Rhea’s, Roswell GA

I did you good readers a terrible disservice by forgetting about Rhea’s! I should have found time to pop back over to Roswell and sample their food and take some pictures ages ago. I was introduced to it by a nutty girl named Kristi, a former co-worker from a job that I once had in Alpharetta. She was emphatic that theirs were the best hamburgers around, and so I had a few suppers at the closest location to the office on the occasional long workdays at the end of the month that had me getting an evening meal before driving home. Doing a little research for some background now, I see that she’s still preaching the good word. I found her in the comments of CitySearch, praising Rhea’s. Continue reading “Rhea’s, Roswell GA” →

Chicken and the Egg and Canvas, Marietta GA

A couple of weeks ago, I indulged and treated myself to two lunches out at places new to me. One has recently opened and one has been around for a few years. I picked Chicken and the Egg, a new restaurant in a huge space in a strip mall on Whitlock, based on several glowing reports. Amy on Food has been there twice and has been quite complimentary. It’s a farm-to-table place where the owners and chefs are striving for sustainability and a sensible approach to fresh eating. Continue reading “Chicken and the Egg and Canvas, Marietta GA” →

Henderson’s, Thomasville GA

I had two very good reasons, I thought, for picking Henderson’s as a place to visit in Thomasville, but neither of them were enough to sway our friend Victoria about the plan. She grew up in Thomasville and assured us that there were many better restaurants*. She said that we were certain to enjoy a much-loved pool room that serves awesome chili dogs, and I must agree that does sound like fun. Continue reading “Henderson’s, Thomasville GA” →

Trappeze Pub, Athens GA

My older son has been largely absent from this blog lately, on account of him, miserably, choosing to live with his mother in the end. But before he went up to Kentucky the first time, he and I had a very neat visit to Trappeze Pub on Washington Street in Athens. The wonderful artist Sergio Aragonés, best known for his work in Mad and his lovable character Groo the Wanderer, was in town to receive an award from UGA’s art school, and our friend Patrick gave us a heads-up that he and some of the other local comic artists and cartoonists were hoping to have a beer with him before the ceremony. So my son and I went to Athens early and were at Bizarro Wuxtry when the call came, and, after getting turned around and not knowing where the heck Trappeze was, we found the group, met some new acquaintances and enjoyed Sergio’s company. I had a beer and asked for a Sprite for my son, joking that he was my designated driver. Continue reading “Trappeze Pub, Athens GA” →

Clocked!, Athens GA

This is Marie, contributing an entry about Clocked! in Athens. Every once in a while I take a trip up to the town I lived in longer than anywhere else in my life, and generally any little excuse will do for a visit. Sadly, the arrival of the baby sharply reduced the number of trips, but I still try to make it up when possible. In this particular case, a former neighbor of mine happened to be free, so we had lunch together with her husband and kids before I went and did a little shopping and visiting. Continue reading “Clocked!, Athens GA” →

Kaleidoscope, Atlanta GA

Proclaiming anybody’s burger as the best in a burger-packed powerhouse of a city like Atlanta seems like asking for trouble. Longtime readers might recall that I have considered The Vortex to be Atlanta’s best burger joint among a whole mess of very strong contenders. Our neighborhood burger restaurant, Cheeseburger Bobby’s, is the one we visit the most often, as they serve up a super product at a great price with just about the best staff of any restaurant in town. Also, they are one traffic light away from us. Sometimes, that means a lot. Anyway, if we do end up moving to North Carolina in two years, we’ll probably have to come back a lot for burgers, especially since I understand that state law doesn’t allow restaurants many cooking options for ground beef, limiting the juiciness potential. Well, I guess that the Cook Out chain is about on the same level of quality as Bobby’s. Wish that they had indoor seating, though.

In the late summer, I ran across Serious Eats’ blog A Hamburger Today and, once I started paying attention to it, I saw that a local writer named Todd Brock has been spreading the good word about Atlanta’s offerings. Back in February, he gave a major thumbs-up to Kaleidoscope, a “gastropub” in Brookhaven in a new development on Dresden Drive just a little ways below the MARTA station. Their burger won out as the Judges’ Choice over twenty competitors in the city’s October 2010 Battle of the Burgers, with the restaurant a good two months away from opening.

I figured this required a little investigation. I wasn’t disappointed.

It was a good day to start with, as Georgia didn’t just beat Auburn, we took the Tigers out behind the woodshed and administered a whipping the likes of which nobody will forget. Time had eroded my memory of how fun it is to try rocking a toddler to sleep while whooping and hollering and bellowing bits of our fight song. Suffice it to say that I was enjoying the afternoon a little more than the baby was.

