Philips Arena Scores With Courtside Club
The premium bar/dining room is for Hawks fans in the first four rows and concert VIPs.
So, you’re probably wondering who these two beautiful women are and why you should want to hang out with them.
Like many of you, we are two working moms in our 40s (one married, one single) with our baby boys about to head off to college and leave us as empty nesters. Bittersweet, right? So let’s make lemonade out of lemons.
Now that we have the time and the desire to re-experience all that Atlanta has to offer, why not go for it and share it with all of you who, like us, are seeing that light at the end of the helicopter parenting tunnel or are wondering what women our age do now that the kids have grown and flown?
We realize that we might not be for everyone, but we will try to share information that all will find of interest. Please feel free to reach out to us at the AJT with ideas on places to visit, events that you might want reviewed or topics you’d like us to share (as moms) with our fellow readers.
This column is meant to be fun for us and for you. Thank you for the positive response to our first column.
Working for the Atlanta Jewish Times certainly comes with perks. As such, we were invited to attend a media tasting night at the new and exclusive Courtside Club, part of a $192.5 million renovation at Philips Arena.
The beautifully designed Courtside Club offers a trendy and succulent selection of food items and a sophisticated full bar on the arena floor and is the first of its kind in the NBA. Fans with tickets in the four rows of courtside seats — a total of 590 seats — will have access to the bar and club.
The goal is to make attending games a more social experience by giving fans a range of options beyond traditional seats or suites, such as a conference center, TopGolf Swing Suites, the Killer Mike’s Swag Shop barber franchise and Southern-style restaurant Zac Brown’s Social Club.
Like typical middle-age women, we got our name badges and proceeded to the Hawks court to run around and take goofy photos of ourselves so we could impress our 18-year-old boys and our Facebook friends. Once our silly photo shoot was completed, we moved inside the club to the glorious stations of food and an overwhelming bar with top-shelf booze bottles lined up a mile high.
We started with vodka cranberry drinks with a twist of lime, then headed for the food (albeit not kosher).
We noshed on executive chef Joe Schafer’s smoked trout, organic salads and butternut squash. The cheese and meat station included an array of crackers, fresh and dried fruits, and honey that enhanced the flavors. There was a great assortment of additional food items, including a brick-oven pizza station.
Schafer, a Georgia native, heads the arena’s food service department. He was the executive chef at Atlanta’s fine-dining staple Bacchanalia and was named “ATL’s Hottest Chef” by Jezebel magazine in July 2013 while he was at King + Duke.
You can tell Chef Joe has a love of organic, locally grown food and Southern fare. We look forward to seeing his seasonal menus.
Not a sports fan? No problem. You can enjoy Courtside Club Live, a VIP concert package with access to a premium, all-inclusive experience.
Courtside Club Live packages include:
- Exclusive pre-show access to the club, with free appetizers, beer, wine and soda.
- A ticket in a specially designed area.
- Private parking in the arena’s Georgia’s Own Credit Union Deck.
- Early, crowd-free access to merchandise.
- A commemorative item to remember the event.
It was a fun evening, and we look forward to seeing the completed venue sometime next year as the Hawks celebrate their 50th year in Atlanta. Until then, we’re planning our next outing: a pub crawl on the BeltLine or the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival at Atlantic Station on Saturday, March 3. Join us.
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