Chapter 1400: The Red Snapper, Atlanta GA

Back in April, the venerable Italian restaurant, Alfredo’s, closed after 42 years in business. News of that got me thinking about some of Atlanta’s other 1970s veterans, and the Red Snapper came to mind. The present owners took over in 1986, and date the beginning of the restaurant then, but it certainly has a similar vibe to many of the city’s “timelost” restaurants, and some of our friends remember it being around well before ’86, but we have not been able to nail down a date yet. Continue reading “Chapter 1400: The Red Snapper, Atlanta GA” →

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)” →

Little Bangkok, Atlanta GA

Little Bangkok is a Thai restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road, and it’s so little that you can’t help but bump into people here. For example, we arrived and bumped into our pal Val from A Scrumptious Life just as she was leaving! Continue reading “Little Bangkok, Atlanta GA” →

Roxx Tavern, Atlanta GA (take two)

From time to time, we have commented how it’s not entirely fair to form a first impression of a restaurant, or “judge” it in any public fashion, based on the experience that you get during a festival, when the staff can be completely overwhelmed. Call it grading on a curve, I suppose. With that in mind, Roxx Tavern had been on my mind for a revisit for quite a few weeks (here’s the original story). I made it over to their store on Cheshire Bridge – they’ve since opened a second location in Tucker – one Friday afternoon recently. It should have been the after-lunch lull, about 2:15, but they were still pretty busy, hosting several large parties and their patio was more than half-filled. Then I remembered: this was Pride Weekend, and Roxx has been a Pride destination, for locals and for tourists, for many years. Continue reading “Roxx Tavern, Atlanta GA (take two)” →

Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

I don’t know whether they’re ever apparent to you good readers, but I do like to occasionally find some kind of an angle to a chapter here, especially when I write a chapter with two different restaurants. Well, beyond just “here are two places where we ate recently,” I mean. Last week, I thought that I was onto a good one when David suggested that we follow up our lunch at Decatur’s No. 246 with a visit to Perla Taqueria near Cheshire Bridge. He had eaten here a couple of weeks previously, and emailed just about all his local friends as soon as he got back to the office to warn everybody about their incredibly hot sauce. Evidently, he seemed to think that I had not actually read that email when he then told me how I really had to try this place. Continue reading “Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)” →

Sheik Burritos n Kabobs, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

I had been planning to stop by Sheik Burritos n Kabobs for weeks and weeks, and it sort of slipped down the to-do list. In time, another burrito joint opened on Howell Mill and started getting some buzz. I thought about heading that way, but remembered that I owed Sheik Burritos a visit first. It’s only fair to get them crossed off the list before I try a (relative) upstart. Continue reading “Sheik Burritos n Kabobs, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)” →

Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, Atlanta GA

Fat Matt’s is one of those places that is so small and so popular that I have never been a regular. I really don’t enjoy the challenge of parking at a place where it is such a chore to either get in or get out, and there have been more occasions in the past where I had planned to eat there, been discouraged and left than there have actual instances of me sitting down to some food and, most evenings, live blues. This is a pretty good place to eat, though. Sometimes, that discouragement that I’ve felt has bubbled into serious aggravation that the fates were against me.

For many years, they operated a second business in the building next door. Fat Matt’s Chicken Shack is now closed, but for a good while there, you could enjoy some of the best fried chicken in Atlanta. The only plus side to it shuttering is that there are one or two extra parking spaces available now.

Well, lines out the door are usually not a green flag for me to come eat, and indeed it had been many years since we’d stopped by for some food. Early last month, however, Roadfood.com added a couple more places to their small library of Georgia restaurants. So Marie and I buckled up the baby, promised my daughter a bowl of stew, and asked David to come along and eat with us. We arrived at 11.30 on a Saturday, right as they opened. There was one space available to park – behind the old Chicken Shack – and a line out the door. There’s always a line out the door.

The review at Roadfood.com suggests that the building once housed a Krispy Kreme. It is certainly an old one, and it doesn’t seat very many, even with a patio. When there’s a band playing, it is packed and loud and sweaty and all kinds of wonderful, if you enjoy a slab of very good ribs in the company of lots of strangers guzzling beer.

How Fat Matt’s manages to make such tasty barbecue is a genuine mystery, as they roast over charcoal rather than wood. The meat is moist – perhaps overly so, as it comes presauced with their tangy red tomato-based mixture – and flavorful, but that unmistakable smoked wood taste that informs the best barbecue is not present here. For many years, fans have been marveling at how this place can break whatever rules that people hold dearest about barbecue so casually and still turn out such tasty food.

For my part, while the chopped pork is very good despite not being what I’m usually looking for in barbecue, I really wish they would not presauce it. I’d love to try it dry one day. The Brunswick stew is pretty good, but not among any of our favorites. The rum baked beans are just terrific, though. There’s just enough of a hint of rum to be noticeable, and they make an excellent accompaniment to the meat. I really love these! Honestly, the only thing this place does that I cannot get behind is serving up boring old Lay’s potato chips. If they must offer chips from a bag, I wish that they were Golden Flake brand.

After lunch, we drove the hop and skip – it’s not even an “and jump” away – over to Grindhouse Killer Burgers for dessert. David wanted to try one of these burgers that everybody’s talking about and pronounced it pretty good, while the rest of us enjoyed some malts. Marie had already made the bold claim that the chocolate malt here is one of the very best in the city. I had a vanilla and, honestly, it was pretty darn good, but not even close to being as good as the amazing malts at Chapman Drugs.

There’s a heck of a lot of good eating within walking distance on this leg of Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge. I’m curious to try Sheik Burritos some day soon. I’ll probably have to follow that up with a malt from Grindhouse as well.