Hot Dish Review

During her visit, AD and I packed a year’s worth of drama in a week. Before taking her to the airport, we decided to find a restaurant nearby with a patio so we could enjoy the sunny day with a touch of Fall in the air, and enjoy a casual lunch while rehashing the events of her visit.

We decided on Cafe 640, formerly Cafe di Sol, who’s quaint patio faces a colorful section of N. Highland Avenue in the Poncey Highlands. The trees, flowers and tiny lights strung all around make guests feel like they are in a small town, but the sirens and occassional passing vagrant remind them otherwise! We chose one of the small tables near the street with the uncomfortable wooden slat chairs.

Should we have wine? Silly question. A glass of riesling for me, pinot noir for her. The three most expensive appetizers ($29 all together) sounded like an awesome clusterf*ck of flavor, perfect for sharing.

Delivered first were the panko crusted fried green tomatoes with New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. You know how I feel about fried green tomatoes. I rarely have a positive reaction to them, but often order them just to see how badly the kitchen can screw ‘em up. Of course the tomatoes were too heavily breaded, but they were not greasy. We could actually taste the tartness of the tomatoes, which was a great match to the sweet, plump shrimp.

A huge bowl of mussels and leeks in a red curry broth came out along with the “ropa vieja”, a dish of slow braised shredded flank steak on tortilla chips, then topped with a little melted aged white cheddar, fresh jalapeno slices, and drizzled with cilantro sour cream. In effect, Spanish nachos. Having just spent her last month abroad in San Sabastian, AD was interested to see how authentic this dish would taste.

The mussels were well-prepared, although I couldn’t detect much curry in the broth. That didn’t stop me from sopping up every last drop with the grilled slices of bread that were served with them.

In between slurping up shellfish, we tried the tortillas, each topped with copious amounts of tender shredded beef. The fresh, not pickled, jalapenos were fiery hot. We both loved it!

Not so pleased with the dryness of my riesling, I chose a malbec for my second glass, as did AD.

We enjoyed our lunch so much that I suggested LC and I dine there for an impromptu dinner the following week. Naturally, we had to order the ropa vieja. I knew LC would love the spicy nachos! To mix it up a bit we tried a house salad with a fantastic housemade balsamic, a stack of perfectly crispy onion rings, and a side of truffle mac ‘n’ cheese, bubbly and browned on top. A martini and a Guinness draft washed it all down.

But LC was still hungry, so we order the panna cotta to go. Needless to say, it didn’t even make it to the car. Sublime, light, and topped with fresh blueberries, we polished off the dessert in seconds.

640 N. Highland Avenue 404-724-0711

A long overdue visit to Serpas immediately reminded me of what sets apart a good restaurant from a great one.

There are only a couple of foods that I would categorize as disgusting….chicken livers and cucumbers. Then there are a few that I can eat, but generally choose not to, such as tuna, broccoli, and beets.

It is a rare restaurant that can make me want to eat tuna. Top Flr is one, Serpas is the other.

My first experience with Scott Serpas’ tuna tartar was at the opening media dinner. I would not have ordered it, however, our big table of food writers received a chef’s tasting of practically half the menu.

Many of the tastes were fantastic, but I was particularly enthralled with the chef’s tuna tartar, its tiny cubes of fresh ahi tossed with diced onion and green apple in a sweet and spicy sesame dressing. He served housemade potato chips alongside for scooping up the tartar, providing a slightly salty crunch that complimented the silky sweet tuna.

On a subsequent visit with B and our sad excuse for boyfriends at the time, we ordered several appetizers to share before our entrees. That is when I met the Serpas house salad. Butter lettuce, candied pecans, goat cheese, and his signature blistered grape vinaigrette. It’s just a salad, right? Not quite. Like the dressing on his tuna tartar, Serpas has a knack for sauces and such that is unrivaled. This salad makes me salivate.

A few other appetizers remain on the menu from those opening months like the delicious eggplant hushpuppies and savory crispy duck rolls. The chef’s Louisiana heritage is evident in dishes like chicken-andouille gumbo and flash fried oysters, both dishes he introduced during his long stint at Two Urban Licks. It is easy to make a meal of starters at Serpas.

After being snowed in for days, LC and I ventured out for a meal of modern comfort food. Chef Serpas’ approach remains unpretentious, stearing clear of silly trends, although I did see he added an appetizer of pork rillette.

The space is industrial chic with a dose of Southern charm. A mural that looks like billowing orange clouds at first glance is actually a photo of cotton. An open kitchen allows diners to see Serpas in action. There is a marked lack of chaos as he expedites orders.

