In 1976, Buford Highway looked very, very different. While today we celebrate it as the Atlanta area’s original home for cooking and cuisines from around the world, in ’76, it was just another busy suburban four-lane with all the same restaurants and shops as every other busy suburban four-lane. The Baldinos was then a Pizza Inn, the Monterrey was then a Shrimp Boats, the Farmers Market was then a Lionel Play World, and that patch of demolished flat ground at the intersection with Oakcliff was then a Hardee’s. Also, that porn theater that everybody giggles about was a mainstream movie house, showing Freaky Friday. Seriously. Continue reading “Havana Sandwich Shop, Brookhaven GA”
Category: buford highway
Man Chun Hong, Doraville GA (take two)
I had half a mind to order something different at Man Chun Hong, but I didn’t. I’ve eaten here half a dozen times now and I get the Shan City chicken each time. It’s just amazing. We found this restaurant a little more than a year ago and it’s completely defeated any interest we may have in trying new things and exploring. Other than a few reliable plates of barbecue, a couple of burritos and a particular chili dog, this dish is my favorite comfort food in the metro Atlanta area. Continue reading “Man Chun Hong, Doraville GA (take two)”
Panahar Bangladeshi Restaurant, Atlanta GA
Panahar, which for many years was the only Bangladeshi restaurant in the Atlanta area, had been on my to-do list for quite some time. It had been sitting there for so long that another Bangladeshi restaurant, Purnima, opened since I’ve been saying I needed to get over here. Purnima had really impressed all of us who visited. What were the odds that the lunch buffet at the venerable Panahar would please me as much? Continue reading “Panahar Bangladeshi Restaurant, Atlanta GA”
Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA (take two)
When anybody talks about the best Vietnamese restaurants in Atlanta, Nam Phuong is one of the names you’re going to hear. I think this place is consistently excellent and always a pleasant surprise. Either by myself or with Marie or with friends, we’ve been to both of their Atlanta-area stores a few times and enjoyed some terrific meals. Continue reading “Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA (take two)”
Spicy Gaga Duck, Doraville GA
We haven’t featured any stories from Atlanta’s Buford Highway in a while, so we’re fixing that. It’s Buford Highway Week at Marie, Let’s Eat!, and here’s the first of five chapters about trips we’ve taken to this incredibly popular corridor over the last couple of months. Continue reading “Spicy Gaga Duck, Doraville GA”
Pollo d’el Rey, Chamblee GA
One of the older little strip centers on Buford Highway, on the left if you’re going south inside the perimeter, has been home to a Domino’s Pizza – sorry, we’re not allowed to call them that anymore, they’re just Domino’s – for thirty years. Since Buford Highway is constantly changing and evolving, even more than most corridors in Atlanta – at least five of the restaurants that we’ve featured here in the last three years have shuttered, including two announced just this past weekend – we sort of notice when something sticks around that long, especially since even the larger national chains abandon their buildings or knock them down with oddball regularity here.
Plus, I have a remarkable anecdote about this Domino’s that I’d love to tell you one day, off the record. Buy me a ginger ale sometime. Continue reading “Pollo d’el Rey, Chamblee GA”
Purnima, Chamblee GA
I’ve been trying for years to get Marie to sample and enjoy Indian food, with no luck. Not even Chai Pani, our city’s (and Asheville’s!) best Indian restaurant, thrills her. So last month, she and Marilyn from Atlanta etc. were tossing around ideas for a Saturday lunch and settled, to my considerable surprise, on Purnima. It’s a Bangladeshi restaurant, which sounds pretty darn close to Indian to me. I double-checked a map of Asia and raised an eyebrow. Continue reading “Purnima, Chamblee GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 