Wry Epicures: A guide to eating and drinking for the sardonic

How not to brew a Scotch Ale

2010-10-28T10:19:00.004-05:00

On rare occasions you can do lots of wrong things and have still have something end up right, this is the universes' way of lulling you into the kind of false sense of security that allows people to do stupid things like run for public office in Alaska.

Our most recent homebrew should not taste as good as it does. After 1 week in the bottle our 'wee heavy' does have the sweetness, roasty, smoky/peaty, malty, caramel flavors with an alcohol warmth and sweet medium body that is to style. So score.

But here's where we messed up:
1. Too much diacetyl- not just caramel/sweet, its a bit much due to high temperature fermentation. We pitched the yeast at around 80+F because the kitchen was way hot and the wort would not freaking cool down.
2. Only did a primary fermentation and it was too hot for style. We had a bit of a heatwave here and our d-bag landlords recently told us not to store anything in the basement so our Scotch Ale was in the 70's-50's. And we (I) was too lazy to rack and do a secondary letting it cool down even more. So now we've got a not so clear brew and it does not taste as "clean" as it should.
3. The tubing for the bottling siphon was the wrong size. We tried to get a suction with duct tape but not so much- the beer got way too oxygenated when being bottled and too much sediment got stirred up as well. The beers have lots of head (which incidentally isn't bad for the style), but the oxygen also gave us the odd off flavors of oil/gasoline. Since we love old ales, this off flavor is not really a negative for us.

Ingredients for the nerdy: 7 lbs pale LME, 40g peated malt, 1/2lbs roasted barley, 1lb marris otter 2-row, 1/2lb crystal 120, 1/2lb dextrine malt. 1oz kent goldings at 60 minutes, and 1/2oz willamette at 15 minutes.

East West 'que...in Wisconsin?

2010-05-11T21:17:00.004-05:00

East meets West fusion cuisine reached a critical mass somewhere back in the 90's. Now it goes one step further with East West bar-b-que. Local Madison restaurant dynamo Muramoto adds the Haze to his list of food hot spots.

Since I'm a fan of the sushi and the other lovely dishes at both Restaurant Muramoto and Sushi Muramoto, I decided to go the East 'que route. Bahn Mi is basically a Vietnamese po-boy; stacked with smoked chicken, cilantro, jalapeno, pickled veggies, and mayo all on a baguette. The flavors all melded together beautifully, the pickled veg and spiciness of the peppers set off the smoky chicken. The mayo adds a bit of fat, and the fresh cilantro also adds a tangy aspect and a bit of wild greenery to this po-boy. Cheddar jalapeno grits were full of creamy goodness (very few places in Wisconsin seem to be able to make grits), edamame also was a nice addition to a pretty decent meal.

Drew tried the West route; pulled pork, the much touted house pickles, and fries. He was not as thrilled with his selection. The pork was boring, the pickles were a bit too much for one person, and fries are...fries.

He is determined to try it again. The place was also completely dead at 6pm, during happy hour. In downtown Madison. Thats not a good sign. While I enjoyed my food much more than Drew, I don't feel the need to try it again. I also don't think this one may be around much longer.

Beer Travel Atlanta

2010-03-06T12:37:00.005-05:00

Plenty of articles have been written in the past couple of years touting Atlanta as a beer destination, so I'll add my two cents as a former resident who has recently visited and noticed some more great changes.

My old stomping ground of Decatur, just a little East of the city, its own little microcosmos of walkable areas, shopping, food, and a hip but not too hip or too rich vibe. Old couples mingle with young gay couples with kids, kids and dogs alike enjoying the festivals and festival atmosphere of the weekends. Here lies the legendary Brick Store pub, which was tough to get into most nights when we lived there- and now impossible. But who won't wait for an insane amount of Belgian and craft beers the world over? We probably stumbled from there every other week trying a different beer. Owned by the same parties, Leon's Full Service is a step up food-wise focusing on local food (a welcome change we have noticed since we left). The shrimp gyro was a solid selection; shrimp were sweet, succulent and not overcooked, the tang of the yogurt worked well with the red onion pickle. The frites with your choice of 'sauces' proved boring- make that curry thicker and the frites meatier and you will have the perfect bar food. The smaller but stellar beer selection was good enough to please die-hard BSP fans.

Also in Decatur, another old hangout of ours: Thinking Man Tavern which has kept its fairly decent pub grub menu (I'm a fan of the house made veggie burgers) and has also kept its better than average beer selection. This visit, I noticed that they had the much hyped Life & Limb in the bottle. Score! Since I missed out on various tappings in Madison (if we had any) and any stores that may have had it would have sold in in about two minutes given the ravenous beer geeks here in Madison. Its a dark brown malty beer with hints of earth, smoke and a good amount of sweet syrup and root beer flavors. Very complex and well crafted, a slightly bitter malty finish balances the sweetness in this full bodied beer with well hidden alcohol. Believe the hype, this is a very drinkable beer with every sip reminding you that two master brewers collaborated on this one.

With local brewers Sweetwater, and Athens-based Terrapin actually being heard of outside of the South and local beer superbars Taco Mac; local beers are coming up in the beer world. Smaller brewpubs are growing with 5 Seasons now has three locations, and oldie Atlanta Brewing Company is still kicking it old school. Festivals like the Winter Beer Carnival are popping up along with the long-time worst organized fest: the Decatur Beer Festival. (*note: maybe they have fixed it since we attempted the fest in 2007 I hear they do pre-sales finally; no parking, no line organization, running out of beer, tiny cramped space, putting it right in the middle of a busy area)

Atlanta also seems to have enough beer geeks to warrant the at least four cases of Founder's Nemesis I spied in the mid-level liquor store, but not enough geekiness to have sold out of it unlike Madison which sold out in less than two days. (*note: I do know of one place in Madison that has a single case of Nemesis still but its on hold due to computer glitches)

Unvisited but new: Westside beer store Hop City perhaps a contender against the all-powerful Ponce Green's for beer heaven?

Minnepolis in two days

2010-01-16T17:02:00.009-05:00

When better to visit the Twin Cities? Thanksgiving. Thats right; the possibility of being in one of the coldest cities in America keeps the wimps away late November. Plus that whole holiday thing.

First stop on the way in: St Paul and the Happy Gnome. Go for the beer, stay for the beer. I will give props to the bison/elk/bacon burger of meatastic-ness but the rest of the food was nothing to blog about.

Stay at uber hip W Fosh ay, the art deco building oozes cool and the room's swank mini-bar (that we did not touch), made me wish I had worn something a little more...gangster moll. The Prohibition bar way up top was great for views and atmosphere, but light on cocktail snobbery.

Saffron, a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant in downtown, is where we ended up for dinner. Splitting delicately spiced small plates we sampled anchovies with harissa and preserved lemon, and kofta meatballs in tomato/mint sauce. Both we packed full of fresh and balanced flavors, the anchovies were a real hit- the preserved lemon cutting right through the oily fat of the fish and the earthy spice of the harissa. We then moved onto the lamb carpaccio and fresh beans with lemon and dill. The lamb and a wonderful combination of sweet fatty flavors with a hint of wildness and tart acidity. The beans were nice, nothing to write home about.

Located in the Graves Hotel is cocktail nirvana. Bradstreet Crafthouse is the kind of place you take someone who knows cocktails. Really knows cocktails. An inventive menu, classics and twists, attention to technique, glassware, house made bitters/syrups/etc all served to make this place truly at the pinnacle of the resurgence in the art of the cocktail. I could have watched all night. They even had specific shaped and sizes of ice for various drinks. My best cocktail was one created on the spot- he did a little twist on a Manhattan involving a dropper of Laphraoig and a spruce flavored liquor. I still dream of this place.

Breakfast at Hell's Kitchen. All kitsch, no bite. I guess its cool to be served by surly hungover hipsters in their jammies, and Ralph Steadman does some art for the place; but that does not make the food any better than any other urban diner.

Getting our sushi and ramen fix, we headed over to St. Paul for Saji Ya. Pretty sweet house ramen, and the lunch box special was satisfactory as well.

The last stop before we left the Twin Cities was a beer store located in the burbs. A good well rounded selection of imports, local and domestics. Nothing outrageously hard to find, but I was pleased to see that the beers was organized by style and not geography. This a great way educate and help people find beers similar to ones they already like. It encourages people to expand beer horizons!

Thus stocked at the Four Firkins, we headed back to Wisconsin well fed, having slept in a swank hotel, and with beer. The Pilgrims would have been proud.

More than snooty Ikea food

2009-11-30T09:30:00.000-05:00

Our first (and not last) trip to Magnus was a full-service experience from great cocktails to wonderful service. Nice decor, the main dining room was open with a high ceiling and well lit.

Starting with cocktails, I had the Finn's #7 cup, a re-imagined Pimm's cup with local Death's Door gin, dry vermouth, Lillet, St. Germain in an old fashioned glass with apple and cucumber slivers as garnish. Very tart and refreshing, my kind of drink! Drew's Uptown Julep was sweet and tasty, with Bulliet bourbon, mint and a frosted rim in a martini glass.

Our first plates included a good deal of pickled things (apropos?). The Norwegian sausage and duck ham with pickled cabbage, cornichons and truffle mustard was a good marriage of flavors from fats to sweet to sour. Then the pickled herring, salmon, and shrimp with egg creme fraiche and cucumbers gave us even more pickled goodness. The seafood was all fresh and tart, the clean cucumbers and sweet/creamy creme fraiche bookending the flavors perfectly.

Our entrees were also winners; mine was the cardamom crusted sirloin with black currants, truffled cauliflower puree and spinach. The truffled cauliflower puree and spinach became a bit heavy-handed as the meal wore on as is often the case with truffle anything but the richness served as a good foil to the lean sirloin. The cardamom and currants worked well together, the cardamom never overpowering or too menthol. Currants are a good fruit for beef, they are not too sweet but slightly earthy, and they hold up to cooking.

Drew's cocoa nib wild boar tenderloin with wild mushrooms, pea puree and fig syrup was a study in decadent fatty/sweet flavors. When I tasted it, I felt that more pea puree was needed to balance the dish, the figs and cocoa were pretty strong. Overall it worked well because the pork was leaner and more gamey than your average loin or chop, the 'wildness' of the boar accentuated the wildness of the cocoa.

Dessert options looked incredibly boring, how many flourless chocolate cakes can one town have? So we went with savory over sweet; the jarlsberg cheese tart mixed salty/barnyard cheese with crunchy dough and sweet ligonberries.

Magnus has portion sizes and flavor combinations down. The dessert menu was the only flaw, but the menu is seasonal! We were well pleased by the fancy Ikea food.

Beer and Chocolate!

2009-10-07T11:03:00.004-05:00

A recent beer and chocolate tasting at my local Whole Foods yielded some cool results. Along with the usual suspects: Stout, fruit beers, creme brulee....a few interesting pairings were revealed. Both. good and bad

Ayinger Oktoberfest with its intense/nutty Munich malt and smooth drinkability paired well with a 365 milk chocolate hazelnut bar. Both are mild nutty flavors with a hint of smooth/rich decadence. This pairing, I'll look forward to next year when the Marzens are 'in season'.

Lake Louie Arena Premium, a US Pale Ale with its typical US hop balance, bitterness, malt backbone, and palate cleansing action paired extremely well with a 365 dark chocolate mint bar. The hop heavy flavors in a US pale tend to be on the citrus/pine/resin side, the min and hops complemented each other and added a minty fresh dimension to the beer. Since the bitter dark chocolate fed the bitter hops, the overall effect was that the bitterness increased in both, and the mint was stronger with the bar but was 'cleaned' off a bit by the hops in the beer and the voerall carbonation and body of the style.

Stone Smoked Porter with the Vosges Moe's Bacon bar- match made in heaven. Bacon, beer, chocolate, smoke- a bacon beer would have been too much but the chocolate in the porter is always a hit when paired with actual chocolate.

Not a fan of the overly sweet and cloying desert beer, Southern Tier's Creme Brulee (I know, heresy) but the extreme caramel lactose sweetness was actually cut by the Whole Foods bakery bittersweet flourless chocolate cake. Taken in small amounts, I could do this beer as long as I had something substantial and bitter to cut it.

Ale Asylum's Trippel Nova was overshadowed by the chocolate covered ginger (bulk). The ginger itself tasted great with the Trippel, the spices from the yeast spiced up the ginger and gave it a great kick, and the sweetness from the candi sugar and Pils malt added to the richness of the chocolate. Sadly, while the ginger confection fared well, the Trippel wilted. By itself, the seasonal beer from one of my favorite local breweries was low on hop balance and high on fruity sweet and spice: not a favorite.

Another nice pairing was the oak-aged milk stout Dragon's Milk by New Holland with the Ben and Jerry's Smores ice cream. The oak aged beer complemented the woody smores, the milk and chocolate in the stout were prefect with their milk and chocolate counterparts with the smores ice cream.

Sweet ass beer and cheese pairing

2009-09-11T20:28:00.004-05:00

After an Herve Mons cheese flight a few days ago by one of my favorite cheese lecturers, I imagined that the Tommette du Tarn with its earthy, tart, musty, sweaty, nutty flavor would be awesome with New Glarus's Berliner Weisse. The Berliner Weisse is a very sour, effervescent, lightly citrusy/floral, refreshing champagne-like beer. Light bodied, perfect for summer and perfect for a strong smelly cheese like the Tarn. I also tried the La Serena raw sheep's milk, it is also tart, smelly, sweaty, barny, slightly grassy/floral, mushroomy. The La Serena also warmed up and became even more creamy and smelly. Perfect.

We ate it so fast that I couldn't even get pictures.