Both of us were having a hard time deciding on drinks so we ended up trying a specialty cocktail made with tequila, pear compote and bitters. I considered a temperanillo or pinot noir but ended up ordering a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout. Well, they were out of the beer so my next choice was another specialty cocktail with gin and fig jam, a better choice than his. LC tried a Dixie ale later that he really enjoyed.

Thankfully, LC likes to share so we started out with the tried and true tuna tartar and the fried green tomato and crab stack. The tuna was as amazing as ever with just a hint of sweetness and a dose of heat that creeps up on your palate.

My history with fried green tomatoes is lengthy, having grown up in the South eating my Grandma’s, sliced thin with a scant cornmeal and flour coating. I often have issues with fried green tomatoes being served as an appetizer since they are really just like any other vegetable side, to be eaten with your protein. No matter, here they were, as an appetizer, all gussied up with crab and avocado, both of which I love. I had to have it.

The stack was comprised of two slices of fried green tomatoes layered with crab salad. One of the tomato slices was perfectly thin and tender, although a bit heavy on the breading, while the other was sliced too thick and therefore hard to cut. I didn’t find the avocado until the end, when a bit of it made an appearance, perhaps going unnoticed due to its hue being identical to that of the tomatoes, or it could be that the kitchen accidently went light on it. That’s a shame because I love avocado and it might have swayed my overall opinion of the dish. It was good, not great.

We decided to split the duck breast for our main course, along with the house salad. Again, I can’t even explain how perfect that salad is. The duck, cooked to medium, was stuffed with pecans and cranberries, then rolled and wrapped in bacon. Good Lord! Three pieces were placed on a creamy bed of pureed sweet potatoes with a hint of chili. I swear, there couldn’t be a dish with more bells and whistles for me than this one. It didn’t just sound or look pretty, it tasted gorgeous. And that’s coming from a chick that likes a crispy skin on her duck breast. I didn’t miss it.

Despite the duck being an obvious choice for me, I still had difficulty not ordering the jumbo sea scallops with Serpas’ rich and fragrant panang curry. LC considered the braised beef short ribs before I trumped him with the duck. A diner seated next to us had the gigantic veal porterhouse….I swear it must have weighed five pounds!

In an unexpected turn of events, we skipped dessert. On our way out I said hello to Scott. He’s such a genuinely great guy and knows by best friend B quite well. My next visit will undoubtedly be with her for brunch.

Three out of four dishes were stellar. Days later, I am still reliving the salad, the duck, the tuna. So, if I didn’t mention it before, that is what sets the good apart from the great and why Serpas is in my Top Ten list of Atlanta restaurants!

659 Auburn Avenue, suite 501 404-688-0040

The first couple of days in Pigeon Forge were a whirlwind of Chinese acrobats, crazy rides, and of course, stampeding buffalo. When the dust settled, we noticed a lovely restaurant and inn perched along the river. It was part of The Old Mill Square, along with a gift shop, candy store, toy store, and creamery.

DC read glowing reviews of the Southern food at The Old Mill, so we headed that way for dinner our last night in town. After dinner, we had reservations at the Titanic museum….we were on a tight schedule. When we arrived at the restaurant, we discovered there was an hour wait. So our plan was sunk.

Or not. They owned a second restaurant across the street with a more diverse menu….and no wait. Outside, The Pottery House Cafe & Grille looked like a renovated house, complete with a gazebo in the front yard, but inside it was a rustic yet modern space with exposed wood beams and ductwork. Light wood furnishings and barn lanterns added a country vibe. And, of course, there was plenty of pottery.

Our group of six was seated at a large round table and proceeded to order drinks and appetizers. Someone mentioned the cafe bakes its own bread so I was excited to give it a try. I even considered ordering the fried green tomato BLT on their toasted sourdough, but my bad experience with toasted sourdough at breakfast coupled with the unlikelihood that they could make fried green tomatoes properly prompted me to look elsewhere on the menu.

Perhaps I would have the praline grilled pork chop with cinnamon apples and mashed potatoes? I had a feeling it would be a sugar bomb, and the pasty filler of mashed potatoes that everyone else loves bores the hell out of me.

While I weighed my options, LC ordered a basket of fried pickles and DC wanted to try the fried green tomatoes to start. As predicted, the tomatoes were thickly breaded and deep fried. I was relieved that I selected the grilled sesame chicken salad as my entree.

