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)”
Category: goodbye
Cobb County Creole
2012 has actually been a pretty eventful year for Cajun and Creole cooking in Cobb County, with one new restaurant, one closure, and one reopening. Perhaps the first four months of every year are like this, and I only just happened to be paying attention this time out, but it seemed unusual to me. Continue reading “Cobb County Creole”
The Starlight Cafe, Marietta GA (CLOSED)
Growing up, I remember a restaurant on the Marietta Square called Jimmy the Greek. At the time, I was aware that CBS Sports had a commentator who went by that name. It’s not like ten or eleven year-olds pay that much attention to who provides commentary and picks before the games or the fights, but Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder (born, according to Wikipedia, Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos in Steubenville, Ohio in 1918) was so well-known that, like his peer at ABC, Howard Cosell, he was parodied on many of the sitcoms, variety shows and Saturday morning programs that I watched as a kid. And, as a kid, using child-logic, I concluded that the real Jimmy the Greek must have not only owned the restaurant by that name in Marietta, but also greeted guests and cooked all the food. I vaguely recall being disappointed to learn that was not the case. I really wanted to meet another celebrity. By the age of eleven, I think the only celebrities that I had ever met were behind tables at car shows. Continue reading “The Starlight Cafe, Marietta GA (CLOSED)”
Peace Love and Pizza, Kennesaw GA (CLOSED)
There have been a few instances over the course of this story where I have written about, and sneered about, the fake nostalgia of “fifties diners.” You know the ones that I’m talking about. In the actual 1950s, there were probably no posters of James Dean or Marilyn Monroe in diners, any more than today you see posters of, I dunno, George Clooney or Jennifer Lawrence in contemporary-designed restaurants. And you certainly didn’t see any posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, drawn by some barely-adequate airbrush artist, sharing a chocolate malt back then. I like authenticity. Continue reading “Peace Love and Pizza, Kennesaw GA (CLOSED)”
Henry’s Louisiana Grill, Acworth GA
I’m a sucker for attention and personalized service from owners of good restaurants. Chef Henry Chandler either saw me walking along Acworth’s main street, looking in windows and snapping photos of the beautiful old buildings and figured me for some loudmouth with a web page, or he treats everybody who comes into his place as a valuable guest, because I hadn’t been in his restaurant for fifteen seconds before he took me by the hand, welcomed me with a roar and thanked me for coming. Continue reading “Henry’s Louisiana Grill, Acworth GA”
Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Every once in a while, objectivity flies right out the window here at our blog in favor of wild, emphatic gushing. This is one of those chapters.
When I was living in Athens, and waxing eloquent about the amazing Mean Bean to anybody who would listen, I would occasionally get reports back from Atlanta about a place called Tortillas. They predated the Mean Bean by a few years, long enough to already have an imitator, Frijoleros, that I tried once in the late eighties. Somehow, though, possibly because high schoolers have far less of an awareness of the world around them than they would like to think, I never heard of Tortillas, or it never registered, until the early nineties, when I started reading papers like Creative Loafing and hearing every one of the burrito joints in Atlanta compared, unfavorably, to the mighty Tortillas. In time, there was a craze that started. Raging Burrito, Z-Teca (which became Qdoba), Chipotle, Willy’s, Moe’s and plenty of others started up, and, in time, Tortillas started feeling the effects. They shuttered in the spring of 2003, after a 19-year run. Continue reading “Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
I don’t know whether they’re ever apparent to you good readers, but I do like to occasionally find some kind of an angle to a chapter here, especially when I write a chapter with two different restaurants. Well, beyond just “here are two places where we ate recently,” I mean. Last week, I thought that I was onto a good one when David suggested that we follow up our lunch at Decatur’s No. 246 with a visit to Perla Taqueria near Cheshire Bridge. He had eaten here a couple of weeks previously, and emailed just about all his local friends as soon as he got back to the office to warn everybody about their incredibly hot sauce. Evidently, he seemed to think that I had not actually read that email when he then told me how I really had to try this place. Continue reading “Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 