Tip: Inman Park Restaurant Week

In case you don't know already, Inman Park Restaurant week is coming up soon! Restaurants in one of the best food neighborhoods in Atlanta will be offering special tasting menus for $15, $25 or $35 for the week of March 26 - April 1. I'm planning on going, and so should you!

More info can be found here: http://www.inmanparkrestaurantweek.com/

Sunday Supper

Over the last 5 weeks the lab that I work in had a visiting student from Denmark. One night, Cashew, my roommate Snooks and I decided to take Mette to a traditional Southern restaurant to introduce her to the food here. While trying to find a place that's open on Sunday, we accidentally stumbled upon the Sunday Supper at JCT Kitchen. The name, by the way, stands for "Junction;" we did ask our server about it... Every Sunday, the restaurant offers a special menu in a family-style dinner setting. What makes it even more special is that the majority of items offered on Sunday are not available on the regular menu.

No Southern dinner will be complete without buttermilk biscuits. The ones at JCT Kitchen were served with butter and apple sauce. The biscuits were moist and flaky without being greasy. I really liked them. This was followed by another Southern favorite - deviled eggs. We each had one half egg, but I wish we were given a lot more than that. The filling was surprisingly light considering that it contains egg yolk and mayo. The eggs this time weren't topped with prosciutto, but that made me like them even better. I'm not eating meat for Lent, so I would have had to remove the prosciutto anyway. Finally, we were served an amazing salad made with field greens, beets, carrots, radishes, and even roasted new potatoes! The overabundance of ingredients made it great for every taste. I personally enjoyed everything that was in it, and liked the contrast in texture between, say, the crispy beets and soft potatoes.

Yes, we got all of this food before the main course! However, we were all excited about the only item that we could pick for ourselves for the night. My selection was the fish (cod) and grits. Cashew got the fried chicken that JCT Kitchen is known for, Snooks wanted to try the sausage and seafood gumbo, and Mette ordered the cider-braised pot roast. I really liked the spice rub on my fish, and I didn't even mind it being a little too salty for my taste. I even ate all of the grits! If you remember from previous posts, I'm not a grits fan... But the ones at JCT Kitchen were so different that I completely forgot what I was eating until the very end. They were made from very finely ground corn and were more liquidy than other grits I've had. I couldn't try the other dishes because of the meat components, but they looked great for all that's worth... Plus, my friends seemed to enjoy them.

The main course came with three sides that we could also choose. We selected the kale with citrus, the mashed potatoes, and the sweet potato puree with candied pecans. Yes, that's too types of potatoes but we wanted to try both of them. The sweet potato puree was out of this world! It was incredibly delicious. It tasted as decadent as dessert. I could have eaten the whole bowl just by myself. I bet they had a ton of butter to make them taste that good, but who cares :P The mashed potatoes and kale weren't bad either. The mashed potatoes were perfectly light and fluffy, and the kale wasn't bitter. Unfortunately, their taste paled in comparison to the sweet potatoes.

Of course, there was dessert at the end of the meal. This time it was a brownie topped with mascarpone cream. I don't know if I was too full by this point, but I didn't like the brownie too much. It seemed a little stale, and the crust was too hard to cut through. The cream was delicious, but couldn't quite rescue the shortcomings of the brownie.

And you know what was the BEST part of this FEAST? It was only $24 per person! It's an incredible deal for the amount and amazing quality of the food we got, and I'm sure I'll be taking advantage of these Sunday Suppers in the future.

Seafood Feast

Once in a while Restaurant.com will have a 90% off sale, and whenever I see this, I make sure I get a certificate for Fontaine's Oyster House. I'm always up for trying new foods, but this is one place where Cashew and I order the same thing over and over again: the steamed seafood platter. And because we need to order at least $45-worth of food to be able to use the certificate, we just end up getting a dozen of raw oysters in addition to the one on the platter. Mmmm, oysters! Can't get too many of them!

The platter comes with all the amazing goodies that the seas have to offer: mussels, clams, shrimp, crab legs, oysters. The only way to make it even more perfect would be to add calamari :P (Did you take the hint, Fontaine's?). Well, and to get the oysters raw rather than steamed.... But you can do that if you're nice to your servers and politely ask them to do it for you. Even though most of them say that they'll have to check whether it can be done, we've had 100% success rate, and I have yet to try steamed oysters. No complaints from me, though. I love them raw, with just a little bit of lemon squeezed on top of them. On the bright side, everything else on the platter is perfect as it is. The crab legs are fresh, not cooked in butter, and only with their natural saltiness. If you do want to ruin their taste, there's a container of melted butter to dunk them into. The shrimp are cooked in an herb broth that doesn't overpower them. I'm not quite sure what's in the broth, but I do suck out all the flavors from the shell before pealing it away... Finally, there's a good number of clams and mussels cooked in a simple broth to complete the seafood tasting trip.