Meanwhile, the bread was unimpressive. LC ordered a ribeye steak with a side of jalapeno corn puddin’, at my suggestion. He said the steak was overcooked but had great flavor. I was expecting his side to be more of a cornbread pudding (like Goin’ Coastal’s), but it was sorta like thickened creamed corn with a spicy kick. C tried the quiche with fresh fruit and DC got the fried catfish with fries and cole slaw, sharing some with little A. I can’t remember what, if anything, little T ate….she was feeling queasy. The prices were very reasonable, with entrees hovering around ten bucks each.

My salad was good enough, predictable romaine with toasted almonds, Mandarin oranges, tomatoes, green onions, and chunks of chicken, all topped with crispy rice noodles and sesame ginger dressing. Their homemade cinnamon raisin pecan bread would have been much better warm, or toasted.

No time for dessert. It was time to meet our fate on the Titanic. We each received a “boarding pass” with the name of one of the passengers. Who would live through the ordeal? Ironically, I was the only one in our group that was in First Class….and the only one that didn’t survive.

175 Old Mill Avenue, Pigeon Forge 865-428-0771

When I visited my folks in Florida last Thanksgiving, we stopped by Neon Leon’s for a drink after dinner one night. I didn’t get a chance to sample their Cajun cuisine so it was on my hot list a couple of weeks ago when LC and I made the trip South.

The restaurant’s neon, beads, and live zydeco music on the weekends make it the obvious choice for a Mardi Gras celebration any time the mood strikes.

It was a Friday night and the place was packed with locals. Men in T-shirts and caps dined on plates of fried anything, raising their cans of PBR after each song. We were seated unfortunately close to the stage, making converstion nearly impossible.

My Dad doesn’t waste any time when it comes to food, ready to place his order before we were seated. Me and both of my parents ordered the trio of Cajun favorites….seafood gumbo, etouffee, and jambalaya. I was hoping the dishes would be spicy and ordered a Corona Light to quench the fire. LC was the lone holdout, going for the blackened grouper special, with fried okra on the side.

Even though fried green tomatoes are really a side dish, like so many other restaurants, Neon Leon’s offer them as an appetizer. The menu says “can’t get ‘em anywhere else”. I was compelled to try them, although I suspected they would be heavily breaded. I was right, and glad I wouldn’t be able to get them anywhere else. The ones I make at home are a thousand times better.

Aside from Cajun classics, Neon Leon’s specializes in char-grilled steaks. They also have some unusual items, frog legs and gator tail in particular.

LC’s fish was perfectly grilled and seasoned, however his fried okra was as disappointing as the fried green tomatoes, with a batter so heavy it completely masked the flavor of the vegetable.

Our Cajun samplers came out with three bowls inexplicably sitting upon a scant bed of field greens….likely the only use for lettuce at this restaurant. The contents of one bowl was beige. It was the etouffee. My Mom described the sauce as pasty and I agreed.

We each received a dish of dirty rice which I added to the gumbo, along with a few drops of hot sauce. Plump shrimp and okra came together for an authentic and tasty soup. Another bowl contained a deep red soup, the jambalaya. Full of red beans, shrimp, sausage, and chicken, this dish was definitely my favorite. It was spicy enough without the addition of hot sauce.

I can’t pass up bread pudding for dessert. Topped with vanilla ice cream, the pudding was exceptionally dense with an overwhelming flavor of nutmeg. Not so great, but the four of us polished it off.

Neon Leon’s is truly a hidden gem, tucked away in the woods in the middle of Florida, but it’s clear that lots of folks have found it over the years, making it a destination for Cajun food and entertainment.

10350 W. Yulee Drive, Homosassa, FL 352-621-3663

The first day of 2011 was rainy and dismal, perfect for sleeping in. Also perfect for a hearty brunch. After coffee and my annual viewing of the Tournament of Roses Parade, LC and I headed to Diesel for food and a little hair of the dog.

With New Year’s Day falling on a Saturday, seems as though it was business as usual at most places. Despite the rain, Diesel was full of its regular young neighborhood crowd. We chose a table on the enclosed patio and ordered drinks, a bloody Mary for him and a mimosa for me.

They advertised a “superstition sampler” comprised of black-eyed peas, collards, corned beef, and cabbage. Maybe later. First I needed breakfast. I rarely pass on eggs Benedict and Diesel’s was made with fried green tomatoes so I had to try it. LC got an omelette filled with almost everything, except he forgot cheese.

