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Re-enacting Degas' "The Absinthe Drinker" at Athens' Seabear.

Re-enacting Degas’ The Absinthe Drinker at Athens’ Seabear.

A few months ago, my Georgia Trend editor and I were talking about grilled octopus, and how it seemed to be having a moment. I noticed it often came in a restaurant that featured a bocce court (such as Atlanta’s Leon’s and No. 246, or, in the case of the Optimist, a small putting green). Not long after that came oysters on the half-shell, often served at a place that also offers absinthe, the once-(U.S.)-outlawed, now safer French spirit known for inspiring green-fairied visions for artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and Lautrec in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. (To try oysters and absinthe the way crazy Parisian artists did, but without the fairies, go to Decatur’s Kimball House, downtown Atlanta’s Publik House or Athens’ Seabear.) The most recent pairing? Cocktails on tap in low-fi diners and/or leatherette booths. Apparently it’s a kind of new take on the soda fountain, except with alcohol. Check them out at Atlanta’s Victory Sandwich Bar, which offers a Jack and Coke Slushie, and Decatur’s Pinewood, which boasts of serving its on-tap Old-Fashioned in “three seconds.” On Whitaker Street, near the river, the speakeasy-style Savannah Cocktail Co. offers a whole menu of “draft” drinks, available during happy hour on weekdays, including a Moscow Mule, Vieux Carre and Blanca Negroni.BFKCB4

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