Bhojanic, Decatur GA

We have not featured very many Indian restaurants on this blog overall, and certainly not recently. There are two reasons for this. Indian is about the only cultural cuisine that Marie sternly and firmly resists, finding no pleasure in it, and, last year, I just plain got spoiled by a wonderful place in Asheville called Chai Pani. I enjoyed it tremendously and, discouraged by many years of pre-blogging searching for really good Indian food, I guess that I just drew the line there. I simply have not been in the mood to search for anything new in Atlanta for many, many months. Continue reading “Bhojanic, Decatur GA”

Tofu Village, Marietta GA

You know how some restaurants just hide in plain sight? There used to be this mediocre Mexican place down the road from us, back toward the interstate. They had karaoke and refried beans, and not much else. I think that they closed in early 2006 and a Korean place called Tofu Village eventually moved in, and I never noticed, because I never paid attention to Korean food before. Continue reading “Tofu Village, Marietta GA”

Las Tortas Locas, Marietta GA

About a month ago, when I was having some Mexican-fare lunches on Buford Highway, I mentioned that I owed Las Tortas Locas another visit. On that occasion, I got so wrapped up in the book that I was reading that I genuinely did not pay any attention to the food that I was eating. Plus, I deprived myself of what looked like a terrific salsa bar. Continue reading “Las Tortas Locas, Marietta GA”

Banged Up and Mashed, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

A couple of months ago, Marie and the children and I went to the Atlanta Food Truck Park for a lunch experience that everybody else enjoyed more than I did. For those of you who missed that earlier chapter, my main objection is that I don’t like the unpredictable nature of food trucks. Either you go to the set place where they’re known to congregate, roll the dice and hope that the one you wants shows up, or you decide what you want and track down the truck, following it to where it’s parked. The reliability of “brick and mortar” storefronts – that’s so twentieth century! – seems lost on fans of the mobile food movement. Continue reading “Banged Up and Mashed, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”

Miss Betty’s House of Ribs, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

I’ll confess that there are some times when I select a new barbecue place purely by geography. I looked over our barbecue map – see the link down below – and reflected that Marie and I just don’t get south of I-20 all that often unless we’re leaving Atlanta entirely. So a few months back, I looked for places in that direction and set out for Miss Betty’s House of Ribs on Bouldercrest. I found it easily enough. It’s in a doublewide between a gas station and a house that, while technically abandoned and posted with no trespassing signs, has an awful lot of clothes hanging out to dry out back. It also wouldn’t open for another hour. My unusual schedule leaves me with a short day to go get some lunch in the city once a week around 10 am. I’m used to bringing books to read to pass the time until most places open for lunch at eleven, but joints that open at noon require a lot of patience. I decided that I would come back some other time. Continue reading “Miss Betty’s House of Ribs, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”

Ice Castle, Dalton GA

Earlier this year, while looking for some background information about the Kay’s and Kay’s Kastles chains – see our post about the lone remaining Kay’s Kastles, north of Chattanooga – I came across a really fun site called Roadside Architecture, whose owner has a great hobby that we can all appreciate: driving all around the country taking photos of silly old signs and novelty architecture. That sounds like too much fun for words. Continue reading “Ice Castle, Dalton GA”

Del Taco, Smyrna GA

…Atlanta store # 3 for Del Taco opened in the middle of July in Smyrna, at the intersection of Cobb Parkway (US-41) and Herodian. Most recently, the building had been home to one of the nine El Pollo Loco stores that briefly found a home in this region. This is the first of the new stores to directly compete with Taco Bell – there is one across the street and a couple of hundred yards south – and also with a traditional tacqueria. The excellent Tacos La Villa is just another couple of hundred yards north. Continue reading “Del Taco, Smyrna GA”