CJ’s Italian Restaurant, St. Simons Island GA (take two)

Not content with confusing me with the long and involved story of Terry Gironda and all the restaurants that she’s owned on Saint Simons Island and in Brunswick and all the names that keep changing, Marie’s father took the initiative to confuse me further. He suggested that I tell you good readers that he “bored” me further, but I figure that if I were to print that, no matter how many disclaimers I used, the same sort of humorless bozos who thought that I was being negative about Atlanta’s Antico Pizza would be up in arms about how tactless it was to accuse my father-in-law of boring me. Especially in light of me spending two of the previous three chapters teasing Marie about where we’ve eaten on the island anyway, it just strikes me as a little wrongheaded. Continue reading “CJ’s Italian Restaurant, St. Simons Island GA (take two)” →

Southern Soul Barbeque, St. Simons Island GA

“Oooh, there’s a barbecue place,” I said. Four years ago. Well, you might have thought that I teased Marie enough two chapters previously. But this place, good grief. It took something like a dozen trips down here for Marie to finally add Southern Soul Barbeque to our island to-do list. She then began kicking herself for waiting so darn long. I just had to shake my head a little as she made happy faces and happy noises over the excellent pulled pork here. My silly, silly wife, waiting so long for a trip here. Continue reading “Southern Soul Barbeque, St. Simons Island GA” →

Blue Water Cafe and Barberitos, St. Simons Island GA

Here’s a first for our blog. Today, I’m writing about a restaurant where I did not get to eat. Before anybody harrumphs about any lack of journalistic integrity, however, it is a place where I have eaten previously. About four months before we started the blog, Marie’s father took us to dinner at Blue Water, a nice casual American restaurant on Mallery Street in the last building on the right as you’re approaching the Saint Simons Pier. On that occasion, I had the Mardi Gras pasta and really enjoyed it. Continue reading “Blue Water Cafe and Barberitos, St. Simons Island GA” →

Palm Coast Coffee and Cafe, St. Simons Island GA

In August, the four of us took another trip down to Saint Simons Island for a long weekend with Marie’s family. We scheduled the trip to coincide with her brother Karl’s vacation, all the better to sample the soaps that he’s been brewing at home – I’m really not at all sure how one judges soaps other than whether they get you clean and smell decent, which these do, but I’m really happy that he’s found such a unique hobby and hope that a fine profit can be extracted from it – and for the two siblings and their mother to spend hours playing these bizarre games that nobody else plays. This time out, one of the major attractions was something called Alahambra, which was uncannily like a “game” that my third grade teacher tried playing with us in math class in a failed attempt to con us into thinking that arithmetic is fun. Continue reading “Palm Coast Coffee and Cafe, St. Simons Island GA” →

Penzeys Spices, Sandy Springs GA

This is Marie, contributing a chapter about a new branch of our favorite chain of cooking store – Penzeys Spices. If you haven’t run across them before and you have any touch of the love of cooking in you, make sure you come to the store with a decent stash of money. Let’s just put it this way: the first year I made the traditional family spice cake with my first haul of Penzeys, it was roundly acknowledged to have been the best batch ever. Mom was converted immediately.

Anyway, it seemed perfectly reasonable to work Penzeys into some trips we made to Birmingham and Memphis, as seen in our previous article about them. You might imagine how pleased we were to hear then that a store would be coming to Atlanta sometime soon. It turned out to be opening this summer within 5 minutes of where I work. If only our budget weren’t constrained by the baby, I would consider this an excellent opportunity to clear out some of the older jars and replace them with new ones. Although honestly, although they recommend refreshing your spices once a year, the three-year-old cinnamon I kept out of curiosity’s sake seems just as flavorful as it was when I bought it. Maybe opening the jar doesn’t knock me off my feet any more, but then I’ve gotten terribly spoiled.

There’s a reason one of the popular dinners in our household comes on the night when I take out the chicken and ask what spices people want on their piece. Results vary (well, except for the person who shall remain unnamed because she’s a minor who chooses lemon pepper 99% of the time) but they are always at least good and often excellent. Grant has taken to asking for the Bicentennial Rub most of the time.

Penzeys sent a post card to let us know that they were hiring, and I thought that was rather clever as a marketing strategy, especially considering the unemployment rate here in Atlanta. They had to have gotten a huge pool of people really interested in the product that way, and if there’s a better way to staff a cooking store than pulling from the people who love their stuff already. That’s one of the real pleasures of shopping at a true foodie’s store. Unlike, say, the spice rack of the local supermarket, where if you see anyone hesitating it’s often only to compare prices, a fellow shopper at Penzeys is someone you can compare notes with, and ask what their favorite recipe is for whatever they’ve got in their hands.

Closer to the actual opening we got a coupon for a free box of four spices with a small purchase. The store is located on Roswell Road, in a shopping center near the intersection with Johnson Ferry. I smelled some new items and some old friends. The spacious, well-laid-out store was absolutely full of families and people browsing. I asked a few people what they like and got some terrific ideas for the kitchen.

