This is Marie, contributing an article about another location of a place we’d been to and enjoyed, and we wanted to see what (and how) the original was doing. Booming business, it appeared; the place was completely packed and there were ridiculous lines for the food bar. But I get ahead of myself. Continue reading “The Real Chow Baby, Atlanta GA (take two) (CLOSED)”
Category: goodbye
Boyd’s Bar-B-Q, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)
In early November, my daughter and I were driving along South Cobb Drive in Smyrna and were surprised to see that a new barbecue place had moved into the building that had once been the home of StaQs. It’s an old, 1960s-era Waffle House, and this stretch of road has not been all that kind to restaurants in the last five or six years. We decided to swing by the next time we were in the area. She had a doctor’s appointment nearby in early December. I figured, wrongly, that she would eat lunch at school and have a side with me once I collected her. No, I made the mistake of sharing plans and she skipped lunch at school, waiting until we got to the counter to order to hit me up with puppy-dog eyes and tell me how hungry she was, and how good those wings sounded. Dadblasted young’un.
Well, I can’t say as I blame her. I’d have probably pulled the same trick on my parents. Continue reading “Boyd’s Bar-B-Q, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)”
Glenn’s Bar-B-Que, Conyers GA (CLOSED)
For the final stop on the Eastern Suburban BBQ Tour, the children and I visited Glenn’s, a restaurant with a lot of local history which is hanging in there despite a long series of setbacks. As I enjoyed the finely chopped, hickory-smoked pork, I was reminded of the flavor and consistency of what I think of as “classic Atlanta barbecue,” as exemplified by such older restaurants as Old Hickory House. But it is not only the food; Glenn’s backstory also reminds me of that restaurant. Glenn and Jean Yontz opened the first location of this chain in 1987 and, over the next decade, various family members opened satellite locations throughout the suburbs. At its peak, there were five stores in the chain, stretching from Snellville to Stockbridge. The chain failed in 2005. Continue reading “Glenn’s Bar-B-Que, Conyers GA (CLOSED)”
Osteria Cibo Rustico, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Earlier this month, Marie and I were invited to visit Osteria Cibo Rustico, a new restaurant in the Toco Hill shopping center on North Druid Hills Road. It opened in November in the space previously occupied by Mirko Pasta. It’s a new concept from the company that runs some well-known Atlanta restaurants like The Big Ketch and Tin Lizzy, but close-ish enough to what Mirko had been offering that they could, after a very short downtime, reopen with many of the same staffers in place, and count on a very loyal customer base to come back and give them a try. Marie and I were quite impressed to see so many people visiting on a Wednesday evening; the place was nearly full and with a pair of large parties. It says great things about a staff to see so many of their previous incarnation’s customers willing to come sample the new product. Continue reading “Osteria Cibo Rustico, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
1968 at Cafe 101, Doraville GA (CLOSED)
Here’s a place that we’ve been intending to visit for ages now, and not necessarily because of the food. In fact, the restaurant has changed owners since I first thought about stopping in for a meal, and, slightly, changed names. Many, many different restaurants (and, apparently, a car dealership!) have found a home in the old Oogleblook building on Buford Highway. Sensational Subs – a very nearly defunct Atlanta chain with, apparently, only one location remaining – had a store here in the 1990s. It has been called Café 101 since at least 2005, but there have been at least three tenants in that time, with three different menus. It’s been a Chinese restaurant since late 2007. In August, the restaurant was quietly renamed 1968 at Café 101, after the year that Chef Kao began cooking in Taiwan. His partner, Chef Yang, specializes in northern Chinese dishes. Continue reading “1968 at Cafe 101, Doraville GA (CLOSED)”
Pizza Pura, Asheville NC (CLOSED)
In the previous chapter, I mentioned that, by chance, we visited both of the two restaurants in Asheville owned by Laura Reuss and her husband Ben Mixson for supper before we left. I picked White Duck and asked Marie to pick another, and we never looked at the other’s choice beyond the names and were pleasantly surprised to find the two restaurants were sisters. Before the night was over, we’d be more than just pleasantly surprised. Continue reading “Pizza Pura, Asheville NC (CLOSED)”
Shrimp Boats: The Story of a Shipwreck and its Survivors
(Second edition, Sept, 2015)
One of the most fun elements of our hobby has been researching long-lost southeastern restaurant chains. It’s comparatively easy to get a little backstory about a single business, but the story can become much more convoluted and fascinating when we’re digging into the past for little traces of what’s left when something distinctive and fun is trying to vanish. We’ve enjoyed learning about the story of Zesto in Atlanta and Columbia, and really loved tracking down what we found about Kay’s, Kay’s Kastles, and Ice Castle. Continue reading “Shrimp Boats: The Story of a Shipwreck and its Survivors”
Marie, Let's Eat! 