Every once in a while, you get so much conflicting information in one go that you seem certain to short-circuit. That’s what happened when our old friend David said that I needed to meet him for lunch at this quasi-Japanese fast casual place run by the team behind the Zoës Kitchen chain that makes a startlingly good hamburger. David usually knows what he’s talking about, even if the information sometimes defies common sense, so a couple of Fridays ago, I drove over to the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center to see about this burger. Continue reading “Maki Fresh, Atlanta GA”
Tag: regional chains
Tin Drum Asiacafe, Roswell GA
Remember how I was just saying literally one chapter ago how I was going to order vegetarian entrees in Asian-themed restaurants from now on? Well, then we got invited to try out the new spring menu items at Tin Drum Asiacafe, available through May, and that had to be temporarily abandoned. Continue reading “Tin Drum Asiacafe, Roswell GA”
Tijuana Flats Burrito Company, Apopka FL
There was never a place in the blog’s narrative for this before now, but we had a very stunning surprise in our lives this past September. Eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed that my mother, who lived in Smyrna GA and at whose home – my childhood home – we often met up for meals in and around Vinings, rather abruptly vanished from our stories. That’s because she spent six or so weeks discreetly reconnecting with a very old flame and then gave us about three weeks’ notice that she was marrying the fellow, selling the house, and retiring to Florida with him. So there she now resides, just outside the town of Apopka, about twenty miles north of Orlando, and home to nine million plant nurseries and landscaping companies, enjoying warmer weather and going to the gym five days a week. She’s happy, active, and doing very well. Continue reading “Tijuana Flats Burrito Company, Apopka FL”
California Dreaming, Kennesaw GA
A couple of weeks ago, we were in Macon, having dinner with our friends Rex and Rachel, and I mentioned a restaurant that I’d like to visit one of these days. Rex said that it’s become one of those restaurants where only much older people eat. I knew what he meant; we’ve been to a few ourselves, like The Epicurean in East Ridge TN or Jim Stalvey’s in Covington GA. Heck, for all that youth-skewing magazines like Garden & Gun have celebrated barbecue in the last few years, I am not sure that any students at Wake Forest are joining the crowd at Hill’s Lexington in Winston-Salem. I went there for breakfast last year and the servers there looked at me like they had never before seen anybody in their forties out of bed that early. Continue reading “California Dreaming, Kennesaw GA”
Cook Out, Kennesaw GA
Cook Out has continued their slow and inexorable and honestly quite confusing expansion into Georgia. There’s no sense to be made in looking over their list of Georgia locations. I think that the presence of colleges must play a role, so that inebriated undergraduates can get a whole lot of greasy fast food at two in the morning and, what the heck, a milkshake while we’re here. That’s why we see restaurants in Athens (albeit nowhere sensible between the bars and the student housing, confounding that theory), Statesboro, Rome, and Milledgeville. But then there’s one in Pooler, and two stores in Augusta, and one in Atlanta off Moreland that serves the godawfulest barbecue ever. Two more Atlanta stores also opened last month, alongside this one, on Northside and in the former Zesto on Ponce. Continue reading “Cook Out, Kennesaw GA”
Marlow’s Tavern, Dunwoody GA
Marie and I were invited to visit Marlow’s Tavern and sample their winter menu. This local chain continues to impress us with their slow and careful expansion, with the quality of their food, and with the very fresh rotations of their menu. It changes twice a year, but it doesn’t have a simple A- and B- menu. Each new rollout with summer- and winter-themed selections is a little different, with executive chef John Metz tweaking last year’s popular choices. Continue reading “Marlow’s Tavern, Dunwoody GA”
Shake Shack, Atlanta GA
The unbelievable mob at our city’s first Shake Shack, part of the new Buckhead Atlanta development and located right on Peachtree Road, underneath Gypsy Kitchen and The Southern Gentleman, gives us some indication what the crowd might be like should In-N-Out Burger ever open in our fair town. About a month ago, Marie treated me to lunch here for my birthday. Our friend David joined us and it was quite a crowd. David commented that he’d never seen a restaurant dedicate one staff member to “queue control” duty. Continue reading “Shake Shack, Atlanta GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 