Local food stylist and foodie TamiH recently tweeted the following:

Her follow up thoughts were mostly in-town, upscale spots that have one or two extra bright spots of deliciousness.

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It’s hard to pick a place that says “ATLANTA”….
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If i wanted to do a good food tour…it would be progressive dinner…Cakes & Ale for Corina’s cocktails with some fried okra…
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..then on to Pura Vida for more small plates…esp. the mushroom celery leaf/hearts of palm salad, the goat mofongo, ceviche
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…then Aria for a filling app or two like the truffled potato thing and then one of Aria’s awesome desserts
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A keep it real tour would be: Ann’s or The Vortex for burgers, Northside Tavern for booze, Carver’s for hole in the wall yummy

My suggestion hands down would Mulligans, but it’s closed. *a moment of silence, please*

Where would you take Bourdain, or suggest that he go? Witticisms and predictible snappy one liners aside.

okay, time to give just a little bit of link-love to my newest and somewhat expensive new obsession, the atlanta cupcake factory.

i don’t know why, but a couple of weeks ago i dropped in here on a whim on my way home from the whole foods on ponce (yes, no boycott for me) and decided to see the goods and pick up a surprise dessert for my friends who were coming over that evening.

i looked in the case and was floored. row after row of amazingly crafted cupcakes. flavors that knocked me out too; sugar cookie with caramel icing, cinnamon cupcakes, key lime pie cupcakes. i bought six and took them home and they delivered.

oh did they ever.

anyway, i went back again and got another clamshell. i am still working my way through the various flavors bu the consensus seems to be on the sugar cookie cupcakes, and i can tell you from personal experience that if you see the grasshopper icing or the nutella cupcake jump on it.

the dreaded “non-commercial” creative commons license is unfrotunately keeping me from dropping a photo in this post (and i was too silly to bring along my camera) but just click here and you will see what i mean.

here are the details:

atlanta cupcake factory
www.theatlantacupcakefactory.com
624 north highland ave
678-358-9195

Last Thursday some friends and I went out to eat in East Atlanta. We went to meet at Blue Frog Cantina but there was a 30 minute wait. We weren’t up for that so we went across the street to The EARL. Every table was taken. We tossed around a few other ideas and then I mentioned the new southern cooking restaurant, Chazz, on the corner of Flat Shoals and Glenwood.

Chazz is at 517 Flat Shoals Ave. next door to Club 529. I’m a little anxious for Chazz because it’s in “that spot.” You know the spot where nothing ever stays open long, where a new business opens and closes every 3 months?

If Chazz keeps doing what they did on Thursday then I’m optimistic for their future. We asked who Chazz was, Chazz is the owner’s son.

As soon as we walked in we were welcomed warmly and the wait staff quickly set up a 4 top for us. I got the feeling I was at someone’s home, not a restaurant. Old soul music from Al Green and James Brown played. A birthday party was happening in the middle of the restaurant and they were having a great time, laughing and shouting.

The waiter came over and took our orders. I love soul food so everything on the menu looked good, so I asked for his recommendation. He asked if I had any diet restrictions and I said no. He recommended the pork ribs, with candied yams and mac ‘n cheese. I know this is heresy to some but I’m not a big fan of yams. So I opted for the collard greens.

It only took a little over 10 minutes for our food to arrive. I had 5 ribs covered in sweet BBQ sauce. The meat fell off the bone. The mac n’ cheese was delicious. The collard greens were my least favorite. I don’t like my greens chopped, I like them in long strands and with a little kick of spice. Each plate also came with cornbread which was also excellent.

After we ate the owner came over and talked to us. He asked if everything was ok. He put his hands on my shoulder and gave me firm, caring squeeze. He genuinely appreciated our business. All 4 of us were happy with Chazz.

I loved the personal touch at Chazz. Again it feels like you’re at someone’s home, not a restaurant in the middle of East Atlanta. My meal was only $10 and I left a $2 tip. So for $12 I got a great meal and great service. I highly recommend checking out Chazz when you’re in the mood for some great soul food.

A few weeks ago I took a date to Yogurberry in Buckhead. Yogurberry is situated in the Terminus Building across from Flying Biscuit and next to LOLA. I was looking for a different place for a date besides the usual things I do such as coffee shops and touring bookstores.

Yogurberry proved to be a rewarding experience. My date and I were greeted by a beyond enthusiastic Brian Hah. Brian high-fived me at least twice and was jumping out of skin to tell us about the yogurt. We both got the Brian Special. It was a mix of the Korean yogurt with toppings selected by Brian.

The texture is like any other frozen yogurt. The taste is quite different. It’s tart but the sweet toppings balance it out. It doesn’t melt quickly.

