A few weeks ago, I went out on one of my early days, and arrived at a restaurant far too early. I don’t object to waiting around for fifteen minutes for a place to open – that’s when I can get some good reading done – but I’d neglected to confirm when the restaurant actually opened, and while fifteen minutes is no problem, an hour and fifteen’s a bit much. Continue reading “Pancho’s, Atlanta GA”
Category: mexican
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)”
Taco Mamacita, Chattanooga TN
One of Chattanooga’s most popular restaurants these days is a fun little drinking hole, just a little bit naughty-minded, within a short walk from the main drag along the North Shore. Taylor and Mike Monen opened the first Taco Mamacita in 2008. It’s in a really curious location. They found a dying strip mall, anchored, sort of, by a Family Dollar, and opened the restaurant in the corner slot. It has been a huge success, allowing the Monens the chance to not only branch out into burgers via their popular Urban Stack, but also expand to other cities. The second Taco Mamacita opened in Nashville in late 2009, and a third opened on South Carolina’s Sullivan Island last summer. Continue reading “Taco Mamacita, Chattanooga TN”
We Tracked the Food Trucks to Smyrna
If our previous chapters about Atlanta’s food trucks have suggested that I’m still a little confused by them, that’s reasonable. As much as I wish to like the idea of them, something about the way they’re wrangled and rodeoed in Atlanta has left me stumped. It doesn’t help that not a month goes by without some bizarre bit of weird press, usually related to the city of Atlanta or one of the properties upon which the trucks park finding some new reason to inconvenience the trucks’ owners with some new permit or requirement. Continue reading “We Tracked the Food Trucks to Smyrna”
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)”
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”
Holy Taco, Atlanta GA
From what I know of Atlanta’s history, the East Atlanta neighborhood was thriving from the 1920s through the 1950s, which is when the building that is home to Holy Taco was built. It’s an old service station and garage that, like its peer on the other side of the street, was abandoned in the late 1960s, around the time that East Atlanta itself suffered the economic strain of white flight to the suburbs. Continue reading “Holy Taco, Atlanta GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 