Omnivore - Best Bets: Attack of the Killer Tomato Fest

Back for its seventh year, we asked festival creator Ford Fry seven questions about the event.

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  • Alyssa Pointer/CL File



Sat., July 11 will mark the seventh annual Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival. Ahead of the popular event, we caught up down with its creator for some intel. What’s it all about, this fete in celebration of the tomato? We went straight to the source and asked restaurant king Ford Fry about his quirky summertime food fest:

Where did this idea of a tomato festival come from?

It was during our first year at JCT. where we were really starting to see all the local tomatoes from local farms coming into the restaurant. They were so great. They (farmers) had tons and they were trying to unload all of them. I guess it was a good year for tomatoes. I watched the movies (Attack of the Killer Tomato) when I was young and really dug them. This paired with my desire to have a festival...a quirky one...is how it began. Food should be fun.


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  • Andrew Thomas Lee
  • Ford Fry rocking out at the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival


Is there a dish from the last six AKTF that is the most memorable?
Yes — a few years ago Brian Horn (JCT. Kitchen) made a tomato jelly doughnut filled with a bacon fat mayo. It was a thing of beauty. The bartenders really go all out too. I remember one year watching Miles {Macquarrie} and Shanna {Mayo} sweaty and shaking {cocktails] and smiling, just having such a good time all while being pummeled by people waiting on cocktails. They played the part well.

You have sort of answered this before, but why the tomato? why not a Georgia peach?

Tomatoes in Georgia are awesome. More fun than peaches. I never really thought about doing a festival around a peach. There was never an Attack of the Killer Peach movie, I guess.

What is your favorite part of AKTF?

I like to see all the chefs really go all out on their table. I have never seen chefs go all out like that at other events especially with such a funky theme. The crew from Holeman and Finch and Restaurant Eugene spelled out their logo with cherry tomatoes and toothpicks. It was amazing. I also love the chef dunking booth we did a couple of years ago. It’s coming back this year. I have a campaign going to get Hector Santiago in it in a speedo. The Latin lover in a speedo, bare chested. Tell your friends.

Tell us about the judges.

We have always had really great people judge the festival: Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appetite, Kate Krader from Food and Wine, The Lee Brothers, Costa Dillon from the original Attack of the Killer Tomato movie... This year our team has a great group again. (Evan Mah from Atlanta Magazine, Costa Dillon, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats, Chuck Reece from the Bitter Southerner, and Jordana Rothman from Time Out New York)

Your band made of chefs, Five Bone Rack, always plays at the festival. How did this come about?

It started with me on guitar, Gary Mennie (formerly Table 1280) on drums, and Joe Truex (formerly Watershed on Peachtree) as our singer. We started talking about forming a band. We thought it would be fun, It has morphed over the years. We found Ted Lahey (Table and Main) as a singer. The name came from Joe Truex, I think. We were sitting around the Local, five chefs, and he thought of it. The cool thing is that the expectation of a bunch of chefs playing music is really low. We sound a little better than people thought we would.

Can we expect anything new this year, besides the Chef Hector in a speedo possibility?

The {headliner} Band. I hired these guys to play our employee party at the Goat Farm-Ill Communication. They are really fun. Young people and older people can relate to them. Also, since it doesn’t seem fair that all of our {Rocket Farm} restaurants compete, each will host someone from out of town and team up with them. Lots of strong chefs from the south. We put them up so they have a great time.

This year’s Attack of the Killer Tomato will be held Sun., July 19, 1-5 p.m. at JCT. Kitchen and Bar. Purchase tickets here. Proceeds from this year’s festival benefit Georgia Organics and the Giving Kitchen. The 2014 festival raised close to $120,000.