Tin Drum Asiacafe, Marietta GA

Since the last time that I wrote about Tin Drum, back in August of 2012, the small chain has expanded a little more. There are now thirteen stores in Georgia, although their Birmingham store shuttered last year. The most recent addition to their chain is near Town Center Mall, in the same strip mall that is home to Twisted Kitchen and a Cheeseburger Bobby’s. Continue reading “Tin Drum Asiacafe, Marietta GA” →

Banana Bread

This is Marie, sharing my own recipe for banana bread, arrived at over years of fiddling and originally derived from (I think) something in the Joy of Cooking. I really like banana bread, but only if it is moist and dense and richly banana-flavored. I made quite a few loaves that looked and tasted like bricks, using various recipes that people swore were great, before deciding to mess around with the recipe until it was actually right. One thing I discovered is that the texture I wanted really required Crisco, not butter. Another was that many recipes call for far too many bananas. Lastly was that salt is actually required, as it keeps the batter from getting too dry. So the commentary on bread that comes below the recipe is mostly what I learned while teaching myself how to bake. So if it’s written on a beginner level, that’s why – I developed this as a beginning baker. Continue reading “Banana Bread” →

Turkey Tacos at Del Taco

Devotees of fast food retail in Georgia may recall that, prior to Del Taco’s cautious re-emergence in Georgia two years ago, the chain was last seen (from c. 1996-2003) in a half-dozen shared-space locations, joint-menu joints with Mrs. Winner’s. None of these were located anywhere near convenient to where I lived during that period, but there was one in Woodstock on GA-92. In the spring of 2003, I moved – at the time, it was just me, the girlchild, and the rarely-seen older teenage boy – to our current digs in Kenne-rietta, a few exits south of this store. That very first weekend, I drove the children up here for supper, only to find that the franchisee had ended the long experiment a couple of weeks previously, and left these RTM-owned stores selling Mrs. Winner’s chicken only. (There’s a good overview of Del Taco’s history in Georgia at Sky City, if you haven’t already seen it.) Continue reading “Turkey Tacos at Del Taco” →

Holeman & Finch Public House, Atlanta GA

I have a perfectly valid excuse for us never trying the celebrated burger at Holeman & Finch before now. We’re in bed by ten and I used to work Sundays. So there.

Many of our readers seem to hail from Atlanta and are, therefore, possibly familiar with the last six years of silliness surrounding this sandwich. For the benefit of the rest of you, it’s like this. There’s this gastropub that grills exactly two dozen burgers a night, at 10 pm. If you want one, you show up before 9 and hope you made it. They also offer it on Sundays, where the wait can stretch from half an hour to three. I tend to agree with Jimmy from Eat it, Atlanta: this has gone on a bit long now. Continue reading “Holeman & Finch Public House, Atlanta GA” →

Peppino’s Pizzeria, Athens GA

Years ago, when I went back to school, as an older and nontraditional student, I joined a certain friendly society on campus, and, after our Thursday night meetings, it was tradition to walk as a group over to Peppino’s. This is when it was still downtown, on Broad Street, and usually just getting warmed up for the night around 10 in the evening. Continue reading “Peppino’s Pizzeria, Athens GA” →

Tipsy Pig BBQ, Lilburn GA

There’s a place in Gwinnett County that I almost went to visit one day in late October. Review Atlanta had written about Tipsy Pig in Lilburn and made it sound very promising. However, it is so far off the beaten path as to be just about halfway to Athens. I decided to set it aside until the next time we were heading to the Classic City. Since Tipsy Pig is, happily, open seven days a week, we could even go on a Sunday. Continue reading “Tipsy Pig BBQ, Lilburn GA” →