Family and Food in Atlanta - Part One

A drooling dog, a sinking ship, a rising star and 1600+ miles. If I were to sum up my Easter weekend in 12 words or less, that would be it. Luckily for me - and perhaps unlucky for those of you that read through my ramblings - I'm not restricted by word counts. So cancel your plans for the next...six minutes or so, give or take a couple depending on your reading speed. Away we go.

My wife and I decided a few months ago to spend Easter in Atlanta visiting my sister. We'd gone to visit her about a year and a half ago, but it was more on a whim and we weren't able to truly plan much. I should also add that we ended up in Atlanta the same weekend as the most devastating floods to hit that city since nineteen bumpety bum, so we didn't get to really enjoy our stay as much as we would have liked. This time around, however, we were welcomed with clear skies and dry pathways. Oh, and due to the timing of his retirement, my father was able to accompany us on the trip! This was great for a multitude of reasons. For one, my dad had not had the chance to see my sister since the previous June. Another nice perk to this situation was that my father recently purchased a gorgeous Lexus is250, which was infinitely more comfortable for all three passengers than my vehicle would have been. My wife is not very fond of driving, so it was nice for her to be able to relax (err sleep) in the back while my dad and I split the driving duties.

I suppose I should begin to get to the point of this post. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed our family time immensely, and the things upon which I am about to write are secondary in comparison to the real reason we made the trek to Georgia, but I don't expect strangers who read this blog to care much about the silliness that is my family. This post will focus mainly on the culinary experiences we had on our journey. Some were profound, some were laughable, but all encapsulated what I love so much about the dining experience.

For those of you who aren't familiar with me, I love food. I love the creation of it, I certainly adore the consumption of it, and all in all I just dig the dining experience. I am a culinary school graduate not currently working in the industry, but I like to think I have an appreciation for the passion and art that food can be. Some (my sister included) may say this makes me a "food snob." I'll wear the title, if you see fit. I simply think of food like this: whatever it is you do with your culinary niche, do it well. Yes, I love what some may call pretentious food. I think molecular gastronomy is incredible, I'm a sushi fiend, and I'll drop a hundred bucks on a meal for my wife and I way before I'll spend that same hundred in a mall. But I also enjoy a juicy, cheese smothered burger or a greasy pizza as much as the next guy. Like I said, whatever it is you do, just do it well. I've had five dollar burgers that tasted better than 30 dollar steaks. Having spouted all of that, here is a rundown of our food adventures in Atlanta.

Day One: Flip Burger

For those of you Top Chef fans, Flip Burger is Richard Blais' burger joint. He has a couple of locations open, and employs some of his scientific bells and whistles to put a twist on the American classic. My wife and I ate here on our first trip to Atlanta, and had a blast. The kid inside you just wants to chuckle when your liquid nitrogen concocted Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow Milkshake arrives at the table steaming from the cold technique which created it. We were excited to dine there again, and to give my sister (a fellow Top Chef watcher) and father the experience.

My father is a conservative eater and wanted to play it pretty safe, so he went with what they call The Butcher's Cut. It's a simple burger with caramelized onions and blue cheese, the only unique part of the burger being a red wine jam. My wife, being the mushroom enthusiast that she is, went for the Mushroom and Swiss, the twist being that the Swiss cheese was in foam form. My sister, who I am convinced thinks she is allergic to bread, opted for the tuna tartare burger encased in a lettuce wrap as opposed to a bun. Unfortunately, my sister devoured her burger too fast to even notice that what looked like an egg yolk on the burger was in fact a mango pureed sphere. I was torn on what to get, but after much insistence from my sister that I go for one of the "flipped" burgers, I chose the chorizo burger, which was a spiced pork patty with romesco ketchup, hash browns, a fried egg, manchego cheese and smoked mayo. I am normally tentative about order things with a runny yolk, but this was actually pretty delicious.