The last time Cashew and I went to Fontaine's, we were feeling extra adventurous and ordered the chicken jambalaya instead of more raw oysters. Oooo, aren't we just crazy ;) It turned out that Cashew had meant to try the gumbo, but had the two mixed in her head. Well, I wasn't too upset about the mistake because the jambalaya was amazing! It wasn't dry like the jambalaya in New Orleans. Instead, it had a good amount of liquid in it that made eating it easier. Plus, all the flavors and spiciness were spot on. I think we have a new item to add to our "usual" order!

OK, now I need to do a brief aside because I just realized that I didn't post anything about my New Orleans trip last December. How could I forget to do that?!?!? Anyway, it was a few days of amazing food! I did try all the New Orleans staples: jambalaya, gumbo, muffaletta, etouffee, rice and red beans, shrimp po-boy, raw oysters, beignets, and hurricane and green alligator cocktails! My favorite was the gumbo, with the crawfish etouffee a close second... The beignets lived up to my expectations as well. I was pretty disappointed in the jambalaya because it was too dry, as if it had been overcooked. But I'm glad that I had the jambalaya at Fontaine's to see that it can taste great as well.

Brunch at Highland Bakery

Highland Bakery is one of the traditional Atlanta establishments that offers great baked goods and artisan sandwiches for brunch. In the past couple of years, it opened a new location in Midtown, but only the original location has all of the original charm. And yes, part of the charm is the long wait times, but my friend Cat and I braved them recently.

I had actually been to Highland Bakery once before for a sit down meal and another time to get food to go. So before I describe my most recent experience there, let me mention what I had before. The first time I went there, I stayed on the conservative side and ordered the Caprese Sandwich, which contains Italian staples like mozzarella, basil and tomatoes. The sandwich was really good, but something I can make myself. The second time I ate food from the bakery, I got the Sweet Potato Pancakes. I was pretty worried about how they would taste by the time I ate them at home, but all my worries were unfounded. The pancakes were still warm and fluffy. The caramel-based sauce that they came with was in a small container on the side, so I could eat the pancakes before they got soggy. Let me tell you, they were divine even after an hour away from the griddle! Well, the pancakes themselves were nothing extraordinary, but the sauce was just delicious! It was thick, sweet, buttery, and nutty (from the toasted pecans), and just the epitome of a guilty pleasure :) I have to admit, I had a few small tastes of the sauce by itself...

Finally, the most recent time I went to Highland Bakery, I decided to try yet another food group and got the Crabcakes Benedict. Just like the other items I had had before, they were delicious. The crabcakes were large, moist, and full of REAL crab meat. The Hollandaise sauce was the perfect consistency and lightness. I had the potatoes on the side, and they were nice and crispy without being too oily. They had sauted peppers and tomatoes, which is always a plus for me.

So, I've had traditional breakfast, sweet/dessert breakfast and a sandwich at Highland Bakery, and it hasn't disappointed me yet. This is the sign of a truly good place, but can't live up to the brunch at Murphy's...

La Italia!

I apologize if "La Italia" is not grammatically correct... I'm just trying to use something catchy to show that I'll be talking about Italian food today, haha. Atlanta is not New York when it comes to Italian cooking, but there are a few notable places. One of them is La Tavola, where Cashew and I had dinner recently.

Because it was our first time here, we wanted to try as many things as possible, but that's not too easy with filling pasta dishes :( Instead of filling ourselves to the point of being sick, we were smart and decided to just come back some other time. So, the items we settled on for this visit were the Black Linguine, Ricotta Gnocchi, and Zuppa di Pesce. First, the seafood soup was was what was expected of it: lots of seafood and a flavorful broth. Some of the sea creatures that were represented were clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and what looked like cod or haddock. One pleasant touch was the calamari tentacles and whole bodies!

The gnocchi were also delicious. I personally couldn't taste the ricotta in them, but it did give them a slightly cheesy texture. The surprise of this dish was the real poached egg on top. Granted I'm not an expert in Italian food, I can't say I've seen anyone combine pasta with eggs before.

Overall, both the soup and the gnocchi were solid, flavorful dishes, but they pale in comparison to the black linguine! The combination of squid ink pasta, calamari and Thai basil pesto made this one of those memorable dishes that stick with you. (Other such dishes for me were the chorizo chips at Pura Vida and the French toast at La Boulange.) While we were eating it, we kept exulting about how good it was. After we finished it, we felt sad. I've tried to think of something to explain what made the dish so good, but I don't think there's a single factor. Instead, it was probably the masterful combination of Italian flavors from the pasta with Thai-inspired flavors in the pesto.

I am a big fan of small portions in restaurants, but this was clearly one case where I regretted not having more food. I guess my only option is to make this planned second visit to La Tavola as soon as possible.

Radiant Cafe

The trend of using seasonal, local ingredients is sweeping over Atlanta! Well, this has been the case for a couple of years now. Using seasonal ingredients is not only good for the environment, but also makes food taste better the ingredients are used at the prime of their ripeness. And while most new places now offer often-changing, seasonal menus, one place has been doing this for a while. Hidden on the east side of Decatur is a place called Radial Cafe. It used to be a great brunch/lunch spot, but recently they started offering dinner as well.

