I had only tried poutine once before I sat down to a bowl of it for breakfast a few weeks ago at Bantam & Biddy. That was at a McDonald’s at a service island somewhere near London, Ontario, and I had a few bites and threw the rest out. But I’m not a fool; I figured that if I were to have ordered poutine at some little place with a line out the door in Montreal, I’d have been assured a better dish. What I had here was certainly bottom-rung stuff. I don’t recall whether it was actually and honestly listed on the menu as “McPoutine,” or whether I have just decided to call it that to emphasize the awfulness of what I ate, and to pass the blame and the judgement not on the dish, but on McDonald’s, who can make anything bad. Continue reading “Poutine”
Tag: atlanta
Food 101, Sandy Springs GA
We were invited to a launch party for the new Barrel Bar at a restaurant called Food 101 a couple of weeks ago. It’s a very interesting place; they use the slogan “New South Cuisine” and seem to have anticipated the trend by quite a few years. They opened in 1999 and are a spiritual antecedent of the restaurants and ideas that Hugh Acheson and Ford Fry have been popularizing, but they were perhaps so ahead of the curve that they don’t get much press or attention. Continue reading “Food 101, Sandy Springs GA”
Carniceria Hispana, Doraville GA (CLOSED)
One morning, as the girlchild was finishing up her long Christmas break, I cruelly woke her long before the sun rose and dragged her to work with me. This was one of my short days, and I needed to visit my bank after I finished up, and one of its few local branches is right off Buford Highway, on Shallowford. Continue reading “Carniceria Hispana, Doraville GA (CLOSED)”
Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA
The first time that I ever tried Vietnamese cooking, it was a year and a half ago, when I went up to Jimmy Carter Boulevard, that well-meaning but generally ineffective avenue in the Norcross area, to visit the much talked-about Nam Phuong. I left with that curious feeling of being pleased but dissatisfied. The food that I ate was good, but I didn’t have anybody to share the experience with, and I just sort of had to hope for the best. Continue reading “Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA”
Persepolis, Sandy Springs GA
I dropped my friend Lakshmi, who writes The Rich Vegetarian, a line and asked whether she’d like to get some grub and talk shop. She suggested that we meet up at Persepolis, a restaurant north of the perimeter on Roswell Road that’s just about the living definition of venerable. It opened in 1996, but feels like it’s been here forever. We arrived as they were opening, and, anticipating that we were going to try their popular lunch buffet, they left us alone for a little while to consider their impressive, nicely-designed interior, the upscale effect of which, it must be said, is slightly dented by the presence of the flatscreen TV playing ESPN News. Continue reading “Persepolis, Sandy Springs GA”
Woo Nam Jeong, Doraville GA
Marie and I took the baby over to Doraville on the Saturday before Christmas. Along the way to lunch, I pointed out White Windmill to her, telling her that’s the mean old place whose mean old hot tea hurted my poor little helpless tongue. Marie nodded and agreed that she’d have to try that tea sometime. Sometimes, dames just don’t listen. Continue reading “Woo Nam Jeong, Doraville GA”
Gyro Gyro, Dunwoody GA
Among the sixty-eleven food blogs that I enjoy reading, there’s one with the curious name of “A Lifelong Romance…with my Whisk…”. A few months ago, she wrote about a restaurant I’d never heard about before, called simply Gyro Gyro. I looked it up on Urbanspoon and realized that it was in a part of town that I’d never seen, either. It’s on Winters Chapel Road, sort of between Dunwoody and Peachtree Industrial, north of the perimeter and south of Spalding. All these years, I’ve thought that whole area was entirely residential, but it turns out there are a few creaky old shopping centers there. Continue reading “Gyro Gyro, Dunwoody GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 