Mexican in Atlanta

Atlanta has a significant Latin American population and a correspondingly large number of Latin American restaurants. However, so many of these spots cater to Americans who like “Mexican” food, and offer Americanized versions of traditional dishes. Well, I have to admit, I do get cravings for cheese-laden nachos and quesadillas, especially after a few drinks :P But for the last few years, I’ve been trying to find places that serve authentic cuisine.

After not even eating any Latin American food for a long time, I have been on something like a rampage recently. First, Little Richie introduced me to Cuban food by taking me to Havana restaurant at the intersection of Buford Hwy and Clairmont Rd. Of course, I had to have the Cuban sandwich (not pictured). I got yucca fries on the side, thinking that they were sweet potato fries… Stupid me… After trying them, I figured out that yucca is a root vegetable. I ended up really liking the fries. They are a lot more fibrous and “stringy” than regular potato fries, but I like that. It gives them a more interesting texture, rather than the soft mush of regular fries. (Although, soft mush inside a crispy shell is great :)

I continued my exposure to Cuban food at Las Palmeras. This time I ordered lemon pork with steamed yucca and fried plantains (not pictured). The pork was lean and very moist. I ordered the dish because I was hoping for an intense lemon flavor, but instead I got only a hint of lemon. Well, that didn’t take much away from the taste. As to the yucca, I wanted to see how it tastes when steamed when compared to fried. The texture didn’t appeal to me much; it was very mushy. It reminded me a little of poached pears, which I am not a fan of. In addition, I thought it tasted rather bland. I think I’ll stick to fried yucca from now on.

Finally, Cashew, Little Richie and I recently had dinner at Zocalo. I had passed this place countless times, always assuming that it’s one of those Americanized Mexican spots. The only reason I decided to go there was the generous review and description that it received by Scoutmob. The atmosphere is typical of a margarita bar, but the food was different. While reading the menu, I was surprised to see many unfamiliar words signifying traditional Mexican dishes. There were many things we wanted to try, but Cashew and I ended up sharing the molcajete carmelitas. Honestly, the major attractive factor of the dish was the lava rock bowl and the cactus it supposedly contained… Well, the dish delivered on both counts. It did come in a warm lava rock bowl, and it had a huge cactus leaf in it. The other ingredients included chicken, tomato, onions, corn tortillas, and chorizo and refried beans on the side. I loved the flavor of the tortillas. I could have eaten them by themselves. The molcajete mixture was much lighter than anything else Mexican I have tasted. It also had a pretty subtle taste that was just a notch above bland. I wonder if that’s what authentic Mexican tastes like. It wasn’t bad, though, and I think I can get used to it if I have more of it.

That seems like a good start for my search for good Latin American food. I know that there are a ton of Mexican places on Buford Hwy, and I’m sure that many of them will have traditional food. I just have to try all of them to find the good ones ;)

Light French Food?

I really hate it when my plans fall through, like when Cashew and I couldn't go to Amuse because they're closed on Mondays. Of course, we had to go back. Interestingly, one night both of us wanted to eat something light, but we both wanted to go to Amuse. Well, when I think of French food, I usually think of decadent chocolate desserts, bread, butter and heavy sauces, but we decided to go there anyway and try our luck with the menu.

Lucky for us, they started us off with warm bread and butter. Warm bread is one of my favorite things in the world, even on a hot summer night. We enjoyed it so much, we had to ask for more of it. After so much bread, we were happy to order items only from the appetizer and salad menus. I have to admit though, some of their entrees did look tempting and I might try them some other time. Anyway, we settled on the goat cheese on a bed of tomatoes and their specialty salad for the night: avocado and crab meat. The avocado and crab salad was unexpected (but in a good way), made with real crab meat, and delicious. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the tomato salad. I guess I thought it would come up with diced fresh tomatoes. Instead, it consisted of crushed tomatoes with some cheese sprinkled on top of it. And honestly, the crushed tomatoes tasted like canned crushed tomatoes... It was very disappointing. I ended up spreading the tomatoes and cheese on the bread, which did make them more edible. (An aside: I actually love cooking with canned crushed tomatoes, but they are too bland to serve them raw...)

Finally Cashew and I got the obligatory French dish - escargot. They came in garlic and parsley butter, which I prefer to breaded escargot. I liked the melted butter, especially with the warm bread :) However, the escargot didn't seem very fresh, and were a little chewy.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the food we got that night at Amuse. Additionally, the service wasn't the best. We had to wait for some items, and the waiters almost seemed rude. The only thing that redeemed the place was the bread, but this is something I can get at any good bakery...

Southern comfort

Despite living in Atlanta for nice years now, I haven't been to many places that serve traditional Southern food. I've been to Murphy's numerous times, but only for brunch and lunch. I've also been to Wisteria once. I think that's pretty much my whole experience with nice southern food... Now I can add the Parish to the list. I went there recently for brunch with Miss Chriss. This time Ems and I got the chance to try the dinner as well.

