Hot Dish Review

With lines out the door every Summer, one might think the gelato at Paolo’s in the Virginia Highlands is an authentic taste of Italy. Paolo Dalla Zorza has indeed captured the atmosphere of so many tiny gelato shops in Europe, but I have often been disappointed with his product.

Having visited Europe on numerous occassions, I am a total gelato snob. When I’m in Germany I walk down to the gelato shop on the corner every freakin’ day. It has been owned and run by the same Italian family ever since I can remember. They go back to Italy in the Winter and return to the small town of Solms in the Spring to serve up authentic, amazing gelato.

Sometimes I think it’s the ingredients that make it impossible to duplicate here in the states. Other times I attribute the lack of authentic gelato here to the makers trying too hard to please the American palate with copious amounts of sugar and cream instead of milk. Then it’s ice cream, not gelato.

Paolo’s has enjoyed ten years of success due to its perfect location, a tiny space which is surely the lowest rent in the neighborhood, and the insurmountable draw of sugar to the kids on this very family-friendly street. There is now a second location in Charleston.

LC and I stopped in after our snack at Goin’ Coastal since it is right next door. It had been a couple of years so I was ready to give Paolo another chance to win me over.

Paolo’s offers authentic flavors like gianduia and zabione. My favorite is straciatella, basically vanilla with chocolate shavings. In Europe this simple composition takes on a more complex nuance, some intangible quality that makes it taste so much better there than it does in the U.S.

We ordered one waffle cup with a scoop of straciatella and one of espresso (I think). The texture of the espresso was too creamy, like regular ice cream, and also too sweet. I was quite pleased with the straciatella and I loved the edible cup!

His menu also includes crepes and creative treats like vanilla gelato extruded in strings and topped with strawberries. Called “spaghetti eis” in Germany, it’s a sweet take on the traditional pasta with marinara.

In Germany they use very small scoops pronounced “bellschen”. My regular order? “Ich moechte zwei baellchen von straciatella und eine von dem nuss, mit sahne bitte!” That’s straciatella and hazelnut with real whipped cream.

Seems like everyone’s in the gelato business these days. Whole Foods makes a totally bastardized version.

At least Paolo is trying to do something authentic, just wish it tasted a little more like the real thing.

1025 Virginia Avenue 404-607-0055

When anyone asks my opinion on the best new restaurant in Atlanta, I invariably say Miller Union. Not only for its cool yet comfortable atmosphere but for its fresher than fresh local produce and chef Satterfield’s creative takes on simple Southern dishes.

I fell in love with Miller Union on my first visit with B, seduced by the fragrant broth that surrounded clams in a big white bowl, lured in by the richness of an egg baked in celery cream, comforted by the warm embrace of a rustic pear tart. Yes, every dish we had was truly stellar.

That was in the Winter. In fact, it was snowing the night we dined there. I mention this for two reasons: my folly in judging any restaurant based upon one visit is becoming evident, and I simply don’t like Summer menus nearly as much as Fall ones.

With a first meeting like that, disillusionment was sure to follow. Common sense would tell you that multiple visits to a restaurant, or anywhere for that matter, affords a more rounded experience, and therefore allows one to make a qualified assessment of the food, the wine, the service, the scene. But me, I’m the idiot that falls in love on the first date. Then I find out he is unemployed, married, stupid, or all of the above.

My second date with MU didn’t go quite as well as our first. It started off promising with an exceptional blueberry cocktail called Tangled up in Blue. Wanting to introduce my friend BB to my new love, I had high hopes that they, too, would find affection for one another.

Seasonal menus like MU’s feature local produce so naturally one finds awesomeness like apples, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts in the Fall and Winter. Likewise, Summer menus are ripe with tomatoes, corn, and okra.

There is a special place in my heart for okra. I grew up eating fried okra just picked from the garden. My grandma, who was as Southern as poke salad, taught my Mom how to make it properly. Just like fried green tomatoes, I have a real disdain for improperly cooked fried okra.

But first things first. Seated at the bar, BB and I started off with a pork terrine served with pickled okra and their fantastic toasted bread. Not terrible although BB thinks he can find a comparable terrine at Publix.