Tornado Room, and my first rack

2009-08-20T18:36:00.005-05:00

With garish come-hither neon signage, dark cozy interiors, and northwoods carcass chic all speak to an era long-gone where men wore pinstripe suits and poured hooch in the back bar. I'm shocked that the Tornado Room wasn't used n Public Enemies, I can easily imagine Johnny Depp's Dillinger charming the pants off some girl in the uber-cool bar.

Having visited twice, each time I've been excited by my entree. I've had the pork with sour cherry reduction and most recently the lamb with mustard, garlic, bread crumbs and mint. The pork was sweet and tart, tender cut dripping with fatty evil. The leftovers became an awesome sandwich, the sweet pork balanced by a salty English hard cheese on a baguette. The lamb was an inspiration. Crunchy burned mustard/breadcrumb on one side, silky lamb falling off the bone on the other side. The mint pops up like a beloved guest star during various sublime bites. There were no leftovers for this one and I let Drew gnaw on the bones after I gnawed until full.

Oysters Rockefeller was well done, but not special. The casear salad was real- real anchovy loveliness. Fatty nummy brussel sprouts were a welcome side.

Booze: The wine list is short, and not super fantastic but its certainly not crap/chain style with only one or two producers per varietal- it was not well rounded and not the usual merlot/cab/chard show. The lamb was safely paired with a semi-sweet rose (too safe, I should have gone for a light/sweetish red), the pork was accompanied by a malbec that was a little dry and tart- appropriate for the sweet/tart/fatty pork but with enough fruit to not be completely opposite. The cocktails were pretty neat in the cool recessed lighting bar. A ginger infused bourbon, peach liquor/brandy and a little lemon was a nice Southern style treat, the Vesper was strong and bracing. One cocktail during a trip last summer consisted of fresh basil, strawberry puree, and rum.

You've got red on you

2009-08-13T10:57:00.004-05:00

When I think of the Red Eye brewing company in Wausau, my second thought beyond great beer is...nutella calzone.

Back up. My first intro to this place was beer served at the Old Fashioned. The Bloom and Scarlett 7 (a wit and dubbel) were exceptional, and when I found out the brewery was within 3 hours and near a good hike- off we went.

Everything tastes a little better after exercise, its a bit like beer goggles except you don't wake up next to someone you feel the need to gnaw off your own arm to escape. Pizza and beer are my two big post-exercise cravings, and I'm a sucker for wood-fired pizza. The bbq chicken, red onion, smoked gouda, and cilantro pizza was our selection. Red onions added that bit of sweetness, the cheese and toasty crust offered up the extra smoke, and of course the bbq did both- not exactly super complex flavors but they were exactly what we expected and wanted. The crust was perfect (go wood ovens) and the ingredients fresh. We also split the lobster cakes with avocado remoulade. Not impressive, but not horrible. The sweet delicate lobster was a bit overshadowed by the oil leftover from frying, and the remoulade was bland.

On to the beer: between the two of us we tried almost all of them. The Thrust is a US IPA that is very crisp, refreshing, and if course full of citrusy/piney US hops but still has a discernable malt backbone. Very nicely done, but its not a standout. The Bloom is a Wit with considerable wheat in the aroma and taste, along with the coriander/orange/perfumy spiciness to be expected. A great summer quencher, I could drink this one all day. A seasonal nut brown was on tap which excited the beer geek in me because the brewer specified it was a Southern Brown. A Southern Brown is not brewed with fried chicken or cornbread- imagine a Newcastle, with a less bitter finish, less hop flavor and aroma, with slightly more caramel/toffee/and sweetness. It was creamy and smooth with hints of fruits. Very nice, and we took some home in a growler. The Scarlett 7 was also a favorite of mine- dubbel style with full on dark fruits (plums, raisins, currants), molasses, bready/biscuity malts, almost chewy texture but still smooth enough to drink way too much. Sneaky alcohol and no the prettiest to look at, but a damn good beer.

Last but not least: the calzone of evil with chocolate and nutella. I mean, there's really no way to screw this up. It was so good Drew tried to steal my portion and I almost stabbed him with my fork. Do. Not. Steal. My chocolate evil.

Great taste 09: the quickie

2009-08-11T19:47:00.008-05:00

This year I volunteered and even got a snazzy guayabera with my name on it. I 'ran' the beer and cheese education session. This pretty much meant that I shook hands with people, played bouncer to douchebags who were mean to my volunteers, and handed out beer and cheese. Dan from New Glarus gave a great talk and made some good pairings- it was a pleasure to meet and listen to him.

As busy as I was, I didn't take notes nor did I drink as much but I will mention some favorite brews. Real ale tent: Bluegrass Brewing chocolate rye porter, Fat Heads' Collaborative Evil, New Albanian: Beak's Best, Malcolm's Old Setter Ale, Hoptimus IPA (best advertising ever), Surly: Ash-Aged Cynic, Tea Bagged Bitter, Kuhnhnens' Cherry Belgian.

The real ale tent was a big haunt of mine this year, I arrived early and watched the guys and girls tap the casks. I was allowed/encouraged/dared to tap a bunghole (seriously its the hole on the top of the cask that gets tapped first to release CO2), there is footage of this somewhere of my tapping it, air blowing out, then the beer bath. In my first 30min of the festival, I was covered in beer. I also got to be all beer-groupie and meet one of the cool local lady brewers, Jaime of Dells Brewing/Moosejaw. I also got to meet a New Albanian brewer, who told me that the awesome Malcolm's Old Setter Ale was waiting for two years, it was full of alcohol warmth, sweet caramel/toffee malts, gasoline, butter, dark fruits.

Non-cask beers of note and remembrance:
B. Nektar Meadery- Buckwheat Mead
Blue Cat- coriander and orange US wheat
Lakefront- Rosie kriek lambic

Overall, an awesome time. Again. I'll take an even more active role next year, this is really a premier beer event and the small numbers make it all that much cooler. I only saw a small number of stupid shit, a few drunk vomiting, almost fights, outfits that should not be...but as a long-time veteran of DragonCon; this was Sunday school.

Wisconsin BBQ, who knew?

2009-07-27T00:53:00.000-05:00

How can they possibly have good 'que here? Its no where nears hot enough. They have no concept of iced tea. The Wisconsin idea of spicy involves ketchup.

I ate these words two nights ago. Smoky Jon's is a much lauded institution here in Madison and apparently award-winning even in the South. So we wanted our fix. Holy crap, vinegar-based ribs that literally were cooked so long that the bones became soft. Sauce that was tangy and only a tiny bit sweet. Almost spicy, but really astringent. The ribs made me want to gnaw on bone like a dog. I don't even really like ribs, I like pulled pork or chicken bbq. Or mutton.

Crinkle fries, baked beans with the vinegar based sauce, and lame bread rolls rounded out the meal. Next time we'll try other sides.

Beer pairing: for unknown bbq, I decided that maybe an opposite flavor would work well. I was thinking spicy, smoky, or tart- so I chose a Belgian Dark Strong Ale with its high alcohol, dark fruits, yeasty malty goodness to balance the flavors. It did work well, we drank the Trois Pistoles by Unibroue and the large goblets of liquid goodness fit the bill.

Cowboys need beer too

2009-07-25T15:08:00.001-05:00

Arizona is not exactly a beer paradise. We love the state; the ecological diversity, the adventure activities, the margaritas, and some tasty cuisine. Beer? Eh.

We begin our tour in Tucson, a perennial favorite of ours for the city vibe, the trails, and the best museum/zoo we have ever seen. And they have these freakin huge cacti.

Thunder canyon Brewery- Well reviewed regardless of the strip mall setting. Sadly, I don't agree. "Orange u Glad" it sucked, so someone poured orange juice concentrate into a hefe? Really? This is what I call a chick beer. Smell the disdain.

The ESB and the Amber were decent examples of style but not particularly stellar. The amber was definetely drinkable with some piney/citrus hops. The food was so unremarkable, not only did I not take notes, but I also have no idea what we ate.

1702 beer bar- In a near-campus strip mall, we found the beer snob bar. And it was good. We sat at the bar facing the wall of taps the likes of which are not often seen in the South or Midwest (Green Flash, AZ breweries like Barrio, Papago, Four Peaks). I drank an Eel River Old Ale; not the best for the warm weather with its full body and slick finish. Too vanilla and honey for my taste, it had a bit too much hop aroma for style but other than that it would have been a deent Old Ale for winter drinking- what the hell was I thinking in Tucson? Drew allowed me to sample his New Belgium Fleur Missere- a perfect warm weather drink: carbonated, citrusy hops, herbal, grassy, barnyard, even some grapefruit. I really thought it was a cross between a saison and a blond with the yeasty aromas and brett flavors but its a Belgian Pale. So I need to study more...

Overall 1702 was a great place for a beer, very local and the bartenders knew their beers. We didn't get a chance to try the food but we were impressed overall by the place.

Local Tuscon brewery Nimbus was one we'd hit in the past. Lacking time on this trip, we skipped the industrial-location of the brewpub but did pick up some Old Monkeyshine for camping. Its a lighter Old ale style, or a heavier/maltier cask ale. Its higher ABV probably prevented its dark fruits, nutty and biscuity malts from being too sweet. Well carbonated, with only a hint of earthy/floral hops in the aroma and taste. Maybe a high ABV, sweeter mild? Nice full body, and smooth. It was great for a windy desert camping nightcap, and a private train room.

Having never been in North Arizona, we planned a drive through Flagstaff and the Painted Desert all the way to New Mexico. Stopping through historic-cool downtown Flagstaff, we hit the Beaver Street brewpub. Typical beers: a stout, IPA, amber, etc. The stout was a thick chewy oatmeal, chocolate, toasty malts. The amber, 'red' ale, was a balanced easy-drinking beer. We reccomend the interesting meatloaf sandwich, tasty but very filling. We also munched on the Green Goddess grilled salmon salad- just for a bit of green in a vast pub-food sea. The food and the beers fit the bill after a day of driving.

Eating Santa Fe

2009-06-28T23:57:00.005-05:00

The problem with eating in Santa Fe is not whether or not you will get some great food, its whether or not it will cost you a body part. Since we planned our meal for the lunchtime hour, I picked a highly rated, pricey (for dinner) kind of place in the middle of the historic downtown area.

Coyote Cafe has a rooftop cantina thing going on, since April in New Mexico can be iffy weather-wise, we were happy to sit next to the heaters. Starting with cocktails, we tried a variation on the same theme with our fresh watermelon mojito/margarita. Fresh watermelon juice, fresh mint- the cocktails were wonderfully fresh and perfect for an outdoors lunch. It would have been perfect had it not been kinda chilly, but since we are now Wisconsinites we pretty much get happy anytime above freezing.

On to the food: slow roasted duck with a papaya bbq sauce quesadilla, and a snooty Navajo taco. A Navajo taco seems to be a coronary inducing regional kitchen-sink recipe; shredded chicken, pork, and bison mixed with some cheese, veg, and other usual taco suspects- all on top of fry bread. It was filling, fatty, not too greasy, and completely sinful. The duck quesadilla was a perfect mix of flavors; the fatty duck and the sweet/tart papaya bbq sauce are not new combinations, but they were executed admirably. From the lunch plates, I only wish that we had come back for dinner- I am pretty sure the insane cost would have been worth it.

Service with a sneer

2009-02-23T15:01:00.005-05:00

I admit that the reason I generally won't go to an Italian restaurant (Sotto Sotto being an exception), it that I associate Italian-American food too much with Olive Garden. Olive Garden, in my pretentious Viognier swigging foie gras eating mind, is the epitome of staid suburban mediocrity in food and in life. I blame the Will and Grace episode "I never promised you an Olive Garden" for entrenching this in my imagination. I am an unabashed foodie, snob, geek, whatever and since I'm not Italian and have never had grandmother's lasagna, I don't get the big deal. Again, I have had "snooty" Italian and find it very good but since most of the places calling themselves Italian have the spaghetti and meatballs line-up- I simply don't care.

We tried Tutto Pasta on State Street for lunch one day having not heard anything bad about it. Let's start my rant with the fact that as soon as we walked in, we felt like we had interrupted some extremely important standing around time of the staff. After being ignored at our table for close to 10 minutes with Drew getting more and more pissed, we were brought water with ice (no I don't like ice in my water when it 15F outside) in plastic glasses. The cheap local beer was $5 on draft, for Atlanta thats high-end but for Madison its nuts to pay that much for Spotted Cow. Bud was $3.50. Mediocre wines like Ecco was about $8 a glass. So no booze today.

The best part comes when our bread is literally tossed on the table without a word. I giggled and resigned myself at that point to a $30 object lesson.

At least the food didn't suck...entirely. The bruschetta may have been cold, but at least the ingredients tasted fresh. We ordered specials; a cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce, and a chicken in an alfredo-ish sauce with veggies, pistachios, cranberries. The ravioli, chicken, and veggies in cheese sauce were all either canned or frozen. The tomato sauce was homemade with fresh garlic, basil, and tomatoes- it was quite nice. The flavor combination of the pistachio, cheese, and cranberries was nice as well. Immediately after eating, we did get garlic burps since you MUST have a ton of garlic in Italian food right?

I never leave crappy tips. But getting ignored, being made to feel like I was putting out the staff, and the bread-tossing all added up to a small tip. Lesson learned.

Old Fashions are always in fashion

2009-02-19T11:41:00.004-05:00

Every once and a while that popular place in the tourist section of town can be judged well worth the hype. Visitors may scoff at the notion of “Wisconsin cuisine” but the OF pulls off this niche so well that there’s an hour plus wait some evenings and most weekends. This food is comforting, filling, and exciting enough to make me come back at least once a month. To add to the all Wisconsin all the time theme, they are now serving all Wisconsin beer that can be bottled or tapped. From the usual suspects of Spotted Cow and Tyranena, to nouveau ghetto (Old Style? Really?), to small brewpubs as far as Lake Superior (Thirsty Pagan coming soon).

