Ming’s B.B.Q., Duluth GA

Since we live in the northwestern suburbs, we don’t often get to Gwinnett or Rockdale County for meals. These are the small suburbs that we typically rush through in the early hours on our way to Athens or other places. Over the decades, we’ve been missing out on an interesting cultural transformation. Continue reading “Ming’s B.B.Q., Duluth GA” →

Han Il Kwan, Doraville GA

As our regular readers know, we have been exploring the cuisines of other nations by focusing on Buford Highway in recent months. If you check out the category from the link above, you’ll see that, as of this post, we’ve now given a short spotlight to 20 restaurants across 17 chapters and are nowhere close to denting this corridor. So I was very pleased when I got an announcement about a new Meetup group that is also tackling this popular street, with dinners planned for maybe three or four times each month. Sadly, we have run into babysitting or scheduling issues for the next couple of get-togethers, but we hope to do this again soon. Continue reading “Han Il Kwan, Doraville GA” →

Penang, Chamblee GA

It is so good to know that we’re not the only ones who overplan, lay out our meals and set off on road trips with a stack of printouts from Google Maps. I did a little reading before we went to lunch with our friends Helen and Vincent at a Malaysian and Thai place called Penang and found a fun, albeit sadly dormant Boston-based blog called Sea Salted (linked below). Kate, the writer of that blog, confessed to the same habit. After I finished reading her recommendations about what to try at Penang, settling on the Crispy Golden Fried Squid, I enjoyed reading the rest of her road trip story. I’m sorry that she’s no longer writing, but I’m sure she’s doing well. She has the right mind set. Continue reading “Penang, Chamblee GA” →

Farm Burger, Dunwoody GA

This is Marie, contributing an article about Farm Burger Dunwoody, a recent addition to the franchise that we first visited in Decatur three years ago. We wound up there because of an unfortunate rebellion on the part of my car which required Grant to pick me up from the repair shop to which it had been towed. The baby in particular was totally thrown off and spent some time in the car sobbing that he wanted “eat-eat!” It’s hard to explain to someone with a still-limited grasp of English that although we needed to stop at an unnamed fast-food franchise to take advantage of their changing table (sorry, anonymous restaurant – I will have lunch with you sometime soon to make up for carrying a bellowing unhappy baby though your door) we were not stopping there, and the fries he would get at the actual location were going to be eating are better in all possible ways. And luckily we do keep a few munchies in the diaper bag for situations like this. Continue reading “Farm Burger, Dunwoody GA” →

Zyka and Niramish, Atlanta GA

A few years ago, Marie and I enjoyed a restaurant that was in one of the strangest locations anybody could think to set up one: inside an old roller skating rink. I was reminded of that when I pulled into what used to be a church on Scott Boulevard in Decatur. Most of the building is now a Montessori school, but the old rec room and kitchen has been refurbished into a no-frills Indian restaurant and banquet facility called Zyka, and it’s completely wonderful. Continue reading “Zyka and Niramish, Atlanta GA” →

Poutine

I had only tried poutine once before I sat down to a bowl of it for breakfast a few weeks ago at Bantam & Biddy. That was at a McDonald’s at a service island somewhere near London, Ontario, and I had a few bites and threw the rest out. But I’m not a fool; I figured that if I were to have ordered poutine at some little place with a line out the door in Montreal, I’d have been assured a better dish. What I had here was certainly bottom-rung stuff. I don’t recall whether it was actually and honestly listed on the menu as “McPoutine,” or whether I have just decided to call it that to emphasize the awfulness of what I ate, and to pass the blame and the judgement not on the dish, but on McDonald’s, who can make anything bad. Continue reading “Poutine” →

Photo Post 6: Two of Our Favorites

Over the previous seven chapters, we shared some restaurants that were new to us. It’s always a pleasure to visit new places and bring those experiences to our readers, but, to be perfectly honest, sometimes it is an even greater pleasure to revisit a place that we really love, and which has already been featured here. Continue reading “Photo Post 6: Two of Our Favorites” →