The magical farm egg baked in celery cream also awaited my lips. I took a knife and pierced its soft yellow yolk, spreading the sublime mixture on the crispy sourdough. Pure heaven.

BB and I decided to split an entree. This is where things went downhill as we noted practically every dish featured corn and/or tomatoes. Fish and tomatoes don’t work for me so that automatically eliminated all the fish dishes. As we made our way down the list, we decided upon the chicken. And God help me if it didn’t come with tomatoes too, disguised as eggplant caponata! The dish was simply prepared. Too simple.

Our side of okra literally took me aback. Chefs deserve plenty of room for creativity. I don’t expect every Southern dish to be like my Grandma’s in Tennessee, as long as it’s good. Miller Union’s okra was not good. Whole okra with a thick beige coating (only flour, no cornmeal?) was neither delicious nor authentic. As BB and I nibbled on the deep fried vegetable, he noted how the batter “skin” could be pulled off. Unfortunately I had consumed several of them prior to this discovery.

Another cocktail was ordered and consumed. BB was on his second Pimm’s Cup.

Note: check out my method for making authentic fried okra by clicking here.

Southern desserts. For me, generally unappealling like the hideous traditional banana pudding or sugar bombs like pecan pie. Miller Union offers similar atrocities: coconut cream pie, lemon layer cake. Before eyeing the dessert list I bet my left forearm (yeah, I know that’s weird) that there would be at least one peach dessert on the menu, after all, what could be more seasonal than Georgia peaches?

There was just one, peach shortcake. If I could have chosen anything made with peaches, that would not have been it. So we opted for the two homemade ice creams of the day, ginger and caramel. I found the caramel so cloyingly sweet that I could barely eat it. BB liked it, however, I preferred the ginger. Neither compared to the ingenuity of the thyme, sage, and rosemary ice creams B and I sampled in the Winter.

I’m not going to break up with you MU. But I think we need some time apart, like maybe three or four months.

999 Brady Avenue NW 678-733-8550

Driving through my neighborhood a few months ago, I noticed a new restaurant had quickly taken over Figo’s old location. It would have been hard to miss, with its red awning sporting a catchy name and tagline, Goin’ Coastal….a sustainable seafood joint.

My curiousity piqued, I googled it. The original location is in Canton. Happily, I do not know exactly where that is. I’m a city chick and easily develop amnesia regarding suburbs, not to mention my direction dyslexia.

I love seafood, primarily shellfish. And the promise of super-fresh seafood fished from environmentally sound waters is certainly appealing! LC accompanied me, ready to do some serious seafood sampling.

Black and white photos of fishermen adorn the pale turquoise walls. Reddish wooden chairs with black leather seats and solid black wood tables sit upon concrete floors. The open kitchen and bar sit a few steps above the main dining room in the multi-level space. Pendant lights emit a soft glow, illuminating the blackboards with daily specials. Brown paper table-dressings add a casual flair to the fishy theme but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a chain. Almost too clean, it felt like it was a concept being groomed for franchising.

Starting in on the specials before taking our drink order, our server was clearly nervous. Perhaps it was her first day but as the evening wore on she proved to be quite competent. Water please.

She brought out a basket of what can best be described as corn muffins. Too cakelike in texture, straight-up cornbread would have been better. I needed a drink. For a seafood joint their cocktail list was quite intriguing. I ordered the coconut lime rickey and LC tried the watermelon jalapeno margarita.

We started off with sweet potato chips with a blue cheese dip, a bowl of she crab soup and a baked oyster sampler. I don’t know what I was expecting but the chips were just like the ones you can buy in a bag in the health food section at the supermarket. I guess I was hoping they would be very thickly sliced, or perhaps spiced with cayenne or black pepper or something. On the plus side, they were not at all greasy, just nothing special.

Our cocktails, however, were special! I enjoyed my rickey but it was LC’s watermelon jalapeno margarita that stole the show. Only mildly sweet with the fruit juice and slightly tart from a dash of fresh lime, it finished with a swift kick in the pants from the jalapeno. A salted rim was icing on the cake.

