Chicken and the Egg, Marietta, GA (November, 2011)

One Sunday, after church, we were looking for some place new to eat.   As we're pulling out of the parking lot, I hit Open Table and searched for places nearby and took a look.  Up popped Chicken and the Egg, near the square in Marietta.  We read the reviews and decided to give it a try.  

Their premise is "Modern Farmstead Fare".  Apparently, every new Southern retauranteur's grandmother (regardless of their place of birth - Atlanta, GA, Jackson, MS or Long Island, NY) served pimiento cheese and deviled eggs at all dinners.  They're on EVERY menu.  So we started with the pimiento cheese to see how it stacked up.

Fairly well.  Not as good as that as Rosebud (in Morningside) or Local 3 (kind of in Buckhead) - my current favorites - but very tasty.   We (technically, I) emptied the jelly jar.

Jo ordered the Farm House Burger - house ground beef, fried egg, Nueske's bacon - with fries and said it was good.  

In case you aren't familiar with Nueske's bacon, it is mighty good stuff.  Apple wood smoked and cured with love.   Mmmmmm.


I believe the true test of the caliber of a southern cook is in their ability to properly fry chicken.  You'd think that a place with such a fowl name would prominently feature their chicken.  So I ordered the fried chicken with mac-n-cheese and green beans.   On a side note, ordering the green beans was a challenge - I was trying to determine how they were cooked (French-style? Slow-cooked?) and couldn't seem to get the waiter to understand my question.

When my meal arrived, the beans were indeed Southern style.  The mac-n-cheese was fresh.  And the fried chicken was good.  Not great, but good.  I'd go back and eat there again, but don't feel the need to have the fried chicken again.

Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria, Kennesaw, GA (November 2011)

When I first saw Man Versus Food, I thought, "Adam Richman is the kind of guy that I'd like to hang out with" (yes, I know that I shouldn't have ended a sentence with a preposition, but I didn't honestly think "the kind of guy with whom I'd like to hang out" at the time, and I feel that truth is needed).   In the first few episodes, he journeyed to Atlanta.  One of his stops was Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria.  He was there for the Carnivore Challenge, in which two "contestants" attempt to eat a 30-inch, 11 pound meat-lovers pizza.  The entry fee is $50.  If you clean the pizza pan, without throwing up, in 60 minutes or less you win $250. 

We didn't go for the challenge, we went with the Coolest Journey Group Ever on the Monday after Thanksgiving.   For perspective, before you look at this picture, Tony and I are both good sized men.   So, we ordered the 30 inch, extra-large (they only have medium, large and extra-large) - one half veggie / one half meat lovers, for six of us.

So we ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And when we were done, we had enough pizza left to fill a Domino's large pizza box.  I don't know how in the world two people could do this.  From the info on the web site, it looks like three teams have completed the challenge.

How was the pizza?  It was fine.  Slightly better than fine.  I can only imagine how challenging it is to cook 706 square inches of pizza and get it done.  They cooked it perfectly well, but I've had a lot better pizza.

(We did have a really good time, though.)

The Girl and the Fig, Sonoma, CA (October 2011)

One of the most pleasant food stops on our visit to wine country was the Girl and the Fig in Sonoma.   We were staying in Napa and while checking the reviews for restaurants in the area, the Girl & the Fig kept being mentioned.  On Monday evening we took the drive over.  Sonoma is a "cute" little town: shops bordering a town square, wrapped around a courthouse, in a tree-lined park.  On the corner opposite where we parked, stood the red door and entrance.

Entering, you walk into the right side of the establishment - the bar, bakery and waiting area.  After telling the young lady our name, she took us to a window-side table in the restaurant.  The view to the right is from the far left corner, back into the restaurant.

The menu was very interesting, knowing that we were heading into a French restaurant, I wasn't sure what exactly to expect.  The variety of choices was surprising.  What we didn't order, that we should have, was the heirloom tomato salad.  Doesn't every place have a tomato salad?  What could we be missing?  We wouldn't have known except the order from the table next to us arrived.  The tomato salad was five half-inch slices high and a palette of myriad colors.   It looked amazing!  It's a good thing that pictures would not have done it justice, as it would have been awkward trying to snap a photo of someone else's food <g>.

