Once upon a time, Atlanta was home to a pair of remarkably good sandwich shops where people could go for authentic Cuban food: Havana and Kool Korner. Then, across two terrible years, Kool Korner’s owner retired (only to move to Birmingham, get restless and reopen his beloved store) and Havana burned to the ground. Fortunately, around the time that Silvesonso Ramirez went back into business in Alabama, Debbie Benedit and her son Eddie Benedit Jr. reopened Havana using most of the same recipes that Eddie’s grandfather Guido had used when he first opened Havana on Buford Highway in 1976. Then there was, briefly, some bad blood boiling as Eddie’s uncle started his own sandwich shop with a very similar name. That’s all in the past now, but doing further reading of older stories about this restaurant – see the list below – will probably find traces of the family disagreements. Continue reading “Havana Restaurant, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Category: goodbye
Big Burrito on the Square, Marietta GA (CLOSED)
For all our talk about trying new things and visiting new places, the honest truth is that, were circumstances entirely within my control, I would probably eat at Bell Street Burritos at least once a week if not more frequently. Sadly for me, and fortunately for our readers who presumably wish to read about more places than just the same one over and over, we live a really inconvenient distance from them. After a quite late morning at home running errands and catching up with my mail, I found myself wanting Bell Street again, but not really wanting to drive the 48 mile round trip to eat there. We may talk a lot about the suburbs being better than many credit them, but the price we pay for being within a hop, skip and jump from Brandi’s World Famous Hot Dogs is that we’re a disagreeable distance from several other wonderful favorites. Continue reading “Big Burrito on the Square, Marietta GA (CLOSED)”
Crepe Revolution, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)
Marie and I had been thinking about visiting Crepe Revolution for a really, really long time, and finally stopped by earlier this month. In a previous chapter, I wrote about how our Friday evenings are often spent at home, but we decided to meet halfway this time out and be a little social without fighting the traffic too much. Since my mother lives just a mile or so from Crepe Revolution, which is located in a quite nice mixed-use development in Smyrna that borders I-285 and Atlanta Road, we planned to meet there after work. Then Marie had an attack of Mommy Brain, and drove home instead. We figured it out eventually. Continue reading “Crepe Revolution, Smyrna GA (CLOSED)”
Bell Street Burritos in the Irwin Street Market (CLOSED)
Marie and I are occasionally asked how on earth we eat out as often as we do, and the truth is that we honestly don’t, not as much as we may appear. She cooks most evenings – and she cooks amazingly well – and our lunches are frequently either leftovers or deli sandwiches. I believe that what we do differently from many people is that we plan in advance and don’t waste meals on convenience or fast food, and when we do go out, we don’t often revisit a place, even if we enjoyed it. Certainly, there are exceptions – we can be found, many Tuesdays, having our family supper at Cheeseburger Bobby’s – and admittedly, we indulge on road trips, but for our staying-in-Atlanta meals, it’s reasonably simple to come up with four chapters a week and not burst the budget, especially since we often eat at two new places on Saturdays. Continue reading “Bell Street Burritos in the Irwin Street Market (CLOSED)”
Jerk Kitchen, Marietta GA (CLOSED)
We’ve hinted before that Urbanspoon has a flaw or two in it – just hop back two chapters – but that shouldn’t release restaurant owners from the responsibility of taking advantage of the darn thing. Take Jerk Kitchen for example. This is a pretty darn good Jamaican restaurant that’s just down the road from us, and it’s been there for almost a year without us knowing anything about it. The owners, a husband and wife from Kingston, working with a chef from Montego, chose what looks like a murderously tough space on the far end of a strip mall, sort of in the elbow between a Wal-Mart and one of those Chinese super buffet places. We never even look in the direction of either of those businesses, and had no idea this place was here. We only found it one Friday evening when, unsure what to eat, we started paging through the “recently added” restaurant list in Urbanspoon and found it listed, about ten months late. Continue reading “Jerk Kitchen, Marietta GA (CLOSED)”
The Greater Good Barbecue, Tucker GA
It has been several weeks since we last mentioned a barbecue place in our blog! We have, recently, been enjoying some pretty good ‘cue, but at places that we’ve visited previously. In July, we enjoyed stopping by Bub-Ba-Q, Ebony & Ivory, and Big Shanty Smokehouse. A couple of weeks ago, Marie and the baby and I also visited a very new place that opened in Tucker last month. The Greater Good Barbecue is owned by Clay Harper and Mike Nelson, who own Fellini’s Pizza and La Fonda Latina, and are, I believe, co-owners of Ringside Franks & Shakes, all of which we enjoy and have also featured here. (I’d link you, but too many blue words in a single paragraph is bad for your eyes, you know. Seriously.) Continue reading “The Greater Good Barbecue, Tucker GA”
Figo Pasta, Alpharetta GA (CLOSED)
Last month, Marie and I were invited to come join the staff of the Alpharetta Figo, along with ninety-nine hundred other hungry people, for their grand reopening celebration. We’ve written about Figo previously, and so we knew that we could expect some very good eating. What surprised us, pleasantly, was how incredibly well the staff at this location handled one of the biggest, wildest mobs on one of the warmest evenings of the summer looking for a free dinner. The place was jammed with hot, sweaty, hungry people and, doors wide open, precious air conditioning escaped into the sticky Alpharetta sky, and that staff rose to the challenge like champions. Continue reading “Figo Pasta, Alpharetta GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 