Food first: A little something for everyone: veggies, salads, fried food, and tons of meat. The ingredients are fresh and quality enough that even the fried coatings of the awesome cheese curds can’t hide. The roast beef is superb, tangy and a little bloody but full of flavor- the tiger blue sauce makes a great foil to the meaty sandwich. The pulled pork is sumptuous and greasy; toasted bread and a great sauce pull it together to fill up for the day. The veggie sandwich is savory and filling, I am pretty much a sucker for anything with warm goat cheese and roasted veggies that aren’t from a can. Very good burger and the fries are thin and crisp. A really cool touch for dinner are the lazy susans, a selection of finger foods to share. From the great WI cheeses (of which there are many), to the local inspired fish plates (still not sold on walleye), to the great dips; these lazy susans are a great way to introduce people to the spirit of the Old Fashioned. And of course they have brats, you betcha.

I'll get back to the beer in a second. Let's talk booze. If you choose, you may look at the large book o booze, listing cocktails to and exhaustive bottled beer list, to local non-alcoholic drinks- people really go for local brewed root beers here. Go ahead and try the signature drink the Old Fashioned. This is made with brandy in the great white north here which is the subject of much speculation and did get the hairy eyeball from this Southerner who is pretty damn sure that anything other than bourbon in an OF is high blasphemy. There's even an editorial about this, ironically, in the latest issue of Imbibe. I'm sure the bartenders do a great whatever-tini too when the chicks come in to drink at night, but the beer is really worth exploring here.

Not only are there tons of bottled beers, but over 20 taps including a monthly "cheap" beer that generally isn't cheap- right now its Tyranena scotch ale and when I first ate here it was the very drinkable Fattybombalatty by Furthermore. So far in the every brewery initiative, I've tried a couple. Red Eye brewery in Wausau put out a Belgian style called Scarlett 7 that I just had to try because I'm a sucker for Belgian style. Not a big smell coming off of this ruby colored beauty. Slightly floral, figgy and malty. A sweet medium mouthfeel gives way to rich fig, raisin, cinnamon, and spices. The hops are noted at the finish, balancing the sweet and malty taste in a crisp way that American brewed Belgian styles are great for. Wausau is now on my WI beer list.

Tyranena Rocky's Revenge: Bourbon aged brown ale, poured medium brown with a lacy tan head. Good bourbon smell to it. Drinkable and smooth, I could taste the bourbon and wood but only as a finish. It did not slap me over the head with it. Kinda fizzy mouthfeel, overall it was nice but I feel like the bourbon aging was the difference between a boring beer and an ok beer.

Calumet rye! I do miss rye beer, Terrapin was a good go-to beer in Atlanta suitable for all weather. This rye was not as hoppy or crisp, it is more of a go-to beer for a place that has seasons. Muted, smooth, floral, and very drinkable; I felt this rye to be less hoppy and more like an ESB than an IPA- I'm very very fine with that. I want to try this again, more of it than a taste.

So that's the Old Fashioned. I actually did talk about food in this entry. Go me.

On the road- land of rain and coffee

2009-02-03T17:07:00.006-05:00

Back in June, the family vacation landed us as far west as we can go in the lower 48: Orcas island off the coast of Washington. Six hour flight followed by tow hours drive, then a 90 minute ferry ride- I'm not sure if a less accessible place could have been picked without backpacking involved. But damn the food was good.

Highlights and beer-lights:

Rose’s Kitchen and Bakery: Small café atmosphere with very fresh local ingredients. King salmon, halibut, and mussels chowder. The mussels tasted of the sea, salty and wild floating in the light creamy soup. There was no skimping on the fish, no potato overload in this chowder. The bread was made in the adjacent bakery, it was crispy and a perfect match to soak up the chowder. Drew ordered a sandwich with local ham, gruyere, and butter on a baguette. The flavors melded together very well, the slightly sweet ham, fatty butter, tart cheese all on the crusty baguette. The Washington state white was a fresh, citrusy summer wine that went well with all of the dishes. In addition to baked goods including a wonderful flaky almond tart, the bakery also carried gourmet cheeses, gourmet snacks, meats, wines, and local pate. We all sampled the local pork, then rabbit pates later on in the house we rented.

Café Olga- OMG awesome oysters! I actually drool while thinking of these Judd island oysters- perfectly briny and mineral tasting- if you can put a conch to your ear and hear the ocean, you taste these and taste the ocean. Seafood plate had smoked trout, local sockeye lox with cream cheese, pickled things (capers, onions, peppers), and oysters! Dungeness crab quesadilla was ok. Not crazy great but tasty. Cream of broccoli soup that was basically fresh pureed broccoli and maybe a tiny bit of stock and cream.

No chains on this island, it would have probably cost too much and the local food was just fine. The local pub carried the usual suspects, the Alaskan on-tap was the only interesting thing as there isn't much of it in the South or Midwest. The local hippie grocery carried a tiny but fresh fish selection and fresh baked cod was on the menu for one of our evenings.

Seattle: Elysian Fields brew pub. The beers I did try were tasty, but not incredible. The farmhouse saison was very drinkable; mead, malty, slightly tart fruitiness, sweet and lighter in taste than it looked. A good example of the style and one of these beers that tasted considerably more complex than it smelled. The stout poured black with a tan lacy head. Coffee, chocolate, yeasty bread, and burnt sugar were the main flavors. It was malty and nice with a good mouthfeel, a good stout with few bells and whistles but a little high on the abv than I would have liked for a drink all night stout.

The food was the suck. Seriously? At first the veggie-patty type sandwich with goat cheese and various veggies was tasty, then as I continued to eat it fell victim to one of the vegetarian food classic blunders: too much frickin garlic, If I am burping it up, its too much. Especially if I am burping it up for the next 10 hours. The tomato soup had a pretty green pesto swirl on it, but it was pretty amateur and not terribly interesting,

Spice is relative and regional

2009-01-31T22:45:00.002-05:00

We like Asian food. We like spice. Many times we can get both, but we get the feeling that maybe in Wisconsin there is a different concept of spice. Much like Irish time, or Indian time, or Cuban time; WI spicy does not resemble Southern spicy or (insert ethnic group) spicy.

We tried the little noodle house on Willy St, Wah Kee, not expecting much. Looking at the chef special menu, we concluded that if they served tripe it is probably pretty authentic since most American are not down with tripe. Drew ordered it, being French and used to eating suspect animal parts. Honeycomb tripe with a garbanzo honey sauce- it had a low spice factor but it was flavorfull. The beans were firm denoting dried, not canned. The tripe was, tripe-y. I'm not a fan of the texture but I can get the taste. My entree was supposed to be spicy, it had a little picture of a chili dammit, but the tofu and veggies were kinda blah.

We later tried delivery. This time ordering appetizers such as the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf and pork buns. The sticky rice rocked, smoky and slightly sweet with the vegetal flavor of the leaf infusing the rice. Nice. The pork buns were ok, nothing to write home about. As far as the entrees, Drew struck it rich again with the roasted duck with taro. I will say that the duck was mainly gristle, but the sauce was rich and accented nicely by the starchy taro. I tried to order another spicy selection: jambong (seafood, white noodles, spicy broth). Not only was there no broth, there were big clumps of chili on top. Perhaps I was to make my own broth- which I did. The seafood was what I can only describe as fake and it was not even remotely spicy.

I'm wondering if I need to ask for extra spice or non-Wisconsin spice when I order.

All in all, its obvious that you need to order off the chef's menu, dine in, and ask for extra spicy for this to work. We plan on gong back for sure since it seems to be one of the few places that isn't only Chinese-American food. There are just rules that must be adhered to.

Great Taste: final

2008-12-27T10:24:00.008-05:00

Three words: real ale tent. If I had known about this, I would have made a bee-line and hunkered down in there like I was having a zero-day. A tent full of cask-conditioned kegs, unfiltered, British style (including not being ass-cold), and cask ales are fermented for a second time in the cask or firkin. This tent is a great example of a growing trend in the US for cask style beer, someday we'll get our own version of CAMRA which is kinda like a Slow Food for "British" style beer and pub culture. Keeping it real yo.

Surly brewing company out of Minnesota. Best name: Teabag Furious, which is a malty IPA-like reddish beer with some tea tossed in somehow. Maybe added post hops, who knows but the beer had a nice tannic taste that was a great palate-cleaner, coppery hue, medium beige head and cloudy with the tea. Tasted more like a good ESB than the usual overly hoppy IPA. Cask style oak-aged Bender was pretty sweet too, lovely low carbonation strong oak taste with a heavy mouthfeel. The best taste from Surly was the Darkness 08. Even the name sounds cool. This Russian IPA-style beer (correction: Russian Imperial Stout NOT Ale holy shit shoot me) had alot going on taste-wise but it all worked: big mouthfeel, black as sin, chocolate, rum, molasses, vanilla, caramel, blackberry/rassberry, oak. The hops ass-smacking aftertaste prevented the Darkness from being too sweet and heavy.

Summit oatmeal ale had a slight bitter taste that came after the initial sweetness. I could literally taste oatmeal, overall it was one of the more unique oatmeal ales I've tried.

Sadly, I missed some really limited ales because I wasn't terribly aware of this tent. I'll do better next year.

On a side note: we were kinda expecting some sort of amateur hour. I mean, 5,000 people with unlimited beer? But this festival is apparently some serious shit, I saw very very few amateurs. No fights, hardly any police (in Atlanta if there were 5000 people drinking, the cops would be thick as fleas). And drunk buses to take you across town. What more could you want? I think we'll be tailgating for tickets next year, I'm not missing this one.

The brews from Green Bay

2008-10-17T21:06:00.003-05:00

We really haven't explored too much of our newly adopted state, pretty much drove to Madison, then drove to and from Chicago. We've seen the interstate and maybe like 2 suburbs of the capital. Given that its autumn here and we've heard that there's some color up here, we took off to camp in the touristy Door County area to see some pretty leaves. Of course, I had to find a brewpub somewhere along the way to try so hello to Titletown in Green Bay and Packer country. Other than being a brewpub, Titletown is right on the tracks in downtown GB, and the big pub also has a big menu that I imagine anyone can find something to eat from the pub burgers to pizza to walleye and other comfort entrees.

Drew ordered the Bamburg brew, a rauschbier style with almost no head. The taste I had was pretty nice; smoky flavor but not overpowering, drinkable, medium to heavy mouthfeel, caramel aftertastes with very little hops. The color was nice and dark, I will mention that it felt almost sweet. Undecided so far, I had a taste of the Mulligan brew and the Pullman porter. Mulligan brew was a dark red pour with a little light head, light-medium mouthfeel, an amber ale with a whole bunch of stuff thrown in. Tasted slightly sweet malt, then citrus/pine, then the hops hit me and I thought they were a bit out of place. The porter was a pretty boring example- no real depth and the bitterness didn't really balance with the malt. So I went with the Bamburg based on taste and my food.

Onto the food; as we tend to split lots of stuff, this time we split a bison melt and an elk burger.Onto the food; as we tend to split lots of stuff, this time we split a bison melt and an elk burger. The elk was crazy greasy, had chipotle mayo adding to the messy, canned jalapenos, and onions, cheese etc. I liked the first couple of bites, but it was way too greasy and I would have been ill if I had eaten the whole thing. Slightly spicy (by Wisconsin standards), the sweet potato fries were a decent balance to the spice and grease. The bison open faced melt was less greasy- nice and chewy with melted cheese, onions, and mushrooms. We'd get that again, but the elk almost immediately came back to haunt us as we sat at the beer drinking more beer to burp it up.

Drew also ordered the beer and cheese soup, made with the honey ale, this soup was very thick and pretty tasty. Full of beer cheese goodness. Drew also later ordered the 400 honey ale and I tasted it too: pretty sweet and tick, not as thick as mead or as sweet as cider but pretty girly, also very very drinkable. I'd hit that for a bbq or anything vaguely sweet and meaty.

Great Taste Part 2 of 3

2008-09-29T15:14:00.002-05:00

Imagine all that beer in only a few hours! Decisions, decisions. Plus, I knew I only had a small window of time before I would have had so much to drink the whole notebook thing would go out the window. So would my taste, that is the time when I can drink crap like PBR.

Onward!

As Florida (from whence we came) is full to the brim of scary tourist traps- the Mouse being the big one- we are used to the things coming out of tourist towns to suck. And be really expensive.

Moosejaw, out of the Dells, seemed to be better than the average beer. Maybe because even in Wisconsin we are not going to fuck around with beer? The apricot (style unsure) was spicy, cleansing, hoppy, and fruity up front. This was no Dogfish Head Aprihop, but it was a nice breath of fresh air on the warm day. The trippel I also tasted, damn I am a sucker for Belgies, was the usual yeasty, quaffable, big-avb. It was kinda "meh"- no real depth, a xerox copy. If we do get the urge to visit the Dells for some indoor water park, mini-golf, or Indian casino action- we'll stop by.

