Hot Dish Review

Friday was my first TV appearance for Hot Dish Review! Having just celebrated a year of blogging, I was thrilled to be asked to do a segment on CBS Atlanta’s 4:00 news hour about inexpensive girls’ night out ideas.

Still in my studio make-up, B met me at Abattoir for a toast to my on-air interview. Arriving first, I was offered a seat at the bar by a kind gentleman. BS poured a glass of red while I waited. It was a hot day so I was thinking champagne or a refreshing white. Everyone’s talking about vinho verde these days so I asked for a taste. Light, clear, boring. BS was right, of course. I stuck with the red.

Seated beneath the famous bulb with the slaughterhouse hook, I snapped a couple of photos. Take a closer look and you’ll see a pair of rubber chickens in the rafters…..hilarious!

B arrived and we proceeded to chat and drink. Cheers! Yes, the hours leading up to the interview with Kim Fettig were nerve-jangling but once I was on set I had about two minutes to clip on my microphone and figure out how to weave the contraption between my blouse and cardigan to hide the wire.

A light dinner was in order. We ordered two cheeses, a goat and a blue, served with the perfect accompaniments of nuts and jams. Regretably, I can’t remember the fruits….fig perhaps? Maybe the other was apricot? As always, the baguette was crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a dish of unsalted butter. So simple. It’s amazing how most restaurants can’t even get this right. Quatrano always does.

B insisted on getting the fried chicken livers. I hate liver. When I was a kid I would cry when my Mom made liver. Regardless, they looked pretty and photographed well so I took a bite. At first the crispy coating had me fooled. I thought they were good, then I realized they tasted like….chicken livers. Funny how I love foie gras!

I ordered the babaganoush. It came with wafer thin toasted flatbread, a tiny jar of chutney, and another jar of pickled vegetables. The babaganoush was smooth and sublime, but not as smoky as I like, although the sweet chutney and vinegary veggies added another dimension to the dish that made it memorable.

As we finished off the bottle of wine I contemplated dessert options. There is always temptation at Abattoir.

1170 Howell Mill Road 404-892-3335

For me, the true test at any Mediterranean restaurant is the babaganoush, a traditional dip made with roasted eggplant, tahini, and garlic. It should be smooth with an intense smoky flavor. Naturally, babaganoush was the first thing I ordered for ST and I to share at Truva recently.

Rather than standard pita, Truva makes their own “pida” which was served with the babaganoush. Although texturally pleasing, there just wasn’t quite enough smokiness in the dip for my taste.

The new Turkish restaurant is located in the downtown spot vacated by Steak and Ale. There is a cheap parking lot right next door, so it’s convenient for dinner as well as lunch for local office workers.

A modern Mediterranean decor is made cozy with warm red accents, fireplaces, and plush booths perfect for sneaking a kiss from your date in between sips of wine. Owner Muzo Saritas assisted us in selecting a bottle of wine from their mostly Greek and Turkish list. ST and I ordered a bottle of spicy red although I think we ended up with a Napa cab. Sip, kiss, sip, kiss….delish.

Truva promises to “seduce your senses” with their sexy ambiance and even sexier entertainment. We nibbled on meze as the belly dancer swirled through the dining room in her gold costume to authentic music.

I know Mediterranean food is healthy. No creamy, buttery sauces to mask the robust flavors. Yet somehow, I find it a bit boring. It’s always a combo of the same ingredients…..olives, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. Lamb, which can often be tough, dominates the meats. So I usually order something with ground lamb. Here, we tried the hot meze of minced lamb, beef, and herbs wrapped in phyllo dough and flash fried. A fresh salad with all the standard components, including feta cheese, provided a nice accompaniment to the heavy appetizer. So far, not thrilling.

But Truva’s shrimp casserole was awesome! Huge, perfectly cooked shrimp were baked with peppers, onion, mushrooms, and tomatoes beneath a bubbly mozzarella topping. Honestly, I would not have ordered it had the menu mentioned the tomatoes since I have an aversion to seafood with tomatoes (otherwise I love them, weird huh?), but that would have been a shame….we loved it!

Truva offers the standard selection of meze like grape leaves and falafel plus flatbread pizzas, kebabs, and entrees. Me and ST tried the lamb kebab, similar to kefta I’ve had many times, made with chopped lamb, peppers, onions, and paprika, skewered and grilled. Their version was enormous! Almost a loaf and served atop plain rice, the flavor was good although I wish it would have been a bit spicier. We also got the tender and flavorful beef tenderloin kebabs, cooked medium rare.

Our server, Joseph, was full of Turkish trivia, dispensed with a thick accent. He ran down the list of desserts. We chose the Kazandibi, a dense custard, reminiscent of flan, sprinkled liberally with cinnamon.

ST ordered a Turkish coffee. Potent stuff, it was served in a tiny espresso cup. Joseph explained that one’s future can be read from the pattern left by the grinds by turning the cup over onto its saucer. Unfortunately, the psychic that is usually there was absent the evening of our visit. Too bad, I’m sure it would have been a dramatic reading for ST!

Truva is located at 60 Andrew Young International Blvd. 404-577-8788 www.truvaatlanta.com

AD is back in town! We finally had the chance to get together and headed to Zaya on North Highland for a Mediterranean smorgasbord. I was particularly excited to try their babaganoush (they spell it Baba Ghanuj). The trick is to achieve a heady degree of smokiness from the eggplant. Zaya’s dip was almost perfect, smoky and texturally pleasing, with a pool of olive oil and diced tomatoes, served with the ubiquitous pita triangles. I bet their hummus is great too.

We also tried the Lahem-Bi-Ajeen, a pita pizza with spicy ground beef and lamb topped with onion, tomato, and drizzled with pomegranite molasses…..tasty!

Spanikopita, phyllo triangles filled with spinach and feta, were large, flaky, and delicious. The kafta kebabs, made with spiced ground lamb, were good but a little heavy on the bhar helou, a Lebanese spice mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and would have benefitted from a bit more cayenne. The table next to us grew increasingly annoyed, and perhaps even a little embarrassed, with our chatter….what, doesn’t everyone talk about blowjobs at dinner? Me and AD had some catching up to do, the topic somewhat influenced by the slightly phallic kebabs (see photo).

Zaya’s extensive menu features mostly traditional Greek and Lebanese dishes like mujadarah (lentil stew), falafel, shish kebab, chicken and beef shawarma, and stuffed kibbeh but strays occassionally to satisfy the less adventurous diner. Worth a second visit.