Hot Dish Review

Yes, I know. Red Lobster, not what you’d expect from me. Oh well, here’s the deal….we used to go to fancy restaurants in Chattanooga for Christmas Eve, get lobster and steak. It was awesome!

When I was a kid there was a “Red Lobster phase” when we would go there every Friday night. I was about eight or nine. It was their heyday and there was always a long wait in the lobby. My Mom might have a mai tai while we waited….how 1977!

Over the last five or six years Red Lobster has become a Christmas Eve tradition with us, out of simplicity, familiarity, and ease. It is close to my parents’ house near Chattanooga and they really aren’t all about fanciness, so we go to Red Lobster, just like old times.

Even when I was a kid, they would let me get crab legs or lobster if I wanted. Heck, I’m an only child, why not! These days we start off with some salad and try not to eat too many of the addictive garlic cheese biscuits before the seafood arrives. No appetizers, my folks don’t fuck around. They order fish with no butter and sauces on the side. I, on the other hand, have my baked potato with butter and sour cream.

Me and Mom get the Caesar salad, but with raspberry vinaigrette on the side. There’s no iceberg on the Caesar as opposed to the house salad which my Dad unfortunately ordered. Me and Dad drank Miller Lites (the champagne of the trailer park).

This year I had the grilled trio of Maine lobster, a skewer of shrimp, and sea scallops….all perfectly cooked and served over rice pilaf. I substituted a baked potato but it came with both. My Dad had the rock lobster, shrimp scampi, and grilled shrimp.

My Mom ordered a strange combination of seafood jambalaya, shrimp scampi, and bacon wrapped bbq scallops. OK, I’m not sure what she was thinking but jamabalaya is made with andouille sausage. Plus, it was in a cream sauce rather than tomato based (which was a bit odd) but she was expecting a more authentic dish. Of course the bacon on the scallops was not well-done and to top it off, the scallops were served on top of shoestring fried onion rings…..a grease pit! I ate them.

As always, we scarfed the garlic cheese biscuits with our salads and Dad commented on how honey would be delicious on them. Disgusted with this idea, me and Mom make faces and explain why garlic and honey are, well, disgusting together.

After dinner, we go home to open gifts. These days stocking stuffers and cash are the norm, plus culinary treats, care of moi. This year I brought an almond flavored champagne and Babette’s dried cherry tart. Plus, Sweet Grass Dairy’s Thomasville Tomme, Humboldt Fog and Taleggio, and dried figs for snacking for Christmas Day. And a couple of bottles of Lambrusco and a bottle of Shiraz for me.

Red Lobster. What to say? They use enough garlic to ward away vampires for the rest of the year and enough butter to single-handedly add your holiday 5 to the scale. But after 30ish years of experience, they do know how to cook a lobster!

My neighbor LG, her friend RT and I had an impromptu (OMG, like spontaneous!) dinner at Desi Spice Indian in Midtown Promenade Saturday night. It’s been years since I’ve had Indian food. I love it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on some naan!

The restaurant is small, with a standard ethnic decor. The staff, all of whom came to our table at one time or another, is dressed in matching traditional tunics and pants. Service was OK, although my questions about the wine seemed to perplex them.

We started with naan and raita, plus some mango chutney, which was more like syrupy marmalade. The raita was great except for the huge chunks of cucumber discovered at the end. It’s so strange that I like raita since I thoroughly hate cucumbers. But I like tzaziki sauce too….go figure! LG and I split a bottle of Gewurtztraminer….something sweet to cut the spice.

RT was in the mood for chicken tikka, marinated chunks of chicken cooked in the tandoori oven. LG had the kashmiri chicken in a yogurt sauce redolent of banana. I chose my favorite Indian dish, vindaloo with shrimp. The spiciest of Indian curries, the menu warned “don’t blame us tomorrow”. Whatever! Pussies.

RT’s mango lassi was more juice than yogurt. The added ice watered it down too. Along with the entrees we decided to get the rice with peas and raisins and the sag paneer which is cremed spinach with cubes of homemade cheese. The flavor of this dish was good but it was served barely warm.

LG’s dish was creamy and rich, although on the sweet side with raisins and banana. My vindaloo hit the spot but I’ve certainly had it hotter. I sampled RT’s chicken tikka which was very tender and flavorful.

We ended on a sweet note with creamy spiced rice pudding with raisins. Everything was good but nothing was amazing, however, satisfying on a cold Winter’s night.

931 Monroe Drive NE 404-872-2220

The days leading up to Christmas are hectic for most folks. I know I’m not alone in my last minute buying and scrambling to find just the right gift. Have you noticed that they don’t even make cards for ‘Parents’ any more? Only four or five to choose from, the rest are ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’ separately. Of course we all know why….they can sell twice as many cards!

