Hot Dish Review

Several months ago I had an ailment of some sort. Maybe it was a sore knee or an itchy earlobe….who knows. My Mom, who’s hobby is the study of herbs and vitamins, always has advice for such things.

We ended up talking about potassium and she asked me if I had ever bought coconut water. “You mean coconut milk for pina coladas?” I asked. No. Coconut water.

It immediately reminded me of the time my Grandma in Tennessee bought a coconut. I was about ten years old and we spent quite some time trying to figure out how to crack it, laughing and being silly the whole time. Eventually, and miraculously without injury to either of us, she managed to split it with a knife, causing the coconut water to trickle out. We caught it in a teacup and tentatively gave it a sip….light and refreshing without being overly sweet. And the texture of the fresh coconut was so different from the previous shredded-coconut-in-a-bag experiences of my youth.

While in Brazil with AD last February we noted the abundance of street vendors selling fresh coconuts. They would chop off the top with an enormous knife, make a hole and stick a straw in. We were at the beach at Ipanema and it was 100 degrees. It’s amazing that people are naturally drawn to foods and drinks that they need to survive, literally. Sweating depletes the body’s potassium and coconut water has the highest levels of potassium found in any food or drink.

I bought a single serving a few months ago at Whole Foods at my Mom’s suggestion. It is just what it sounds like, water with a hint of coconut. I don’t love it. There are other flavors too, like mango or papaya but I haven’t tried those yet. Then, just last week, BB gave me the container of Vita Coco pictured above. I drank it Sunday night as part of my weekend recovery program.

Coconut water is the latest health drink fad, second only to acai, which is ironically also Brazil’s favorite snack (those people are smart, right?). With just 60 calories in each 11.2 ounce serving (from the 15 grams of naturally occurring sugar) and a whopping 680 milligrams of potassium, it’s a great way to replenish and rehydrate after a workout or night out….whatever the case may be!

Following my inaugural Widespread weekend with B, we were coerced into brunch at Hobnob (will post when I receive the photos) after arriving back into Atlanta from the remote state of Cumming.

A shower washed off the makeup and the mud, but instead of tucking into my ridiculously comfortable and enormous bed, I ended up hopping in the car with LC and T to check out some football at Taco Mac. We chose (OK….I chose) the Metropolis location due to its proximity to T’s hotel, the Palomar. Known for their huge selection of specialty beers and wings, the space is big enough to comfortably seat 5 or 6 NFL teams with flat screens in every direction. I’ve tried their “death wings” in the past which are, needless to say, deadly hot.

The fried green tomato benedict called the “hangover helper” at Hobnob, plus the three mimosas, had perked me up quite nicely. Now at Taco Mac, I was craving onion rings. The three of us ordered the NEW! queso poblano, a bowl of melted white cheese with ground beef, poblanos, jalapenos, and cilantro in the center, served with a basket of not-so-good corn chips. Their salsa had a nice kick.

A couple of Miller Lites later, LC decided on the NEW! Buffalo chicken tacos. Among the choices of sides he got the fresh veggies. Why? You’re at a sports bar not a salad bar. Anyway, a bowl of chicken tortilla soup and a side of onion rings sounded like the perfect cure for me. T made the wise decision to get a cheeseburger, cooked medium. Then he made the bad call of apples on the side. WTF?

Food arrived but there was a flag on the play. LC dove into his broccoli as I pounced on the onion rings. It is possible (although a long shot) that his broccoli was better than my onion rings. With an ultra-thick breading, they were the kind that the slice of onion pulls out of the breading when you take a bite. Obviously frozen. I sent them back and ordered fries instead. I hated to do it but had to send the soup back as well because it was barely luke warm.

My soup came back piping hot and hopefully not with any unsavory additives. Corn, chicken, and some peppers and tomatoes in a stew-like broth was soothing and satisfying. Fries were delivered sizzling, straight out of the fryer. They were certainly better than the half-ass onion rings.