My only experience with she crab soup is, again, from a can at the supermarket. Called she crab because it is made using cream and the roe from the female crab (obviously), it has a distinct, rich flavor. LC and I agreed, Goin’ Coastal’s rendition of this seafood classic did have good flavor but there was something off about the texture.

I’m not an oyster lover but if I must partake, at least I’d rather have them cooked. So we ordered the baked sampler with two Rockefeller, two crab stuffed, and two parmasean garlic. On our order of six, some were huge, some were tiny. Of the three, the crab stuffed were my favorite.

Chef and co-owner Zach Kell brought out a plate of steamed side-striped shrimp from Alaska. Especially sweet, they required no seasoning at all, not even a dip in the drawn butter was necessary.

Along with the peel ‘n’ eat shrimp, our server placed a white ceramic dish on our table with three little white dots inside. Then, from a tiny metal pitcher, she poured water onto the dots, making them expand right before our eyes. They were like freeze-dried towelettes! I was very impressed.

By this time we were on our third watermelon jalapeno margarita each. They packed some heat but clearly not much alcohol. For an entree LC chose the freshly caught swordfish with cheese grits and collards on the side. Despite having tomatoes in it, I ordered the low country boil with scallops, shrimp, crab legs, and mussels plus a side of the jalapeno corn bread pudding.

Simply grilled, I thought the swordfish looked overcooked when it came to the table, but LC loved it. His grits were fantastic. He liked the collards because they weren’t cooked to mush, but they would have benefitted from a liberal dose of vinegar.

My low country boil was good, but not stellar. Fish stews are challenging due to the varying cooking times of different shellfish. The scallops were perfectly cooked leaving the shrimp a tad tough. Crusty bread that came with it was awesome. Although submerged in a tomatoey broth , the crab legs had to be cracked by hand. Thank goodness for the magic towelettes!

The savory and spicy jalapeno corn bread pudding, baked in its own ramekin, turned out to be my favorite dish.

There are many dishes on the menu we didn’t get to taste. I was interested in the fried Creole salad but our server would not endorse it. Lobster and peekytoe crab cakes sound delicious. And I wouldn’t turn down a duo of roasted and fried shrimp served on grits with andouille sausage gravy.

A couple more watermelon jalapeno margaritas went down as we chatted, finishing it all off with a mini chocolate cake with blueberry sauce.

I wanted to love it, I was hoping it would wow me. I think they take great care in their sourcing and I appreciate that but in the end, what works in a small town might not fly smack in the middle of the trendy Virginia Highlands. After all, we are food snobs.

1021 Virginia Avenue 404-941-9117

Always looking for low-calorie snacks that mimic my favorite calorie-dense treats, I discovered a lighter version of Starbuck’s Javachip ice cream, using Weight Watchers Giant Latte Bars.

With only 90 calories per bar, they are made with low-fat ice cream and coffee. It’s not a super-nutritious product, full of hard to pronounce crap, but it tastes indulgent. I cut the ice cream off the stick and top it with light Cool-Whip. Then I chop a chunk of dark chocolate for chips and sprinkle them on top. Voila!

The total calories are only around 150, depending on how much chocolate I use. Not bad at all.

There is nothing German about funnel cake. However in Helen, the faux Bavarian village in the North Georgia mountains, the land of motorcycles and mullets, liverwurst and lederhosen, it is strangely appropriate.

Sprinkled with powdered sugar, topped with some gloppy fruit goo, whipped cream, ice cream, or all of the above, it is practically mandatory to eat one of these fried monstrosities in the carnivalesque atmosphere of Helen.

After years of avoiding this white trash temptation, I finally vowed to give in the next time I went tubing. And that was last weekend. B and I joined my Mom for lunch at Old Heidelberg, feasting on the best wurst with good kraut and over-spiced, over-cooked red cabbage, drank several Corona Lights, then braved the chilly waters of the Chattahoochee in the bright pink tubes.