We met our friends Victoria and James for supper and, while we waited for the burger, we shared baby stories and baby stories and more baby stories. We also shared a little order of roasted cashews tossed with a spicy Thai chili powder, and that was quite lovely.

Now, one thing that I’ll disagree with Brock about is the dollar that he spent getting a side of duck confit and bacon mayo for his fries. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve spent a lot better dollars myself. Where he’s not wrong is calling this absolutely worth adding to the discussion about the best burgers in town. It’s amazing. I honestly don’t know that I’ve had one better in this burger-happy city. Two patties, pimento cheese, slaw, chow chow, bread and butter pickles, and just absolutely perfect. The owner and executive chef, Joey Riley, used to be head chef at Buckhead Diner and Goldfish, among other places. Fellow knows what he’s doing.

I don’t know what to add. When the argument has been settled so effectively, there’s really not a lot else to say. So we’ll leave it there… but in the next chapter, Marie goes to Athens and finds another contender.

Kitsch’n 155, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

I first read about Kitsch’n 155 back in the summer when the excellent Tomorrow’s News Today blog did a really encouraging preview of the place. I don’t have quite the love of silly ’60s kitsch that I once did – Marie and I, finding less of value in possessions of late, seem to be decluttering down to a zero point of stark austerity to compensate for the unbelievable clutter that comes with a baby – but certain design elements of this retro style are still incredibly appealing. I love clocks and ceiling fixtures with all those silly antenna-like appendages, and the jaunty “kitsch” font – I’m not sure what it is called – that invariably accompanies photo books about the silly 1950s and 1960s found objects that inform the style.

In their report, Tomorrow’s News Today also linked to a favorite site of mine, Not Fooling Anybody, a glorious site that has been promising updates for ages and ages. It’s become so much a part of our road tripping vocabulary that whenever we see a distinctive, vintage fast food building that has been retrofitted to become some other business, we point it out and say “Not fooling anybody!” One fantastic example, just down the road from us, is Dive Shop on Sandy Plains Road, which clearly used to be a Taco Bell. It’s actually about three doors down from a former Del Taco, known to area residents in the late ’80s as “The Murder Del Taco,” which later became a breakfast and meat-and-three place called Joyful Diner. We were sad to see that diner close.

I mention this because owners Randy and Lisa Stewart, serendipity on their side, found a terrific location for their restaurant. It’s the former Athens Pizza Express on Clairmont, which, of course, used to be an Arby’s. A lot of garish paint later, and they are cooking up some mean burgers. Ten essential Atlanta burger joints. Does that sound like a good chapter for a first-of-the-month entry? Maybe in January.

David had driven past this place a few months back and thought, correctly, that I’d like to see it. He and I actually had other lunch plans a couple of Thursdays back, but we were over at the Book Nook on North Druid Hills and I suggested we stop by and try this place instead. The goal here is classic American comfort food, done extremely well. They’re doing all the expected things like getting their meat from local farmers (Coleman and Creekstone) and cutting their fries fresh. Nevertheless, I mused, as we were waiting for our orders, that I probably should have ordered the day’s special, which was cod with two sides. Priced at $9.50, it’s a better value than a cheeseburger with just one side. That was before I had a bite of the cheeseburger, which was even better than I thought it could be. Marie needs to try one of these; I’m not sure that they aren’t even better than Farm Burger.

David had the grown-up grilled cheese, served with bacon, tomatoes and onions, and said that it was quite good. He also had a cup of chili which was better than any chili that I’ve sampled in ages. I really liked the touch of adding fresh jalapenos for maximum punch. I declined to ask them to add jalapenos to my burger, incorrectly thinking that they’d just be the far less tasty canned ones. David figured that he’d rather pass on the peppers once he saw them on his chili and asked whether I wanted them. Despite my burger being a gigantic, sloppy mess already, I found room.

The one sour note was the extremely high prices for bottled sodas and, in turn, ice cream drinks. After already spending $10 for a burger and fries, $2.50’s just feels far too much to pay for a bottle of Red Rock or Cheerwine, although, sadly, a few days later, I ran into another new restaurant that charges even more for a glass bottle of a small-market soda. I did think about getting a float when I finished and had a bit of a sweet tooth, but I couldn’t justify the cost. For five bucks, I could make many Cheerwine floats at home.

Fortunately, David had a mind to spend some money at Wuxtry, and there was a coffee shop right next door. I found my dessert – an iced cookies and cream frappe, served with an Oreo – and was perfectly pleased to enjoy something that I can’t make at home, for about a dollar less. ChocoLaté Coffee reminds me in the best possible way of Jittery Joe’s in Athens, with lots of comfortable couches and a wonderful, relaxed vibe with friendly servers having a great time at work. Certainly a fine day’s outing, I think.