I took a bite of one of LC’s Buffalo chicken tacos, a flour tortilla filled with fried chicken nuggets tossed in hot wing sauce, blue cheese, cole slaw, and tomatoes. The chicken tenders weren’t spicy and I didn’t care for the blue cheese. Overall, they scored low. T offered me a bite of his cheeseburger which was the real winner of the day.

Another beer for dessert and we headed out, only moments away from my soft and fluffy bed. Game over.

Whenever I do a cheese plate, I pay as much attention to the bread and accompaniments as I do the selection of cheeses. I love bread, especially with good quality sweet butter. Perhaps it’s my German heritage.

The difficulty in the US is finding good bread. You can get an amazing baguette in the airport in Paris for God’s sake but I can’t find a decent one even at most specialty bakeries here in Atlanta. It’s ridiculous.

Jonathan St. Hilaire is one of the best bakers in the city. He really cares about the craft of bread-making. If I have time, I stop by Bakeshop for a crusty loaf of ciabatta. But more often than not, I end up grabbing what’s available at Whole Foods or Kroger. The last time I got a mini boule at Kroger and it was surprisingly good. When they convert their cheese shop to Murray’s I have a feeling they will step it up another notch.

What does all this have to do with eggs al forno? Everything! The leftover bread from my cheese plates invariably end up in the freezer to find new life as a fancy BLT, cheese toast, or bread pudding. I frequently buy a chunk of cave aged gruyere, along with taleggio, Humboldt Fog, and perhaps something a bit more experimental.

There is always leftover cheese as well. Don’t think any of this is a coincidence, it’s all part of my plan. I fully intend to have excess bread and gruyere for eggs al forno. Gooey cheese, the soft yolk, and crusty bread are a combination to die for. I serve it with bacon and berries….simply delicious!

On this first day of Fall, I’m already missing Summer. There are few things I enjoy more than sitting outside on a hot, sunny day drinking margaritas with friends!

Last weekend the weather was perfect for the patio at Pure. P and L joined me and LC there for a pre-concert tequila toast and tacos. A round of Herradura shots with salted limes got the party started, followed by margaritas, both classic and frozen.

We ordered the usual chips, salsa, queso, and guacamole, but the chips were anything but usual. Rather than the extra-thick ones Pure usually serves, the baskets of chips were wonderfully thin…..loved ‘em! Strangely, the guacamole came with a platter of the old thick variety of chips. Their gringo style queso dip is some of the best in town topped with pureed jalapenos.

I try to order a different entree each time I visit Pure so this time I had the beef sopes con carne asada, two housemade corn-masa cakes piled high with refried beans, seared flank steak, lettuce, chopped tomato, queso fresco and sour cream. I could only eat one (what what?)…..the second one making a great dinner the next day.

L ordered a salad, perhaps with the fish? And the boys got tacos. LC had a combo of some sort….fish, shrimp, pork. Everyone enjoyed their food, the weather and the company.

Another round of tequila shots, more margaritas, and we were ready to head to The Variety Playhouse to see one of P’s favorites, Big Head Todd and the Monsters….a fun show!

Take three young trailblazing restaurant dudes, add one fresh-faced female chef, and what do you get? Four foodies on the brink of expanding their empire to Midtown.

Rumor has it that a hot neighborhood restaurant off Ponce that recently celebrated its third anniversary and who’s partners just opened another project in the Old Fourth Ward are closing in on a space in the heart of Midtown.

These partners are also responsible for Atlanta’s underground dining scene, throwing outrageously successful dinner parties in random secret locations. Today happens to be the one year anniversary of that venture….congratulations boys!

So who is the chick milking the goat? Well….there’s a lot of buzz surrounding her recent stint at a pub on Ponce, who’s menu far outshone its somewhat sketchy and offbeat locale. Having apprenticed under none other than renowned chef GS at the tender age of twenty-one, she has now joined forces with the young lads of DP.

