Tostones Latin Cafe, Doraville GA (CLOSED)

This is Marie, contributing an article about Tostones Latin Cafe, a Carribean/Latin American style restaurant on Buford Highway. Strictly speaking, tostones are pounded fried plantains. This restaurant tops those with meat (chorizo, chicken, steak, etc.) and other ingredients. We were contrary and didn’t have any. Continue reading “Tostones Latin Cafe, Doraville GA (CLOSED)” →

Peace, Love and Pizza, Woodstock GA

Hmmm. A tricky subject, this one. A while back, I wrote about this place’s original location in Kennesaw and praised the really excellent pizza. I also, playfully I thought, teased the business on their design, made up principally from dorm room Hendrix posters, and got a barrel of buckshot from the business’s owner for my cheek. You wouldn’t think that a deeply silly chapter that evoked the omnipresent “Hey man! Is that Freedom Rock?!” TV ads of the late eighties would aggravate anybody, but some people are touchy. Suffice it to say that subsequent trips to Kennesaw to pick up their excellent pies were done very quietly, lest our cover be blown. Continue reading “Peace, Love and Pizza, Woodstock GA” →

Wyatt’s Country Bar-B-Que, Atlanta GA

For the past eleven years, Wyatt’s has defined the word “ramshackle.” This colorful shack looked like it was about to fall down when the restaurant opened in 2002, but it houses some wonderful and friendly people and some very good, and very interesting, barbecue. It’s on Memorial Drive, about three miles east of the better-known Daddy D’z, and near Ann’s Snack Bar. Continue reading “Wyatt’s Country Bar-B-Que, Atlanta GA” →

Chicken and Pepper Carbonara

This is Marie, sharing a recipe that I concocted because I couldn’t do what had been planned for the evening. Faced with the challenge of nevertheless making something that we hadn’t had before without being able to use the planned recipe for which the ingredients had been purchased, I poked around in my books and found something that, while all the ingredients for it were not actually present, I could still substitute and hope for the best. I chose baked spaghetti carbonara, and changed half of the ingredients. Continue reading “Chicken and Pepper Carbonara” →

Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC

Understanding the difference between a geographic divide and a cultural one might be the key to understanding North Carolina barbecue a little better. We’ll be coming up soon on our fourth anniversary of blogging and we have barely given the surface of barbecue in the Tarheel State a gentle rub, much less scratched it. I understand, for example, that the traditions of eastern North Carolina are not followed in the Lexington region, which, on the map, sure does look like the middle of the state to me, and not “western” North Carolina. I’m perhaps doing it wrong, dividing states into three geographic models, when the Tarheel traditionalists seem to split things half-and-half. Earlier this year, The Arrogant Swine penned a quite harsh criticism (12/15: link dead) of the western NC tradition of sliced pork. Since the Swine is a very open-minded blog, I’m not certain what surprised me more: the deep dislike espoused in the article, or the label. I’d have figured western NC as only the area on the left side of I-77, and not what looks to be the geographic center of the state. Continue reading “Herb’s Pit BBQ, Murphy NC” →

Alison’s Restaurant, Dunwoody GA (take two) (CLOSED)

Three Fridays back, we invited some bloggers to join us for another visit to Alison’s Restaurant in Dunwoody (see our original post about this good place, from back in May, here). I think that this is a simply splendid little neighborhood spot, the home of some classic Southern comfort food in a very nice setting with excellent service. But on this trip, Alison pulled out some secret weapons that elevate her restaurant from splendid to must-visit: the fried green tomatoes here are downright amazing, to say nothing of the pot pies. Continue reading “Alison’s Restaurant, Dunwoody GA (take two) (CLOSED)” →