G’Angelo’s Pizza and Pasta, Marietta GA

(Today’s chapter is another that occasionally surfaces here which does not, in any real way, function as a “restaurant review.” We occasionally remind readers that, despite frequent appearances, ours is not really a “restaurant review blog.”)

Sometimes, it’s just not very easy to please everybody. Take neighborhood pizza, for instance. As far as I’m concerned, if we want a pizza and we don’t feel like driving any distance, then I’ll probably just pick one up from La Bella’s. I no longer remember what brought us to that place, just that we gave it a try, and I was taken, and it became our family’s neighborhood spot. We do not get pizza with any frequency, but when we do, it is typically La Bella’s. Continue reading “G’Angelo’s Pizza and Pasta, Marietta GA” →

Twisted Kitchen, Marietta GA

My daughter asked to try a new pasta place that opened near us in the little strip mall behind Cheeseburger Bobby’s. It’s called Twisted Kitchen and it opened in the space that, shamefully, used to belong to a butcher shop that we kept intending to visit but, he said, clearing his throat before speaking quietly, we never did. Continue reading “Twisted Kitchen, Marietta GA” →

Dogfather’s, Marietta GA

I enjoyed talking with Steve McCollum over at a new hot dog place near our house a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Dogfather’s, and it is not related to similarly-named joints in Illinois and Massachusetts. I’m sure you won’t recall (joke) the heat wave at the end of June, and how nobody could stand to be outside for more than a couple of minutes. Marie and the kids and I had gone to lunch at Bub-Ba-Q that Saturday, and drove past some poor boy on the corner of Chastain Meadows and Barrett Parkway waving a sign for this new hot dog place. The sign worked; we were so startled to see anybody jumping up and down and waving at cars in this heat that we actually paid attention to what he was advertising. I sincerely hope that kid got a bonus in his paycheck that week. Continue reading “Dogfather’s, Marietta GA” →

Mellow Mushroom, Marietta GA

In the late 1980s, when I thought that I liked hippie music – turns out I don’t; go figure – I became aware of the small Mellow Mushroom chain. Fueled not just by Jefferson Airplane records, but by the character of “neil” – always lower case – in TV’s The Young Ones, I probably talked about having a pizza here for years before I actually did. I always said the name in an approximation of neil’s voice. “Mellaww Mushroooooom,” usually with a slight nod and two fingers for peace. Ah, teenagers. The restaurant was started here in Atlanta in 1974. I think that the second store didn’t open for another eight years. They’ve had a presence in downtown Athens since 1986. While still mostly in the southeast, the chain now has a presence in seventeen states. Continue reading “Mellow Mushroom, Marietta 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.” →

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” →

The Starlight Cafe, Marietta GA (CLOSED)

Growing up, I remember a restaurant on the Marietta Square called Jimmy the Greek. At the time, I was aware that CBS Sports had a commentator who went by that name. It’s not like ten or eleven year-olds pay that much attention to who provides commentary and picks before the games or the fights, but Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder (born, according to Wikipedia, Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos in Steubenville, Ohio in 1918) was so well-known that, like his peer at ABC, Howard Cosell, he was parodied on many of the sitcoms, variety shows and Saturday morning programs that I watched as a kid. And, as a kid, using child-logic, I concluded that the real Jimmy the Greek must have not only owned the restaurant by that name in Marietta, but also greeted guests and cooked all the food. I vaguely recall being disappointed to learn that was not the case. I really wanted to meet another celebrity. By the age of eleven, I think the only celebrities that I had ever met were behind tables at car shows. Continue reading “The Starlight Cafe, Marietta GA (CLOSED)” →