Education & Classes in Dunwoody

Rich purple walls and a bar outfitted with a zebra-print façade sounds more like club decor than the decor of a school. For the past 20 years, however, the National Bartending School of Atlanta has put on mixology clinics in just this kind of lounge-style setting. At its six learning stations, teachers train professional bartenders during hands-on certification courses that cover more than 100 drink recipes, as well as eclectic topics such as free pouring or the art of making a cocktail from whatever falls down a waterfall. Alternatively, students can dabble in the art of cocktail creation during two-hour, noncertification courses, which focus on classic drinks such as the cosmo and the margarita.

The adults hanging out inside Zen and Now Clay Studio look blissfully filthy. Soft clay slicks their hands and sticks to their smocks as they sculpt a pastoral scene onto a platter during a class or develop their own style of relating to Patrick Swayze during open studio time. In the white, utilitarian workroom, artists gather around a central table for hand building—helped by tools such as a slab roller, extruder sets for creating tubular shapes, and slump molds—or form clay on one of several electric pottery wheels. The staff later glazes and fires all student work in a process that takes about two weeks.

Adding to the enjoyment of creating art, Zen and Now's instructors organize events such as couples nights that give adults a chance to enjoy wine and cheese in the company of people they sculpted themselves, and a Boy Scout pottery merit badge workshop encourages kids to explore creativity in the studio and in the broader community. Helping students further explore 3-D modeling, the studio also offers drawing and painting classes in watercolor and Sumi-e, a classical form of East Asian ink painting.

Generations-old Thai family recipes and established Japanese cooking techniques continue to inspire the cooks at Fuji Hana & Thai Peppers. Hibachi chefs man the dining room's six tabletop grills and sear entire orders of scallops or filet mignon right in front of transfixed guests. Hibachi-grilled lobster tail even makes its way onto the restaurant's sushi menu, which includes 12 specialty maki selections that attempt to elevate sushi with sriracha sauce, dried cranberries, or cleverly disguised helium balloons. The Thai menu items remain more grounded in familiar flavor combinations, such as spicy basil fried rice and panang curry with coconut milk and dried chilies.

The colorful cuisine stands in stark contrast to the deep, soothing earth tones that fill the dining room. Hand-laid mosaic tiles complement the dark leather booths, and a 31-foot oak bar surrounds the sushi chefs and bartenders as they dexterously assemble orders.