Alon’s Bakery, Dunwoody GA (take two)

(Every once in a while, Marie goes to a restaurant that I’d visited without her, and about which I’d written a chapter, and feels that I could have captured it a little better. Rather than revising our previous story about Alon’s, here’s a revisit.)

Dear Grant,

I had the chance to go to Alon’s and didn’t think you said all there was to say about the place. Maybe you could add just a little more, at least in the way of photos? Even if not, at least you’ll know what kind of photos my phone is capable of, so I will be able to use it instead of borrowing the camera. Continue reading “Alon’s Bakery, Dunwoody GA (take two)” →

Olive Affairs, Brunswick GA

This is Marie, contributing an article about Olive Affairs. But first, I need to say a little bit about how I wound up there. Grant and I were having a separate weekend, with him taking the girlchild up to Tennessee while I brought the boychild down to visit his grandparents. Originally, the plan had been to collect a restaurant in Savannah after the boy worked off some of his wiggles in the Children’s Museum there, but the trip took longer than anticipated and I realized that the timing had us getting out of Savannah on a Friday at rush hour which although not up to Atlanta standards was nevertheless a Very Bad Idea. Continue reading “Olive Affairs, Brunswick GA” →

Photo Post 9: The Varsity, Atlanta GA

Everybody has written about the Varsity and shared all the same anecdotes, but for our 700th post here at Marie, Let’s Eat!, we wanted to come up with something special, so why not finally show off this Atlanta landmark and roadfood classic? But there’s something even more special about the Varsity that you probably don’t know. There’s a secret burger that’s not on the menu and it is, quite honestly, the best thing that you can order here. Continue reading “Photo Post 9: The Varsity, Atlanta GA” →

Himalayan Spice, Atlanta GA

Last week, when I was talking about Chai Pani, I referenced the upscale presentation of the typical Indian restaurant that we most often see in America, the tuxedo-n-curry type of business. I hope that I was very clear that my statements in no way belittled the food itself, which is frequently very good, but expressed a malaise with the tedious predictability of the dining experience, from knowing what you’ll find on the menu to what you’ll see on the walls, to what you’ll hear played over the PA system: polite, unthreatening, softly played music, the sort of gentle sitar pieces, occasionally with plaintive vocal accompaniment, that you might hear while getting a massage. This is why the raucous and joyful cacaphony that we now associate with Bollywood soundtracks was such a pleasant surprise to me; at least two generations in this country were convinced that all Indian music sounds like Ravi Shankar and his pals tuning their instruments at the start of the Concert for Bangla Desh, when there was so much more to learn. Continue reading “Himalayan Spice, Atlanta GA” →

The Rib Ranch, Marietta GA

If readers will forgive a little boasting when we usually strive for a little humility and, particularly where our fumbling photography is concerned, forgiveness, today’s entry is quite a milestone for us. The Rib Ranch is the 200th barbecue restaurant that we have featured at our blog. We’ve a long ways to go before scaling the dizzy heights of some of those Texas-based barbecue blogs – the astonishing Full Custom Gospel BBQ has three times as many, but also a four-year head start – but we are quite proud to have visited and photographed and presented so many places. Continue reading “The Rib Ranch, Marietta GA” →

Cazadores, Marietta GA

Several years ago, an online buddy of mine named Michael came from California to meet in person the sixty-eleven friends that he’d made in Atlanta. The trip worked out really well for him; one of those circles of friends had another friend visiting from Jacksonville. They met at a party and hit it off so well that she moved out to California to be with him; they’ve been happily married for about six years now. Continue reading “Cazadores, Marietta GA” →

Harmony Vegetarian Chinese, Chamblee GA

Earlier this month, we finally synched schedules with Emily and Adam of Spatial Drift and got to join them for supper. They’ve got a really fun lifestyle blog that I stumbled across while looking for links in the “other blog posts about” section that you see at the bottom of many of our entries here. A little over a year ago, Emily started a really neat project. Her goal has been to eat at every single restaurant on Buford Highway, starting at the southernmost, Pancho’s, and going north one by one. Continue reading “Harmony Vegetarian Chinese, Chamblee GA” →