We had a nice and long Baby Mercy Break after sharing an order of nachos in the early afternoon in downtown Asheville. We did lots of shopping at some favorite stores and, crucially, let him rampage and read at the Pack Memorial Library. The staff was completely wonderful, and let us stretch and relax and have books brought to us. Have to say, our son seems to suffer from sensory overload in libraries. At home, he patiently follows along with most books and immediately asks to hear them again. Whether we’re at home or in another library, however, he can’t go much more than four pages before rushing away to find another book to start anew. Continue reading “White Duck Taco Shop, Asheville NC”
Tag: mexican
Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part two
There is a lot of history in Asheville. It’s more than the beautiful mountains; when you get into the city, the shadows of Vanderbilt and Fitzgerald loom large. The buildings are old and beautiful; you can see tasteful art deco designs on so many places. However, almost all of the businesses that inhabit these buildings are much, much newer. In 2011, The Three Brothers closed after a 52-year run. That seems to have been the city’s oldest locally-owned restaurant. Now, the oldest is Little Pigs, one of a handful of survivors from the 1960s-era Little Pigs of America chain, and it’s certainly due to be visited one day soon. The second-oldest in the city is Mediterranean Restaurant, which opened in 1969. Continue reading “Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part two”
Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA
Will the third time be lucky for Atlanta’s best burrito? Heck, we hope so. Matt Hinton, the owner of Bell Street Burritos, has had a run of bad luck that would make anybody else throw in the towel. After starting up as a stand in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, each successive location has closed before it could really turn itself into a solid neighborhood favorite. Landlord issues shuttered the first two, on Howell Mill and in the Irwin Street Market, and Hinton has weathered the storms with grace and calm, with a super team in place to serve guests. Continue reading “Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA”
Verde Taqueria, Atlanta GA
Every Labor Day, Dragon Con brings in some friends and family from around the southeast. This year, we were happy to go to a new place with our friends from Nashville, Tory and Brooke. We hadn’t seen Brooke in a stupidly long time; she missed coming to town last year, and the last few times I’d gone to the Music City, she was either working or, in one case, too sick to be social. So we were particularly glad to see her. And Tory, who’s always a joy. And their friend Holly, who came to town with them. Holly was wearing a WKU shirt and I mentioned that they started their season big with a win over the Wildcats. Holly wasn’t entirely sure that she knew that WKU even have a football team. Tsk. Continue reading “Verde Taqueria, Atlanta GA”
Willy’s Mexicana Grill, Atlanta GA
A very brief history of burrito joints in Georgia: for about ten years after the first of the region’s Tex-Mex restaurants, Monterrey, opened, burritos were those things served on hot plates at El-This-Los-That joints, covered in sauce. In the mid-1980s, The Mean Bean in Athens might have been the first in the area to serve up burritos that you could eat on the go, wraps filled with – in their case – deliciously seasoned refried beans and other fillings. Right around that time (1984), a couple of legendary shops opened in Atlanta that gave guests more traditional San Francisco “Mission”-style burritos that, instead of refried beans, used either pinto or black beans. Frijoleros and Tortillas are still mentioned in hushed tones by the faithful. Oddly, Frijoleros fumbled when it tried to open a second location in Athens, failing after a couple of years, and the Mean Bean was even less successful when it crashed and burned in Atlanta’s Little Five Points. I recall that Creative Loafing‘s Cliff Bostock, a loud proponent of Tortillas and their fresh veggies, was utterly baffled by the Mean Bean’s use of refried beans and canned peppers. Continue reading “Willy’s Mexicana Grill, Atlanta GA”
Old Brick Pit, Chamblee GA (take two)
One of these days, I need to go up to Roswell and do a proper expedition of all the sixty-eleven taco joints on Highway 9 below Holcomb Bridge Road. There are quite a few of them. The kids and I were in town one Saturday to do a little beer shopping and I thought we’d get a hamburger. Driving north through the area, however, I changed my mind and pulled into Tacos Linda Vista. It is one of the newest places to set up here, in a building that had previously been home to another taqueria, Tacos Frisa. We’ve all been going back and forth about what the restaurant was before that. I say it was a Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I can’t get any consensus on that point. What say you, dear reader? Continue reading “Old Brick Pit, Chamblee GA (take two)”
Chick-a-Biddy, Atlanta GA
Shaun Doty and Lance Gummere’s latest chicken restaurant, Chick-a-Biddy, opened earlier this summer in the Atlantic Station development. I confess that I was in no particular rush to visit this place, but purely from a blogger standpoint, and not from an eater’s. Earlier this year, I stopped by its sister restaurant, the equally bizarrely-named Bantam & Biddy. I didn’t particularly enjoy that meal, but that’s entirely my fault. I’ve never liked poutine and wondered whether some celebrated Atlanta chefs could change my mind. They couldn’t; enough said. Continue reading “Chick-a-Biddy, Atlanta GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 