Grilling Nemo

Tireless ATL correspondent the Fiddler gleans  the following:

ATLANTA — Bernie Marcus has long promised that the Georgia Aquarium would be a feast for the eyes and the intellect. On Tuesday, he invited the taste buds to the banquet.

As the Beatles song "Octopus's Garden" played in the background and two whale sharks swam on the water side of an enormous foot-thick acrylic window, the Home Depot co-founder pulled back the curtains — just a bit — on the biggest fish tank in the United States.

Marcus, who is spending $200 million of his fortune to build the aquarium in downtown Atlanta, gave the public its first up-close glance at Ralph and Norton, the whale sharks for whom the aquarium was designed. And the 76-year-old billionaire announced that he had landed another big fish: celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, whose company will operate catering services at the facility.

"I think this is the new diamond for Atlanta," Puck, in his thick German accent, told the three dozen reporters and photographers at the event. "I think it will be an international destination."

So, will fish be on the menu? Certainly, said the creator of Spago Hollywood. But the catering staff will participate in the Seafood Watch program pioneered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The program encourages consuming only seafood from sustainable sources.

"We will try to educate people [about] what to buy and what to eat," Puck said.

(Images above culled from an earlier Wolfgang foray into the world of urchin processing.) Stay tuned for Vongerichten's Las Vegas interactive eco-petting zoo. Also, we live in a world where philanthropists with thick German accents drop $200 mil on aquariums, then name their prize attractions after the Honeymooners. Have a nice weekend.