A press release heralding a new restaurant in Atlanta crossed my email inbox recently. Everything seemed pretty standard at first: Holeman and Finch Public House, opening April 14, intends to serve "food and drink ... with unrivaled quality and care." The chef evidently revels in "whole-animal preparations" and plans to make his own "charcuterie such as coppa, bresaola, and tom thumbs."

Photo: Samuel Wong

Sounds good to me. I applaud nose-to-tail cookery, as well as the move toward small-scale artisanal sausage making. All very trendy, and not a bad thing at all -- as long as the meat is sourced from humane, ecologically minded farms. Then came this:

The hand-chosen 75-vintage wine list features small production, boutique wineries that emphasize quality and value.

There's some weird pretension at work there. "Hand-chosen" wine? But hey, I enjoy a nice glass of wine as much as the next generally quite populist food snob. Then something odd crept into the press release:

The serving dishes will include rustic cheese boards, sturdy ceramics, and a debut line of never-before-seen cast iron pieces from Lodge cookware.

Wow. Rather then fetishizing ingredients and the farms they hail from -- not a word about sourcing -- these folks are fetishizing serving dishes. Product placement: not just for Hollywood anymore. And then this:

Holeman and Finch will serve as a testing lab for Coca-Cola's "Perfect Serve," a unique return to the art of serving Atlanta's greatest original beverage.