Not only am I a sucker for Belgies, but I'm also a sucker for odd ingredient beer. Seaweed, pine, heather, juniper, peppers....anywhoo Kuhnhenn was not originally on my list but one of the guys we were talking to in line told us to stop by. Holy crap I want to drive way the fuck out to Detriot and have more of their beer. They seemed to do alot of the "ancient" recipes with bizarro ingredients. The heather ale had the mulling spices, honey, almost wine taste to it. Coating mouthfeel, just on the good side of cloying. I like these guys at times, but it may be too sweet for others. Drew tried an interesting brew that he rushed over to have me taste too. I think it was called the 'Sahti' and it smelled strongly of juniper, clove, pine/spruce, and cardamom. All the crazy flavors seemed to work together, it was such an interesting taste (no hops so I'm pretty sure it was an ale) that I'm not sure I could pair it with food- nor do I think I could drink more than one. I get the feeling that they try odd beer flavors often, we missed their legendary creme brulee sadly.

For beer geeks out there, apparently Twin Cities brewer Surly has some sort of cult following or at least some beer geek cachet. Yep, we got Surly. At the booth itself we tried the Bender; a drinkable brown that had some malt, oatmeal, fruit and spice. Just my kind of drink for most of the year with its crisp mouthfeel. Also tried the Coffee Bender: are coffee beers done yet? This one was a typical example, decent but I think I'm over the coffee beer thing in general so if YOU like coffee beers- this is nice.

Next entry: The real ale tent and all its goodness. And a couple more beers with slightly slurred notes and a slightly slurred memory. I will also share in some non-beer related catty observations.

Back with a Great Taste: part 1 of 3

2008-09-29T14:04:00.005-05:00

Sorry loyal reader(s), we've been lazy. Frankly moving to Wisconsin (aka: land of beer and cheese) has been so overwhelming to our collective palettes that there is almost too much to write home about.

Let's talk the biggest deal we've lucked into so far here: The Great Taste of the Midwest. Only 5000 tickets which you can either hope you are lucky enough to get through a mail lottery, or you can tailgate starting at 3am outside of Star Liquor (which we actually did walk by one spring AM wondering why people were in line for the booze shop). We got ours because one of Drew's science people had some spares since some people moved. Score!

We took the drunk bus down to stand in a huge-ass line. You can tell the Midwesterners as they already had brats grilling and were outfitted with comfy chairs. I swear these people treat tailgating like boy scouts- always prepared. Once 1Pm hit, the line moved pretty fast and I was able to have a taste in hand by 10 after.

A night or two before, we had been able to scope the online list and make a list of who we wanted to taste, so thus armed with a list and my trusty booze notebook- off we went. Below are my notes for the fateful June day, as the day wore on I made less intelligible notes so I'll have to rely on a sketchy memory along with my scribbles.

First scheduled stop: Founder's for the bourbon barrel-aged porter pouring. I am a fan of their Dirty Bastard scotch ale, so I wanted to hit them up for more stuff. By the way, bourbon barrel would be the theme this year, if I had a dollar for all the ones I had tried; I'd be both drunk and rich. The Founder's was a strong porter, almost imperial in its alcohol flavor, smoky, slight bourbon aftertaste only, and not at all sweet. It was a strong B.

Next on to some Viking. The innovative Mjod mead style ale was a stomach warming, semi-dry, honey and clover flavored bit o nice. Spicy finish making it a nice winter warmer. The Hot Chocolate had a bit of a spice in the back of the throat kick that was a bit much for the nice warm day; not impressed but it was brewed with fair trade coffee so thats cool. Lime wheat- seriously? Corona? How is that Viking? Drink up fratboys, I'll stick to the Viking seasonals inspired by cold weather, not spring break.

On to a palette cleanser: a herby/citrus organic wit by Lafayette. Cool drink of beer.

Dragonmead: frankly the booth looked cool as hell, so I went for the trippel. It smacked my ass with abv and there was a distinct sour taste (not a Flemish sour kinda taste) over the usual citrus/banana/clove flavors. Eh, I'm spoiled for trippels- this was no St Bernardus.

Having had the farmhouse French style from Two Brothers before and enjoying it, we tried a very clean and crisp Dog Days lager, and the Cain and Ebel IPA which were both decent examples of said styles- but frankly I never get worked up over an IPA. Solid selections.

The insane line at the 3 Floyds booth made me think they were pouring something really special. Alas it was scheduled for later or all the good stuff was in the Real Ale tent (oh I'll get to that tent don't worry). Had the Gumballhead wheat, basically it was a typical summer wheat. The Alpha King was a bit more interesting, hoppy and grassy but with actual malt flavor, an IPA I could drink more than once. Why the hell was there such a long line, we didn't get it.

Part 2: the best shit. evah.

Do not piss off the surrealist artist

2008-04-21T10:03:00.003-05:00

Having a tiny craving for Mexican food, we headed on downtown to a trendy, cleaned-up kinda place that advertised creative Mexican cuisine. Frida should have been cool. It should have had decent food. A place named after a famous surrealist should at least be inventive. Right? Am I taking crazy pills?

The first clue was the fact that my margarita was poured out of a slushy machine. They didn't even make it? Tequila, orange flavored booze, lime, salt- DONE. Its not like I ordered the poma-tini with a twist of green tea flavored granita. Holy crap, a slushy machine?? Maybe it would be good, maybe they have a secret surrealist painter recipe. Nope. It was too sweet and too watered down. Perfect for half off specials and 'girls night' drunk fests, maybe the top shelf ones are actually made by real people.

The guacamole was just fine, and the usual chips and salsa were fine too. But the entrees....Drew had the seafood enchiladas with a creamy red pepper sauce and cheese. I had the mixed plate- pulled pork taco, cheese quesadilla, chicken enchilada with ranchera sauce.

Another bad sign: Upon seeing Drew's food, I asked if he ordered cheese whiz.

We actually split everything hoping that we wouldn't miss anything good. My pulled pork taco was dry on one side, and fell apart with moisture on the other. How can you mess up a cheese quesadilla? It was fine. The chicken enchilada was not too dry or too wet, it was just fine and exactly like any other one I've had. Drew's seafood enchiladas were odd in that we cannot identify a single bit of seafood in the dish. We are pretty sure it was there, but who knows what it was. The 'cheese whiz' looking sauce quickly dried and thickened into a gelatinous mess of off putting cheese/whatever. It tasted like cheese and fat, basically.

Overall, no thanks. If I wanted the same old tacos and fajitas with my large crappy margarita I can go to any number of places that are cheaper, there is no wait, and they have sombreros hanging on the walls. There is plenty of room for that, I'm more mad at Frida because I was hoping for creative, at least one or two things that were unique and/or high quality. I couldn't even discern a regional theme. Frida did have some revenge on us later that evening however, perhaps her spirit visits fire upon those who eat in the crappy restaurant that bears her name.

Hitchin' a Ride on a Crazy Train

2008-04-17T22:18:00.004-05:00

Generally, when I think dinner theater I think of that scene in the movie Soapdish where a sad former soap star is reduced to playing Willie Loman to the gray and gumless all to the sound of silverware clinking. I thought that a murder mystery train ride in Southwest Florida might make for a calm night with some ok food and a nice murder. A hokey play title complete with hokey but cutesy characters, check. Five course meal, check. Me being the youngest person, check. near barroom brawl complete with bravado, check?

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but neither does one expect a train ride to nowhere to host a group of about 12 40-somethings who were drunk when they came on board, then proceeded to chug down more crappy beer and wine, break into bad song (thanks ladies), then get belligerent when an older lady shushes them. It was largely the fault of one of the 'gentlemen' who seemed unable to moderate his voice or machismo. The shusher's son tried to break it up when Tourist McAmateur started in on the whole "We are just having fun, you must be a tight ass and hate yourself", then the drunk male posturing began. The poor staff hadn't seen anything like this, they kept popping their wide-eyed heads in but were in no state to stop it. Finally some wives, girlfriends, etc, stopped it. Then the naysayers moved cars and the rest of us had to deal with the continued bullshit, that was now tinged with the flavor of bruised ego. I kept hearing mutters of "he wasn't so big", and "we've got your back". Holy crap crazy people, if you need to spend your vacation shitfaced during dinner theater on a train; maybe you need to reconsider what you do on vacation. Or maybe I'm a tight ass and hate myself.

So the food: cheese spread and crackers with fruit. Followed by a creamy potato leek soup that was quite fatty but the size was small enough that it was just right. It was gentle and lovely. The next course was a salad; the general cucumber, grape tomato, greens type. The greens were not iceberg which was an unexpected plus, they were a spring greens mix. The drawback was that the tasty sesame oil oriental dressing was applied too liberally to the salad rendering me unable to finish the stronger tasting greens. The menu had a typical selection of a choice between beef, chicken, and fish. I chose the salmon with a light champagne dill sauce. The salmon was fine, the sauce not too overbearing. The rice dish and peas/carrots mixture tasted of the freezer or the box. A small chocolate mousse in an edible chocolate bowl topped off the meal.

Overall, the meal was better than expected for a dinner theater train. While the menu was not inspired or interesting; it was well done and I would recommend it. They also did have a kitchen on the train, likely helping the meals quality. As the staff told us that a situation like this had never arisen before, I think that maybe I was lucky in getting two shows for one on the crazy train.

Holey dough filled danger Batman!

2008-04-15T08:17:00.003-05:00

Bagels. Schmagels. Growing up in the South I had grown accustomed to bagels being chewy, fairly flavorless pieces of dough whose sole purpose was to civilize the consumption of cream cheese. After all, spreading cream cheese on a bagel is certainly more dignified then burying one’s face in a tub of creamy evil and going to town. However, during a brief visit to NYC in the spring of 2000, I learned bagels did not have to be bland, with hard exteriors and gummy interiors but could be just as good as the cream cheese that comes on/in/with it. Unfortunately, these bagels were hard to find even in a major metropolitan area like Atlanta. All too often the bagels needed serious toasting to eliminate the gumminess and stale flavor. When we moved to Madison I heard some locals praising Gotham Bagels , but assumed I would still just be keeping my face out of the tub. I was pleasantly surprised to find this not to be the case.

From poppy seed to everything, their bagels have a firm, almost crunchy exterior, with a tasty, chewy, but not gummy interior. These bagels require no toasting and are so fresh and warm first thing in the morning that they’ll melt the cream cheese a little bit, which is so good it makes me want another. Speaking of cream cheese, the folks at Gotham typically have 5 or 6 cream cheeses available but stick to the plain or salmon cream cheese. The other spreads are not bad but don’t really add anything to the experience. While the plain cream cheese is fine for a normal breakfast the salmon cream cheese is a delicious smoky, salty, decadent treat for special mornings. In addition to great bagels they feature Fair Trade coffees which they actually know how to brew properly. Gotham also has a number of deli items and sandwiches which hopefully I’ll get around to trying, but for now I still can’t get over how good these bagels are. In a world of Einstein’s and Panera’s it is good to see a place like Gotham raising the bar…and besides its named Gotham. How cool is that!?! -Drew

First Impressions: Madison

2008-04-05T15:32:00.011-05:00

Ah Madison, Wisconsin: land of cheese. And beer. And large gray snowdrifts leftover from the fabled 'worst freaking winter' evah. Its been one whole week since we've set up house (kinda) and wandered the town searching for food.

Weary Traveler: Our pick so far for best stumbling distance pub. Small but local craft beers on tap, the Lake Louie stuff is awesome (the scotch ale is dreamt about already); and the food is pretty above average. The goulash had some incredibly good quality beef chunks in its tasty goodness, the ahi tuna and reubens were also of equally good meat-quality. No cheap crap here. The menu is not terribly diverse or inventive, but the weekday ambiance and cool bar-sitting factors make this one a contender for us.

Great Dane Pub: Very tasty beers at this brewpub, the stouts and cask conditioned ales are big winners, but the porter was much too bitter. We shared the eviiiiil mac -n-cheese and a salad initially; very good move on our part as the mac n cheese is super fatty and rich. The second trip at the much better downtown location had use trying some faux-mexi dishes which later...errr...backfired on us. I personally was pretty much more interested in the beer, and I was not disappointed.

Angelic Pub: While they don't actually brew beer on site anymore, the Ale Asylum stuff was pretty nice. The Big Slick stout and Nutbrown Ale were both pretty nice, and the taps are fairly diverse with odd inclusions like Miller and Chicago's Goose Island along with the local stuff. The bar is huge and full of very very bad girly liquor; causing me to imagine that this place so close to campus is serious amateur hour on weekend nights. The beer-cheese-sausage soups was very rich and filling, and the local veggie burger with unique pub fries was the perfect thing to split for a filling but not overly fattening lunch.

Blue Plate Diner- In one of the older neighborhoods down the road, Drew picked out our very first breakfast experience in Madison. Cute diner with plenty of veggie selections (duh its Madison) and freaking MALTS!!!! The gluten-free nut milk french toast was rockin, fresh bananas to top off the most interesting tasting 'fronch toast' I've ever had. It tasted strongly of cinnamon and the nut milk gave it a tart flavor that cuts the usual cloying sweetness of french toasts. We also split a homemade corned beef hash with scrambled eggs and a decent biscuit. I've never had hash that wasn't formerly surrounded by steel, so this real beef freshness was a treat. The coffee was not bad either, a real plus considering that most breakfasty places in ATL had shite for coffee (burned grinds Pastries a go-go I'm talking to you!).

Himal Chuli- Small cash-only Nepalese place on what I consider the most tragically hip (or hippie?) street in Madison. Never having Nepalese food, we found out it is very similar to Indian food and we just had the daily veg tarkara with warm, thick roti bread. The cauliflower and eggplant tarkaras were full of coriander, garlic, and tumeric in this tasty Nepalese style curry. We also had the chiya (tea) to round out our nice veggie lunch.

So while Madison is totally awesome for veggie/vegan/whatever dietary restrictions you have: so far, I've been enamored of the super fresh, quality beef. Sure, I could have bought swank stuff in Atlanta anytime, but for the local pub to have better tasting beef than other comparably priced places is a cause for me to eat a little more meat heavy.