For any Atlantans that may read this, we went to the Flip Burger location in Buckhead. When my wife and I had gone to Flip Burger on our first Atlanta trip, we went to the other location. We definitely preferred the original restaurant. My sister informed us that the Buckhead location is in a much more trendy area, and you could definitely get that vibe as soon as you walked in. A very metro crowd, an inattentive waitress and slow service were sadly our biggest impressions of the experience. We each enjoyed our menu choices, but I don't think the fun and playful nature that is Richard Blais cuisine shined through. I'm sure part of this can be attributed to the fact that we went there directly after a 13 hour drive and were in various stages of exhaustion. I've heard he's opening a restaurant soon, and I look forward to someday getting the full Blais experience.

Day Two: Holy Taco and South City Kitchen

My wife and I researched Atlanta eateries prior to our trip so that we'd have a good choice in terms of price and variety from which to choose. I'd been campaigning for us to try this place called Holy Taco because the menu seemed eclectic and affordable. My sister, sarcastic bugger that she is, thought it sounded weird, but finally relented for a quick lunch prior to going to Coca-Cola World (which, by the way, is incredibly cheesy but an all right tourist-y thing to do if you're ever in Atlanta). As we drove to Holy Taco my sister realized it was in a "hippie" part of town, which was all right with me. You can get some good eats at places like that.

We arrived and were greeted by a nice enough fellow who claimed he would be our waiter. Read on to find out why I say he claimed to be a waiter. The menus (in true hippie fashion) were printed on what appeared to be recycled paper, which was fine, and the menus themselves seem to have been recycled throughout the restaurant, which would also be fine, but for one exception. I'm all for being green and all that jazz, but when there is dried food stuck to the paper menu, it's time to stop handing it to your patrons. As the rest of the meal unfolded, however, the dirty menu would become a minor detail.

We ordered our beverages plus a pitcher of sangria, then chose some house made chorizo and goat cheese stuffed paquillo peppers for starters. The waiter came back to the table with my sister's unsweet tea, and she asked for sweetener. That never came. Oh, and the sangria we ordered....yeah, that was nowhere in sight either. After I'd say 12-15 minutes we asked our waiter if we could get sweetener and the sangria we ordered. His response? "Oh shit, I forgot to put that in." Now, we are a laid back bunch and can definitely let the bad words fly on occasion, but a waiter in a restaurant certainly does not know that. You do not use profanity with customers! At this point the service had gotten so bad we had no choice but to laugh at it. All right, hippie part of town, quirky sort of waitstaff, I can deal with bad service to a certain extent, but this guy was writing the book on how not to wait tables though. Let's go back to the Idol posting days:

Long gaps without checking on your table...check!
Profanity in front of the customers...check!
Telling your customers it's your first week...check!
Forgetting part of their order...check!

The sad part is the food was actually pretty good. My sister got a fish dish that was solid, my dad's quesadilla was safe but effective and my wife's tacos, while unspectacular, were good lunch food. I got a house cured pork belly torta that was out of this world. You know what would have been a great accompaniment to it? The stewed black beans I ordered but never received. The service was so atrocious that I simply can't recommend this restaurant, which is sad because it did show promise.

Our dinner spot for the night was a place called South City Kitchen. They specialize in slightly upscale versions of traditional Southern foods. We're in the Deep South, right? Bring it on. My sister actually suggested this place, so the upcoming credit or blame goes to her.

Luckily for us, we'd made reservations because this place was pretty packed. We were seated quickly, and our waitress was friendly if a bit odd. My dad had an urge for chicken livers, an urge I don't ever feel I'll share with him, so we ordered an appetizer of those just for him. To be able to give a fair and honest critique, I did try them, and the texture is just too awkward for me, not to mention the awkward taste that I just can't get used to. For the rest of the table we ordered what they referred to as a Maryland crab cake and a wild mushroom rusk. Let's start with the crab cake. Having spent summer in Maryland as a child, this was no Maryland crab cake. Far, far too much breading. I'm a crab junkie. Food snob moniker aside, if I had to choose a last meal it'd be a big pile of steamed crabs on top of some newspaper. Give me a hammer and some Old Bay and leave me be for a couple hours. This crab cake, sadly, was decent but forgettable. The mushroom rusk was really nice though.  It was served atop bread with an over easy egg that served as the sauce. Am I becoming a yolk convert? Am I?