I had heard wonderful things about Radial Cafe, but didn't get to try it until a few days ago. It was my friend Vivmuk's last weekend in Atlanta, so we met up there with him and Cashew for a goodbye brunch. We went all out and ordered a ton of food! I was craving some eggs, so I got the salmon scramble. Cashew and Vivmuk both went for the biscuits with gravy and poached eggs. Cashew chose bacon on the side, and Vivmuk chose sausage. We all shared a peanut butter toast, one of the specials that day, and the cheesy grits. Oh, they also brought out some complementary cranberry-lemon crumb cake and cranberry-pecan mini muffins. I loved the tartness of the crumb cake, but wasn't a huge fan of the muffins.

My favorite thing at Radial was definitely the peanut butter toast. The toast itself was challah bread that was so so soft and stringy. When you tried to cut it, you could see the different layers separate very nicely. But the thing that made this toast incredible was the peanut butter sauce on top. It must have had a pretty generous amount of butter in it because it was very smooth and deep in flavor :) It reminded me a little of the caramel sauce that comes with the sweet potato pancakes at Highland Bakery, but without the pecans...

I had never been a fan of biscuits and gravy, but I LOVED them at Radial. I love each component separately, but whenever I had them together before, the biscuits got soggy and unpleasant to eat. But somehow, the biscuits at Radial had a strong, but not tough, crust that prevented the moisture from the gravy from getting into the biscuit. So each bite consisted of buttery bread and really really delicious gravy. Seriously, that was some of the most flavorful gravy I have ever tasted!

Actually, the main dish I liked the least was my scramble. I wish I had traded it for some of those delicious biscuits :P There was nothing wrong with the scramble, really... It just wasn't as flavorful as the other things at the table. The only flavor that stood out was the salmon, so the dish was overly fishy. Even the presence of sun-dried tomatoes, something I love, couldn't redeem the dish.

Finally, I liked the grits even less. I might even say that I disliked them. There is something about grits, but I was never a huge fan. The only place where I kind of liked them was at Murphy's in the shrimp and grits dish. I think it's how plain they taste anywhere else. Even adding cheese couldn't help. Yes, I did taste the cheese, but it was like eating cheese with a really weird texture. Plus, the grits cooled down and congealed very quickly, making them even less pleasant to eat.

Well, there were definitely some hits and misses at Radial, but the misses were because of my personal preferences and not the quality of the cooking. I will be happy to go back, maybe try the dinner menu next time. Or go for breakfast/brunch again and enjoy some more of their awesome food and coffee :) Btw, I don't think the coffee at any other place had been memorable enough to be mentioned, but the coffee at Radial is amazing!

Food Is not Everything

Sometimes we go to restaurants just for the food, to satisfy hunger. Other times we want to indulge in an experience. The latter case usually involves a sophisticated place and a high price tag, or an ethnic restaurant. However, even if we go to a fast food place or a drive through, we expect a sertain level of service and get annoyed when we don't receive it.

I recently went to Sonny's Place, a small Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant close to where I live that also has a Scoutmob discount. Maybe the fact that it was completely empty at 6:30 pm should have been a red flag, but I decided to stay anyway. The bad experience started at the very beginning when the owner greeted me with "Do you need a menu?" in a husky voice. Of course I need a menu! He then handed it to me, but didn't specify whether I order at the counter or sit down at a table. So I ended up standing halfway between both, trying to figure out what I wanted. The special is supposedly the St. Peter's fish, but I decided to go with something more basic - the appetizer sampler platter. Then I was finally ordered to sit down. The platter came with falafel, hummus, tabuleh, babaganoush, and two salads. All items but the falafel medallions weren't bad, but they weren't memorable or distinguishable in any way either. The only positive thing about them was that I could eat them with warm pitas. The falafel, though, was inedible. It was obviously very old and re-heated. Instead of only the outside being crispy, the whole piece was a solid rock.

Well, despite the falafel, I wouldn't have minded the place too much if it wasn't for the attitude of the owner. He never smiled, and he seemed like he didn't think it was necessary to show his customers any respect. He did come to ask me how the food tasted twice, but wasn't happy of my answer of "It's good!" I don't know what he expected me to say, maybe he wanted me to tell him it was amazing, outstanding, the best things I've ever had. But for me, even saying that it was good was a stretch, haha.

A few minutes after I sat down, another party came to the restaurant. It was obvious it was their first time in there as well. They were seated before being given the menus, but they were taking a while to order. The owner kept going to them and badgering them to make up their mind. At the end, he seemed pretty disappointed that they didn't get what he suggested and that they didn't order alcohol. Again, he just seemed unhappy and intimidating, which is very offputting when you're willing to pay for a meal out.

I was really glad I had the Scoutmob deal. It did make things a little better because the whole experience was so bad, I should have been paid rather than me paying for the food. I think this is the first time I can honestly say that I'm never going there again.