Big City Bread Cafe, Athens GA

Now that I’ve got close to a hundred chapters of this story under my belt, I am making a more conscious effort to balance eating at old favorites with trying new places. Big City Bread Cafe is far from new – they seem to have opened their first storefront around the time my daughter was born – but they’re new to me. I try to get to Athens once a month, unless circumstances call me more frequently, and maybe I can continue having a small meal at someplace that I do not know well, before going to play and then grabbing a small meal at an old favorite before coming back to town. Or does that sound too much like I’m setting a schedule? That way lies complacency, doesn’t it? Continue reading “Big City Bread Cafe, Athens GA” →

The Grit, Athens GA

I used to work with a girl in Athens named Alexia who was militantly, albeit comedically, vegetarian. She took her comedic militant vegetarianism to extremes, even suggesting that with a little conditioning, lions could be taught to enjoy a healthy salad instead of a nice gazelle. Well, maybe I suggested that and she just agreed with it; it’s not the sort of thing that rational people propose. Anyway, she ate at the Grit almost exclusively for ages. As the city’s pre-eminent vegetarian restaurant for years, the Grit has had many proponents and champions, but none, perhaps, louder than Alexia. So, to me, the restaurant’s sort of intrinsically linked with her. And to lions and gazelles. Continue reading “The Grit, Athens GA” →

White Tiger Gourmet, Athens GA

I forget where I first heard of this wonderful little place that opened in Athens last year, but it was almost certainly either from Hillary at Flagpole, or that delightful Foodieville WordPress blog which doesn’t get updated very frequently. Either way, somebody whose opinions I trust told me that there were some really good burgers waiting for me at the intersection of Boulevard and Hiawassee. My daughter and I stopped in one day in the spring to try it out and were very satisfied. Continue reading “White Tiger Gourmet, Athens GA” →