Jazz Thursdays at Fandangle's

I jump at every chance I get to let a saxophone drift me away. There's just something about it. It's smooth, emotive... if it's the right slow tune, my mind transports me to a rainy, star-strewn street in Paris, walking along a cobblestone bridge at night, sneaking kisses with my beau under an enormous umbrella, not a care in the world.

Ah, the power of the saxophone.

If it's been a while since you've enjoyed the melody, I know of a place you should have on your radar for Thursday nights.

Fandangle's is a restaurant and bar nested within the Sheraton Hotel Downtown, and every week, a live three-piece band plays popular jazz and R&B tunes.

The jazz event is free and open to anyone, so pop in, get a table, order some of the crowd-pleasing dishes (they had me at bacon-wrapped shrimp), and enjoy the evening.

I went a few months ago with one of my clients, and was won over with the attentiveness of the staff (everyone from the managers to the chefs came to visit our table), so when I was invited back again, I definitely looked forward to it.

I brought this lovely belle:

And enjoyed a table with a perfect view of the band, positioned next to the open sliding glass door leading to the gorgeous pool. The view was calming, kind of tropical, and definitely fun.

Almost immediately, the food began to arrive. A couple of these tapas weren't on the menu just yet, so it was nice to try them out.

A peanut-based humus

Fried green tomatoes

Bacon-wrapped shrimp

Scallops

And sweet chili shrimp.

(And, as mentioned in this post, I am wearing something that I've handmade. The stone blue luster nugget earrings pictured above are my current faves.)

In between plates, we took a wander out to the pool to look enviously at the people having a splashabout.

And took a couple pics of our sundresses.

Ready to kick up our heels again, we returned to our table and the music.

The restaurant had gotten more crowded, and the Eric Thomas Trio was going strong.

Soon after, the saxophonist came to visit us for a while.

After welcoming us to the event, he asked us what we'd like to hear. We thought of some jazz-adjacent suggestions, like Kem, D'Angelo, and even Prince, but what we didn't know was that he was going to ask us to get up there and sing!

He meant it, too, and sat down with us.

I acknowledge it would've been an interesting twist to this blog post had I gotten up there! So maybe I will next time. My friend took the opportunity to remind me of the time I spontaneously sang "My Funny Valentine" at an open mic a few years ago and, according to her, I rocked it. I don't know what came over me at that event, but at this one, I was feeling a little modest and just wanted to sip my cocktail. So I did.

But there's nothing like a good friend to encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone. So perhaps I will do it again someday. :-)

As I gave the menu another glance over, the nicoise salad caught my eye... but I wasn't too keen for salmon at the moment.

So it was really nice when Chef Mike stopped by and told me he could place tuna on top.

It was perfect. For some reason, I had a bear of a time trying to photograph it, but had no problems whatsoever eating every last morsel.

A hug well deserved.

Thanks for the nice night, Fandangle's.

You'll find this restaurant in the Sheraton Hotel at 165 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta GA 30303.