Since we work with both a backlog and several drafts, I’m writing this entry the day after Georgia again won the SEC Eastern division with a win over Auburn. It was a big one, a 38-0 shellacking on the Plains that had the orange-and-blue faithful dejected and abandoning Jordan-Hare Stadium at halftime. Continue reading “Hilltop Grille, Athens GA”
Category: casual american
Crepe Revolution, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)
Marie and I had been thinking about visiting Crepe Revolution for a really, really long time, and finally stopped by earlier this month. In a previous chapter, I wrote about how our Friday evenings are often spent at home, but we decided to meet halfway this time out and be a little social without fighting the traffic too much. Since my mother lives just a mile or so from Crepe Revolution, which is located in a quite nice mixed-use development in Smyrna that borders I-285 and Atlanta Road, we planned to meet there after work. Then Marie had an attack of Mommy Brain, and drove home instead. We figured it out eventually. Continue reading “Crepe Revolution, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)”
Bahama Breeze Launches “Legendary Island Cocktails”
To show off their new line of drinks, the people behind the Bahama Breeze chain threw a series of parties at several of their locations around the country. Malika from Atlanta Restaurant Blog hosted the event at their Kennesaw location, one of three in the Ettalanna suburbs, and one of only thirty nationwide. The only other Bahama Breeze stores in our travel area are in Jacksonville and Memphis; about a third are in central and south Florida. Like Seasons 52, this is one of Darden’s smaller chains, without the omnipresent, mediocre footprint of their Red Lobster or Olive Garden brands. They use coupon promotions all the time; we seem to get a $10 off a $20 meal voucher in the mail every three weeks. We haven’t redeemed one in years. It’s a big barn of a place, with sprawling patios and the omnipresent sounds of steel pan drums piped in everywhere. Continue reading “Bahama Breeze Launches “Legendary Island Cocktails””
Sisters Creole Market, Athens GA (CLOSED)
When Marie and I first began dating, we would probably most often eat in Athens at the restaurant that was nearest her house: the original location of Jot Em Down. The building was erected in the 1920s and, once upon a time, had been a small grocery store. Jot Em Down, for a time much beloved as the favorite barbecue in Athens of many writers, moved to the larger space on the old Macon Highway that had been the home of Parsons Restaurant, but it only lasted there a year or two. Continue reading “Sisters Creole Market, Athens GA (CLOSED)”
Tank’s Bar & Grill, Dayton OH
This is Marie, contributing an article about two restaurants in Dayton that I had the privilege to visit during a business trip to interview for a job in Dayton, Ohio. One of these was a place rather emphatically off my beaten path, and the other just the kind of place I could wind up visiting often. It was the first time I had been away overnight entirely by myself since the baby was born, and it definitely felt odd. There was another layer of oddness to it, in that I didn’t know whether when I came back from the trip I would be able to make a true decision about whether to take the position if offered, due to some legal unpleasantness mentioned in Grant’s last post. Continue reading “Tank’s Bar & Grill, Dayton OH”
Ajax Diner, Oxford MS
Road trip! For the baby’s first birthday, we went back to Memphis to visit Marie’s sister. Her brother and her mother also made their way to town, and we had a good three days of family time. We ate a little bit, too, and had a very good meal on the way to town at Ajax Diner in Oxford. Since finances and the recent expansion of the SEC has made it a little unrealistic to plan to actually visit all of the distant SEC towns like I wanted, we have mostly tabled our plan to stop by each of them, but Marie indulged me into making a detour through Oxford, the home of Ole Miss, to get lunch here on the way. I was torn between Ajax or Taylor Grocery, and finally selected Ajax because it is located right on the courthouse square, allowing us to do some leg-stretching and a little bit of shopping before getting back on the road, and driving through the lovely Ole Miss campus on our way to I-55. Continue reading “Ajax Diner, Oxford MS”
Tom’s Folly, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Wrapping up my recent trips to the eastern side of Howell Mill Road and the neighborhoods there, I stopped by Tom’s Folly after I noticed the restaurant, which is set up in an old bank building, and found the name charming. I didn’t know anything about the place when I opened the door, although my heart sank as I saw the “only 18 and over” sign, stepped in, nearly choked to death from the smell of old cigarettes, and made my way back outside to the front patio. Continue reading “Tom’s Folly, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 