The menu at Parish does have Southern classics like fried chicken with collard greens, but also Cajun-influenced dishes featuring seafood. The appetizer list included a really interesting item: mushroom cheesecake with pecan crust. Ems and I were very excited to try this, but they were out of it. I think this is such a creative idea! I might need to go back just to try this savory cheesecake.

We were so disappointed with the unavailability of the mushroom cheesecake that we couldn't find any other appetizer to pique our interest. So, we simply ordered entrees. I got the cornmeal crusted catfish. The crust was perfectly crispy. The fish itself was very juicy and delicious. Plus, the piece of fish I got was HUGE! The dish came with a side of cole slaw and a side of baked beans. I loved the cole slaw because it was vinegar based AND it contained carrots. The beans were supposedly baked for 12 hours, and maybe that's their secret because they were sooooo incredible. They were sweet and sticky and rich, and almost like dessert. The menu mentioned that the dish also came with gribiche. I actually had no idea what this meant. Well, it's simply tartar sauce. I don't like it when places try to be pretentious by using unknown words for common ingredients, but I'm willing to overlook it here.

Ems ordered the spring pea ravioli. I was a little nervous about this dish, but it tasted really really good. The ravioli stuffing contained mostly mashed peas and a little bit of cheese, so the pea flavor was very intense inside the ravioli. The cream-based sauce was also much lighter than I expected it to be. It was interesting to taste something that had rich ingredients but tasted light. I really liked the flavor.

I have now been to the Parish twice, and it's becoming one of my favorite places. I like the food there, but also the little things. For example, the menus were printed on what looked like brown paper bags. We also got complementary bread and butter before dinner. The bread was served in yet another brown bad. The decor is also attractive - rustic but sophisticated. And finally, there is a market downstairs that serves a variety of Cajun items and pastries. Unfortunately, we went there too late to enjoy fresh pastries, but I'd love to try them some other time.

Seafood extravaganza

I loooove seafood. I love all types of seafood: fish, shrimp, crab meat, etc. I have to admit, I've never had octopus, but I am pretty sure I won't hate it. Anyway, Cashew and I like to go on seafood "splurges" when we eat a ton of seafood for dinner. We've been to Fontaine's Oyster House a couple of times and shared their steamed seafood platter (meant to be shared by 4 people...). Every time we've been there, we have a restaurant.com coupon for $25 off our check, so we end up paying only about $15 each for huuuge amounts of seafood. Sadly, we hadn't been there in a few months, so we were going through seafood withdrawal...

Thankfully, Cashew found out about another deal in town: $5 for a dozen oysters at Steamhouse Lounge. This deal seemed too good to be true, but it is real and it is going on every Wednesday. The oysters were surprisingly huge for the amount of money we were paying. Yes, there were some smaller ones, but overall I was very satisfied with what we got. Well, they could have been scrubbed a little better, but I guess that's what distinguishes a nicer restaurant from a bar.

Of course, a dozen oysters is not enough to fill us up, so Cashew and I shared the crab legs platter as well. We got 1.5 lb of crab with sides of cole slaw and corn on the cob. The good news is, the majority of the crab tasted fresh and delicious. The bad news was that there were definitely pieces from old crab legs mixed in with the good crab. This is a really bad idea actually because the bad crab stands out so easily when you eat it right after a piece of fresh crab... Another negative about the meal was the overly-buttery corn. I love my corn on the cob to be simply boiled in salted water, nothing else added. I can eat corn with a little butter, but when the butter is dripping off the cob and makes your whole mouth feel as if you ate a solid piece of butter, it's not enjoyable. Well, I guess many people in the South are used to get their corn on the cob prepared in this buttery way, so it was just personal preference.

The amount of seafood we consumed that night did satisfy the craving, but I think it's smarter to stick to food that doesn't rely on seafood freshness when at Steamhouse Lounge.

Tantric dinner

One of the things I love about Atlanta is how international it is. Well, and all the food deals available :) So one Monday night Cashew and I felt like having French food without paying exorbitant amounts of money. The solution was Amuse, a French bistro with a 50% off deal on Scoutmob. Unfortunately, on the way there, we discovered that it's closed on Mondays :( A couple of minutes of scrolling through the Scoutmob restaurant list yielded another attractive dinner option: Tantra. Granted, it's not French, but it sounded really interesting with its fusion cuisine that combined Indian, Asian and European influences.

