
Monday, August 31, 2009
Off To See the Wizard - Oz Pizza

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I Can Has Cheezburger? - Cypress Street Pint & Plate
But one seemingly gimicky burger has nearly slipped under the radar of all the praise being thrown at my fair city, and that is the Sublime Burger of Cypress Street Pint & Plate. Based on the Luther (yes, one of Luther Vandross's favorite treats), the Sublime Burger really didn't pique my interest. I had eaten a burger from Cypress previously, and didn't think much of it. But with the promise of a Sublime Doughnut for a bun and the encouragement of my friend Xerxes (don't ask), I made it over to Cypress yesterday to feast upon this wonderfully underrated sandwich.
Again, Holy Shit. Sublime Doughnuts (another review entirely) are tastefully sweet unlike their counterparts at Krispy Kreme, which will instantly put you in a diabetic coma. The sweetness from the doughnuts pairs with the bacon cheeseburger like sweet jam on a terrifically savory sausage biscuit; subtle but undeniably complimentary. They grill the inside of the bun slice very nicely so that it doesn't absolutely fall apart, but since this is a pretty greasy burger, the bottom of my bun was saturated with liquid fat (a quick flip easily remedied this). The bacon is excellent and the cheese, well a necessary evil. Frankly I didn't bother putting ketchup or any other condiments on the burger and just let the flavors of medium-rare beef, bacon, cheese, and donut come together in bliss. Their fries are pretty good here, fat cut, freshly fried with a creamier than average interior.

Paula Deen's Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin
You simply mix herbs, salt and olive oil, rub it into the tenderloin, and roast it on very high heat. The recipe doesn't take nearly as long to make as Paula says (although she uses a 4 pound tenderloin-good luck finding that at Publix), and again, comes out perfect every time.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Le Big Mac... or not
"Authentic" Eats in the A - Chef Liu's
Buford Highway is Atlanta’s hotbed for authentic, or at least more authentic ethnic eats. It’s dotted with all sorts of Asian and Hispanic hotspots ranging from inexpensive pho-houses and taco stands to one of Atlanta’s most well respected and expensive sushi establishments - Sushi House Hayakawa. Chef Liu is more of the former - being a freestanding building (shack) in the middle of a shopping center’s parking lot. It even has sliding doors like a back porch!
Their specialties are less entree like and more appetizer style; what some and myself would refer to as street food. So the menu is adorned with soups, varieties of dumplings, buns, and noodles. I’ve had a number of things here now but my favorites include the Shanghai Juicy Steamed Pork Buns (aka soup dumplings), the French Cruller, the pan-fried Pork Dumplings, and now, the Beef Noodles Soup.
Back to my authenticity rant. There was a place that was famed in Atlanta for having the best soup dumplings and authentic Chinese fare around - Frank Ma’s Dinho. Frank was a consultant and Chinese restaurants around town would hire him to improve their menu and manage things. I went to Dinho and it just plain sucked. The soup dumplings were flavorless and the rest of the food was just meh. After Dinho, Frank moved to Chopstix (aka Frank Ma south) and while they didn’t have soup dumplings there, I had both a good and not so great experiences. So I stress, authentic does not equal good.
The soup dumplings at Chef Liu’s are phenomenal. They are served in a steam basket and always come out piping hot. The soup and interior meat is extremely flavorful and juicy and just hits the spot every single time. The skin never gets that gummy texture that can sometimes occur with steamed dumplings. These morsels are hard to find in Atlanta, and this would be my #1 suggestion for them.
The French Cruller is essentially a piece of fry bread. It’s light, airy and has the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I’ve seen many patrons ordering it with condensed milk (I think to spread on the bread) but we have yet to.
Beef Noodles Soup, who knew?! It’s the perfect combination of ingredients with very thick, long noodles interspersed with stewed chunks of beef and Chinese vegetables. I’m not a huge soup fan, but the broth was the most flavorful and delicious I’ve had in recent memory.
Kins is also a very big fan of the Lamb Kabobs here. They come out on skewers and are rubbed in primarily what I think is cumin. For my taste, they are a bit too fatty and oily but are tasty in small doses.
By the way, all four of these items totaled under $20. We were stuffed and didn’t even finish the soup. Another plus of BuHi eats.
I love Chef Liu and it is authentic. So here’s the deal. Next time you try a place on Buford Highway, before you go ranting and raving about it because it’s on Buford Highway ask yourself, “Was the food really up to snuff compared to other joints I’ve tried around town?” I feel that more often than not, people give added credibility to places on Buford Highway because of their proximity to Atlanta’s ethnic epicenter.
Lastly, there was a group of young “ladies” sitting next to us that were annoying as fuck. They were loud and somewhat obnoxious in the same way that running into a group of sorority girls screaming, “Wooooooooooooo! Margaritas!” at a Mexican joint are. Apparently one needed a pep talk to be coaxed into even coming to Chef Liu. I’m guessing she ordered Mongolian Beef? I kid. I kid. It’s just… I don’t know. Know your audience. If you’re coming to a small, quiet place, with slightly more exotic food than you’re used to, be humble. Don’t act like you’re at Nuevo Laredo Cantina jonesin’ for some Margaritas.