*photo courtesy of cooltownstudies.com

One Night in Babette's

2008-03-06T15:58:00.009-05:00

Babette's Cafe in two alliterative words? Cozy and comforting.

Babette's is one of those smaller, less-glitzy places in Atlanta that serves a much better quality of food than some of its 'scene' heavy siblings. You don't wear club clothes here, nor do you feel pressured into ordering the most expensive stuff while supermodel wannabes look bored under the exposed pipes. Nor is Babette's the genteel Old Southern Money spot. The overall theme is rustic European- from the well used furniture and warm walls to the accessible seasonal menu. The chef/owner is someone who obviously loves food, and is classy enough not to charge obscene prices for peasant food. The waiters were perfect for this kind of unpretentious place: no hovering, groveling, or disdain.

Both Drew and I ordered classy cocktails. I guess thats the byword for Babette's: classy. He a martini, myself some sort of Lillet cocktail. Both were simple but quality.

Against my better judgment, we ordered one of those lame appetizers popping up everywhere "gaufrette chips with warmed gorgonzola cheese sauce". Translation: waffle fries with cheese. These were edible, whereas this misguided bar starter is normally too fatty/salty/greasy for me to eat.

Now the fried oysters on dill biscuits with a cucumber sauce, was excellent. The biscuits were fluffy and full of fresh dill, the oysters lightly breaded and fried (after all, this is a nice place not some fish shanty) and the delicate cucumber/yogurty/minty sauce. The sauce kept its shape without turning watery, a hazard of cucumber cuisine.

On to the meal, with a bottle of rose to split. I know it looks girly, but a good Rose goes with ALOT of food and Drew is manly enough to swish pink stuff around in a glass.

Wanting to try different stuff, I ordered the artichoke + olive ravioli and the
squash soup with wild mushrooms. The soup was savory and warm. Enveloping me in creamy comfort; it smelled wonderful, almost like a glossy from a travel magazine of some rustic kitchen with a weathered-looking jovial Frenchman and his picturesque country estate. I could smell the fresh herbs and earthy mushrooms. The ravioli was in a creamy lemon-garlic sauce that initially tasted subtle and decadent, but eventually turned into a rich garlic fest. I really enjoyed it while I was eating it, but later I kept umm...re-tasting the garlic. I think it actually came out of my pores at one point (insert vampire joke here).

Drew scored with the cassoulet. And that sounds very naughty. Thank god he let me try some because my three/four/five bites were enough to make me almost club him over the head for it. Never would I have imagined pork, sausage, lamb, duck confit and white beans baked for about a million years would be so crazy good. It melted in my mouth. It felt so evil and tasty, I could only imagine how long it must take to slowly make this dish. Its totally peasant food: stew all your leftovers bits of meat until it all congeals into fatty goodness, then drink alot with jovial European neighbors with hearty laughs and wine from the guy up the road. Drew looked up a recipe it I think it was five pages long. Forget cooking! Go to Babette's right this minute and eat it!!! (but call first since the menu is seasonal)

Almost too full for dessert, we had a nice (but not awesome) chocolate bread pudding with banana ice-cream. It was ok, but I am a bit of a bread pudding snob so don;t count the desserts here out.

Eat the cassoulet!!!!!

Cheese and Hitachino Espresso Stout

2008-03-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

You have to love Whole Foods, any place where I can get a short cheese lecture, taste, and help with a beer pairing is a nice place to spend my paycheck in. The Ponce location is best for the cheese lecture here in Atlanta, as my eyes scanned the cheeses I got beset on both sides by gentlemen willing to help. After much discussion on what to pair with a coffee stout, they sent me home with a Spanish leonora goat cheese, and a truly wonderful soft gray bumpy rind cow's milk cheese that I can't name. I threw away the %$##ing wrapper!!!!

On to the beer: The Hitachino espresso stout poured black with practically no head in a regular pint glass. The stout smelled strongly metallic, so much that I had to put it aside for a minute to try to get past the metal. The first taste was sharply bitter. Subsequent tastes mellowed out a little and I could taste the espresso and sweet chocolate, but I ended up always with a bitter and slightly metallic aftertaste. Overall, the metallic smell overwhelmed my taste in many ways; and when I didn't inhale (he he) I tasted full-bodied creaminess in addition to the super coffee taste. I have read extremely good reviews for this beer online, none of which mention the metallic taste/smell so maybe I got a bad bottle. I'll just have to go try it again!

The Leonora was a good foil for the bitter stout; as it was slightly smoky and sweet with a hint of flowers/pasture in it. The other cheese, while incredible on its own, was no much for the metal/bitter of the Hitachino.

Three dark beers tasting

2008-02-26T13:47:00.008-05:00

A recent buying splurge at Green's netted me three dark beers:
Gale's Prize Old Ale, Lagunitas Imperial Stout, and Gulden Draak. As I am paying more attention to the ins and outs of beer tasting, I am noticing the traits and qualities that others describe when they taste beer in an official capacity. So now that I know just enough jargon to sound pretentious, let the name dropping begin.

Gale's Prize Old Ale: Using a modified snifter/chalice type of glass, the Old Ale pours dark brown with red/caramel colors tints. With no head and a syrupy glaze left on the glass when I swirled it; the Gale's felt more like a port or liquor than a beer at first. The scent is dark and fruity, smelling like beer and something older, like out of a documentary on medieval cuisine. The first taste is thick and sweet, almost cloying. I could taste lots of fruits- berries and a slight hint of darker fruits like prunes/figs/dates- something that would go in a homemade fruitcake. The sweet taste mellows out quickly into a fuller-bodied caramel flavor. Then the calvados hits you. Having had calvados before (thank you Drew's grandfather), I knew the flavor right off. Calvados is to cider like Veuve Cliquot is to sparkling wine. This beer was a bit too sweet to drink alone for me even with the crisp calvados finish, but I would have loved it with dessert or cheese.

Lagunitas Russian Imperial Stout: A friend of mine justified trying this beer by saying since Imperial Stouts were traditonally made for export to Russia, this kind of beer was likely sent to troops during WWI, and as he studies WWI, therefore we must try the beer. Poured in a tall pint glass and in a regular pint glass, the color is very very dark brown with a medium head in the tall pint and a minimal head in the normal pint. The Lagunitas smells a little hoppy, smoky, and of vanilla. The color and smell alone kind of make this a different kind of RIS, most of them are practially black in color and smell more sweet/chocolate/berry. While it tastes more hoppy than an usual RIS (most Lagunitas in general are pretty hoppy), the malts and full-bodied taste keeps it from being too bitter. The secondary tastes for me were vanilla and smoky chocolate. I did detect an aftertaste of coffee. Overall its not a favorite RIS, a little too hoppy and not dark enough, but its a really drinkable beer and the alcohol by volume won't put you on the floor.

Gulden Draak: A dark triple high volume Belgium. Poured into the chalice/snifter glass I have, this beer kind of does look golden. The head is thick and puffy, and the dark brown beer is shot with gold. Given that this one smells pretty alcoholic, I gave it a minute to breathe. After a minute, the Draak smells like herbs/spices and some earthy fruits. Its very flavorful- peppers, spices/herbs, earth, malt, apricot or grapes, caramel. Very carbonated, slightly sweet but crisp. Extremely full-bodied, this is one of my favorite darker triples. The aftertaste is carbonated and very slightly citrusy- the spicy hops balance the malts/caramel. This will put you on the floor, but its a nice ride down.

Haru Ichiban

2008-01-11T11:07:00.000-05:00

With some friends visiting recently, their wish was for us to find some good ramen in Atlanta. Scouring the web I looked on the Rameniac forums and local food blog Blissful Glutton for advice. Since I really do not know ramen from outside of the bag variety, we decided on Haru Ichiban based on the online menu and various comments on webpages.

My husband and one visitor had the Pork Yakisoba (fried pork, veg, and egg noodles) and sung its praises. The dish was literally steaming hot which brought to mind images of fajitas in Tex Mex places.

I had the Kake Soba (buckwheat noodles in broth with fish cake, seaweed, scallions) and 2 sushi rolls. The other visitor had her beef ramen and was very pleased. We all also split some crab shumai (steamed crab dumpling).

While the yakisoba and ramen seemed to satisfy their respective diners, but I was less than thrilled with my kake soba. The broth was boring, the bowl was huge but the seaweed/kake/veggies were the minimum requirements for the meal being slightly more than broth. I love the delicate flavors of Japanese food, and I by no means expect large portions or large amounts of stuff in the soup- but this was just sad. If I wanted boring broth, I am certainly capable of making it myself since my Japanese cooking skillz are lacking. I guess their strength is not in soups - or maybe I shouldn't order boring stuff and go all out.

On the other hand; I'd love to try the place again, the rest of the menu looked neat and the people next to us were all getting cool-looking chirashi juu boxes and gozen traditional dinners.

What I should have ordered:

Sorry Manuel's Tavern!

2007-12-20T16:34:00.000-05:00

In my recent Pub Report I completely forgot Manuel's Tavern in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood.

Manuel's will always be a recommended tavern spot. A great big tavern with a few different rooms that be be rented out, this is a great place to have a low-key event. We had our after-wedding pub party here and it was just what we wanted. The menu consists of the usual pub fare with burgers and sandwiches, but they also do entrees and semi-famous hot dogs. They also serve breakfast on the weekends. The veggie burger was better than average, but overall the food is average, filling, pub-fare. The medium-size beer selection is heavy on the American beers with something for everyone from Bud to Terrapin Ale. The local lager (602 N. Highland) is decent, and the usual beer imports are on tap like Guinness, Newcastle, Bass.

Dating back to the 50's. Manuel's also has some cool history- loads of local and national politicians and other famous personalities have graced this tavern. One of the few places in this neighborhood where you can see by the pictures and the clientele that the neighborhood and the city in general used to be quite different.

Manuel's: we salute this Atlanta institution!

The Pub Report

2007-12-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

We've been to all of these pubs at least twice. And the list does not include Brickstore...that gets a whole post all of its own.

The pub round-up of Atlanta in no order:

Avondale:
(Recommended) James Joyce- Good food (Joycean named entries warm the cockles of my heart), Smithwicks on tap, large patio, smoking in bar, touch games machine (crack!), decent service, nice venue. There was some live trad music in the past, but of course drama ensued as it often does with musicians so no more Irish music. High up on the list, especially for families, groups, or people who do not want a scene.

Buckhead:
Fado (RIP- to be reopened January 2008)- The only reason to go to Buckhead; the great food, best Guinness pour, and the Monday night session all make for great reasons to go. The parking, the idiots who think they can dance, and the surly hot staff is a reason to be annoyed - but I'll take it if it means I can drink a pint with a very very good grilled salmon sandwich while trying to keep up with the super fast tunes.

Cabbagetown:
97 Estoria- Mediocre food, but the atmosphere is fun and low-key most nights even if I do feel I don't meet the tattoo requirement. The beer selection is so-so, and the cool neighborhood has not gotten too big for its britches. They also have a DJ some nights with good non-invasive music, a smoking room, and I have been present at a PBR tattoo contest. Nice neighborhood pub, if it was my neighborhood I'd be there.

Decatur:
(Recommended) Thinking Man- The food is mediocre to good: the rounds and veggie burgers are good, whereas the guacamole is horrible. The specials can sometimes be hit or miss, and they do have plenty of vegetarian options. The beer selection is good for its size, the 'starving artist' rotating tap may be the only time you can get crap beer the rest of the taps are filled with the usual snooty beer suspects: Guinness, a hefeweizen, local beers, a cider, popular microbrews like Flying Dog or Dogfish Head, with seasonal selections. The bottled/canned beers are an even greater variety with Old Chub and Chimay next to Miller and Becks. The real reason we recommend this pub is the voerall 'vibe'. We would pull our seats up to the bar, and at Thinking Man we just felt welcome. The crowd is diverse as far as Decatur goes (not just hipsters or young families), the staff is pretty cool with just the right amount of cynicism at the odd person who orders a JagerBomb/Cosmotini/Irish car bomb. We like the odd drunken old guy who talks at the bar to us just as much as we like watching the moped mafia mess around with their bikes and hip haircuts.

Corner Pub- Moved from its previous location due to arson a few years ago, the new location in the spiffy East Decatur Station is clean and pretty. At first the beer selection was iffy on the bad side, but they have expanded after those first couple of visits. The food is good, better than many in the area with wings as standouts. The veggie fare is good, the veggie Cuban making me crave the real thing; and who can beat PB&J? I never felt terribly comfortable here: maybe between the trivia night, darts, one pool table, theater and lofts next door; Corner Pub tries to be too much. The vibe was just kinda odd, and while everything is really above average we just never felt home here.

The Angel- Overpriced, less than good food, and generally useless service are the reasons I always try to steer people away. Yes, it looks all cute on the inside, and it has a patio, and its in downtown Decatur. The beer selection is not very English for an English pub, the entrees look good on paper but do not follow through, and I have sat at the bar for a good 15 min before someone even deigned to notice me in an empty pub. The music is also very hit or miss

Trackside- Cute, dingy, open crazy late, tables, smoky...Trackside is the closest thing to a dive bar in three zip codes. Do not ever eat the food unless your stomach is made of steel. The beer is your usual low to midbrow range, you can get Stella AND Bud. Sometimes the music can be crazy loud, but Trackside has cheap pool tables, karaoke, attitude, and late night drunk hospitality people. I think its awesome and I don't go nearly enough.

