Villains Wicked Heros - Out the Gate

Stopped in to newly opened midtown sandwich spot Villains Wicked Heros yesterday. The project is headed up by some of the folks behind Grindhouse Killer Burgers, Flip, and HD1. Housed in the former location of Little Azio, the shop definitely has a similar feel to Grindhouse with the villain theme playing out in the atmosphere (not to worry, the folks are nice but looks like a humorous interpretations of bad guys headquarters) and menu items' names - Clubber Lang (Italian beef), Montogomery Burns (ribeye steak), and Rasputin (fried chicken livers) are a few of the options. I get the impression the shop is trying to take over where Superpan left off but with a wider range/influence of sandwich options.

Your waiting number - a much welcomed change from the floppy top heavy signs places normal give

The sandwich choices sound great, and for the most part original with the menu leaning a little bit to the unhealthy side. It's heavy on pork, beef and fried items. It's nice that they go the extra mile in side options with their own veggie chicharones (tastes like heavily seasoned veggie chips), two soup options and a handful of vegetable sides.

The Odd Job

We settled in with the Odd Job (Korean fried chicken) and Kingpig of Crime (porchetta). The Odd Job was nice overall with some nice flavor and textures including a delicious pear slaw. Touted as double fried and extra crispy, the breading was soggy and didn't adhere to the chicken which seems to be a problem that plagues Atlanta.

Soggy breading separation

The Kingpig of Crime was also a tasty number but light on the pork and heavy on the arugula. The menu also mentioned that it featured crispy skin but I found none. The thing I couldn't help but thinking while eating was - "I can get a much much better porchetta over at No. 246 for the same amount (maybe even less?) of money and it comes with fries."

The Kingpig of Crime

Also it appears from our two orders that all the sandwiches come on a baguette/hero roll. Some different options there might add to the appeal.

One of the healthier options - a Kale salad topped with some uncooked ramen noodles

Villains is going to establish itself as a good lunch option for the Midtown crowd. Slightly pricey sandwiches but inexpensive sides help make up for the expense. Nothing struck me is outstanding, but everything tasted relatively good with easy to correct faults and a fairly wide variety of options. Keep in mind, this is their first week open so they will work out some kinks along the way.

Quickie - Ameer's Mediterranean Grill

Stopped into Ameer's Mediterranean Grill on Friday night after hearing a little bit of buzz about it during the week. I have to say, they kind of knocked it out of the park. We went with two shawarma plates - one with beef and lamb and another with chicken. Also started with an order of falafel.

Beef & Lamb Shawarma

The food was good stuff all around. The falafel was crispy on the outside and extremely moist (maybe just a little too much) on the interior. A great starter for sure. All of the shawarma was delicious - seasoned extremely well, tender texture and served over a bed of rice. A plate also comes with delicious hummus, pita and a large cucumber and tomato salad. It's a lot of bang for your buck and really delicious.

I would normally head to Mediterranean Bakery for my Med fix, but this is a great, closer option. I guess I'll be splitting my time between the two. It was unfortunately  completely empty on Friday night. Please show this place some love as they deserve it - Get you some.. It's located right next to Waikikie BBQ on Briarcliff.

Calle Latina - More Street Food hits Decatur

I was able to stop into Decatur's newly opened Calle Latina this weekend. The concept is Latin street food with many bocadillos, tacos and arepas. Essentially, most of the items on the menu are available in all three of these forms. The space is quite small, but welcoming and the staff friendly.

Empanadas

Overall, the food was OK but nothing to get too excited about. The empanadas had a nice, crispy shell but the interior barbacoa pork was diced, under-seasoned and fatty. The menu promised of barbeque sauce but I found none. Would have much preferred some goat for texture and flavor but if the meat is trimmed better and sauced, it'd certainly be enjoyable. The black bean and goat cheese empanada is a drastic and delicious step up from the barbacoa.

Egg & Chorizo tacos

 The chorizo and egg taco was pretty good, but that soft flour tortilla just got lost. Throw a corn one on there and they've got a winner. The green mole chicken arepa was actually quite good. This crispy, tender arepa was on point with moist shredded chicken and accompanying avocado and tomato for flavorful additions.

My absolute favorite part of the meal is the accompanying coleslaw/salad complimentary side that comes with each order. This acid heavy delight was a welcome addition to the meal. There's also a grilled pepper or two in the mix.

Overall, Calle Latina is a nice option for the area but by no means a standout for Decatur. What Sapori di Napoli is for Neopolitan pizza, Calle is for Latin Street Food.

Chai Pani - New Indian Concept hits Decatur

Decatur (neo-food capital of Atlanta) is now home to yet another new restaurant. Asheville based chain, Chai Pani, is serving up Indian street food which comes off as a great concept. It's slightly more approachable Indian than Atlanta's other Indian options and the quality seems to be fresher as well. It's nice that this place is already popular without dumbing down Indian food entirely (like Korean tacos or any other ethnic food being turned into a sandwich/wrap).

Okra Fries

There are some really nice flavors flying around at Chai Pani, but I can't see myself ever having a major hankering to go back. The chicken pakora (more or less Indian chicken nuggets) was tasty with some subtle spice, but they aren't nearly as crave worthy as some good southern-fried chicken. The okra fries are also enjoyable but no different than any other quick fried vegetable. Ever had fried Brussels sprouts or fried green beans? Same thing here. You can pretty much fry a toenail, and it's going to taste good. The best dish I sampled was Dahi Puri. These stuffed, crispy dumplings please with great texture and flavor layered at each strata.