Friday, August 21, 2009
Blue Moon Pizza
1. Crust - Does it have char on the bottom? Is it crispy, yet chewy? Thin, but not cracker like?
2. Cheese - Is it melted fully? Is there a good ratio between cheese and sauce? Does it have pull when you bite into it, but not drape down to your plate?
3. Sauce (often overlooked) - Again the ratio. Also, is it zesty and flavorful?
Interestingly enough, many of the great New York style pizzerias don't lie in the city of Atlanta proper, but rather the outlying burbs. In fact, there are a good three or four highly regarded pizza places hiding in the greater Marietta area. I don't get out to these parts often, but I have now managed to try two of the more respected joints: Bella's and Blue Moon. I have heard nothing but praise about Bella's and truthfully, it didn't come close to living up to the hype so Kins and I opted to try Blue Moon last night.
Blue Moon resides in a newer residential condo/apartment complex that has several other eateries on the retail/ground level. There's a Five Guys, Starbuck's (of course), Lime Taqueria, Crepe Revolution (highly recommend this one), and soon to be L'Thai. Before seeing the restaurant I was under the impression that it was another New York style pizza joint, but upon entering I almost immediately threw out that assumption. The place is entirely blue, with blue moons wherever they could stick them including Blue Moon Brewing Company (no relation) umbrellas on the patio. The interior space is a strangely arranged but comfortable enough. I did like that even though another couple was seated opposite us, they were far enough away that it didn't create any awkwardness.
Blue Moon tile on the table.
Usually, I always try to get a slice of cheese as it provides for a good comparison between other pizza joints I've previously visited and honestly, I don't think anything beats a good slice of cheese. However, upon arriving at the conclusion that this was not a NY pizza joint, we opted to make our own pizza with some of our own toppings choices - Pepperoni, Pineapple, and irresistible sounding cayenne-candied bacon. The pie came out pretty quick and looked damned good; They didn't skimp on the toppings but didn't overpower the entire pizza by smothering it either.
Even though this was not NY ‘za, I still opted to use my aforementioned grading scale:
1. Crust – NO char. It was medium in thickness and was still relatively flavorful. You can certainly tell they bake the pizza on one of those perforated pizza pans and we could see the circular dots on the bottom of the crust. It was not too dry or too chewy which left me satisfied.
2. Cheese- Pretty standard issue here. Nice melt and pull to it. I like that it didn’t dry up over the course of the meal.
3. Sauce – Again, standard issue. It was pretty bland with no tang or taste of garlic, basil, or pepper that I have come to love.
4. The topping (since we got three) - All three were good and as mentioned previously, I liked that the toppings were distributed evenly and not smothering the pizza. The cayenne-candied bacon was good but I'm not so sure that I would have picked up on the cayenne or candied composition if I wasn't already looking for it.
One more thing that I appreciated about this pizza; They put some pepper along the crust and I really never got tired of eating it like I often do because of the added flavor. Much obliged!
I would return to Blue Moon only if in the area again, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to others. It’s a solid choice but it doesn’t satiate my desire for the perfect Marietta slice. NEXT STOP – Pizzeria Fortunato!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sea Scallops ARE Good Eats
So when I hit up the Farmer's Market the other day, I couldn't help but notice some beautiful specimen in their always promising seafood section. They have fresh, dry (meaning no chemical additives) sea scallops for what I would consider a bargain. I bought eight large ones for just over nine bucks.

