If you drive west on Whitlock away from the Marietta Square, you’ll soon come to that dying strip mall which is home to the very good Dave Poe’s BBQ. Beyond that is an unusual and very small shopping center, built in a zig-zag style that was briefly fashionable in the late 1960s. Over the years, several businesses that I’ve found interesting have set up there, including a record shop and a comic store. Those are gone, but today, you can find a place to buy vintage video games, and a more traditional gaming shop. Anchoring the plaza on the street side is Hoboken Cafe, which opened two years ago and which I had never noticed before. Continue reading “Hoboken Cafe, Marietta GA”
Tag: georgia
Ray’s Rio Bravo, Sandy Springs GA (CLOSED)
If you’ve lived in Atlanta for any length of time, you’ve heard of Rio Bravo. This isn’t a failed restaurant chain with one or two deeply oddball fans, like me and Shrimp Boats. Thousands of people loved Rio Bravo, which opened its first location in 1984. For a while, it was by leagues the best Tex-Mex in town. Continue reading “Ray’s Rio Bravo, Sandy Springs GA (CLOSED)”
Chicken Salad Chick, Kennesaw GA
So, my daughter. God bless her, she’s a teenager. Is she ever a teenager. Because on the one hand, she’s prone to push back against what we’d like her to do, and eat, and because on the other hand, she wants to eat where all her friends eat, she doesn’t often join us when we pick a place that sounds too weird. And by weird, we mean a Chinese place that doesn’t offer sweet and sour chicken with broccoli. Meryn Cadell once sang of a girl who longed for “the boy of your dreams who is the same boy in the dreams of all your friends.” My girl. Continue reading “Chicken Salad Chick, Kennesaw GA”
Havana Sandwich Shop, Brookhaven GA
In 1976, Buford Highway looked very, very different. While today we celebrate it as the Atlanta area’s original home for cooking and cuisines from around the world, in ’76, it was just another busy suburban four-lane with all the same restaurants and shops as every other busy suburban four-lane. The Baldinos was then a Pizza Inn, the Monterrey was then a Shrimp Boats, the Farmers Market was then a Lionel Play World, and that patch of demolished flat ground at the intersection with Oakcliff was then a Hardee’s. Also, that porn theater that everybody giggles about was a mainstream movie house, showing Freaky Friday. Seriously. Continue reading “Havana Sandwich Shop, Brookhaven GA”
Man Chun Hong, Doraville GA (take two)
I had half a mind to order something different at Man Chun Hong, but I didn’t. I’ve eaten here half a dozen times now and I get the Shan City chicken each time. It’s just amazing. We found this restaurant a little more than a year ago and it’s completely defeated any interest we may have in trying new things and exploring. Other than a few reliable plates of barbecue, a couple of burritos and a particular chili dog, this dish is my favorite comfort food in the metro Atlanta area. Continue reading “Man Chun Hong, Doraville GA (take two)”
Panahar Bangladeshi Restaurant, Atlanta GA
Panahar, which for many years was the only Bangladeshi restaurant in the Atlanta area, had been on my to-do list for quite some time. It had been sitting there for so long that another Bangladeshi restaurant, Purnima, opened since I’ve been saying I needed to get over here. Purnima had really impressed all of us who visited. What were the odds that the lunch buffet at the venerable Panahar would please me as much? Continue reading “Panahar Bangladeshi Restaurant, Atlanta GA”
Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA (take two)
When anybody talks about the best Vietnamese restaurants in Atlanta, Nam Phuong is one of the names you’re going to hear. I think this place is consistently excellent and always a pleasant surprise. Either by myself or with Marie or with friends, we’ve been to both of their Atlanta-area stores a few times and enjoyed some terrific meals. Continue reading “Nam Phuong, Atlanta GA (take two)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 