The portions are similar to small plate servings around town and I actually prefer this as it makes sharing and trying much easier. You may feel like you're getting less food for the money, but I think the slightly elevated quality makes up for that. However, I just don't think the food is delicious enough to keep me coming back as a regular.

The General Muir - Jewish Deli Comes to Town

I made it over to The General Muir yesterday for brunch and I left content and full. For those of you that don't know, The General Muir is the new Jewish deli concept by the folks at West Egg and the former chef of Bocado. It's located in a new retail district on the Emory Campus and across from the CDC.

The menu is made up primarily of Jewish deli items like bagels with smoke/cured fish, matzoh ball soup, and the "what would a Jewish deli be without a" pastrami sandwich. I got the latter and I think it's safe to say it's the best pastrami sandwich in Atlanta. But consider this - is there any competition? If you say Jason's Deli, I'll smack you in the mouth I'm Neal Diamond. The pastrami comes stacked high with some mustard on rye, as it should. Overall it's a delicious sandwich but once you've had Langer's (which I consider to be the best sandwich on the planet) to compare to, well it's no comparison at all, really. The pastrami was peppery and had the unctuous fatty flavor/bits that we all love, but could have been a bit more flavorful and certainly more tender.

The infamous Bocado burger stack is on the menu at the Muir and looking around the restaurant, it seemed to be one of the more popular orders. They've switched out the traditional bun with a poppy seed one. I also had a chance to taste the reuben which was also very good and of the same caliber as the pastrami.

One thing I was delightfully surprised by was the bakery. We started our meal with a pastry basket and got a wide sampling of what they had to offer and the Muir just knocked it out of the park. There was a sweetened yeast roll, some sour cream coffee cake, a cheese danish and chocolate babka. All items were stellar and I couldn't help myself from visiting the bakery counter after brunch to grab a black and white. The black and white was also quite good, but slightly less traditional. The cake portion was actually more tender and flavorful (an improvement) than what you'd get in New York. The icing was also less traditional in that the entire cookie was covered in the white icing first and then half dipped in chocolate. Also, the white icing was heavily and visibly flavored with lemon. If you can't tell, I'm a black and white purist but again, this rendition was probably the best available in Atlanta by a long shot.

Overall, The General Muir is a great spot for Atlanta and judging by the weekend crowd in its first week, will remain a popular destination for quite some time.

Antico Part Deux - Gio's Chicken Amalfitano

For those who haven't heard, Giovanni Di Palma and the group behind Antico are trying to build their own Little Italy in Home Park/West Midtown. There was talk of an Antico Gelateria which would serve gelato, limoncello and coffee being built across the street from Antico but in the mean time, they've opened up Gio's Chicken Amalfitano in the large, neighboring building. So now you have choices when visiting the Antico campus.

Gio's Chicken is strictly take out for the time being with plans of a dining room being opened in early January (though there already is one behind a door to the right of the entrance). I stopped in tonight to the surprisingly empty Gio's. The menu is made up of seven choices of chicken preparation and four additional pasta options. Some of the chicken options play off of the popular pizzas next door at Antico, like the Scarpiello being a chicken version of the San Gennaro pie. There are also sauces and chicken soup available in a refrigerator to take home.

Chicken and pasta can be ordered in single (a half chicken) or family portion. Each order of chicken comes with potatoes and some bread as well making for a full meal. The menu can be seen here. We ended up getting a single order of the Sorrento Lemon chicken and the Napoletana pasta and had about half of the food leftover.

Gio's website claims, "Giovianni Di Palma has done to chicken what he's done to pizza." While the food was certainly good, that statement is a huge stretch considering that Antico is easily some of the best pizza I've ever had. You would be hard pressed to duplicate any of the pizzas at Antico, but a decent home cook could replicate if not improve upon what I ate tonight from Gio's.

The chicken was good but dried out in some parts and while the skin and drippings/sauce in the togo container were flavorful, the meat of the bird was void of much flavor otherwise. The potatoes and accompanying bread (which is essentially seasoned Antico Pizza crust) was delicious.

The Napoletana pasta was also good, but heavy on the oil. The sausage is the same stuff that's used on the San Gennaro pie and the broccoli rabe was cooked and seasoned to perfection.

So while Gio's Chicken serves some decent food, it isn't in the same league as neighboring Antico Pizza. At least, not yet. The staff at Gio's was extremely helpful and friendly which is a welcome departure compared to some of the staff often at Antico.

King of Pops Pops Up - Queso King

I managed to drop into King (or is it Kings? I swear they're cloning tall blonde dudes with aviators) of Pop's new pop up, Queso King today. They're setup on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Lawrence during lunch hours and seem to have a new cheese based concept each week - this week grilled cheese and soup, while last week was quesadillas and salad.

It's hard to beat the deal as it's a choice of sandwich, soup, drink (including Miller High Life) and popsicle for $8. They post their menu on Facebook shortly before opening.

The food was pretty darned good - all the bread is from H&F and everything appears to be scratch made. The turkey on my Grilled Thanksgiving (brie, turkey, cranberry, sweet potato) was off the frame (and chain) and completely tender and delectable. The only unfortunate part of the sandwich was that the King went overboard with the cranberry which entirely masked all of the other ingredients on the sandwich. I happen to like cranberry, so it wasn't offensive, but I wish I could have tasted more of the individual components. The soup, while not transcendent, was also very good. 

Again, it's hard to beat this deal from one of Atlanta's local street-food mavens. Give it a try on Thursdays and see for yourself.

Apple Pie Pop