East Atlanta
The Earl- The Earl successfully manages to be a great indie music venue and a pub that you can feasibly hang out in when its not jam packed. The food is pretty good for a place that has one scary bathroom. The beer selection is fine, but not too high-brow. The scene can be anywhere from aging hipsters at the bar to hot young things showing off the newest retro-tee waiting for whatever side project of whomever related to some other local band to start playing. This place could easily be pretentious, and certainly many people are, but as a pub I'd totally haunt the bar stools if I lived near enough.

Gravity Pub- Peeling carpet, great jukebox, snarling staff, and decent beer. Apparently just now under new ownership, so I'm only talking about the handful of times I went in the past. I don't even think there was food before, so we'll have to see. I like the feel of this place, less showy than the Earl and you could actually sit down and talk most nights. I'll have to report back on the changes...

L5P:
Euclid Avenue Yacht Club- Dingy and small, this pub is still an institution with street cred that has withstood the gentrification onslaught thus far. I hypothesize that with L5Ps' cleaner image, it only has so much room for the 'unique' that used to be the standard. EAYC still fits the bill; not bad food for meat-eaters, decent beer, not much attitude from the scene; if I lived in the neighborhood I could definitely see this as my kind of place.

Brewhouse Cafe- This pub has three great things going for it: location is front of center for people watching in L5P, huge outdoor patio, and satellite TV for various games you may not be able to see with cable like the World Cup or rugby matches. The food is mediocre, the beer selection is slightly above average, and the crowd can be hit or miss: it may be full of drunken Emory students, soccer fans, or just gentrified yuppies from around the expensive block.

Oakhurst:
Universal Joint- When I lived in Oakhurst, I was here more often and it is a cool place but it just never really clicked. Very good veggie burger and good food overall, the beer selection is only ok, the scene is diverse and pretty chill with a good amount of dogs and kids due to the large patio.

Oysters: a thin line between love and hate

2007-11-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

Growing up in Southwest Florida I remember using every trick in the book to wriggle one more away oyster from my dad, who also reduced himself to subterfuge in the never ending oyster war between us. These were the raw oysters; right off the boat, on a saltine or slurped, with the holy trinity of horseradish/hot sauce/cocktail sauce to accompany them. My mother, not fond of raw food or food that has the consistency of mucus, was amused by our endless game of oneupsmanship.

Nowadays, far from the ocean, I battle with my husband over who gets the 13th oyster or the "No honey, you must have eaten 4 already...not me..." argument. We do follow the "R month" old wives tale because we do know about Gulf coast oyster reproductive cycles and like the winter month flavors better.

Our picks for oysters in Atlanta?

How can you not love a fish place that has a skyline and cemetery view?
Six Feet Under serves some of the best cheap seafood in the area. The dishes can be as simple as po-boys with greens, to a more elaborate seared tuna with cucumber wasabi drizzle & fried jalapenos. I dream about the tacos: spicy fried calamari, blackened shrimp, and catfish all filled with unique and fresh toppings and of course- spicy. Six Feet Under also has good beer, a price above rubies, but the wait can sometimes be daunting especially on weekends.

Want to hit a neighborhood spot with literary pretensions? Tucked away in Oakhurst, Steinbeck's has some of the best oysters and a friendly vibe. Good beer on tap, a crazy hot sauce selection, and some pretty good New Orleans-ish food. This is a great place to just chill out, drink some beer and suck down those little gray devils. It's never crowded, and we easily are recognized even though we don't live at this particular bar.

Woodfire Grill - Taste of Spain

2007-10-13T05:44:00.000-05:00

Recently Woodfire Grill, one of our favorite restaurants, celebrated its 5 year anniversary with 5 nights of special Prix Fixe menus. We went on the night highlighting the cuisine of Spain. We brought along one of our favorite partners in crime who we knew would appreciate the meal. Two of us elected to do the wine pairings with the meal and frankly, this was the only part of this meal I was unhappy with. The wines chosen, while highlighting the food, were boring on their own. I wouldn’t buy a bottle of any of these, except for the port which was exceptional. However, I don’t think this was a failure in wine selection, rather this was the intent to highlight the food as much as possible. Here is the menu:

Amuse Bouche – Jamon Serrano & Gala Apple
While waiting for the first course we were treated to a wafer thin slice of Serrano ham wrapped around a freshly sliced gala apple ‘toothpick’. The saltiness of the ham is paired perfectly with the sweetness of the apple and serves as a hint of the good food to come. This sort of simplicity is really the heart and soul of Woodfire Grill…Keep it Simple. Keep it Fresh. Keep it Good.

First – Late Season Gazpacho: Tomatoes, marcona almonds, and sourdough bread
The thick puree arrived and we could smell the smokiness from the tomatoes, roasted in house of course. Some roasted peppers added a hint of sweetness to the soup. Sourdough bread was apparently added to the soup to thicken it up but I missed it. More importantly were the finely chopped marcona almonds which provided a bit of crunch and nuttiness to the meal. This smoky, slightly sweet, nutty soup was made for the end of summer and was simply perfect.

Second – Wood grilled octopus with spiced chickpea and basque tuna salad
Overcooked octopus is an all too familiar problem and I was concerned when I saw it on the menu. I should know better. This was by far my favorite course of the evening.
Each of us were served a small roasted octopus (baby size) that was tender and delicious with a hint of olive oil. The chickpea salad was perfect for cleansing the palate so each bite of octopus was made brand new. The tuna salad was a nice accompaniment. But that octopus was just amazing.

Main- Paella: calaspara rice, saffron, shrimp, mussels, clams, chorizo, peppers
We discussed this quite a bit over dinner. Paella is not really a hard dish to make and there was no twist to this one, so was this just a phone-in course? I really don’t think so. When one thinks of dishes which define Spain, Paella is within the top 5 of almost everyone’s list. Here again we see Woodfire doing what it does best: simple foods prepared to perfection. The Georgia shrimp were plump and perfectly cooked as was the rest of the seafood. The star here was the chorizo of which I am not normally a fan. This chorizo was the best I have ever had, not too spicy, not too fatty…just right. This dish was really a no-brainer for a Spanish menu and I am almost surprised this hasn’t made it to the regular menu.

Cheese Course - Spanish cheese
The cheese course was nice. There was a blue cheese variant that was particularly strong and tasty. There was nothing in this course that I felt the need to run out and buy. It was a perfect way to start the wrap-up of the meal.

Dessert - Churros and Chocolate (port Hidalgo- La Triana-Viejo)
Mexican donuts. That is how churros have always been described to me. So I was a little dismayed when I saw this. So I must ask myself: When will I stop doubting this place? Light fritters dusted with sugar show up the table with a warm sauce of slightly bitter chocolate. The mixture was so good we almost asked for more churros to finish the chocolate. Most importantly, we end how we began with two contrasting flavors. I am certain this was not by accident… so little in this restaurant is.

Labor Day Weekend – DragonCon (DCon)

2007-10-04T07:31:00.000-05:00

The infamous 4-day “Mardi Gras for Nerds” floods the streets of Atlanta with Stormtroopers, Hogwart’s students, a million Jack Sparrows (excuse me: Captain Jack Sparrows), and a variety of additional fictional characters some ridiculously esoteric while others are easily recognizable. D*con typically means copious amounts of alcohol, long waits for elevators, and nasty food. The latter of these coming from either the adjacent mall’s food court or any of the crappy chains (Hard Rock, Hooters, etc…) that surround the hotels that comprise the convention. Our friends, who come for the convention, are often reluctant, and understandably so, to get into their cars and leave downtown for a single meal. To their credit for 4 years now they have trekked out to Decatur for pizza, Indian, or sushi and have been rewarded for their adventurous spirit. However, with the on-going revitalization of downtown we attempted to stick to local restaurants within walking distance of D*Con. As a result we got to share more meals with friends and ate a whole lot better than we would have at the food court. Nor were we alone! Many of the convention goers have tired of the same nasty food and were exploring smaller local venues. What follows is a condensed summary of our dining adventures.

Thursday night we started out at Ted’s Montana Grill. A chain started by local crazy billionaire Ted Turner we had never gotten around to eating at one before. I opted for one of their buffalo meat burgers and some thick cut onion rings. The onion rings were just how I like them thick cut and not over battered. I eat onion rings about once a year so it is nice to have good ones on that rare occasion. The burger was tasty but I’ve had equal of better burgers at The Vortex or Houston’s. The servers were friendly and fairly efficient but the bar appeared out of half the beers we wanted to try. If someone wanted to go again I would not say no but it certainly is not the first place I would recommend.

Thursday night I checked into the room and proceeded to do what most people come to D*con for… drink. I’ll spare you the gory details and move into Friday’s culinary excursions. A trio of ‘Tallahasseans’ and I made the pilgrimage to the brew pub within eye sight of the hotel: Max Lager’s. This has become our D*Con lunch spot on Friday over the past few years but it would be worth the trek to downtown to support local brew pubs. Typically, they have about 6 to 7 homebrews ready to go. While stouts and porters are good I’d recommend sticking to lighter summer beers which they do really well. Unfortunately, Max Lager suffers from the all too common schizophrenic pub menu syndrome trying to serve burgers, pizzas, steaks, and pseudo-asian dishes with the result that half the menu is a wasteland. The burgers are pretty good but the chicken is dry. If one wants to diverge from standard pub fare I recommend the duck quesadilla which manages to not be overly greasy nor are all the flavors overpowered by the duck as one might expect.

Friday night we supported foreign oil and headed out to Little 5 Points for dinner at Ru San’s. This local chain appears to have a branch in almost every ‘cool’ neighborhood in town (except Decatur notably) and is notorious for the blaring techno and elaborate sushi confections. I don’t really want to get into a sushi article here so I’ll just say that the best sushi is simple and highlights the protein (fish, eel, etc.) rather than masking it’s lower quality. I’ve made similar comments regarding Hummus so I think my thoughts on such things are already clear. What Ru San’s lacks in Sushi they make up for in Soup. They are easily the best source of Japanese inspired soups. A vegetable soup I had was warm and satisfying filled with bean sprouts, onion, carrot, cabbage, and more. The salty broth was great fortification for the night of drinking ahead. Thick avocado slices adorned the soup providing the necessary fat to keep you sated for several hours. The Five Points Location is a party on Friday night, filled with a good cross section of Atlanta nightlife.

Saturday was so busy my lunch was a bagel and cream cheese from Atlanta Bread Company. That night vegetarians and carnivores united and headed out into the streets of downtown for Indian food at Haveli Indian Cuisine. I’ll start by saying that this place does not make my Top 5 of Indian restaurants in town, a list we’ll discuss some other time, that said this place is okay. Tandoori and curry chicken dishes were a little overdone but the spiced shrimp were surprisingly high quality and well received by the table. Like most Indian places in Atlanta these folks excel in vegetarian dishes with excellent Saag Paneer (Spinach and cheese). My one criticism of this place would be in the lack of spices. While most Indian places are guilty of dumping a bunch of spices in at the end the kitchen here don’t add enough. The Saag had a hint of coriander but a few shredded leaves might have helped bring out some earthiness in this dish.

Sunday night we headed out to Slice, a new branch of a local ‘hipster’ pizza joint. Before we get into food I have to say that the service was simply abysmal. For the entire restaurant (over 15 tables) there was one waiter. Based on how long it took for the food to come out (over 1hr) I can only imagine there was only one chef also. That said, the antipasto appetizer was big enough for two with a standard assortment of meats, cheeses and olives. The meat and cheese were all of decent to better than average quality but the real stars were the olives. The olives had only the faint hint of brine, a flavor which is normally overpowering on antipasto plates, and were just spectacular. Pizzas have a nice thin crackly crust and are neither overly greasy nor soggy with sauce. To the staff’s credit as short handed as they were everyone’s food still came out at the same time and was warm without feeling like it had sat under a heat lamp. With food this good I am certainly willing to see if Slice’s staffing problem was a one time thing.

So there you have it. No longer do D*con attendees need be contented with the dreaded Food Court of Peachtree Center, McDonald’s, Hooters, Hard Rock Café, or any of the other chains that have populated downtown for so long. Cuisine has finally begun to catch up with the spirit of revitalization throughout the downtown area. Thanks to all my friends, both the locals and out of towners, who hit the pavement with me to make this review possible. We’ll see you next year!

Road Trip: Asheville, NC

2007-09-13T13:06:00.000-05:00

Deep in the heart of downtown, the Early Girl Eatery serves up consistently fresh, tasty, and seasonal breakfasts. We also hear they serve lunch but the breakfast is just so good we’ve never tried coming in a little later. Shrimp and grits, pan fried trout, and black-eyed pea cakes are some of the down home Southern type dishes; but pancakes and omelets are not left behind in this Asheville institution. Good coffee, and attentive but not clingy service rounds out a solid entry in the Asheville canon.

This is not your unwashed hippie aunt’s restaurant, and there are no tofurkeys or boring salads. The Laughing Seed features consistently innovative vegetarian cuisine aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of hip young bohemians with discretionary funds. The sandwiches are always a good bet as they tend to be a departure from the usual grilled veggies or veggie burger, a recent cashew spread-feta-avocado with harissa sauce sandwich is a stand out. Of course the house hemp-nut burger is legendary in Asheville, but I’m more likely to go after the various tempeh sandwiches: tempeh reuben, tempeh Cuban, etc. The east/west quesadilla was a super cool mix of Tex-mex and Indian flavors featuring a mole-style sauce, cheese, and curried vegetables; it was a brilliant idea and I felt that the taste delivered on the promise. Low Country Roll-Ups feature tangy bbq tofu in tortillas with cheese covered in a tahini-mustard sauce that I have tried to unsuccessfully duplicate at home. Also featuring a full bar, Green Man beer, juices, smoothies, teas, and even elixir tonics.

