Photo Credit: Photo via The Foundry

Graduate Athens has been rolling out its changes slowly, and the latest is a revamp of its food and drink options. The space formerly known as the Melting Point is now The Foundry Bar and Mill and opened last week. The "mill" in the title is no typo: The restaurant mills its own grits on-site (usually in the kitchen, but the mill is on rollers, so demos in the dining room happen from time to time).

Steve Vining remains the chef, but the new menu is closer to what he put on the table at the Hoyt House than to what the Melting Point had been serving. Described as "farm-to-table," it includes dishes like empanadas made with smoked trout and black beans, pickled peanuts, georgia olive oil, trout roe creme fraiche and trout cracklins’; butternut squash hummus; duck fat "popcorn crack"; yams with spiced pecans and sage marshmallow; Georgia white shrimp with buffalo sausage and pecan meuniere, parsley, lemon and pickled chiles; and a daily option smoked over pecan wood. Hours are 3 p.m.–2 a.m. Monday through Thursday; noon–2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. 

In other news, The Place will open officially on Monday, Feb. 9 (although there's some soft-open stuff going on) in the former Five Star Day Cafe downtown (as reported previously here). If you're eager for a peek inside before then, there are some photos up on Facebook. It'll be open for dinner every night until 10 p.m., with the bar open later.