We bailed early, getting out of the river across the street from my parents’ house, just in time for bison burgers! Chef Billy burns my Dad’s just the way he likes it but B and I prefer our burgers medium. They were perfect and juicy topped with double cheese and all the fixin’s.

Finally….time for funnel cake! Granny’s Famous Funnel Cakes is a Helen tradition, having stood in the center of town for many years. You can watch as the dough is literally piped into the vat of bubbling oil with a funnel. It is truly awe-inspiring (see photo).

B and I wanted to keep it simple, ordering our large funnel cake with powdered sugar and whipped cream. She got Georgia peach ice cream on the side.

Like a super-crispy doughnut, what’s not to love about this treat? A chick from Ooltewah and one from Ellijay, we know good white trash when we eat it.

Everyone loves Yogli Mogli. Except for maybe the competition. Offering sixteen flavors of self-serve yogurt plus forty toppings to choose from, Yogli Mogli allows its customers to mix and match flavors and toppings to create their own customized yogurt treat.

Calories per 1/2 cup serving range from 70 to 120. Once guests fill their containers (there is only one size container and it’s large!) with yogurt, they are free to top them with any combination of goodies including chocolate chips, candies, granola, nuts, and fresh fruit. Then, the finished product is weighed at the cash register. At just .39 cents per ounce, it comes out significantly less expensive than a similar concoction at TCBY or Yoreka.

Much like SunO Dessert, it’s difficult to calculate the calories based upon the information given. My cappuccino and cake batter yogurt, topped with chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and a bit of crushed Oreo cookie cost $2.60. That’s 6.67 ounces. Half a cup is 83 grams. So how many calories were in my serving? It’s like a word problem in algebra class!

The space is modern with dashes of green and orange. Lots of teens and moms with kids were there today, cooling off in the August heat. It was amusing to see little kids with enormous colorful concoctions, topped with everything from sprinkles to mini M & M’s.

I didn’t try the original tart flavor this visit, but I imagine it is much like the popular yogurt-flavored yogurt at the new shops springing up everywhere. Yogli Mogli has an insane variety of flavors like bubble gum and Reese’s peanut butter that will appeal to kids, as well as more adult varieties like pomegranite raspberry tart and Georgia peach.

There are four locations with two more coming soon. Give it a try and test your ability to serve yourself in moderation!

6595 Roswell Rd. in Abernathy Square 404-943-1641

This place has great buzz. Over the years I have perused Haven’s menu online, salivating over a pork dish here, a salad there, and many of the small plates. So, it seemed the perfect place for PG and I to dine during her visit from LA. We both like to sample several dishes, tapas style.

However, upon examining the online menu earlier today, I realized the seasonal changes had eliminated my favorite accompaniments of sweet potato and fig (Ok, that’s not entirely true, figs and pecans garnish the bacon wrapped trout). Gone was the salad with goat cheese and frissee. Still, I had hope. Its convenient location and my relentless curiosity sealed our fate. We threw on our party dresses and headed to Haven.

The space mirrors the design of almost every modern Atlanta restaurant that’s opened in the last five or six years. Warm lighting, exposed brick, and dark wood were not unique but undeniably inviting. Reminded me a bit of The Shed at Glenwood. Haven is surely a definitive trendsetter in Brookhaven.

There is something to be said for consistency. Chef Stephen Herman has run the kitchen since the restaurant’s opening in 2003, drawing a loyal neighborhood following that has embraced his fresh, earthy approach, with a subtle Southern accent.

It was Friday night. Prime time, but there was one table available, near the semi-open kitchen, upon our unreserved arrival. The dining room was busy, the staff in absolute control. In fact, the service was completely on point.

PG ordered a glass of 14 Hands Merlot and I got an old favorite, the Dynamite Cab, $9 each. The wine list isn’t terribly creative, including recognizable names like Trefethen, Steele, and La Crema. Idiot proof.

We were all ready to be disappointed. Not finding a single item on the small plates list that intrigued us, PG and I opted for entrees. After much questioning of our ever-patient server, she finally chose the halibut. Being the duck junkie that I am, I was leaning towards ordering the bird. I asked if the skin was crispy and our server said the magic words “the fat is rendered, then the skin is pan-seared and crisped”. Bingo!