Much to my sister's dismay (she likes to eat off of everyone's plate), she and I both chose shrimp and grits for our entrees. My wife has become a much more adventurous eater since we met, but shellfish still isn't her cup of tea, so I never cook it at home. Eating out is my only opportunity to spend some time with my crustacean friends. That and, like I said, we were in the South. How can I not get the shrimp and grits?! They did not disappoint. My wife got one of the specials, which was a pork loin with butter beans and house cured bacon. I thought it was a well executed dish from what I tasted, but she wasn't enamored with it. My dad chose a pork chop dish that came with a spiced carrot puree and a really nice pesto. I thought it was a well balanced, surprising dish. All in all I really enjoyed the meal. It was what I would expect form a place that claims to be Upscale Southern.

A funny aside to the meal was, after we'd just finished retelling a story of my wife, my sister and I seeing Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt a few years ago at Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, none other than Charles Barkley walks into South City Kitchen. My wife found it amusing that he was incredibly under dressed, but when you're Charles Barkley, who cares?

Overall South City Kitchen is a very solid restaurant. It has built a good reputation, and our experience there lived up to it. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to experience a refined take on simple Southern food.

This concluded the first two days of our trip. The next two days consisted of two completely different experiences, one of which being one of my five favorite dining experiences of all time. Due to the length of this post (not to mention my tiredness from a fully day driving back), the second half of our trip will be in a separate post. Check back soon for that.

American Idol Season Ten - Does Anyone Care?

I believe the title says it all. I fully intended not to post about last night's performances. Why? Because, much like the show, I felt I was simply repeating myself every week. After the results show, however, I felt compelled to at least say a few words about the overall health of the show. Here's a quick recap of last night's performances for you all.

Will.I.Am made his weekly appearance, Jacob was over the top, Haley growled, Casey can't really sing, Lauren was solid, Durbin's a much lesser Lambert, Scotty referred to himself in the third person and claimed he wasn't being country when he so clearly was, Pia is a great vocalist who won't have much of a career post-Idol, Stefano's voice is weak, Paul is pretty cool if you keep the guitar in his hands and the judges seem to think they're all bound for stardom. There, that sums that up.

My bottom three prediction was Jacob, Stefano and Haley with Stefano going home. Well, I got two out of three, with Pia thrown in for Haley. As you probably know by now, Pia was the "SHOCKING ELIMINATION!"

A) When there's really no clear favorite, is anyone being eliminated really that surprising?
B) If asked before tonight, would you have predicted Pia to win the show?

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding no. She's a nice singer, probably the best pure voice this season, but she was a balladeer on a show that's become increasingly more about personality over the past few seasons. Oh, and the judges and their outrage over Pia's ouster? You're the panel that chose to save a stand up comic with an upright bass a couple weeks ago. How's that decision looking now?

Nigel, I say again, what happened to your "we're done caring about having a balance between boys and girls, we just want the best finalist group we can get," statements a few months ago? You chose to make it an even five and five and add wild cards. Five contestants eliminated, all girls. There's what America thinks about your balance. And I might add that some of those eliminated contestants were two of the three judges' wild card picks (Stefano, who is the weakest overall contestant remaining on the show being their one remaining wild card). That's a pretty good indication of how your viewers feel about your judges.

This season's production tweaks and judging overhaul has not proven very successful. Love her or hate her, Kara Dioguardi usually gave real opinions at least. Steven Tyler is completely useless, J Lo comes across as fake far too often and Randy is the same throw away he's always been. Sorry to say it, but it's the truth. I did enjoy the opening auditions with this panel, but when it came time to give harsh but true criticisms, they've fallen beyond short.

All that being said, I'll probably finish out the season. I am, however, seriously contemplating making this one my last. My wife will be thrilled to read that last sentence. Baby lock them doors and change the channel....