What can I say about the pub decorated in Celtic fertility god themes? Not only does it have its own beer, Green Man Brewing Company, but Jack of the Wood is also part of the Laughing Seed collective so it has wonderfully greasy vegetarian selections among the usual pub fare. The tempeh reuben is a sandwich worth driving for, and it even tasted great before you have begun sampling the excellent beer. I think over the many times we have staked out our stools at bar for untold hours, we’ve tried every appetizer at least once and most of the sandwiches. Everything pleased the sober and drunk palate, maybe the spinach/artichoke dip was a little boring and the standard Irish pie fare was heavy and uninteresting; but for $god’s sake don’t always order the fish and chips, they may be all greasy and tasty but come pub food always tastes the same. Live music (Irish, Bluegrass and Old Time sessions!) and a very friendly atmosphere make Jack of the Wood our default hang-out when in Asheville.

Heiwa Shokudo: When we first came to this place in 2005, it was crazy busy and full of hippie families. I broke with tradition and did not order sushi, instead trying something new that I couldn’t pronounce. Coming back in 2007 to the place that prides itself on fresh ingredients and a little side of fusion in its recipes, the exciting flavors are still as much of a revelation now as they were when I left my sushi/tempura comfort zone. The menu is broken into soups, sushi, noodle dishes, and the flexible multi-dishes placed in cute trays. Plenty of vegetarian dishes mingle seamlessly with the seafood entrees. All of the fish I have ever tasted in this tiny restaurant have been of equal or better quality to any big city sushi joint; the cold ahi poki combined fresh tuna, avocado, and veggies in a soy-ginger marinade can make me instantly want to get in the car and drive up there just thinking about it. The ‘choose my own adventure’ menu also included a firm and flavorful tofu misoyaki, a perfect balanced seaweed salad, and crunchy brown rice. The fried edamame with a tofu crust was a great salty/crunchy beginning to a meal I can only describe as high-class hippie bento.

Other places of note:

For a quick or leisurely coffee and some light baked goods, the City Bakery is a good bet for an early crowd.

If chocolate is your thing, Chocolate Fetish has many different flavors of quality sin. The dark chocolate covered figs and ancho-chipotle truffles are a pricy indulgence.

While we didn’t try the food menu, the extensive beer menu of the Bier Garden is worth a meal when we come back to Asheville. Local beers such as French Broad, Highland, and the Pisgah Brewing companies sit along venerable micro-brews and Belgium beers in the massive collection. Cool new to me beer: Vermont’s Magic Hat no.9.

Savannah II: Miller time

2007-08-08T14:15:00.000-05:00

Not surprisingly, some of the places we seem to enjoy the most while traveling are pubs. We can be fairly social people when we want and a great way to be casually social is to park yourself at the bar in a pub; we are also very into going local when we travel and not being the typical tourist. We are more likely to be seated at the bar having a conversation with that drunk guy than out taking the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and evil" tour. Neither one of us was raised in or around pubs, like most Americans I was raised that alcohol was very very bad until you were 21 for some reason and that bars were for loser drunks. So of course I stole booze as a teen. Living briefly in a country where pubs were the social focal point of the community gave me a glimpse into a mode of living that was very cool to me. Its not about the alcohol, its really the sense of the community that most people my age never had as we were all raised in generic suburbia, never knew our neighbors, and only had TV and malls as our social outlets. And I like beer.

In Savannah, famous for its pubs and even more famous for its St. Patrick's Day binge, we felt more at home in the pubs than the restaurants. The tasty wild Georgia shrimp were not limited to the high end restaurants, in fact the tasty shrimp were pretty much everywhere food was served. At Churchill's Pub my husband had a shrimp pasta dish that actually tasted better than the shrimp at the recommended River St. place. I fed my inner Brit with a small but filling chicken-stilton pie, tasting pretty average for pub food. Churchill's had a great selection of draft and bottled British beers, and even offered half-pints which I know are for girls but I am a girl! I miss being able to get half-pints mainly because I like to taste as many different flavors as possible, I'd pick off other peoples' plates if they let me. The pub was huge, with a basement and seating on the roof; overall the atmosphere was lovely and pub-like but not really small enough for our tastes being so near the touristy stuff, and the food was decent but not a Savannah memory to savor.

Next door to the Churchill's was the local brew pub the Moon River Brewery. The in-house brewery served up some nice beers with the porter and wit beer being real stand outs. While we weren't terribly hungry when we visited, we did want to try the Bombay Turkey Minis. Three cute little turkey-curry-ginger burgers served up with some tasty curry 'aioli' were just the kind of interesting pub munchies we are always on the lookout for. Not only did they sound great, they were the perfect yummy little pub snack for people who are sick of chips and don't want to drop $20 on some fussy gastro-pub truffle-wasabi nachos. The atmosphere could have been cozier, but with the brewery's proximity to the touristy areas we assumed that the place could get pretty slammed so they needed the space and the slightly aloof young waitstaff.

It was in the little Scottish pub
Mollie MacPherson's that we found our Savannah pub home. Originally we were planning a ghost pub crawl as the concession to tourism, but upon seeing the our fellow crawlers our scorn overrode our desire for tourism. By the time the frat kids or middle-aged non-drinking ladies all arrived, we had already settled into our seats with some lovely beer and a lovely sarcastic publican to chat with. Plus we calculated the tour cost with how much more we could drink, the drink won. Mollie's has a nice selection of Scottish beers, and of course lots of scotch availible by the glass or in small groups as a flight. Either way, the scotch seemed to dear to me so I chose beer to blow my money on. We came and went for two nights, we were nodded to by not only barstaff but also by the obvious regular in the corner working on the great American novel. This small pub off the well-trod path felt like a real community center with its large central fireplace. The menu was standard with a few Scottish dishes. The smoked salmon rolls were cool and refreshingly full of fat but the lightly greased and fried potato scones were perfect with the sweet rasberry jam. The scones were just filling enough to help us sober up but did not make us feel full or artery-clogged. The dessert was not so much, but being able to drink Innis and Gunn and Fraoch (for cheaper than ATL) was a small price to pay. Mollie MacPherson's: if we lived in Savannah, that would OUR pub.

Sarcasm on the road: Savannah

2007-08-06T17:21:00.000-05:00

Since our planned vacation of an Alaskan cruise complete with all-you-eat food fell through, we recently went to Plan B and decided to visit some nearby towns to cross them off our list. First stop: Savannah.

Friends have often told us we'd like the town's style, not to mention food. We imagined a smaller New Orleans; complete with old buildings, walkable neighborhoods, scary tourists, and good food. Three out of four is not bad. Savannah is very walkable, even in July it is much cooler than the hell we are used to from Florida, and we wanted to be able to easily walk off the food. Getting a good mid-week summer rate from the Savannah Bed and Breakfast overlooking Chatham Square downtown, we were ready to explore.

Not being terribly prepared since this was a last minute trip, we went ahead and asked a local for a cheapish fish house recommendation. Twenty minutes later we found ourselves wandering in tourism purgatory (River St) and ate at Tubby's on River Street.
Yes, it has a nice patio overlooking the river and the throngs. Yes, it has fish. But we were very disappointed in the bad service, the worse salad, and the overpriced average fish. I'm not sure what our appetizer would have tasted like as we never got it, my broiled shrimp platter was tolerable but not a good value, my husband had overbreaded grouper fingers, and both of us found the frozen centers of our corn on the cob. Given how long it took us to get the food, at least it could have been uniformly warm. Perhaps if we didn't grow up near the ocean and thus know the value and taste of fresh seafood, we would have been happy chugging some beer and munching on fried shrimp with microwaved corn.

Generally, we are not the kind of people who get attitude at a coffeehouse, we exude aloof hipness at all times so we were a little surprised at getting treated like loud fat Americans at a Parisian cafe. Perhaps we were not wearing enough black or took too long looking at the menu (horrors!) for the surly girl at the Sentient Bean. The weary sighs and rolled-eyes "You haven't been here before have you?" could have been negated by good food. But no, and we were 0-2. The ciabetta sandwiches were pretty crappy. The bread was thick and gummy. The substance that was supposed to be pesto pretty much tasted only of the canned garlic used in its creation. The eggplant was leathery, the olives were so sparingly doled out you'd think we were on rations, and the salad dressing was very tart and there was way too much of it. Even sharing 2 different sandwiches between us we could not feel good about our choice. The house coffee and limeade were good at least, but that wasn't helping my garlicky burps later on. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, certainly the other staff we watched were not as surly as ours, or maybe this a place for coffee and hanging out. Not for food.

All is not lost. A spot of hope appears in the unlikliest of places. We drove out a little ways to get some saltwater action and ended up on Tybee Island which really isn't an island. It was low tide so in order to get our feet wet and out of the burning sand, we had to cross the very full midweek beach. Sick of being thwarted for seafood, we hoped that Fannie's on the Beach would offer some tasty food. Honestly, I think I picked the place because it had the least hideous website of many Tybee places I'd seen.

What visit to Savannah would be complete without a mention of Paula Deen's Lady and Sons restaurant? The website even tells you to start standing in line at 9:30 for lunch at 11, and 3:30 for dinner at 5, but I didn't believe it until I saw it.

10AM on a Wednesday morning. Screw that. No place can have consistently good food and have that high of a turnover. I realize its mostly a buffet, but for $diety's sake, its still just a meat + 3. Its not like Paula Deen is there in the kitchen, and its not like I can't get great meat +3s here in Atlanta or pretty much any town in the freaking South.

*Its not all bad news, Savannah's good pubs are reviewed next!

Mediterranean Grill

2007-08-01T15:51:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, especially in the summer, I get an overwhelming craving for Hummus and/or Falafels. These gastronomical delights fuel my fantasies of desert adventures, a la T.E. Lawrence, as well as just being great summer food. Unfortunately, the relative low cost and mistaken ease of making both items has led more than a few restaurants to add them to their menu; the result being a general lowering of our expectations of these simple delights. Good hummus should be creamy but firm, with just a hint of lemon and garlic. “Hummus expansion packs” like black bean, sun dried tomato, etc. can be good but should be approached with trepidation, as often these are made to cover up a fundamental weakness in the starting product. A good falafel has a crispy outer coating with a soft interior, not unlike a properly made hushpuppy, and should leave a thin layer of oil on the lips, a reminder of its fried origins. Bad falafels run the gamut from rock hard greasy heavy balls to undercooked runny interiors. Unlike hummus in which additions can produce interesting, sometimes even good results, falafel “variants” such as the addition of corn or soybeans (I do not kid) just do not work. Somehow these great tastes have gone the way of the quiche: kitchen sink foods for the disposal of yesterday’s leftovers.

For roughly a decade Mediterranean Grill, on the corner of N. Decatur and Clairmont, has been teaching by example providing some of the best hummus and falafels to be found in the area. Falafels, in sandwiches or on a platter are made to order and are always warm and crispy. The hummus is platonic: slightly tangy, creamy, and cool. These guys also make a mean baba ghanoush (creamy eggplant salad) and a fantastic tabbouleh, a fantastic salad of bulgur wheat, mint, parsely, scallions, and tomato. For non vegetarians, the gyros are some of the best I’ve ever had, the chicken has a nice smoky flavor, and the kufta kabobs (spiced ground beef sausages) are fantastic. Turkish coffee is made to order and richly spiced with cardamom.

While the good far outweighs the bad at this restaurant it would be wrong of me to ignore those points where Mediterranean Grill falls short. The salads are made from iceberg lettuce, a bed of spicy field greens or an arugula salad would be a far better pairing. The fried calamari is overly chewy, and tastes like it is the frozen and pre-breaded variety. The stuffed grape leaves are dripping with oil and share the same “pre-made” feel as the calamari. Finally, the “Greek potatoes” feel like a feeble attempt to satisfy people’s need for fries and the staff would do well to tell those people to piss off and eat some tabbouleh instead.

Prices are good with most of the platters running around $8 and sandwiches around $4-6. Large servings of hummus are a meal in their own right, and come in around $4. Order at the counter, take a number, and bus you own table, there are no servers here, only an opportunity to support a local restaurant trying to educate the masses about some grossly misunderstood food.

Old Favorite

2007-07-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

Holy crap, its been a freaking month! Anyway, on to food.

Ironically, one of our consistently excellent eats is also the one place I have The Most trouble getting Drew to visit. Every time I suggest Cafe Alsace, I hear "I'm not in the mood" or some other whiny variant. Mood??? Mood is for cattle and loveplay!

Then when I do manage to get him there and satiated with Alsatian cuisine I hear, "Why don't we come here more often?" And then I smack him and he whines again. So emo.

We can start with the pate. Mmmm....homemade pate. Being the hippie I am, this is one of those times where I don't give a crap how many cute little animals were ground up into this block of goodness, the green police can kick me out of Sierra club. It is worth it. During the summer, I tremble with anticipation for the canteloupe/mint chilled soup. Unable to truly duplicate it myself, it has a simple and fresh flavor that is perfect for a hot day.

Since Alsace is damn near Germany not surprisingly, the spaetzle is very tasty. I tend to enjoy the sweeter flavors of the seafood selection and it's warm comfort gives me a fuzzy feeling. The dishes you would think are heavy, an onion creme tart with anise-flavored crust for instance, are reasonably sized and are balanced in their rich flavors. The various crepes and quiche du jour also straddle that fine line between voluptuous evil and antacid time.

Miscellany includes a small but select wine list. Most of the wines actually make sense for the cuisine, there are no out of place trendy wines with trendy names or bottle images designed to rope in Gen Xers like...errr...yeah.

Maybe since we go in the middle of the week, but our lovely place is usually pretty quiet and we are served by the very nice co-owner. If we are lucky and it is very slow we get to see the surly head chef/owner wander out and snarl, or we get to hear yelling or French hip-hop from the kitchen.

