One Friday last summer, I drove through Toccoa on a food-packed road trip through northeast Georgia to Clemson and back, and spotted a terrific old sign for a place called Bell’s. I photographed the sign for posterity and readers let me know, through comments and e-mails, what a mistake I made in not stopping for their fried chicken. Then I uncovered the existence of those two Maryland Fried stores in town and knew that I had to get back one day. As it turned out, we got to compare the two. Continue reading “Bell’s Hamburgers, Toccoa GA”
Maryland Fried Chicken, Toccoa GA
Here’s a conundrum. How best to explain an experience where the food was really quite good, served well and in a great little environment, but still left me just glum with disappointment? This might make more sense to readers who have been following us for a while, and know that I get a huge kick out of glorious old retro signs and well-maintained old buildings from the middle of the last century. That’s what sent me up the road to Toccoa: not the promise of good food, but the promise of a great chance to take some fun pictures. Continue reading “Maryland Fried Chicken, Toccoa GA”
Scott & BJ’s Bar-B-Q, Athens GA
Years ago, in some of the earliest chapters at this blog that mentioned barbecue around Athens, I lamented the closure of Carither’s, a very good restaurant that had been in an old red brick building on Milledge, near the old Bi-Lo and the bypass. I found it probably in 1995 and ate there off and on for the next decade. I was not the only one. The legendary ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson once called it the best he’d ever had. Continue reading “Scott & BJ’s Bar-B-Q, Athens GA”
Em’s Kitchen, Athens GA
This is Marie, contributing an article about breakfast in Athens. I’d first run across a mention of Em’s Kitchen on one of my favorite mommy blogs, the wonderfully eclectic My So-Called Mommy Life, from a post way back in the spring. Sadly, we go to Athens far less often than I’d like, and we didn’t get around to trying the place out until now. It is a breakfast and lunch place which does brunch on the weekends. Continue reading “Em’s Kitchen, Athens GA”
Cơm Vietnamese Grill, Atlanta GA
Back in August, Leslie from The Food and Me suggested that we meet up for supper at Cơm, the quite popular Vietnamese place on Buford Highway. It’s been doing good business for almost a decade and has been very influential both in the business world – when Nam Phuong opened, with its nice atmosphere, furnishings, and presentation, it was said by some to be an imitation of Cơm – and in making fans out of curious eaters. Leslie and I agreed that we should have more get-togethers with more bloggers, and then I hemmed and hawed and waited too late to properly invite people, but Food Near Snellville was able to make it, as did our friends and frequent fellow diners Vincent and Helen, and then Leslie got called into work and wasn’t able to join us. Boo! Continue reading “Cơm Vietnamese Grill, Atlanta GA”
Verde Taqueria, Atlanta GA
Every Labor Day, Dragon Con brings in some friends and family from around the southeast. This year, we were happy to go to a new place with our friends from Nashville, Tory and Brooke. We hadn’t seen Brooke in a stupidly long time; she missed coming to town last year, and the last few times I’d gone to the Music City, she was either working or, in one case, too sick to be social. So we were particularly glad to see her. And Tory, who’s always a joy. And their friend Holly, who came to town with them. Holly was wearing a WKU shirt and I mentioned that they started their season big with a win over the Wildcats. Holly wasn’t entirely sure that she knew that WKU even have a football team. Tsk. Continue reading “Verde Taqueria, Atlanta GA”
So Kong Dong Tofu House, Doraville GA
On the 30th of last month, Food Near Snellville racked up a big milestone: 500 Atlanta-area restaurants written up. So you know what I did that evening? I tweeted my congratulations to him, dropped off the girlchild at a football game, picked up Marie from work, and went out to meet Adam and Emily from Spatialdrift at our 500th Atlanta-area restaurant: So Kong Dong on Buford Highway. Continue reading “So Kong Dong Tofu House, Doraville GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 