As soon as we walked in the restaurant, we were impressed with the environment. It featured Indian-style lanterns, leather chairs and leather benches, and cute lantern-like candle holders on the tables. Adding to the good impression of the place, we were started off with complementary flatbread crackers and some kind of spread that I have never had before. The crackers were really crispy, but they were coated with a little too much sea salt. The spread, however, was incredible.  It was very grainy, so I think it contained whole grain mustard. I could also discern a little bit of the mustard taste, but most of what I tasted was olives. So, my best guess is that it was a mixture of mustard and olives :P

The menu itself was heavily influenced by Middle Eastern, lamb- or hummus-containing dishes. Case in point, original hummus with lamb and lamb tartare "pizza." We actually ordered the hummus tasting platter, but they brought out the lamb-containing hummus. I am very picky about how my lamb tastes, and I didn't care too much for the one at Tantra. Thankfully, they did bring us the other hummus options on the tasting platter: truffle and edamame (not pictured). Honestly, I loved the original chickpea flavor the best. The truffle hummus was too oily, the edamame did taste like edamame, but I found that a weird taste combination. In contrast, I did love the flavors of the lamb pizza. It was a very original dish. Instead or a regular pizza crust, it had flatbread for crust. What looks like it might be tomato sauce on the picture is actually the lamb tartare. And the white sauce is shallot yogurt.

We also ordered the crab cake based on the suggestion of our waiter, and it was worth it. It was what a crab cake should taste like: lots of crab and little other stuffing material. The salad that the cake rested on was also great. It also had an interesting yogurt sauce, this time containing orange and verjuice (type of grape juice).

After three appetizers and a complementary snack, we needed only one entree. Our first choice was the chili seared bigeye tuna, but they were out of it. We settled for the braised beef short rib with goat cheese polenta. Unfortunately, both Cashew and I were too stuffed at this point to enjoy the short rib properly. Each of us had a bite to taste it, but we ended up taking it to go. All I can remember about it is that the goat cheese taste was really strong. I do love goat cheese and can even eat it by myself, but it didn't impart a good flavor to the polenta in this case. Somehow, it made the polenta taste as if it contained lamb... The meat was very tender, and I can say that it was good even when reheated on the next day. Too bad I couldn't eat more when it was still fresh at the restaurant.

Well, despite not getting the French food we wanted, Tantra served as a great substitute for the international flare I was craving.

"Free oysters" ploy worked

I just can't resist free food, especially when it's oysters. Really, how often do you get free oysters?!?! So when Cashew and I heard about free oysters/sausages/drinks/concert at Abattoir, we had to go there. We expected a huge crowd and fights... Instead, we got a sophisticated crowd that politely waited in line to get one oyster and two sausage pieces. Yup, that's all we could get at once. We did line up several times, but people who knows us know that we need a lot more food to fill up. On the bright side, the drinks included prosecco and regular wine in addition to craft beer, none of the cheap crap you usually get for "free drinks."

Thankfully, we were there with some friends who had been to Abattoir before and who highly recommended the regular menu. Cashew and I shared the pork rillette with toast and eggs and one of the cheese platters. Honestly, I don't even remember which cheese we had. I'm pretty sure it was the valencay (a goat cheese), but I'm not 100% positive... It came with crackers and an olive tapenade. The crackers weren't enough for all the cheese, but that let us experience the pure taste of the cheese, haha.

The pork rillette was basically a pork puree with the consistency of pate. It was served on rustic toasted bread as a spread. Interestingly, it also had quail eggs. I'm not sure what the eggs were supposed to contribute to the dish (except novelty), but they definitely didn't hurt it either. And the grainy mustard on the side was quite tasty as well. I'm kind of a freak when it comes to mustard. I like it so much, especially the spicy kind, that I eat it by itself.

For a sweet end to a sweet night of perfect weather and great company, the whole group shared the dessert sampler. The platter included a carrot cake with root ice cream, maple creme caramel with a bacon cookie and chocolate chess pie with pecan brittle. Let me tell you, I've had my share of desserts at many places, but all three of these were definitely top of the notch. The root ice cream was so different, smooth and delicious. The creme caramel was perfect and smooth as well. Believe it or not, the chocolate pie didn't taste like chocolate, but I still loved it. It had some unique taste and texture that I can't describe, but it might be some of the best chocolate dessert I've ever had. And the best part for all of this is that we didn't get charged for dessert!!! Can you believe this? I think the waiter liked us and that was his treat to us. He definitely received a very generous tip :)

One of the special things about the whole experience of Abattoir was the atmosphere. We were sitting outside on a warm but not hot night, surrounded by a vibrant crowd, talking to good people, eating delicious food. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait until the summer is over to enjoy a perfect night like this again.

Bibimbap

I do try to be creative with the titles of my posts (although I normally fail in that regard), but I couldn't help but use the name of a dish for this one. I love this word, "bibimbap"! Try saying this 5 times fast :)

In case you're wondering what the heck "bibimbap" is, which I did when I first saw it on the menu at Wasabi Grill, it's a traditional Korean dish. According to Wikipedia (!), it literally means "mixed meal." Cashew and I got the seafood bibimbap, so we had a few types of fresh sashimi mixed in with white rice and veggies. It's almost like freestyle sushi, thus really light. However, typical of Asian cooking, it wasn't lacking in flavor :)

To balance the lightness of the bibimbap, the other dish we ordered was the BBQ beef stir fry . Those Koreans know how to do BBQ, even in a stir fry form... The meat was incredibly tasty and tender. The only way it could have been better if it was on the bone, as part of spare ribs ;)