As I dashed around today, I failed to eat a proper lunch. I had a late breakfast to start, then a protein shake, so at 3:30 I was ravinous and on the road in the hood. Perfect opportunity to stop in at SAVI. My article on the market is out in the current issue of Atlanta’s Finest Dining and it was prominently displayed on the counter….sweet. I remembered Paul, one of the partners, said they would have smaller sized paninis and other interesting bites when I was interviewing him.

Since my last visit the market was in full swing. A tasting of Savida Sangria was underway by the company’s owner Jay. Good stuff and they’re local!

There were lots of small wrapped sandwiches in baskets on top of the deli case. Blackboards hang above with combinations offered on sandwiches, hot or cold. The ones in the baskets were the daily special of soppresata, provolone, and pesto on half a baguette….only $.99 cents! They pressed it for me and served it in a white paper sleeve. It was so good! I ate it as I perused the wines and chatted with an old friend I ran into.

I think they got it right….it really did feel like a true neighborhood market!

287 Elizabeth Street, Atlanta, GA 30307 404-523-3131

B and I dined at the self-proclaimed whimsical French-influenced bistro Amuse! last night. Owned by Arnaud Michel of Anis and Andy Alibaksh of Apres Diem, their influence is immediately evident in the warm and inviting decor and Alibaksh’s often disjointed menu offerings.

Chef Lenny Robinson, formerly of Anis and The Tasting Room, heads the kitchen. I wanted to meet him, but alas it didn’t happen.

I started with a Cote du Rhone at the bar as I waited for B to arrive. She walked in toting gifts, one being a stuffed reindeer that we later named Randy. We took a corner booth and started catching up on each other’s man dramas….I swear, I live in a soap opera. Our attentive server, David, suggested a bottle of cab, was it Lummis? (yeah, I forgot to take the wine list Monica!) It was lush and leggy.

The kitchen surprised us with a starter (I would say amuse bouche but it was far too large) of sashimi tuna with fava bean puree, chili oil and preserved lemon. Chef clearly does not know me. Tuna bores the shit out of me even at MF Sushi. Although the texture was nice, there was no flavor. B liked it much more than I did.

Their soup of the day was rabbit and white bean stew. Aha! We can never resist a wascaly wabbit! Seriously, if there is rabbit or brussel sprouts on a menu, you can bet me and B will have them. The stew was hearty and flavorful, although heavy on tomato.

Of the starters, the pork belly was recommended (I always say yes to swine!) and roasted cauliflower sounded intriguing. We also ordered the goat cheese fritters and house salad, all to share. A runner brought out fabulous crispy hot rolls with butter. I’m a sucker for a good bread service and I have to give Amuse! an A.

I don’t even like cauliflower but I think Cliff Bostock said it was good. A few whole pieces of cauliflower sat atop a puree. Pecorino candied pistachios? Maybe they were crushed and sprinkled on top. There was definitely great flavor in this dish but both B and I were perplexed that it was served cold.

The house salad sounded amazing with wood roasted apple, peanuts, 40′s blue and crispy onions. Just as David brought out the two plates (the kitchen split most dishes for us) my phone rang. It was ST. I had to go outside to escape the lovely jazz ensemble by the bar so I could hear his defeated words. Cold, semi-inebriated, and ultimately sad as hell….at least I looked good in my new sweater dress!

Still on the phone, my good friend and amazing Argentinian artist MS arrived with his man S. Quelle surprise! They joined us (see, that big corner booth came in handy!) and we proceeded to regale them with our man dramas. S ordered the house salad and MS got the moules en biere beligique (sans frites). There is the “French influence” on the menu.

I really loved the salad but the apples did not appear to be roasted and the peanuts were missing altogether. S said the dishes here were rather inconsistent, but I must also say the kitchen is still young, the restaurant having only been open a little over a month. Crispy onions on anything make me happy.

Crisp pork belly was served over a slaw of napa cabbage, apple, avocado and yuzu. OK folks, where was the avocado? The pork belly was sufficiently piggy and paired well with the slaw. I dare say there was some mint in the slaw. I hate mint.

When we first arrived I mentioned to our server that I must try the “mac & cheese” (that is how it is printed on the menu). B and I split the lobster tagliatelle entree, described as flavored with oregano, chile, bottarga di mugine, and chive flowers. No mention of tomato. The chunks of lobster were perfectly cooked, yet the sauce was predominantly tomato. I have a weird distaste for tomato with any type of seafood. However, the oregano and chile boosted the flavor. Chive flowers and bottarga di mugine? What the fuck. We never got the “mac & cheese”. We never got the goat cheese fritters either. And dammit, we didn’t even order the brussel sprouts!

But we did, of course, order two desserts. The apple tart with cinnamon ice cream and the butterscotch creme brulee. Another example of something that I expected to be served warm, the apple tart was cold and disappointing. The creme brulee was creme brulee.

We overstayed our welcome by about an hour. Do they close at 10? I guess we were amused!

560 Dutch Valley Road 404-888-1890