The last time that I went out to try some local Indian food, I found myself choking back the tears at the nearly too-hot-for-words Planet Bombay. So, a couple of weeks later, when the sidewalk took me to NaanStop at its first brick-and-mortar store in Atlanta, I decided to sample a wider range of flavors other than “painful.” The restaurant has joined many others on the shaded lane of Broad Street, next door to Rosa’s Pizza, serving up quick “street food”-inspired Indian meals for GSU students and bankers in the area. I had read a little buzz about NaanStop opening, and walked the six-tenths of a mile from my job to get there as they opened a couple of Fridays back. Continue reading “NaanStop, Atlanta GA”
Category: georgia
Shorty’s Pizza, Atlanta GA
I celebrated the start of the college football season by listening to most of the first quarter of the Dawgs game, and most of the fourth. I had some business in Atlanta that afternoon, but had time enough available to grab a small pizza somewhere around Briarcliff or Clairmont. I settled on Shorty’s, which is hidden in an invisible strip mall behind the Longhorn Steakhouse that’s across the street from Toco Hills. I’ve been on this stretch of North Druid Hills better than a hundred times, easy, and I had no idea there was a strip mall there. Continue reading “Shorty’s Pizza, Atlanta GA”
Raging Burrito & Taco, Decatur GA
The last Friday in August, I went to have lunch at Raging Burrito in Decatur, and had such a comically awful experience both getting there and coming back that the venerable little joint stood out even brighter as a genuine oasis in a couple of hours of slapstick misery. I wrote it all out in an earlier draft, but it read more like whining than congenial exasperation, so you’ll just have to trust me: everything that could go wrong, short of trips to the hospital, police station or auto repair shop, did, in two hours and fifteen minutes of urban angst so meticulously timed that I started looking for the hidden cameras. Before it was over, I was sorely tempted to return, pay for some more minutes on the meter, and close the outside world away to have another burrito. Continue reading “Raging Burrito & Taco, Decatur GA”
Spiced Right Rib House, Roswell GA
Here’s yet another long overdue chapter about a good place in the Atlanta area. Spiced Right is a restaurant that I’ve enjoyed a good deal more since their ownership changed in the early 2000s. In many previous chapters, I’ve mentioned how I used to have an old, ugly, Geocities page about Georgia barbecue restaurants. A reader had encouraged me to visit Spiced Right at what was at the time their only location, in Lilburn. So I trucked on down from Athens and did not enjoy the meal very much. It was my first experience with a barbecue buffet, and, while I can no longer remember details, I did not enjoy the taste of any of the meat. I was, on the other hand, really taken with their gigantic collection of sauces – a collection perhaps rivaled today by Buckhead Barbecue Company in Smyrna – but decided against making a return visit. Continue reading “Spiced Right Rib House, Roswell GA”
Figo Pasta, Atlanta GA
It’s not like we are scheming to visit every one of Figo’s locations in Atlanta, but the road took us to a fourth store on Saturday. The location on Collier Road was actually the chain’s first, and it opened in 2002 for carry-out only. The last decade has seen Figo grow to, at present, seven stores, and inspire at least two imitators in the southeast. We have written about Figo twice before, and don’t often craft revisit articles for the blog, but this was a fun little event that we wanted our readers to know about. Continue reading “Figo Pasta, Atlanta GA”
The Capital Grille, Dunwoody GA
This is Marie, contributing an article about the The Capital Grille. Grant and I were invited to their media preview night for their newest location, in Dunwoody. This is a restaurant that concentrates on making their guests comfortable, in a dressy, low-light setting, as much as concentrating on presenting good food. Continue reading “The Capital Grille, Dunwoody GA”
Izumi Asian Bistro, Woodstock GA
A few Saturdays back, Marie and I were planning to stay in our neck of the woods for supper, having already spent the afternoon inside the perimeter. She said that she was in the mood for Thai, and a quick look over Urbanspoon pointed us toward Izumi, a restaurant on Towne Lake Parkway in Woodstock. We’ve driven past this place many times before without really noticing it. It’s on the corner of a strip mall with a quite nice patio out front, and since this was just about the first Saturday evening in living memory that wasn’t boiling, we enjoyed kicking back outside with three dozen or so other diners, enjoying the music of a good singer and guitarist named Sonny Legaspi. Continue reading “Izumi Asian Bistro, Woodstock GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 