H & H Restaurant, Macon GA

And then there was the time I drove to Indiana twice – twice! – for something I could have eaten in Macon.

Marie wanted to spend her birthday weekend taking a super-quick visit to see her parents, but I honestly couldn’t get behind spending that much time in the car without making many, many stops. She wanted to set the land speed record getting to the island via the interstate after dark in order to spend as many available hours down there, and I would want to take the Golden Isles Parkway and visit at least four new-to-us restaurants. So she went on her own and I decided to mosey around in middle Georgia. Continue reading “H & H Restaurant, Macon GA” →

Las Morelianas, Hixson TN

One day in March, I decided to treat myself to a very long lunch. I was quite restless, tired of looking at the same walls, and wanted to take advantage of the cheap gasoline for a long drive. I woke very early and put in five hours on the clock, and, at 9 am, took my lunch break. I put a box of books and DVDs in the car and sold them to McKay, 90 miles up the road, and got a couple of really nice and inexpensive treasures and still came out way ahead. Then I drove up TN-153 to the town of Hixson, because Mary from Chattavore had written about a really promising Mexican restaurant and grocery store. It’s called Las Morelianas and it was worth the drive from McKay. Continue reading “Las Morelianas, Hixson TN” →

Automatic Pizza, Athens GA

We’ve written stories about Athens many, many times over the years, and all of the most recent ones include a bit where we suggest that our readers with kids take them by the World of Wonder playground at Southeast Clarke Park. So, let this be the last time. After we had some barbecue at Butt Hutt, we came here to let our son play for an hour and a half, and then pulled up our friend Hillary’s column in the weekly paper, Flagpole. It’s called Grub Notes and everybody interested in visiting Athens should read it for some good food ideas. I had a mind to try one of the newer pizza places in town. Marie and our son agreed, and so, after a stop at Tyche’s Games to look at Munchkin expansions and packs, we drove back over to Prince Avenue. Continue reading “Automatic Pizza, Athens GA” →

The Butt Hutt, Athens GA (take two)

Regular readers may know that I have a lot of interest in great barbecue regions and cities, despite the unfortunately large number of them I’ve yet to visit. I think Memphis deserves just about every word of praise that it’s received; it’s home to two of my ten favorite barbecue restaurants, which are my favorite two in all of Tennessee so far. I’ve spent a lot less time in Lexington NC, but the three joints that I have visited there are each fantastic. Continue reading “The Butt Hutt, Athens GA (take two)” →

The Colonnade, Atlanta GA (take two)

We’re so pleasantly surprised to see that the Colonnade, one of Atlanta’s oldest restaurants, not only continues to thrive, but continues to attract a young and vibrant customer base. While it’s not quite unique in this regard, it’s certainly in the minority. Most of the time, these “timelost” restaurants picked up most of their audience in the 1970s and slowly age with them. You sort of envisage some of these places finally closing the doors and turning the key when their last patron passes away. The Colonnade has the look and almost the feel of one of those creaky old-timers, but its admiring crowd is enormous. Young and old alike wait for an hour or more for a table on Saturday evenings, once they’ve found a parking place, anyway. Continue reading “The Colonnade, Atlanta GA (take two)” →

Majestic Diner, Atlanta GA (take two)

Recently, we’ve been visiting and revisiting some of Atlanta’s older restaurants, paying particular attention to the ones buried very deep in this blog and only given a couple of illustrations. The Majestic Diner was an obvious choice to try again. Marie and I came by a couple of Fridays ago, and, as with our recent trip to the Silver Skillet, she had a late breakfast and I had a pretty good lunch. Continue reading “Majestic Diner, Atlanta GA (take two)” →

Fattoush with Too Much Lemon!

(Marie’s latest report from the kitchen wasn’t a complete success, but we know how to adapt for the next time…)

Every catalog we get from Penzeys Spices is mined for ideas. This time it was the Fattoush recipe that we selected. The girlchild, who is not a terribly big fan of salads despite her numerous short-lived attempts at becoming vegetarian, was relieved to know that we were scheduling this particular salad for a day when she had other plans. She only likes iceberg lettuce, and I don’t like buying that stuff because a) it tastes like water and b) it goes limp almost immediately after opening the package. Romaine isn’t much better because the ribs go brown, but at least you can purchase it in bunches if the prechopped bags look iffy. First World problems, right? My son does not eat any kind of salad except pasta (he gets away with it because he has points for liking broccoli and pickled beets) so this was just for the two adults. It’s a quite substantial salad, and could easily feed four light appetites or three medium. Continue reading “Fattoush with Too Much Lemon!” →