All Alton did was dry off the scallops, apply salt and a little pepper, and sear each side for one and a half minutes. I would advise that you make sure your searing solution (equal parts olive oil and butter) is not too deep as the scallops won't truly get a crispy, carmalized edge but other than that, Alton's technique is fail-proof and you can acheive these strata of doneness:

Best Breakfast in Atlanta - Sun In My Belly
Enter: Sun In My Belly.
I had been wanting to try SIMB for a good year and a half after reading a review that mentioned their "Honey Bacon." While the location near Agnes Scott and Kirkwood isn't particularly convenient , we finally decided to hit it up one Saturday after some morning tennis. We got there at about 9 am and there wasn't a soul in sight! I'm not even slightly exaggerating about the waits at the aforementioned restaurants, so to come to a new one and not have to wait for breakfast was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
The restaurant is comfortable and fairly pretty, for lack of a better term. There are streaming strips of paper dangling above the dining area in all different colors which is a simple, but appreciated element of their decorating. Side note: Kins pointed out that if you look at the paper abstractly it most certainly looks like a hamburger.
Our experience wasn't perfect however. Kins' BLT's bread was stale. The service here was pretty atrocious. They were not crowded when we showed up. In fact, I think we were the only ones in the place. The waitress was friendly but just so unforgivably slow in all respects. She was trying to take care of the entire dining room before going back to the kitchen or cash register. Regardless, I really enjoyed my meal, but I know they have a reputation of poor service there and hopefully they can fix it because it is the best breakfast in Atlanta.

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Ikea has got balls!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
How do you make a BAD Oreo?
I mean what does that mean? They put whipped cream and a cherry on it? Judging by the picture on the front you might think they would use some sort of hot fudge, ice cream, and whipped cream tasting creme center. Nope!
They've left the original creme on half of the sandwich cookie, but replaced the other half with a fudge creme that's just nasty. It's too thick, too grainy, and too gross. Don't buy these. Complete FAIL.
NYC and Levain Cookies
Pizza, hot dogs (franks) and the likes have been staples among New Yorker’s non sit-down meals or snacks and have appeal to tourists alike. Shit, they even have a place that just serves only fries (Pomme Frites)! That's the only item on their menu! We used a few websites including Yelp.com to figure out where we would be stopping to nosh and made some obvious choices - Gray’s Papaya for hot dogs and some less popular picks - Bleeker Street for Pizza and Buddha Bodai for dim sum. While searching for these treats, I had the thought to find a good bakery up there too. I stumbled across Levain in my search and couldn’t resist trying it for their much-touted cookies.
So after an early morning beginning with H&H bagels, we ventured deeper into the upper west side to this tiny downstairs bakery. We opted to try their Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie that even Oprah can’t keep her grubby little hands off of, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip cookie, and a scone. After seeing the whopping cookies in person, I had my doubts that this was among the competitors for best cookie in the country, let alone world. After all, the cookies look more like a slice of cake than a flat cookie and when you brake one apart it even looks cakey! But all the skepticism was laid to rest when I sunk my teeth into those puppies.
The cookie is moist and dense. Much more so than it’s appearance lends itself to. After sampling all of the baked goods the (surprisingly) real winner was the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip. This cookie is beyond unique and represents cookie perfection.
Lately, I’ve been on quite the baking kick and set out to recreate these cookies since having four of these suckers sent to you will set you back 22 bucks. I stumbled across this baking blog and set out to try the recipe.
Frankly, my recipe didn’t come out at all like the Levain cookie. All of the flavors were there, just the texture was off. I attempted to stack the dough higher than usual on the pan to achieve the thickness of the original, but it flattened out considerably. The interior wasn’t as cakey looking either. Despite these flaws, all of the flavors of Levains masterpiece were present and I was very happy with the results. The cookie has a good bit of chew to it and the edges were perfectly crispy. The chocolate flavor is tasteful and not overpowering. My only true problem with this recipe is the amount of suggested chips. Definitely reduce this as there was nearly as much chips as there was dough. Outside of that, I highly recommend this recipe.
