Since I work downtown, the main objection to heading that way when there’s a big sporting event in the city – the price of parking – is not an issue. So while all the surface lots and some of the decks started raising their rates upward of $40 to rip off the fans of Auburn and Mizzou who had come to town to see the SEC Championship Game, Marie and the baby and I enjoyed the crowds and seeing everybody having a great time at no additional cost. But we also got a reminder that there’s no substitute for common sense when there’s a big event in any downtown district. When we returned to our employee lot, Marie and I caught a scam artist “selling” spaces in our lot for $20 a head before beating it. We made sure that none of his victims got towed, but it’s worth a minute to remind everybody reading this to only park in a legitimate space, and give your money to somebody who has a right to take it. Continue reading “Max’s Coal Oven Pizzeria, Atlanta GA”
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)”
Monterrey, Doraville GA
Longtime readers may recall that once every three or four months, I’m overcome by an insatiable craving for basic Americanized El-This-Los-That Tex-Mex. I’ve mostly given up trying to find someplace new to get this grub, because even though I like the idea of finding some ostensibly new content for the blog, it’s just about impossible to find anything new to say about it. There are, of course, only so many ways to describe the same food from the same supply company doled out to allegedly different restaurants. So the last couple of times I got the craving, I just quietly went someplace by myself and left the camera at home. Continue reading “Monterrey, Doraville GA”
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)”
Where There’s Smoke BBQ, Mansfield GA
For the second stop on our Eastern Suburban BBQ Tour, the kids and I drove further out I-20 to what Urbanspoon defines as the extreme outer edge of the Atlanta region. A little past Covington, exit 98 brings you to GA-11. Four miles north of the highway is Social Circle, the home of the celebrated Blue Willow Inn. Seven miles south of the highway is Mansfield, a very tiny town of about 400. Deer hunting is very big in this community on Saturdays. Just about everybody that we saw, either at the restaurant or at a small convenience grocery store on the town square – the only other place open for business on a Saturday in the immediate area – was dressed in wintertime camouflage. Continue reading “Where There’s Smoke BBQ, Mansfield GA”
Bradley’s Bar-B-Que, Conyers GA
If our statistics are any indication, the barbecue map that I built for the CommunityWalk site is one of the most popular features on our site. There’s a link to it at the bottom of just about every chapter about a barbecue restaurant that we’ve posted over the last couple of years and it gets a lot of traffic from barbecue lovers. I was looking at it a few months ago and decided that the eastern suburbs were underrepresented on it. I picked four to visit, stopped by one of them in October, and, one Saturday last month while Marie was working, I took the kids out for an indulgent day of three lunches. Continue reading “Bradley’s Bar-B-Que, Conyers GA”
Timone’s Local Pizza Joint, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Last month, Marie and I enjoyed that rarest of treats: a date night. The kids were being watched and we had time to stretch our legs and enjoy each other’s company without worrying about our respective Baby Alarms going off. The weather outside was pretty awful, blustery and cold with just enough rain to make driving a small aggravation, but by the time we made it to Timone’s Local Pizza Joint in the Morningside neighborhood, it dried up a bit. Continue reading “Timone’s Local Pizza Joint, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 