakes, but a co-partner in the business too. He defines the restaurant’s cuisine as “sports bar with fine dining flavor.” Walters and his staff create a variety of dishes from wings and nachos, to cedar plank salmon and stuffed shrimp with crab meat plus burgers, New York Strip steak and blackened lobster, just to name a few. B r i a n Jone s , gener a l manager and co-partner of Art & Jakes, said Chef Walters is not only talented but
Walters started his culinary career in Washington D.C., washing dishes at the infamous Watergate hotel. The hotel chef took Walters under his wing and taught him to use a grill. A short time later, Walters trained and worked under two of the biggest n a mes i n t he c u l i n a r y industry: Jose Andres and the late Michel Richard. His talent landed him g i g s where he co oke d fo r fo r m e r p r e s i d e n t s George H .W. Bush a nd George W. Bush. He also catered Chelsea Clinton’s 21st birthday party, plus
CHEF WALTERS • 3A
PHOTOS BY MELANIE RUBERTI
Art & Jakes Chef Michael Walters pan-sears shrimp for his unique take on shrimp and grits. Before coming to Newnan, Walters worked for renowned chefs such as Jose Andres, Michel Richard, Wolfgang Puck and David Burke.
Cedar plank salmon is one of Chef Michael Walters’ favorite Art & Jakes Chef Michael Walters shows off his dishes to prepare at Art & Jakes Sports Bar and Grill off the unique recipe of shrimp and grits. The dish will be Newnan Crossing Bypass. officially added to the restaurant’s menu in January.
Similar road names within the same subdivision will no longer be allowed under a new Coweta County ordinance. PHOTO BY SARAH CAMPBELL
County cutting down on confusing road names BY SARAH FAY CAMPBELL sarah@newnan.com
Beaver Creek Lane. Beaver Creek Run. Beaver Creek Drive. Beaver Run Road. Beaver Court. Those five roads are in three neighborhoods in different parts of unincor porated Coweta. Under new rules approved by the Coweta County Board of
Commissioners, those types of confusing road names will no longer be allowed. Coweta’s ordinances already prohibit new road names that sound like existing roads elsewhere in the county, but the new ordinance puts a stop to the practice of having multiple streets in the same neighbor-
hood with the same name but a different road type — lane, drive, circle, etc. The ordinance also requires that the entrance road to a subdivision incorporate the subdivision’s name in some fashion. The changes apply to new
NAMES • 2A
Welcome House reboot: New name, no house
BY SARAH FAY CAMPBELL sarah@newnan.com
More changes have come to Com mu n it y Welcome House, which serves local victims of domestic violence. The organization is now known as the Coweta Domestic Violence Resource Center, and the house itself is up for sale. A new website, cowetadom e s t ic v iole n c e . or g , h a s re cent ly b e come op er ational. The crisis line phone number remains the same — 770-304-0966. In October 2016, it was announced that Community Welcome House would no longer serve as a shelter for domestic violence victims. Instead, the focus would be on providing services for domestic violence victims so that they can stay in their homes and in the community. There were always services
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provided to the women staying at Community Welcome House, and many of those ser v ices conti nued a fter the organization stopped functioning as a shelter for women and children. T hen-Executive Di rector Maureen Coates said last year that Community Welcome House had seen a decline in the number of women needing a shelter but an increase in the number who needed resources. There was also a financial reason — operating the house cost approximately $30,000 a month, and there was no government funding. Coming up with that kind of money every month had long been a challenge. Right now, the massive house serves as an off ice for one employee, and space for a food pantry and other
REBOOT • 2A