Stay tuned, there’s more to come…..

While I was innocently attending a Braves game on Sunday, Lady Gaga was making her way on stage at the VMA’s for the umpteenth time wearing what looked like flank steak.

As a former clothing designer, when I saw the video I thought it was simply a clever fabrication, although it really did look like she had a raw steak on her head. And she did!

Turns out the whole damn thing was made of meat! Designed by Franc Fernandez, the dress was assembled out of thinly sliced cuts of meat. Beef? Lamb? I don’t know. All I know is I’m impressed!

However, animal rights activists were not impressed. Why not? She didn’t eat her dress or try to feed it to her fans (who would certainly gobble it up….bodice tartar anyone?)

Ellen DeGeneres, who is reportedly a vegan, gave her a lettuce bikini the next day on her show. Awesome.

Lady Gaga’s shenanigans always offend and delight. She’s making me hungry.

Home cooked meals don’t have to be all home cooked. It’s not the ’60′s anymore honey, we got jobs now!

A couple of years ago I met Sandra Lee, the queen of semi-homemade, at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami. Rumor has it she’s a little on the wild side. Some of her autrocities were clearly concocted while tripping like the now-infamous Kwanzaa Celebration Cake.

Regardless, using some store bought parts is just smart cooking. So when recently planning a home cooked dinner for a friend I decided to use Sandra’s strategy.

I put together a lovely spread of cheeses and accompaniments to nibble on as the appetizer, perfect with a bottle of Marquis Philips Sarah’s Blend.

A rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods would be the centerpiece with baked sweet potatoes and fried green tomatoes on the side. Obviously the only thing I had to do with the sweet potatoes was to wrap them in foil, leaving the bulk of the real cooking for the green tomatoes.

You might think the chicken requires no work but that would be incorrect. My complaint with Whole Foods rotisserie chickens is that they are often missing lots of skin which is the best part! If the skin is intact it is soggy, not crispy. What can you expect when it’s getting all steamed up inside a bag? So I always put the bird under the broiler for a bit to make the skin crispy.

Thankfully, this was my third batch of fried green tomatoes. Even after having most of the bottle of wine, I found my technique fool-proof.

It wasn’t the prettiest meal but it was really delicious. The chicken’s skin was intact (until I got my hands on it!), and the sweet potatoes were a wonderful sweet and buttery counterpart to the tangy fried green tomatoes.

So do like Sandra says and “Keep it simple, keep it smart, and always keep it semi-homemade!” Then do like Sandra does and have a cocktail.

Sweet name. It conjures up images of vintage furniture, doilies and Southern charm. Makes me think of little old ladies sipping mint juleps on their verandas in the stuffy heat of Savannah. Chef Ron Eyester, who had been with Food 101 for several years, took over their defunct location in the Virginia Highlands with his own project, calling it Rosebud.

However, there is nothing vintage about Eyester’s place. His tagline is local folks, kind flavors, reinventing American classic dishes with a strong emphasis on creating a sense of neighborhood. I had no idea they were doing such a brisk business, but on Saturday night at 7pm, they were on a 45 minute wait for a four-top. The place was buzzing.

No worries, our foursome was ready to enjoy some cocktails and get better aquainted. LC and his friend R, and B and I, spontaneously chose Rosebud for dinner as the two gentlemen had already stopped there for a pre-dinner drink.

Most of us opted for red wine, the smooth Powers Pinot Noir I believe, and stationed ourselves at a tiny bar table, poised to pounce on the larger table beside us as soon as they paid.

I ordered the warm mushroom and country ham bruschetta for us to share while we waited. Served over thickly sliced white toast, a medley of mushrooms were woodsy, their texture almost meaty. Chunks of ham made the dish swoon-worthy.

Our server brought out bread and butter with our wine. The bread would have been great if it had been heated in the oven, but it was room temperature making for a chewy instead of crisp crust. Rather than sweet cream butter, theirs was soft, yellow and salty, reminding me of margarine. Was it?

