Tomatillos, Atlanta GA

A couple of Fridays ago, I was driving through East Atlanta on my way to get some ribs. I found that place, but they weren’t going to be open for another hour. I decided that I would try again some other time and thought about where else to eat instead. Amazingly, this would be the first of two occasions that weekend where I could not get the barbecue that I wanted to try; more about that in tomorrow’s chapter. Continue reading “Tomatillos, Atlanta GA”

…but, in the end, we’ll agree on hot dogs.

In the previous chapter, I reported that my mercurial teenage daughter had, abruptly, turned on hot dogs with a vengeance. It’s best not to challenge teenagers when they’re in the middle of one of their seismic changes of mood; it’s best to ride it out and whack ’em with reality a few days later. Continue reading “…but, in the end, we’ll agree on hot dogs.”

I say hot dogs, you say Mexican…

A couple of Saturdays ago, my daughter’s mercurial teenage weirdness reared its ugly head. In the afternoon, we had gone to Chamblee for pizza, since she enjoys pizza so much, only to have her order a salad instead. In the evening, I asked Marie what she’d like for dinner. Marie suggested hot dogs, or possibly Mexican. I leaned toward the former; on Thursday, I had gone out for lunch at Taxco, the venerable Tex-Mex palace on Roswell Road, right where the Atlanta and Sandy Springs city limits crash together, and didn’t enjoy it very much. Continue reading “I say hot dogs, you say Mexican…”

Vintage Pizzeria, Chamblee GA

Back in March, Marie organized a Festival of Dairy for herself to celebrate her return to eating pizza and ice cream. Well, that’s not accurate; actually, she commanded that cheese be obtained in great quantities and set me the task of finding appropriate locations for her indulgence. On the trip, we visited the Frosty Caboose for a banana split, and we noticed that it was across the street from a pizzeria called Vintage. I filed that away for future reference, because that just sounded like a perfect lunchtime getaway for a warm late spring day: a few slices of pizza followed up by ice cream under a shady tree. Continue reading “Vintage Pizzeria, Chamblee GA”

Johnny Rockets, Atlanta GA

So Johnny Rockets, a deeply 1980s concept restaurant which occasionally attempts to evoke the 1950s, invited some local media to come visit their newly reopened store at Phipps Plaza and learn about their company. The store in the Phipps Plaza mall had been there for many years, but the entire mall food court was gutted last year, along with several clothing stores on the upper floors, to make way for the Legoland Discovery Center. By all accounts, this attraction is doing very good business – there seems to be a ridiculous amount of things to do here – but the restaurant’s shindig was held at the time that Legoland closes each weekday, so we didn’t see any rampaging mobs of children, or gangs of obsessed grown-ups desperately digging through the bins in the gift shop looking for the last, elusive bricks that they need in order to replace the red half-height two-by-sixes that they lost when their Harry Potter Quidditch set fell off the mantle and some of the Legos fell into the fireplace.

Yeah, that’s right, I said LEGOS. I PLURALIZED your brand, Lego. And I might do it again. Continue reading “Johnny Rockets, Atlanta GA”

Moxie Burger, Marietta GA

As soon as I learned that there was a place called Moxie Burger in Cobb County – it’s in Paper Mill Village over off Johnson Ferry, where Cobb thumbs its nose across the river at Fulton, taunting “Ha-ha! We have more lanes than you!” – I wanted to visit, because I am shallow enough to appreciate businesses just because of their name. Very, very few people around these parts seem to care for the soft drink Moxie. If locals have even heard of it at all, it’s a surprise. Most people who do try it recoil from the bitter taste, baffled as to how something that still has fizz could taste so flat. Continue reading “Moxie Burger, Marietta GA”

Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Kennesaw GA (CLOSED)

Every so often, dealing with teenagers, you hit a wall. A couple of Saturdays ago, we told our daughter to get ready, as we were going out to lunch. She asked where we were going, and Marie said that we were heading out for cheesecake. Continue reading “Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Kennesaw GA (CLOSED)”