Service was excrutiatingly slow. We were on our second round when our entrees came. One of my poached eggs was overcooked, its yolk hard and round. There wasn’t enough Hollandaise sauce either, but there was little chance of getting it before I was finished with my meal. LC’s omelette was luke-warm and there was no butter for his biscuit, which he did manage to get….eventually.

My Benedict was not the traditional composition. Poached eggs, spinach, ham, and the fried green tomatoes were on a split biscuit. Naturally, I found fault with the tomatoes. Sliced too thickly, they were not cooked tender, however, I enjoyed their tangy flavor. Ham paired well but the spinach was nearly unnecessary. And like I said, more Hollandaise would have helped a great deal.

Instead of potatoes, grits, or fruit on the side, I substituted sweet potato fries. I am rather certain they are the ones all restaurants buy, cut wide and flat, they are double fried and extra crispy. Love ‘em.

LC loves bloody Marys. I hate tomato juice. He raved about Diesel’s Mary, not sure what its secret ingredient was….beer perhaps? He insisted I try it as it “didn’t taste like tomato juice”. And he was right, it was good and spicy. My mimosas were also very good with just a splash of orange juice.

After brunch we ordered the superstition sampler to-go….more on that tomorrow!

Advice: do try Diesel for brunch, just don’t be in a hurry.

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.

The first time I attempt any dish there is that moment of uncertainty, especially when I am trying to duplicate a family recipe like my Grandma’s fried green tomatoes. And especially when I have critisized so many chefs for turning them into something they are not.

Fried green tomatoes are, in fact, a side dish to be served along with meat and other veggies. They can often be found on restaurant menus as appetizers, drizzled with aioli and topped with goat cheese or some other atrocity, their delecate, tangy flavor obliterated by heavy breading and deep-frying. Shameful.

Lovingly reproduced by my Mom, here is my Grandma’s recipe (if you can even call it that, it is more of a method). I probably could have made them by memory but I got the verbal instructions from her to be safe. Just so you know, I used two medium/large green tomatoes and ate every last bite….they were that f*ckin good!

Green tomatoes
Corn meal
All-purpose flour
Canola oil
Salt & pepper

Slice the green tomatoes about 1/4″ thick or a little thinner. Season with salt and pepper and lightly dust with half corn meal, half flour, just until coated. Heat about 3 teaspoons oil to medium/high. Add the tomato slices in a single layer to hot pan and cook 15-20 minutes turning several times. Watch carefully and turn heat down, cooking until tomatoes are tender and browned.

If I can make them right on the first attempt there is no excuse for the pathetic execution of this dish at most restaurants.

I love fried green tomatoes, however, I rarely eat them. Here’s why….most restaurants serve them as an appetizer, all gussied up with bullshit like aioli or goat cheese or whatever. That’s why my very first blog post was a Knuckle Sandwich on this very subject.

Fried green tomatoes are a vegetable, a side dish like green beans or squash or corn. My Grandma in Tennessee made them, tangy and delicious, fresh from the garden. She taught my Mom how to cook them, sliced about 1/4″ thick, dredged in a little cornmeal and fried in a pan. That’s it. Simple. Southern.

It’s hard to find green tomatoes but I plan to cook up a batch as soon as I do….I think Whole Foods is my best bet.

Until then I decided to try ‘em at The Nook. Located on Piedmont Park, they have a kickass patio. Their trademark Tochos are their specialty but too heavy for a 90 degree afternoon.

The Nook offers fried green tomatoes as an appetizer with some sort of vinaigrette and feta cheese so I was already pissed off when I ordered them for B and I to share. She’s a Southern girl too so she knows what a fried green tomato is supposed to look and taste like.

The obvious first criteria is that the tomatoes are green. Like I said, it’s hard to find them and The Nook is clearly having this issue. Their tomatoes were yellow. Sliced appropriately thin with a light cornmeal coating, they lacked the tang of green tomatoes because they were too ripe.

On a positive note the vinaigrette and cheese were not overpowering. A small mound of raw spinach in the center of the plate also did not offend. They were a little too greasy but it could have been worse….they could have been breaded and deep fried like so many establishments do it, completely obliterating any flavor, except for, of course, whatever fucking aioli they drizzle them with.

My Grandma never even heard of aioli.

Has anyone had awesome fried green tomatoes in Atlanta, anywhere? Let me know, I’m on a ‘mater mission!

I’m a Southern girl. Sorta. My Mom is German, my Dad is American and I grew up in a small town in Tennessee.

Although my Dad’s family was poor, they ate remarkably healthy. They grew what they ate….green beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, everything. The chickens that ran around the coop could easily end up on the dinner table, having already provided their eggs for breakfast.