So on to our choices.  Going out and ordering cheese in a restaurant was similar, at least in my mind in level of pretentiousness, to paying for bottled water.  But next thing I know, I'm that guy.  We decided to start with "the works" - three cheeses, cured meats, apples, house-made fig cakes, spiced nuts and a baguette.

Wonderful start.  But the heirloom tomato salad looked so good, these good cheeses paled by comparison.

Jo had a grilled fig and arugula salad with Laura Chenel chevre (a Sonoma area cheesemaker), house-made pancetta, toasted pecans and a fig & port vinaigrette. 

She said that it was very tasty.  But being the carnivore that I am (technically, I am an omnivore, but I prefer carnivorous pursuits) I had to follow that dream.  I chose pork belly and scallops.  The pork belly sat atop grilled scallops, on a bed of sunchoke puree. 

In seems in vogue to substitute other pureed vegetables for a place where you would normally serve mashed potatoes: sunchokes (here), cauliflower (one night at home) unnamed root vegetables (at 4th & Swift), etc.  It was served with an apple-pancetta vinaigrette.  The sunchokes were fairly nasty.   The scallops were good, although I'm not a great fan.  But the pork belly was awesome.  Overall, a nice night out at a very tasty place.

The Georgia Pig, Brunswick, GA (October, 2011)

Early last month, I stopped off at the Georgia Pig in Brunswick, GA for some barbecue.  I had eaten there two or three years back, but I didn't remember anything at all about the meal.  I blamed that on my memory - what I should have blamed it on was the general forgetfulness of the food.

When  I see a place like this, I automatically think, "This has to be a winner."  Nope.  Not even close.  When I went inside, there were two folks in the place: the cook - who was working hard at the pit behind the counter; and the owner - an older woman sitting at one of the inside picnic tables, talking on a cordless phone.

The sign "Would you like pickles with your order", implies that you have a choice.  Nope.

So I ordered a half rack of ribs and a chopped pork sandwich.   The ribs were non-descript.  The barbecue sauce fairly weak.  The sandwich bland.   I know exactly why I didn't remember - I had blocked it from my memory.

Cowboy Chow, Roanoke, TX (September 2011)

So on the same adventure that took me to burger spots Kincaid's, Maple & Motor and (the yet to be written post) Keller's, I had the chance to have dinner with a friend on Monday night.   He lives almost in Keller (no relation to the burger joint above, to my knowledge), just north of Fort Worth, and we were pretty set on going to Twisted Root in Roanoke.   But, as things often do, plans changed on the drive.  Roanoke is an old, town that has, over the last several years, been converted into a dinner destination - the streets are lined with restaurants.   My friend lived in Amarillo for two decades, so he should know a few things about chicken-fried steak, and he said that the CFS at Cowboy Chow was as good as he had ever eaten.  Off we went.

We got there early and the restaurant was fairly empty.    Looking over the menu was mostly a formality, as we were committed to the chicken-fried steak.   If you grew up in the South, like I did, you likely aren't familiar with chicken-fried steak, at least by that name.  We called it country-fried steak.  If you grew up in Austria or Germany, it is weiner schnitzel.  Latin America has a version called milanesa.   I just love Wikipedia - and it MUST be true.  It is on the World Wide Web!

Anyhow, as we looked at the menu, a couple of things caught our eye: an appetizer for him and another entree for me.  The appetizer was Navajo fry bread, with two dipping sauces - one of black beans and the other of honey. 

Once you realize that fry bread, be it Navajo, or Indian or whatever is nothing more than flat dough in oil, how could it NOT be good?   The honey was a very tasty accoutrement.

The "other' entree that caught my eye was a "Tater Parfait".  Every since the encounter with the barbecue parfait at the Hickory Pig (one of the most interesting food encounters of the year for me), I'd come to realize that parfaits just aren't for dessert.  

