The Taste of Atlanta folks are very busy these days. Not only do they do their signature event every October, they rock the casbah in Sandy Springs with Food That Rocks.

We are in the multi-gazillion dollar complex known as City Springs. Once a dilapidated shopping center (and one of the early locations of Mellow Mushroom), City Springs boasts a theater, restaurants, and Sandy Springs’ government offices.

The crowd comes ready to eat and drink, but Mother Nature has other ideas. The fire department evacuates the area because lightning has struck a mile away.

Everyone must leave the metal-poled tents, also known as lightning rods until the storm goes away. Not fair. After about an hour, people are allowed to go back under the tents.

What a great assortment of food and drink awaits us once we get in. Thirty local restaurants are represented here. So are some pretty large breweries.

And popular vodka distilleries.

There really is something for everyone here. You can go vegetarian with kale salads and juice.

Or you can indulge with a Dirty South burger from Stockyard Burgers and Bones.

My date is a professional nail model. They put mac and cheese and bacon on this one. There are a lot of sliders on the menu tonight. They are the perfect portion size and easy for the chefs to assemble on site.

One of my favorites is from Kaiser’s Chophouse, the salmon BLT.

The Calyroad Creamery brings some nice cheese.

We quickly realize that we should be sharing our food. That way we can try more things before the tank gets too full. The Thai chicken tacos from Taqueria Tsunami are a hit.

While all the food is being dished out, people are dancing to Saved by the Band, an energetic 80’s and 90’s dance band.

Most of them know the words to the songs. We must be too old to remember the music from these decades.

As it got darker, the lights got blue, which made taking pictures of food almost impossible. We try our best, but most of our later photos come out tinged in blue, which does not make the food look very good.

Trust us, the mac and cheese is just right. It’s not blueberry flavored. We did not have too much to drink.

There is an excellent smattering of desserts. The Henri’s Bakery display looks delicious. So are the shortbread cookies.

Gigi’s Cupcakes brings the perfect-sized bites.

The Buttermilk Sky pie table is one of the best displays. We include the blue-tinted picture so you can get an idea of how they display their wares.

It makes me want to go to the restaurant for a big hunk of pie.

Although the portions are just a few bites, we leave very full because there are so many to choose from. The event sold out, so our guess is that it’s going to happen again in 2019. Put it on your calendar. Just hope Mother Nature is in a better mood.

Disclosure time: Because we know the right people, Date Night got complimentary tickets to Food That Rocks. Thanks to Marketing and Media Manager Skye Estroff for the invitation and to the Taste of Atlanta staff for putting on such a fun event.