Nifty Fifty’s, Philadelphia PA

(Honeymoon flashback: In July 2009, Marie and I took a road trip up to Montreal and back, enjoying some really terrific meals over our ten-day expedition. I’ve selected some of those great restaurants, and, once per month, we’ll tell you about them.)

So a month ago, I wrote about how Marie and I stopped by the terrific Little Hut Sandwich Shop for lunch before going to visit her aunt Bertie and uncle Bruce in Ridley Park. There was one other stop that we wanted to make before we went looking for their house, though. We asked the staff at Little Hut whether there was a Best Buy in the area. We were having a small issue with Marie’s laptop that required a little help from the Geek Squad.

Happily, one was not far away at all. They directed us to take a left at Lincoln, and travel in the direction that we were heading anyway, and go about three miles to Baltimore Pike, I think, and take a right. So we enjoyed that tremendously good sandwich and resumed our drive. We noted the place where we’d turn to get to Bertie and Bruce’s on the way back, and then saw a remarkably neat building on our right. I didn’t know what we would be doing for supper – it turned out that Bertie had some wonderful curried chicken salad waiting for us – but I knew exactly where I wanted dessert.

This was Nifty Fifty’s, and they have a few locations, apparently five, in the area. Basically, it’s a neon-flooded fifties-style diner, extremely popular with teens, and they do desserts worth driving a hundred miles for. I’ll have to disagree with the otherwise excellent review at Burt’s Food Blog about the feel of the restaurant. It’s fifties-style in the same way that the Johnny Rocket’s chain is, filtered through 1985’s window of nostalgia into the past.

I’d really like to try the burgers and fries at Nifty Fifty’s, because the drinks and desserts are just amazingly fun and decadent and delicious, and the service first-rate, suggesting that the kitchen might be relied upon for some more successes.

Amusingly, they claim to be the world’s largest soda fountain, on account of their willingness to mix flavors and give you everything from Lemon Dr. Pepper to Cherry Chocolate Cola to, errrm, Toasted Marshmellow Soda. I tried this one, against our server’s advice, and can confirm it was every bit as gloriously awful as I hoped. But the chocolate ice cream soda was more than worth the trip. Bertie had a big ole ice cream sundae and Marie had a chocolate banana shake, and we were all very pleased and stuffed. If the road ever takes us back towards Philly, I hope that we can return to Nifty Fifty’s.

We took lots of pictures, but, well, we’re in all of them. We hadn’t formalized taking pictures of our meals yet, so you’ll just have to imagine a crowded, bright interior with a pink neon glow illuminating everything. It’s not authentically 1950s, but it’s delicious all the same. I strongly recommend travelers stop by one of these places for a meal. They’re open all hours, serving their giant milkshakes and burgers.

Brick Store Pub, Decatur GA

For lunch a few Thursdays back, I treated myself with a little trip over to Decatur to finally check out Brick Store, a really nice pub that quietly boasts one of the most remarkable beer menus in the southeast. Well, the restaurant itself boasts quietly, and beer lovers rave from the rooftops. Between what’s on tap and what’s in bottles, there are something like 200 or more available here at any given time, rotating regularly. Even a lightweight like me who rarely drinks is in heaven here. There’s something at Brick Store for everybody.

When I lived in Athens, I would often drink at the downtown Mellow Mushroom, which was famous in town for its “Hundred Bottle Beer Club.” I was well on the way to making that century mark when one evening, a server decided to play a particularly ill-judged practical joke on our friend Matt that left him fuming. Electing solidarity with a justifiably outraged friend, I didn’t go back, but I had some fine evenings before then. I understand that Brick Store was opened by some former employees of that Mellow Mushroom who loved their place’s beer selection, although, in a pleasant surprise, the Athens pub that it most resembles is the lovely Globe. There are no TVs and no bad mass-produced beers. It opened in the summer of 1997 and has been racking up awards for its beer selection ever since.

The service here is genuinely first-rate. I was lucky to have an excellent server who settled my inability to choose between two beers by bringing me a taste of each. The imperial stout from Denver’s Great Divide Brewing that I sampled was indeed lovely, but I went with a Highlands oatmeal porter, from Asheville, as I had never had an oatmeal porter before. (My all-time favorite beer, incidentally, is Samuel Smith’s oatmeal stout.) The porter was completely delicious, and it went really well with my meal.

I enjoyed a simple burger, named “The Brick Burger” on the menu, and it was incredibly juicy and delicious. It came with some house-cut wedge fries, and I followed the suggestion of Dine With Dani, who advised getting a little cup of red pepper mayo on the side as a fry dip. It was so good.

For real beer aficionados, Brick Store is a definite destination. If you live anywhere in the southeast, you need to come see this place. For lightweights like me who’ve spent most of the last eleven or twelve years sober and start to get a little goofy after just one pint, it might not be quite so imperative to get down here, but with food this good and beer this wonderful, it is definitely worth a visit for a snack and something to drink whenever I’m around Decatur. I’ll definitely be back sometime soon.