The guys had ordered some eggplant chips with blue cheese and the tuna appetizer on their first visit so they weren’t too hungry. We shared the scallops to start. Two big ones resting in a vanilla-sage apple butter were lightly seared, leaving the centers cooked just to medium. Like my Dad, I usually prefer shellfish thoroughly cooked but these were so good I couldn’t complain.

Me and LC also shared an entree called “Dude, it’s a salad!”. A sirloin burger, cooked a perfect medium, was served on a big bed of chopped iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese, all dressed with a bit of balsamic vinegar. Just what it sounds like. Not bad, dude.

Then there was B’s trout. My fork ventured across the table at her invitation, sampling the delicate fish and tasty whipped potatoes with grain mustard. Brussels sprouts that surrounded the fish were totally undercooked, saved only slightly be the bacon they were cooked with. Only other complaint was the skin on the fish….I’m just not a fan of it.

We polished off a bottle of the Powers and ordered one dessert to share, the cherry bread pudding. Served with vanilla ice cream, it was very well executed, not overly sweet which so often ruins bread pudding.

A few menu items have a Southern accent like the wild Georgia shrimp and grits and the crispy Mississippi catfish, also served with grits. They also do brunch. But Rosebud is mostly regular food for regular folks. Not too fancy, not too expensive, but certainly competent and worth a visit.

1397 North Highland Avenue 404-347-9747

This is truly the biggest and best news I’ve heard in a long while. Grant Henry is opening a bar in the former Danneman’s Coffee location on Edgewood, diagonally across from Sound Table!

He will call it (no surprise here) Sister Louisa’s Church of the Living Room and Ping Pong Emporium….Come on in Precious! Looks like he is currently trying to clear out the space using the “grab this shit while you can” method via Facebook. And yes, there will be actual ping-pong tables!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Grant Henry (what what?), he is a local Atlanta artist who’s alter ago is Sister Louisa. He has been bartending at The Local on Ponce for several years, voted “Atlanta’s Best Bartender” by Creative Loafing and The Sunday Paper (or so he says!).

My personal experience with Grant is mostly via his appearances in Hollis Gillespie’s hilarious essays, then meeting him at the annual Telephone Factory Lofts art show in December a few years back. Hollis used to hold her writing seminars there too. It was hilarious to see the looks on the attendees’ faces when they saw the walls literally covered with Sister Louisa art! That is where I purchased one of my favorite pieces….a paint by numbers kitty with bright red words over it saying “Jesus Loves Pussy”. Check out similar awesome blasphemous art at his website. And you will surely be subject to much of it in his new establishment.

Word is he plans to open the joint in the next few weeks or so….praise the Lord and pass the PBR!

Coming soon to 466 Edgewood Avenue

Rumor has it that Kroger is opening up a Murray’s Cheese shop inside their Ansley location. Open since 1940 in New York City, Murray’s specializes in artisanal cheeses and specialty foods, catering to folks that know Humboldt Fog should never be wrapped in plastic!

That’s great news. But for now, I continue to rely on Whole Foods for a great selection of cheeses and accompaniments. Except for last Friday when I was running my ass off trying to get everything to make a great dinner for LC’s birthday.

I had the brilliant idea that I could get everything at Kroger so I picked up a piece of Taleggio, a tiny piece of aged Reypener and a remnant sliver of aged gouda. My leftover Humboldt Fog would be our fourth cheese, all served with olives, candied walnuts, honey, and dried figs. I found the texture of the Taleggio to be too firm, preferring the riper, creamier brand I usually buy at Whole Foods.

Kroger has a surprisingly decent variety of breads these days. Their Private Selection artisan Pugliese Petite Boule is crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and just the right size for two people, slathered with sweet butter.

Marquis Philips Sarah’s Blend was smooth and paired well with the cheeses. A birthday toast and it was time for dessert!