Gu’s Bistro, Doraville GA (CLOSED)

In some of the chapters here over the last couple of weeks, we have spotlighted a few of the restaurants that have, happily and wonderfully, kicked down our biases and our preconceived notions about Chinese cooking. That’s not to say “out with the old,” permanently. Marie will, unaccountably, get occasional cravings for Golden-This-Happy-That stuff for the rest of her life, just as I will, equally unaccountably, get occasional cravings for El-This-Los-That Tex-Mex food for the rest of mine despite since learning to appreciate authentic cooking, because when you find a “favorite food” around the time that you’re in high school, it’s nigh impossible to get rid of it for good. Continue reading “Gu’s Bistro, Doraville GA (CLOSED)”

Chow Bing Chinese Grill, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

This is Marie, contributing a description of a visit to Chow Bing, a Chinese restaurant in a tough location that I hope it can overcome. With any luck the Grady Hospital staff will discover the place and prop it up as more people discover it. It’s just around the curve from the hospital in the new Pencil Factory Lofts building. Continue reading “Chow Bing Chinese Grill, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”

Jeanne’s House, Doraville GA (CLOSED)

This is Marie, contributing a visit to a Chinese place with a singularly unusual name.

Sometime a while ago, Grant started calling generic Mexican places “El-this-Los-that” and generic Chinese places “Happy-this-Golden-that” because honestly, how many Mexican or Chinese places in the suburbs have you gone to that DON”T use that pattern for their names? And if you go to the Golden China in the mall, isn’t that pretty much a guarantee of a choice between incandescent red glop versus opalescent whitish glop, over chicken or beef? Plus broccoli and carrots, of course. Continue reading “Jeanne’s House, Doraville GA (CLOSED)”

Villains Wicked Heroes, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

One of my other blogs is a tribute to the British comic 2000 AD, and I recently finished writing a story there about what we might term believable villainy. Meanwhile, at the intersection of Peachtree and 8th Street in Midtown, a new restaurant called Villains opened last month. It draws its design elements from unbelievable villainy, celebrating comic book arch-enemies and box office bad guys. If you’re looking for a place to meet up with another member of the Legion of Doom and discuss your nefarious schemes for global domination, then this might be the place for you. Continue reading “Villains Wicked Heroes, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”

Alison’s Restaurant, Dunwoody GA (CLOSED)

Once every blue moon, I suggest that I bring the baby and meet Marie for supper in Dunwoody on a Friday night, sparing her the awful, awful evening rush hour drive home. Once every blue moon, in other words, I subject myself to it rather than her. Continue reading “Alison’s Restaurant, Dunwoody GA (CLOSED)”

El Señor Taco, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

One of the many reasons that it’s pretty easy to focus on the Buford Highway corridor is that there are piles of restaurants up and down this street that, happily, open for lunch at the sensible hour of 10. Well, I say “sensible,” but it’s really that, for the last few years I had worked an unusual schedule, and, two days a week, I had time on my hands and a cravin’ in my belly, and waiting around until 11.30 for some of these places to open actually is an inconvenience when I live out in the ‘burbs but work nearby. Earlier this month, happily, my schedule at work changed to something a little more sensible and convenient, but noting where a fellow could get lunch at an earlier hour became an ongoing concern. Continue reading “El Señor Taco, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”

Presto Latin Cantina, Marietta GA (CLOSED)

The real world had been doing that stupid thing that the real world sometimes does. It had been ages since I saw our old friend David; I suggested that we have lunch, and he suggested we meet up at a place near the Big Chicken called Presto. It’s a general “Latin” restaurant that is principally Columbian, but they offer recipes from Mexico and Cuba and everyplace else south of Florida. On weekends, they not only have live music, but a number of traditional Columbian soups and stews. Continue reading “Presto Latin Cantina, Marietta GA (CLOSED)”