Overall, this a place where the flavors are subdued and relaxed, you do not get smacked in the head with a heavy hand as with some French dishes. The ambiance is also very mellow, you will get your food...sometime. We actually prefer restaurant service this way; not kissing our ass, not hovering, not trying to be our friend, and not trying to turn the table. We'd go to Chili's or some other crappy chain if we wanted that. Just be calm. Eat, relax, eat some more. You can pretend you are in Europe. Except there is alot more ice in the water.

White Castle vs. Krystal Or At Least the South Doesn’t Rise Again

2007-06-27T06:40:00.000-05:00

I am often amazed with the obsession so many have with the Civil War, or War of Northern Aggression. Over a century later the impact of this conflict is still felt on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line (The MDL) cementing certain cultural differences. Several of these deep and fundamental divergences have been well documented, sweet vs. unsweet tea for instance, but one area that has been largely ignored is Fast Food. “Fast Food?” you say? Surely, McDonald’s and Taco Bell are ubiquitous on both sides of The MDL nor does the King (and I don’t mean Elvis) let his domain be dictated by such delineations. However, these corporate giants are rarely where most turn for food after a night of heavy drinking. Either their hours are not amenable, the number of menu items too high, or the food too precarious for a liquor lined stomach. What to do? If you are too drunk to make it to a diner, or your designated driver is unwilling to inflict you on the staff, there is a fast food choice that will suffice: Krystal or as it is called across the Northern side of The MDL, White Castle. But are they the same? Herein we will explore these two fast food champions of the drunken food world and maybe just maybe in doing so we will heal some of our nation’s wounds and close the cultural divide across The MDL.

A few weekends ago I went to Kentucky for an amazing wedding of two very awesome people; so a special thanks to J & B who made this review possible. A wedding reception packed with graduate students promised to be an alcohol heavy event so like all good drinkers I looked for the “drunk food” places adjacent to our hotel room. There it was… White Castle. Prior to moving to Atlanta I had lived all my life in North Florida and had never had the opportunity to eat at the Northern equivalent to Krystal, a drunk food favorite of mine. A Krystal is small square burger with a thin slice of steamed ‘meat’, topped with onions (disturbingly referred to as “Flavor crystals” by some), dropped onto a flavorless bun, and served with mustard (which proves a subtle and vital “tang”) and pickle. Cheese is an additional option but is really not negotiable so for the rest of this article when I refer to the burgers I mean topped with cheese. In my opinion the Krystal should just come with cheese and you should have to ask to have it removed. Sober, these little burgers are greasy, salty, and frankly horrifying. Drunk, each burger has just the right amount of grease: A LOT. Remember that drunk food needs to hit you on the head with its flavor since your taste buds might be fine but you have become a goddamn idiot. Less than 4 burgers will probably not be enough while more than 6 will probably push a tumultuous tummy over the edge.

So how does White Castle stack up? With several hours to go before the rehersal dinner we sauntered over to the White Castle to give it the sober taste test. My first thought was the White Castle was a little less greasy, a little more salty, and the onions a little more flavorful. As sober food this was certainly a little better than Krystal and the addition of mustard from an available packet made this a tasty little snack. However, left to my own devices I would rarely (read as never) hunt out either of these joints for a sober meal so who really cares? How does White Castle stack up drunk?

After a great wedding reception and a bus ride back to the hotel I staggered over the White Castle and order six “slyders” (the Krystal equivalent) with cheese (They too don’t realize the necessity of the cheese on their burgers) then headed back up to my hotel room with a few packets of mustard. I tore through the first two, forgetting the mustard obviously, happy as a clam because I had my drunk food. However, when I started tearing into my third burger it hit me. The grease level was too low. These burgers were leaving me unsatisfied both emotionally and physically. This was not drunk food but barely passable fast food in disguise. Such deceit is not surprising from White Castle, a company which early in its inception paid young men to dress in doctor’s coats to trick the public into thinking their food was healthy since medical professionals dined there. In the morning I awoke to find I had only eaten four of the burgers and terrible heartburn, a phenomenon that does not occur from a feast of Krystals. That morning I also learned the origin of the nickname ‘Slyders’ for these burgers…. I will say no more on that subject.

In conclusion, White Castle invented these little burgers but Krystal perfected them for drunken consumption. The lack of grease makes White Castle burgers unsatisfying when drunk. The chain has also forgotten that drunk people are not going to take the time to add the mustard which their burger sorely needs. If White Castle really wants to step into the drunken food market they should start serving all their burgers with mustard after midnight.

How about a mimosa for my little samosa?

2007-06-17T12:11:00.000-05:00

Given that Atlanta is in fact a vibrant and ethnically diverse metropolis, we do have our fair share of good Indian restaurants. While we have not tasted every single restaurant in metro Atlanta, we've eaten enough curries and dosai to be able to pick a few favorites. Most of these places will be in Decatur, and this isn't just because we are lazy, Decatur happens to have a massive Indian community with strip malls of food and shops. The local thrift store has discarded saris on a daily basis!

For pure vegetarian cuisine we love Udipi Cafe, this place serves lovely non-greasy south indian vegetarian fare and even has a buffet that I happily partake of. I adore Udipis' breads and recommend all of their curries, the Dal Tadaka is especially flavorful.

Meat eaters can get their fix at one of two places we highly recommend; Bollywood Masala, or Zyka. Bollywood Masala has great atmosphere; a large screen playing bollywood videos and extra large bollywood star posters overlook modernist inspired furniture and starry wallpaper. The comparison to an Indian video store has been made by many. While the food is generally the same as most other places, a few standouts need to be mentioned: tandoori paneer and this interesting fish curry that I wish I could remember the name of. The waiter mentioned it might be too strong or too fishy, but it was one of the most interesting things on the menu. Overall the food is good but not great and we come for the hot bollywood hip gyrations.

Zyka is a cafeteria style place in a Montessori school. Sounds like the beginning of a joke...but their spicy chicken 65 is no joke. Eat the butter chicken! Feel the arteries clogging! The butter chicken is seriously tasty, I have to eat it at least once a year but stay away from the eggplant dish unless you feel like sweating or blowing your nose...that stuff is too spicy even for me who once cooked a dish so spicy I made people hallucinate. Zyka is also very fast and very cheap. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Bhojanic offers something a little different for the average American indian food eater. Yes, fusion and tapas are generally two words that make us run screaming from a place since usually those words are synonymous with 'fad' and 'suck'. Bhojanic isn't either of these, its actually pretty good. Not everything is a hit, the all you can eat Thursday tapas menu does get boring and the thalis are woefully average. Almost all of the tapas and chat are worth a taste, especially the pakora and almost anything with the chickpea-cilantro duo. While the thalis are average, when fresh tilapia makes the fish curry taste above and beyond the curry of duty. Oh yes, I went there.

Drew's honorable mention buffet: Chat Patti.

Woodfire Grill: How do I love thee?

2007-06-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from writing about tasty artery clogging food, next up for discussion is our personal all-time Atlanta favorite place to spend too much money. So far. After all, we have not hit the ‘big guns’ of ATL like Bacchanalia, Joel, Seeger’s (rip), or the Ritz. Without further ado we present: WoodFire Grill.

Not many places are so focused on the food ‘values’ we have come to admire and agree with (still talking about food here, not politics). Chef Tuohy utilizes local, seasonal, and/or organic ingredients in the ever changing menu. We have been able to spend a significant amount of time slowly sampling our way through 4-5 course meals; lingering over some local and exotic cheeses, sipping wine or perhaps port during dessert. We never feel rushed by the impeccably timed wait-staff, and we never feel too old or too young in the comfortably dim interior. The focus of quality instead of speed and trendiness sets this restaurant apart from all the other pricey wasabi-poblano truffle-oiled whipped potato reduction places.

You can taste the difference between a quality, fresh ingredient over something that has just been marinated overnight to hide the poor quality or age. A whole wood-oven roasted trout in a light butter sauce tasted so pure that I literally expected the waiter to be handing some grizzled old fisherman a twenty. During the spring, the minted pecorino fava beans were a revelation. The portion sizes are neither overwhelming nor insulting, and the ‘sides’ are complimentary without overpowering (grits, potatoes, and delicately flavored vegetables abound). Woodfire tempts us into trying flavor combinations we would normally question: who knew beets with blue cheese would taste so good? The common factor in all of the menu items rests in the subtle simplicity of the flavors. Just because something doesn’t have 10 different flavors clamoring for attention doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful. Atlanta has a lot of ‘hip’ restaurants, and we appreciate and like those places with the exposed bricks and bizarre steel sculptures; but ultimately we will suggest Woodfire Grill with its superior ingredients and ingenious taste.

Other menu items we’ll drool over:
any cheese. There are no bad cheeses.
free-range chicken
frito misto
any anti-pasto item
duck with seasonal fruit-related sauce (currently fig + peaches)

Road Trip food: Atlanta to Owensboro

2007-05-29T12:59:00.000-05:00

From a few tip-offs including a thread from RoadFood.com, we took a little detour west of Nashville to hit the RiverView Marina Restaurant in Ashland City. We have been known in the past to drive a ways for the hint of a fish fry so we were excited about this catfish buffet on the river. The parking lot was empty at 2 minutes before it opened and 10 minutes later, the lot was packed. The buffet offered standard Southern fare; fried catfish, chicken, green beans, mac n cheese, potatoes and gravy, and a sad salad bar that mostly had wilted lettuce, scary dressings, and 'salads' that prominently featured mayonaise. The catfish was of good quality and not too greasy, the spinach was tasty, the mac n cheese was bright orange as it should be, but the hush puppies were the real winner. A good combo of spices and fat, the hushpuppies were tasty little puffs of evil. My husband also rated the banana pudding highly, it was made with Nilla wafers and had actual bananas in it. I pretty much can't stand banana pudding, some sort of childhood fear, but I could tell this pudding seemed a bit more 'fresh' than the radioactive yellow puddings normally found in the grocery store.

Once in Owensboro, we had one thing on our minds: BBQ. Owensboro touts itself as the capital of BBQ, with the MoonLite Inn as the capital. Not being big carnivores, it takes a good amount of hype/prodding/hunger to get us some meat. First of all, the MoonLite is warehouse huge which is a good thing considering how full the parking lots were. The place was full of Indiana residents from across the river, out of towners, but mainly there were locals who traveled in packs and could be identified by how often they stopped and spoke to someone while walking around the cavernous buffet. The mutton was not the life changing experience I had hoped for, but it was marinated and spiced within an inch of its life creating a very tender and flavorful alternative to the usual rack o ribs in a bbq place. Actually, I like the chopped pork better than the mutton. Again, the buffet featured the usual southern fat-filled evil with some neat additions such as the Burgoo, honey carrots, giblets, and 'dressing' (a yummy stuffing thing mixed with gravy and pieces of some sort of meat that I apparently missed out on as a child). The cornbread was fantastic, not sweet at all but a little spiced and full of buttery goodness. The salad bar was predictably scary, the potato salad being particularly full of mayo.

With the exception of the catered event we attended, we saw nary a fresh fruit or vegetable all weekend. With only fat loaded or fried veggies or fruits as part of a dessert; I actually feel a bit ill from such a drastic diet change. We can't imagine eating like that all the time but hopefully a week of penitent salads and wheatgrass colonics will purge us of the tasty, but evil food.

Drunk Food

2007-05-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

The bars/club/pubs have closed. You are starving or else your long-suffering designated driver is insisting that you eat something now. Your next move is very important but do not fear, we are here to help chose the manner of the culinary attempt on your life.

The main factor in choosing your late night stumble home snack is largely beyond your control unless you happen to live in a big city: you eat what’s open. In most towns where only fast food and pizza places are open late, you will learn to love the greasy pizza or the McDrunk Food. Regional variations abound; fried chicken shacks, Waffle House, and Krystal are much more common in the South. Out West, late night taco stands are popular (not always of the Taco Bell variety) and the trend is moving east. Yankees tell me about orgasmic meals at White Castle or some greasy mystery meat cart in the cities. Many people wax lyrical about diners like Denny’s or Perkin’s, which are especially popular with drunken groups intent on annoying the waitstaff. Here in Atlanta we have the Majestic which is more of a ‘be seen’ place than good food, its like an after party but you aren’t in danger of breaking anyone’s furniture while showing off your dancing skillz.

In Fort Myers during my younger years, I vaguely recall nights at Denny’s and a smaller chain called Jerry’s (which seems to be defunct). After about 9 pm different subcultures rested in an uneasy truce once the Moons Over my Hammy were served, but much like an 80’s teen movie where there were random Goths at the popular kids’ party: it just looked weird and unnatural. Jerry's had some mean mac and cheese.

In London, the drunk food I most often found the greasy remains of the next morning was from Dionysos across from the Tottenham Court tube stop. I find myself dreaming of those fatty chips smothered in a thick curry sauce rolled up in a newspaper to this very day. A general rule of thumb if you do happen to be drunk in London or pretty much anywhere in Europe so I hear; any late night shop that has the words ‘kebab’, ‘doner’, or ‘falafel’ will be full of drunk people. There are whole websites and blogs devoted to doner worship. Extra points if there is wordplay involved , Abra kebabra comes to mind with its ubiquitous Irish presence, or if an aristocratic title is somehow added to the name of the shop ‘Doner King’ or ‘Prince of Kebab’ for instance.

On occasion the quartet of the greasy, the fried, the savory, and the fatty can be pre-empted by another of my favorite drunk foods. Be it ever so hippie but Annie’s White Cheddar Shells with broccoli and yogurt really hits the spot without angering the gnomes that dwell within my intestines.