Fast forward to my childhood. My Mom was a health nut, always looking for ways to modify Southern favorites. She substituted low-sodium chicken broth for regular in my Grandma’s cornbread dressing. Later, she started using Egg-Beaters instead of whole eggs. Just suble changes, the same great flavor, better nutrition. We ate from the garden in the Spring and Summer, canned green beans for the Winter. I loved okra, poke salad, fried green tomatoes, and sweet taters….and still do!

So what most folks consider Southern cooking is somewhat unfamiliar to me (by most folks I mean yankees). There were no grits or casseroles in my house, no fried chicken or macaroni and cheese.

What I’m getting at is I don’t like typical Southern food….the artery-clogging butter-laden Paula Deen fare. I tend to avoid any restaurant that is even remotely Southern. However, ST had a nice gift card for Dogwood. I had been wanting to go since they opened, having perused the menu, despite its Southernish pedigree.

The space is beautiful with big photos of Dogwood blossoms, white tablecloths, and soft, romantic lighting. I started with a glass of the peppery Hullabaloo zin and ST got a Negra Modelo.

Their specialty is the grits bar. Not a bar at all, but rather specifically Red Mule yellow stone ground grits from Athen, GA topped with one of three toppings: Brunswick stew, pimento cheese and Benton’s fried ham, or braised mushrooms and shaved parmesan. ST likes grits and I felt compelled to try them so we got the Brunswick stew topped bowl. Super creamy, they seemed to have some cheese in them. I could eat a ton of this stuff!

Another Southern thing I don’t like is biscuits. Dogwood’s bread service was reminiscent of biscuits….kudos for creatively making that connection without serving actual biscuits. The crust was crunchy and it was hot out of the oven, admittedly pretty good, although it would have been better with unsalted butter.

We split the grilled baby romaine salad with smoked bacon, blue cheese, Fuji apples, dressed with a creamy red wine vinaigrette. It was awesome, probably my favorite dish of the evening.

My starter of roasted Georgia quail with cornbread-andouille stuffing with country ham butter and mushrooms was really good. The skin was somewhat crisp, a solid flavorful dish.
ST ordered the crispy gulf oysters with caramelized fennel-onion jam, and fried shiitakes. I’m not a big fan of oysters but tried one of the four. I was a big fan of the sweet caramelized onions.

For our entrees ST ordered the Painted Hills NY strip, medium, served with duck fat potatoes and I had the (no surprise here) local honey glazed Ashley Farms duck breast with sweet potato and poached pears.

His steak was huge and delicious. The leftover meat became steak and eggs for breakfast. My duck was the best I’ve had in a long while and as you all know, I eat a lot of duck. Cooked medium, the skin was crisped, the thick slices displayed atop pureed sweet potatoes and poached pears. The best part, however, was the surprise of a bit of honeycomb. Fucking awesome!

Our dessert was a modern take on s’mores…..chocolate creme brulee with a dollop of torched marshmallow, and a graham cracker biscotti. I didn’t taste much graham flavor in the biscotti, it would have been better with just plain ol’ graham crackers like the ones Grandma used to keep in her cupboard.

Ingredients like Georgia mountain trout, pecans, hominy, pimento cheese, peanuts, and grits sound Southern but don’t let the menu fool you. This is upscale dining. My Grandma never made blood orange fumet or sauternes sabayon.

If Atlanta restaurants keep blowing me away with modern comfort food (like Miller Union) and kickass “Southern” fare, I may just consider myself converted.

565 Peachtree Street 404-835-1410

Nothing gets my dander up like the “mishandling” of fried green tomatoes.  I grew up in Tennessee and LOVE fried green tomatoes.  What pinches my nerve is how they are served in restaurants….topped with crumbled goat cheese, drizzled with aioli, gussied up like hookers on Ponce.

Let me make this very clear:  fried green tomatoes are a vegetable, a side dish to be served alongside the meat and the other vegetables.  They are NOT an appetizer!  Who the hell decided that they were an appetizer anyway?  My grandmother never served them with f*#ckin aioli!  Just slice them thin, dredge lightly in cornmeal and fry ‘em up in a pan….delicious!

Fried green tomatoes are routinely overbreaded in restaurants, the heavy coating completely overpowering the delicate tangy flavor of the under ripe fruit.  It’s a shame that every “Southern” restaurant bastardizes this vegetable.  They all deserve a nice fat Knuckle Sandwich….with aioli on it!