In January, I wrote about the popular Nuevo Laredo Cantina, and noted then that every three or four months, I get a little peckish for El-This-Los-That Atlanta-styled “Mexican” food. The story goes that the red sauce-and-cheese style of Mexican food – the sort of place where, in the late 1980s, we all gorged on cheese dip – was brought to Atlanta by the founder of the local chain of Monterrey restaurants around 1974. Continue reading “Jalisco, Atlanta GA”
Tag: mexican
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 3
I’d only been to Tuscaloosa once before, in June of last year, when we went through on our way to Starkville, stopping for a couple of meals on our way back. I’d like to linger a little longer sometime, and actually visit the University of Alabama campus and see its legendary Strip, maybe getting a meal at the renowned Rama Jama’s. This visit didn’t leave me time. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 3”
Defining Tacos
We should probably all agree that there must be at least two types of hot dogs.
It really feels like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution polls its readers every other month on the best of this food in Atlanta or the best of that. I want to say that it was burgers most recently. Proving that people just don’t define anything the same way as anybody else, whenever it’s time for people to nominate and argue about hot dogs, scores and scores of people name The Varsity. They do this in much the same way that the runaway nominee for the “people’s choice” for best milkshake in the city is that machine-pumped peach-flavored goo that shows up in the summers at Chick-fil-A stores. Continue reading “Defining Tacos”
Don’t Ask Me Why
Dear Krystal,
We’ve been together a long time, and exclusively for a few years now, haven’t we? It’s been a good time, and I have no complaints, honestly. But I find myself in the awkward position of having to write you an unhappy letter now. Well, just remember that I love you, and maybe always will, and let me tell you the whole story. Continue reading “Don’t Ask Me Why”
Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
Every once in a while, objectivity flies right out the window here at our blog in favor of wild, emphatic gushing. This is one of those chapters.
When I was living in Athens, and waxing eloquent about the amazing Mean Bean to anybody who would listen, I would occasionally get reports back from Atlanta about a place called Tortillas. They predated the Mean Bean by a few years, long enough to already have an imitator, Frijoleros, that I tried once in the late eighties. Somehow, though, possibly because high schoolers have far less of an awareness of the world around them than they would like to think, I never heard of Tortillas, or it never registered, until the early nineties, when I started reading papers like Creative Loafing and hearing every one of the burrito joints in Atlanta compared, unfavorably, to the mighty Tortillas. In time, there was a craze that started. Raging Burrito, Z-Teca (which became Qdoba), Chipotle, Willy’s, Moe’s and plenty of others started up, and, in time, Tortillas started feeling the effects. They shuttered in the spring of 2003, after a 19-year run. Continue reading “Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
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)”
Two Meals on Buford Highway
A couple of Saturdays ago, Marie and I made a long overdue trip to Doraville to finally start sampling some of the restaurants along Buford Highway. Now, I imagine that locals are probably wondering what the heck took us so long, and for that, I plead not knowing where in the world to start. Out-of-towners may not know that this is a huge and very eclectic neighborhood full of traditional cooking and restaurants that cater to Atlanta’s huge international community, from Guatemalan to Vietnamese. Continue reading “Two Meals on Buford Highway”
Marie, Let's Eat! 