A basket of bread with sweet unsalted butter, good wine, great conversation. Dining with PG is always fun…two pisces food snobs!

Our entrees came out and they were lovely. Her thick chunk of halibut was served in a tomato water with local squash and a bean salad. Very light and summery. There was only a mere hint of tomato in the broth. A drizzle of pesto gave the mild fish a necessary dash of flavor.

My Sonoma duck breast was cooked medium and sliced thinly, fanned out around its accompanying braised red cabbage and brandied cherries. Almost German-style, the red cabbage imparted a hint of sweetness that works so well with duck. And the brandied cherries (brandied cherries!) made this one of my favorite duck dishes ever, almost as good as the now-defunct Globe’s Moroccan spiced duck with dried fruits and spicy yogurt sauce. There was literally no fat beneath the crispy skin of my duck at Haven….no small feat.

The dessert list didn’t thrill us with cheesecake, brownie, creme brulee and such. We chose the peach cobbler with blueberry ice cream. A huge individually baked dish was plenty to share, not too sweet, its crispy crust holding up well beneath the delicious ice cream. Good stuff.

Having watched him expedite orders all evening, we chatted with chef Herman after our meal, very nice guy. (For the record they had no idea who I was, the meal wasn’t comp’d, and no, I’m not being paid for this post!)

The verdict? I was thoroughly impressed.

1441 Dresden Drive 404-969-0700

TCBY does it the old-fashioned way, full of preservatives and sugar! Although the new breed of frozen yogurt stores claim to have live active cultures, implying that other brands do not, TCBY does, in fact, contain seven active probiotics in their product. Yoreka only lists two types of live cultures in their yogurt.

The main difference between TCBY and Yoreka is the taste. TCBY tastes more like soft-serve ice cream whereas the new brands (and there are many!) have that tangy yogurt flavor. TCBY has more sugar, about 18 grams in a 4 oz. serving, although the no sugar added flavors have only 6 grams (I guess from naturally occurring lactose). Yoreka has 18 grams of sugar in a 5 oz. serving.

With the additional sugar comes more calories…..about 30 per oz. for TCBY, 20 per oz. for Yoreka and similar brands.

My issue with Yoreka, Yogurberry, and the others is I don’t think the tanginess works as well with sweet toppings like chocolate chips or fruit. Personally I don’t like fruit toppings on my yogurt, always opting for dark chocolate chips and mixed nuts at TCBY. That is the combo in the photograph, on top of white chocolate mousse and coffee yogurt. It usually looks a lot prettier but there was a new guy at the TCBY who clearly doesn’t care about aesthetics.

Last year TCBY began using environmentally friendly insulated paper containers rather than styrofoam. Problem with that is the yogurt melts quickly, turning into a soupy mess. Can’t they just recycle?

The lower calorie count and some intriguing toppings like mochi continue to lure me to the new-fangled yogurt chains on occassion, but my loyalty still lies with good old-fashioned TCBY!

How many white chicks would get excited about red beans and jelly candies? Not many. But when I read about the new Asian dessert place called SunO Dessert in the Sunday Paper, I was practically giddy! Ten minutes later, I was there.

Shaved ice, in original, strawberry, chocolate, or mango flavor, is the main component of SunO’s desserts, which are then flavored with syrups, fruit toppings, dry toppings, and jellies to create endless variations. Creamy, chewy, crunchy, slimey, and even grainy or salty come together to create a dessert that is uniquely Asian. Like the Thai Jewels at Spice Market, the varying textures are weird and delicious at the same time.

On my visit I tried to recreate my favorite Vietnamese dessert since SunO uses many similar components….original flavor (vanilla) shaved ice with condensed milk as my syrup, topped with red beans, lychee fruit and “rice cake”, the round gummy candies called mochi at the many new-fangled yogurt shops in town. The container was enormous but the product is light as air, costing me $5.50.

Vietnamese desserts with red beans are traditionally made with crushed ice and coconut milk. Shaved ice, however, is dry. That’s why many of their options have several syrups. I ended up requesting extra condensed milk on mine.

