Bastie Boys BBQ, Buford GA (CLOSED)

Update: In what has got to be the most ridiculously quick shutdown of any we’ve ever experienced, and hopefully a record we’ll never beat, this restaurant has closed, three days after this post. Best wishes to Russ and James in the future!

I’ve mentioned previously that there are some barbecue places along I-985 / US-23 that I have been saving for a rainy day. Some of these are in the Urbanspoon Gainesville metro listing, but there are a few between exits 4 and 8 that are in the upper north extreme of the Urbanspoon Atlanta conglomerate. I’m aware of three, including one that I’ve been saving for the rainiest day (if you will) and two which are along Buford Highway. Yes, this is the same road that we’ve been discussing at length down in the city and Chamblee and Doraville, thirty miles away. Bella Vivere visited Bastie Boys BBQ back in February and liked it, and so when Matt phoned and asked if I wanted to meet up for some lunch here, I figured we’d have a pretty good meal. Continue reading “Bastie Boys BBQ, Buford GA (CLOSED)” →

Mr. D’s Barbeque, Austell GA (CLOSED)

One evening last month, while the girlchild was busy with football and friends, Marie and I took a badly overstimulated baby over to Austell to strike another Atlanta-area barbecue joint off our to-do list. The little fellow fell asleep in the car, exhausted after an afternoon spent refusing to nap, and so he missed all the deterioration and sprawl of the southern part of the county. After crossing the East-West Connector, Austell Road takes drivers through some really ugly dilapidation. I’ve always had a soft spot for South Cobb High School because I like the way their stadium is backed right up to and above the street, but all this blight around it and Clay Road is unfortunate. Continue reading “Mr. D’s Barbeque, Austell GA (CLOSED)” →

That Pie Place, Dunwoody GA (CLOSED)

This is Marie, contributing an article about pies. There is hardly any food substance short of chocolate that is dearer to my heart than pies, and unfortunately that means that many a time I have had my heart broken. You know that exciting feeling you used to get as a kid when you emptied out your Halloween bag onto the bed and saw that someone had given you a couple of full-sized chocolate bars? Or the disappointment when you saw that nearly all the chocolate was that generic chalky stuff that comes in foil wrappers with badly-drawn cartoon ghosts and no brand name on them? Well, that experience is very like how I feel about pies, which is why, unless I can actually see the pie in a display case, I hardly ever order a slice. Because all too often, you get a plate of disappointment that reminds you of the chalk-olate Halloween candy. Continue reading “That Pie Place, Dunwoody GA (CLOSED)” →

Old Favorites and New in Chattanooga

For a couple of years, I’ve been curious about a dive bar on Frazier along Chattanooga’s North Shore, right where we turn to go down to Coolidge Park. On this latest trip to the Scenic City, it finally won out and I decided to give it a try, in spite of some quite negative reviews elsewhere. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to these, but some of them were really strongly negative, to the point where I would feel bad taking Marie and the children there knowing that a letdown had been foretold. So I came up with a plan B. Marie and the girlchild would each pick a place where they wanted to eat, old or new, anywhere along the corridor, and we’d visit three restaurants that way. Continue reading “Old Favorites and New in Chattanooga” →

Machu Picchu, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

Tucked down on the south end of Buford Highway, its back turned against the avenue and facing instead the anchors of a strip mall, there’s a little Peruvian place called Machu Picchu that has quietly been drawing in crowds for the last twenty years. Our friends Vincent and Helen were in town and recommended that we give it a try. Everybody was in the mood for chicken, and so while this and the three or four other Peruvian restaurants in town have a reputation for seafood, we went with their chicken dishes. Continue reading “Machu Picchu, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)” →

Shakey’s Pizza, Warner Robins GA (CLOSED)

Shakey’s Pizza was not part of my childhood, but it was a part of a whole mess of other people’s. Every so often, it sparks a happy memory or ten among some of the regulars at forums where I visit. If you’re in California, you’re never too far from a Shakey’s, as there are still about fifty stores in that state, but only ten others in the country. In the southeast, there is one in Auburn, and one in Warner Robins. Every week, a delivery truck comes east, bringing food for both of these stores. Perhaps they still have local-market TV ads for Shakey’s in California. Here’s one from the early 1970s, starring Kathy Coleman, who’d later play Holly in Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost. The ad shows what Shakey’s used to be: a bizarre mix of Tudor design and Dixieland jazz with styrofoam boaters. Continue reading “Shakey’s Pizza, Warner Robins GA (CLOSED)” →

Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part nine

I left Leo & Susie’s ahead of schedule, and I’ll tell you folks, it is a good thing that I did because Birmingham’s rush hour turned out to be every bit as bad as I’d heard. I won’t complain about Atlanta’s again for at least three weeks. Complicating things up front, there’s about a two-mile stretch between not-quite-finished I-22 and I-65 that hasn’t been completed yet, and eastbound traffic exits onto a road called Coalburg, and absolutely everybody takes that down to 41st Avenue and cuts over. These roads were not meant for this volume of traffic. It’s like driving across trenches. Then you get on the I-59/I-20 connector and it’s every man for himself. For the rest of my life, I’m going to do my level best to avoid Birmingham Fridays between four and six. Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part nine” →