Hot Dish Review

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!