Yogurberry is not cheap. I did get the large though, she got the medium and it was $18. All in all, that’s an inexpensive date. We had a great time talking outside and people watching.

The experience of meeting Brian is worth it alone. He tells each customer to, “Have a positive day,” with sincerity and enthusiasm. If you’re in the Buckhead area I highly recommend checking out Yogurberry.

Facebook Page
Yogurberry
3280 Peachtree Rd., NE #140B
Atlanta, GA

not to long ago, we brought you the news that zoo atlanta had organized the “give so they stay” campaign seeking to raise $500,000 to keep our wonderful pandas, lun lun, yang yang and xi lan (known of course to the readers of this blog as p-dizzle) form having to take a slow boat back to china.

well some business have responded and at least one near the zoo, stella trattoria, is having a panda benefit night this tuesday. i haven’t eaten at stella’s yet (though the yelp reviews look decent) but for 10% proceeds to our furry not-so-little friends, i will certainly give it a try.

there is of course a facebook event set up you can rsvp on, or just show up and eat this tuesday.

dining for pandas
stella trattoria
563 memorial drive
atlanta, ga

The consequences of not following Jake’s Ice Cream on Twitter are much like the consequences of dissing Dr Dre:  quite simply, you diss yourself.

Thanks to a congested commute on the southbound downtown connector Friday night, I had plenty of time to catch the following tweet:  “Tonight is Family Fun Night @ Irwin Street Market! Come play games, enjoy ice cream and meet new friends!”

And then, “Secret Password! 10% off your ice cream purchase TODAY ONLY when you tell us ‘Jake’s Ice Cream is seriously cool!’”

Score!

So, we loaded up the Odyssey and headed up Boulevard toward Irwin Street.  The Mrs, the tween, and the toddler gathered around a Connect Four game while I read the required catchphrase off my Blackberry before ordering two double scoops of Chocolate Slap Yo Mamma and Strawberry Fields.  The scooper even agreed to divide the two doubles into four cups, so we wouldn’t have to endure spoon sparring between strategic plastic disk dropping.

(more…)

yeah. i’m going there.

i realize we all have our faves. but here is what got me thinking about this. my 10 year old absolutely loves grant central east so much so that she absolutely insists within a day or twe of rolling into town for spring or summer break that i take her there.

meanwhile i have friends that swear by the grant central that’s actually in grant park.

i used to train with a friend who would drop absolutely everything to eat at a fellini’s.

and my sunday night crew will only order form viliage pizza in cabbagetown.

so it seems there is some disagreement as to what exactly is the best pizza pie in atlanta.

me, i’m voting for villiage pizza, even if it is pricey as hell.

you?

One of my favorites from Goodie Mob. One of the best things about Atlanta is all the great restaurants. In this song the Goodie Mo B mentions one in particular that every ATLien must experience, The Beautiful. Without a doubt some of the best soul food I’ve ever tasted. Don’t know if JJ’s Rib Shack is still open but I bet it’s good too.

“Come and get yo soul food, well well
Good old-fashioned soul food, all right
Everythang is for free
As good as it can be
Come and get some soul food”

it started as most idea do, with an offhand comment. with a twitter reading group, and an active tweetup here in atlanta, and a million other things twitter-related going down here in the atl, someone (it may well have been me) suggested there should be a twitter trivia team.

last week we made that dream a reality. about six of us who tweet way more than we should gathered last tuesday for team trivia. since the vast majority of our get-togethers tend to be in the “south of ponce” sphere of influence we decided to head to neighbor’s in virginia-highland for trivia.

we had a good time and i would say the food was serviceable and the service was good. nothing spectacular or anything to write home about, but good. the place seemed kinda empty for a seriously challenging trivia night, although reports are than neighbor’s can fill up for trivia. i would gather that part of the issue is the weather; neighbor’s being known for it’s patio, which no one wants to sit on in 40 degree weather playing trivia.

the questions were okay. not too hard, not too easy. the trivia emcee was kind of bland, but in the end who really cares if you are having fun, and unless the guy is a real, true comedian i would rather have a bland emcee than one trying to be funny and ultimately failing. and we are going back there tonight, so obviously it worked well enough to get us back.

i am curious however, where do you like going for trivia. got any suggestions for us if we decide to leave neighbor’s?

btw – we were in the money until losing out by betting all our points on the question of “who was the first pro football player to appear on a wheaties box?”

the answer: walter payton. apparently wheaties didn’t feel the need to put a pro football player on their cover until 1985. go figure.

Readers of my personal blog will not be surprised that I have been going to a few new breakfast joints recently.  One place that got added to the rotation is Rise ‘N Dine in Emory Village.  One of the things I like about it is the fun artwork on the wall:

I am not quite sure what the context of this is (it seems to be drawn on the back of something else), but my favorite part is the mustache.