To simplify things, I ordered a tater parfait as an appetizer we could split.  This tater parfait was a layer of brisket (which tasted more like my mom's pot roast with brown gravy, little "smoke" flavor at all), covered with a layer of mashed potatoes, covered with cowboy caviar (black beans, tomatoes, peppers and onions), then covered in cheese and tortilla strips, all served in a Mason jar.   Actually, it was much more interesting in concept than in actuality.  It was good, but nowhere near great.

On to the main course.  We both chose the chicken-fried steak with jalapeno gravy and mashed potatoes.  It was good.   I ate every bite.  But I didn't try to lick the plate. 

Next time I'm in Roanoke, I think that I'll go across the streets to Babe's and try their chicken-fried steak and fried chicken and see how it stacks up.

Fair Food, Winfield, KS (September, 2011)

So, when I go to the Walnut Valley Festival (they call it "the Bluegrass", we call it "Winfield"), there are generally abundances of three things: music, friends and food.    Most of the time we eat in camp, but occasionally we go out, (like the jaunt to the Burger Station), but the other choice is food on the fairway.  

So let's take a tour of the midway.  As you walk in the main gate, on the left you start with Ice Cream.   This is both sequential and ideological.

I don't know Dave and Jan, but I love them.  Imagine the best homemade ice cream, ever.  You start by trading in your one gallon home maker to two ten gallon makers run by an engine.   Amazing design, amazing home made ice cream.  Any flavor that you want, as long as it is vanilla.

Up next?  

Kettle corn. I'll caveat that I'm not a popcorn fan, but this is different and better.   Winfield is not for culinary amateurs.   At no time should you attempt to eat each of these things at the same time.   

Across the way is the roasted corn and baked potato stand.   There is a constant flow of corn to the grill, stripped of the silks, but still in the husks.  The roasted corn is then dipped in melted butter and handed to you with a handful of napkins.  The perfect walking snack.   To the left of the corn stand are the greek place (good gyros) and the barbecue place (decent pork, good brisket). 

Still on the left, is the coffee joint, the Lions Club booth (where they have a really good pork burger -it's a pork patty pan-fried and covered in Cheese Whiz.  How could it not be good?), then the sorority booth (home of the $1.00 Cokes and the late-night special biscuits and gravy) and the 4-H food stand (one of the few places that I've never eaten).

Back to the right (good) side of the midway:

Beside the Kettle Corn booth is the sandwich stand, home of the Reuben.   One of our friends recommended this to Jo and she had one for lunch one day, with the admonition to ask for her Reuben extra crispy.  So she did - and she wished she'd had one every day instead of just on Saturday...

Next is the Lemonade stand.  I pity the girl  that spends her day here.

Pretty good lemonade, though. 

Behind it are all of the "fried food" stands: the fried pork sandwich (imagine a pork Chick-fil-A on a white bun) place, the fried chicken / fish / okra / peaches stand (we'll get back to the peaches), the Indian Taco stand (pictured, but not recommended) and the Funnel Cake stand.

After the fried food section,  there's a root beer stand (which was closed for the entire festival this year due to inclement weather), Gobble and Squat (another barbecue place), a Cajun stand (I was recommended to not eat there) and a breakfast place.  

Did I miss any place?  I don't think so.

But I did miss one thing - the Winfield trifecta.  We discovered this one year by happenstance and it has become tradition.  First, you need two friends (this has occasionally been a challenge for me <g>) and then you divide and conquer.   Each one of the three of you buys an ingredient:  home-made ice cream, a funnel cake and fried peaches.  If you've never had fried peaches, the concept is similar to fried pickles - they slice the peach into length-wise spears, batter and deep fry them.  The key to the trifecta is the combination.  This year, there were eight of us, so we took three of each:

Amazingly, all plates were cleared in a collective fifteen minutes, over much laughter.