Many of the crazy concoctions on the menu are clearly Americanized, like the Dirt o’Oreo made with vanilla shaved ice, Oreo crumbs, crushed nuts, chocolate syrup, condensed milk, and gummy worms.

SunO also makes many of the same combos in crepes shaped like cones. Flavored, sweetened teas are offered as well as a mysterious thing called a Wheel Pie. It looks like half a bagel, either vanilla or green tea flavored, filled with vanilla or chocolate custard or red beans. I’ll be having one on my next visit!

In true Asian form, the writing and English translations on the website are pretty funny. It reminds me of a catalog I received when I was designing clothes that had items like panties made into the form of a rose called “The Joy of Panties in Flowers”. Classic.

The confusion, however, is not so funny when trying to decipher the nutritional information. There are 98 calories per 112 grams. Nowhere does it state how many grams are in the different sizes offered.

There are four locations in Atlanta, the newest on N. Decatur Road near Emory. The space is decorated with giant photos of the desserts, all in day-glow Japanimation color. Seating is limited to the benches along the window sills with no tables but surely they will add more since it just opened.

I do wish they offered coconut milk as a syrup, but anytime I can get an Asian dessert with red beans without venturing twenty miles is a treat!

It’s hard to believe I haven’t reviewed Bluepointe until now. The restaurant is an Atlanta staple and the scene of so many memorable (and crazy!) evenings. Like crashing (former) Dallas Maverick’s Steve Nash’s private birthday bash upstairs and my own private birthday bash several years later, complete with champagne and lobster.

As I’ve said in a recent post, I’m a sucker for tradition. Or perhaps I’m merely a creature of habit. I always get the lobster at Bluepointe. In my many visits I have tried practically every dish until I discovered the lobster. Since then, I’ve been loyal to the 2lb. shellfish in curry.

The peanut crusted grouper is awesome and so are the scallops. The calamari appetizer used to be very spicy and amazing but it has become increasingly boring over the years with the predominant flavor being soy.

And ever since me and AD attended a Veuve party at Bluepointe I can’t seem to order anything else to drink there. Many bottles have been consumed since then.

My visit to Bluepointe last night was an exercise in irony. Or deja vu. I was wearing the blue dress, the same one I wore to my birthday dinner. I had champagne and lobster. And I was with LC….just a different one.

Seated at one of the more intimate tables near the bar where me and AD used to sit, LC was somewhat intoxicated and rather ravenous. I asked for a dish of the rice crackers they used to have at the bar but was disheartened to learn they no longer serve them. I would have dumped the snacks in my purse just for old time’s sake!

We started off with edamame and ordered two more appetizers to share. Wanting to try something different I chose the calamari salad. Although it has been many years, I always associate fried calamari on greens with one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in New York called OG (Oriental Grill). Theirs was a perfectly assembled dish of impeccable field greens, fried calamari, and a slightly sweet Asian dressing.

I was impressed with Bluepointe’s version, with tempura calamari, arugula, sweet mango, crispy apple, cashews, and razor thin radish slices, lightly dressed with a subtly sweet Asian vinaigrette. A perfectly balanced composition, both in flavor and texture.

LC wanted to try the short rib wontons in umami broth. Umami is the culinary buzzword de jour, loosely translated as indescribable deliciousness. The Japanese are so cerebral. Three wontons filled with beef swam in a brown broth. Sorry, no umami, just a fistfull of salt in the overwhelmingly soy based broth. More champagne.

We had much better luck with the dependably delicious curry lobster. Served with baby asparagus, bok choy and Asian long beans in a slightly spicy yellow curry, it was as succulent as ever. The enormous lobster makes two generous entree portions. As a side, LC couldn’t resist the corn mash, yellow corn with lots of butter, which turned out to be his favorite dish of the evening.

For dessert I went back to my usual chai creme brulee. Not a fan of lemon sorbet I asked to substitute the orange sorbet which came out in a fun cube shape. The candied ginger on top of the crispy sugar really makes it special. We scarfed it down, along with another glass of champagne.

Now we were ready to dance!