Once upon a time, Atlanta was home to a pair of remarkably good sandwich shops where people could go for authentic Cuban food: Havana and Kool Korner. Then, across two terrible years, Kool Korner’s owner retired (only to move to Birmingham, get restless and reopen his beloved store) and Havana burned to the ground. Fortunately, around the time that Silvesonso Ramirez went back into business in Alabama, Debbie Benedit and her son Eddie Benedit Jr. reopened Havana using most of the same recipes that Eddie’s grandfather Guido had used when he first opened Havana on Buford Highway in 1976. Then there was, briefly, some bad blood boiling as Eddie’s uncle started his own sandwich shop with a very similar name. That’s all in the past now, but doing further reading of older stories about this restaurant – see the list below – will probably find traces of the family disagreements. Continue reading “Havana Restaurant, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Seasons 52’s Autumn Menu
Our friends at Seasons 52 invited us to come back to their Dunwoody location to sample highlights from their autumn menu. We’ve written about this chain twice before, and noted that they revamp their menu somewhat about every thirteen weeks, adding a selection of wines that they label “Before they’re famous.” Continue reading “Seasons 52’s Autumn Menu”
Swapna Indian Cuisine, Smyrna GA
Since I mentioned a few chapters back that I intend to do a better job looking for reliable Indian restaurants in the Atlanta area, I received some recommendations from readers that sound terrific. I intend to visit those in the next month or two, but first, opportunity presented itself and I had lunch at Swapna on Cobb Parkway just outside the perimeter. I really wanted to try this place because, unlike several other places around Atlanta, it gets rave reviews for its buffet lunch. I really did enjoy the buffet at the since-closed Moksha in Roswell a lot more than I thought plausible, and I was keen to try different things at different restaurants. Continue reading “Swapna Indian Cuisine, Smyrna GA”
Daddy D’z, Atlanta GA
I’m pretty certain that, after Daddy D’z, there aren’t any more of what we might call the “iconic” Atlanta-area barbecue places waiting for us. It has been on my to-do list for many, many years and, one Thursday last month, I finally made my way over to Memorial Drive, near the state capitol building, to give it a try. It has been what you might call a “seasonal favorite” for quite some time. Its location is perfectly suited to drivers coming to see the Braves at Turner Field, and does most of its business during the baseball season. Continue reading “Daddy D’z, Atlanta GA”
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)”
Seven Hens, Decatur GA (CLOSED)
Perhaps schnitzel might be Atlanta’s next food trend? It’s showing up at a few places, and, this summer, a neat little place that specializes in chicken cutlet schnitzel opened in that same great strip mall where Wuxtry Records and Mediterranean Grill are located. It is called Seven Hens, and I first read about it when My Little Foodies gave it a writeup. It sounded interesting and, since Marie and the baby and I were out with our teenage girlchild one Saturday last month, we stopped by for supper. Continue reading “Seven Hens, Decatur GA (CLOSED)”
Special announcement: Hear us on “Find Dining”
If I can tear everybody away from talking about Taste of Atlanta – a major city event that, bafflingly, we completely forgot to mention in the thing what fer I’m ’bout to be talking ’bout – I wanted to let you know that about a month back, Marie and I were interviewed for the “Find Dining” podcast by Seth Resler of Mystery Meet. We got to talk about our blog’s origins, and why we do what we do, along with some talk about where to go and what to eat in the city, focusing on our recommendation, Leon’s Full Service in Decatur. I don’t know that we really did Leon’s completely proud, because we’re not as comfortable and familiar with it as we are with several other places, but we chose a place that we’d been to recently and which better fit the show’s theme than, say, the Orleagian Snowballs trailer. I hope that the good people behind Leon’s forgive us our stumbles, because they really do have a superb restaurant, and our recommendation that locals and visitors alike visit them is a genuine one. It is a great place!
We also played a lightning round, if you will, called “Out of the Frying Pan,” which apparently exists to make its participants slap their foreheads when they remember more and different ideas once they finish the phone call. In the case of the best dessert in town idea, for instance, while my love of Pie Shop is quite genuine and sincere, what I should have said was that Pie Shop is the best dessert in the city after supper. The best lunch dessert is actually a peach vanilla malt from Chapman Drugs in Hapeville.
But I got to acknowledge our debt to Calvin Trillin, and give a shout-out to all the great people at Roadfood.com, so it wasn’t a complete disaster, especially since Seth edited out all the bits where Marie and I stumbled and stuttered.
Our episode of “Find Dining” is now available, and you can listen to the podcast here, or download it from iTunes. As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck!
Marie, Let's Eat! 