Cakes and Ale, Decatur, GA (September, 2011)

In the continuing pursuit of Atlanta's best restaurants, we went to Cakes and Ale in Decatur, Saturday night before last, #3 from  the August, 2011 Atlanta Magazine article.  Cakes and Ale has recently relocated just down from the Iberian Pig in Decatur.  In fact, when I first tried to make the reservation, they were closed for the move.  So we took the next available Saturday.   6:00 dinner on a Saturday is a great time for us, you get into a restaurant before the crowd and watch it fill up around you.   This place is the antithesis of Sotto Sotto: 

• similar banquette type seating, but without the extra table or two, allowing for un-cramped seating;
• light and spacious as opposed to dark and crowded; and
• comfortable, in addition to being elegant.

We started with a crostini with goat cheese and heirloom tomatoes.  The goat cheese was baked, along with whole tomatoes, ranging in size from golf ball down to marble.   The one thing that was consistent from tomato to tomato was the RIDICULOUS amount of heat they contained.   We both burnt ourselves fairly quickly on these.  Then we laughed at the couple next to us as we watched them do the same thing.  The goat cheese / tomato / crostini / olive oil combo was perfectly executed.

We decided to split an entree - the whole trout for two.  The North Carolina trout was fresh caught in the last couple of days and baked in parchment in the brick oven.   The waiter brought it to the table,

and said, "I'll have to get someone else to come out and filet it for you."    Within minutes a young lady appeared filet knife in hand and said, "I LOVE this part of my job.  It's the most fun that I have all night."  And she wielded the de-boning knife like a samurai.   Within minutes we have two trout filets with a side salad of shelled peas (black-eyed, crowder, field) and corn.

Dinner was exceptional and we devoured every bite.   The waitress took back nothing but empty plates and skin.

Then she asked about dessert.   Hmmm.   Okay, she tempted us and we gave in and had a slice of house-made lemon icebox pie with peach preserves

Outstanding.  Not quite frozen, but close.  The combination of the peach preserves and the lemon icebox was amazing.  

The dinner rivaled Restaurant Eugene for quality and was considerably more relaxed.  Definitely a winner and we'll go back, hopefully with friends in tow. 

The Red Bar, Grayton Beach, FL (September 2011)

Whenever we're along the Emerald Coast, we manage to squeeze in a dinner at the Red Bar.  That generally means getting there right after they open.  It's a bar, plain and simple.   As you pass through the freaky door, you enter a place that is SO PACKED with tables and people that you wonder how they manage to serve dinner.   

And serve dinner they do - they have a menu that is comprised of six items and that's it.  For the last couple of years, the basic menu hasn't changed: eggplant stuffed with shrimp, scallops and veggies, grilled fish of the day (Mahi last week), manicotti, panne chicken and a special.  For an appetizer the night we were there last, I ordered part of the special entree as my app - a deep-fried bacon goat cheese grit cake, covered with a tomato sauce.

For dinner, I chose the panne chicken (pan seared with a lemon buerre blanc sauce with capers, house-mashed potatoes and a salad)

and Jo had the mahi (grilled with the same mashed potatoes and salad).   Of the other couples with us, there were three fishes, two chickens and a manacotti.  The chicken won - everyone that tasted it said it was the best meal of the three that we had, collectively.   Jo said it best, "how can you go wrong when you cover something in lemon and a butter sauce"?

Barefoot Barbecue, Seaside, FL (September 2011)

So, after my bad dinner / Jo's excellent dinner at the Shrimp Shack, I was still hungry.    As we walked back to the car, we came upon the wonders of AirStream dining at Seaside.  There are six trailers parked along 30A and, for my sudden snack need, I chose Barefoot Barbecue. 

Barefoot is spread among two and a half trailers -  the half being the Smokehouse.  For a little smokehouse, this thing packs some serious smoke.  I knew that I didn't need to eat too much, so I ordered the sliders.  They give a choice of beef, pork or chicken in the order of three sliders.   Sadly,  they only allow for one meat per order.  I chose pork - the best way to gauge the quality of someone's 'cue.

I'll have to say that this was some of the smokiest barbecue that I've ever eaten.  I couldn't wait to take them back to the house, so I ate one, dry, in the car.   The smoke was almost overwhelming.  But when I got back to to the house and had the chance to put the sauce on one (I went with the hot choice, from among five) it made for a really good sandwich.   I'll definitely go back.