Fish on Monday

Lazy!

I've been eating, but I haven't been writing.  Expect regular updates in the next few weeks. :)

Holeman & Finch Public House

The menu from last night’s dinner at Holeman & Finch Public House still smells delicious, a bigger than legal sized sheet of meaty goodness.  As good as the menu smells, the dinner was better.  We got there around 7:00, and were faced with quite a wait.  The hostess suggested we could sit in the bar and order, but the din and press of people easily convinced Mr. FoM and me that we’d wait for a table.  We probably waited about an hour, though the time passed quickly thanks to the window into the kitchen where we watched the garde manger arrange the house cured meats, slice bread, and prepare endless servings of the hand chopped steak topped with adorable little quail egg nipple.

The restaurant side is quite tiny, with one side lined in two tops and the other in four seaters.  The center is a long trestle table able to accommodate large groups (although good luck!) or smaller groups as needed.  The bathrooms are particularly amusing, with sliding doors that foiled nearly everyone I saw that went back there.  On my potty break, I got to enjoy the soothing strains of MC Chris’s Fett’s Vette – how can you not love this restaurant?

When we were finally seated, Mr. FoM dissolved into excitement over all the bits and pieces H&F offers.  His selection included the H&F Headcheese terrine, the roasted veal sweetbreads with soft grits, hog jowl, and brown butter, and the Gratin of Marrow with parsley salad and country bread.  My selections were somewhat tamer; the griddled hen of the woods mushrooms with polenta and aged parmesan, the Georges Bank scallops with creamed leeks and balsamico, and the waiter recommended seared hanger steak with bacon-onion hash.

The headcheese was very good, chewy and interesting, and the nearly best part was the dollop of hand ground mustard that accompanied the plate.  The mustard seeds were still evident, and while I am not normally a fan, the flavor really set off all the textures and tastes of the pork bits.

The hen of the woods mushrooms were quite lauded by all the reviews that I read before the visit, and I can’t disagree.  Rich and savory, they had a distinctly meaty flavor that set off the smooth polenta beneath. I don’t think Mr. FoM enjoyed them as much as I did, although he did speak highly of the polenta.

The gratin of marrow arrived next, a 6 inch half of bone topped with crunchy bread crumbs and a very onion-y parsley salad.  The dressing on the salad, lemony and tart, made me quite happy.  While the marrow was good, especially smeared on the house-made bread, we could have easily eaten four times as much.  There’s just not much there.  Mr. FoM longingly eyed the bone – I offered to pack it up for his later chewing pleasure, but he declined.

The seared scallops on creamed leeks were good, perfectly cooked, but a bit boring.  The leeks did make an excellent topping for the bread left over from our marrow.

I don’t think I can speak highly enough about the sweetbreads. The flavor was smooth, polite, and delicate, set off by the browned butter and the crispy slice of hog jowl that topped the dish. Mr. FoM had been day dreaming about that hog jowl since I showed him the menu. This was the highlight of the meal, and shouldn’t be missed – Mr. FoM threatened to sneak back to H&F one day without me just for this plate.

Our last dinner plate, the hanger steak, was ok.  The meat was rare and flavorful, but I felt the sauce was too sweet.  I would have preferred the steak and the potato hash without it.

We couldn’t decide on desert, so we had two: a banana pudding with bourbon splashed gingerbread, custard, and Italian meringue, and guava empanadas with corn ice cream and a jalapeno-white chocolate ganache.  While I am not a fan of gingerbread, the top portion of the banana pudding was amazing.  The meringue crust, lightly browned with a blow torch (thanks Mr. Garde Manger!) was crisp and light, and the custard beneath hid perfectly ripe chunks of banana.  The gingerbread, according to Mr. FoM, was equally good, being neither too spicy nor too bland.

The guava empanadas were very, very interesting.  The corn ice cream tasted unsurprisingly very much of corn, and I found it hard going.  My family is a non-sweet cornbread kind of family, so the idea of sweet and corn is still rather foreign to me.  The empanadas themselves were great, hot and dense, and the jalapeño white chocolate ganache had a delicate spiciness that was really set off by the sweetness of the chocolate.  The slivers of candied jalapeño that rested on top were amazing, sugary and crunchy, and just plain good.

Holeman & Finch was definitely worth the wait.  Expensive, but then, it’s only your birthday once a year!  No pictures, because we were ravening beasts unable to resist tearing into our helpless nicely plated prey.

 

Holeman & Finch

2277 Peachtree Road

Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Meskerem

Last night I dreamt I went to Meskerem again.  Fortunately, no surprising plot twist will prevent diners from seeking out this fantastic little Ethiopian restaurant. Perched in the back corner of a strip mall featuring not one but two Ethiopian restaurants, a nightclub, and a Russian deli (another day!), Meskerem features a generous menu of beef, chicken, lamb, fish, and vegetables.

 

The appetizers are fairly forgettable; the beef sambusas are a tasty, flaky filo-like crust wrapped around a boring and surprisingly unspicy clod of ground beef.  The seneg, a jalapeño stuffed with vegetables, was on the contrary so spicy that Mr. FoM and AH had trouble eating it.  The meat and vegetables of the lamb soup, arriving in a small cup, were tasty and tender, but the broth was like spicy water, lacking any of the rich flavors of the lamb.

 

However, the main dishes are where Meskerem really wins me over.  All main dishes are served on a wide platter topped with injera.  Injera is the thin pancake-like bread used as utensils and plate – you tear off a piece and scoop up your desired morsels.  The special meskerem kitfo (lightly warmed up raw chopped beef with cheese and collard greens) is delicious, with a lingering spiciness that encourages alternating bites of other dishes.  The zilzil tibs are excellent, arriving on a sizzling platter in a manner familiar to fajita fans.  The green peppers mixed in are not, however, bell peppers!

 

The doro alicha is a rich chicken gingery stew of bone-in chicken breast and drumstick, vegetables, and accompanied by a hard boiled egg.  The stew is quite thick, but somewhat difficult to maneuver with the injera.  The hard boiled egg, served sans shell, is quite tasty dipped in the spicy red powder (mitmita) that accompanies the meal.

 

Meskerem offers a small selection of wines and beer, including some selections from Ethiopia.  The stand out beverage is the spiced hot tea, the perfect drink on a cold day.

 

There are several other Ethiopian restaurants in Atlanta (including another in this shopping center!), but Meskerem is a standout.  The service is friendly and attentive, and the wait staff will ply you with additional injera until you wobble, stuffed, out the door.

 

Meskerem

2781 Clairmont Road

Atlanta, Georgia 30329

Big City Bread

Big City Bread opened in 1998, the same year I first arrived in Athens as a wide-eyed and impressionable freshman.  My first visit convinced me that I’d found something special.  The pastries and breads weren’t like anything I’d ever had before – I’d never even tried anchovies until I had them on one of their delicious slabs of focaccia (which, for the record, I’d also never eaten).  I was an instant convert, and when they added breakfast and lunch to the menu, Mr. FoM and I ate there on a regular basis.  At one point, Mr. FoM lived across the street in the tiny carriage house behind the law firm and we spent a good portion of our time and income lounging on their patio.

 

Big City Bread has changed owners and chefs over the years, and they’ve added and subtracted from the menu (no more anchovy focaccia, alas) and flirted with serving dinner.  Presently, they serve breakfast and lunch, and there’s a sign up saying dinner coming soon.

 

Their breakfasts are fantastic, hearty and satisfying.  Options range from a wide selection of meats and cheeses on a dense, layered biscuits to the very rich baked eggs swirled with pesto, cheese and cream.  They make a house-cured salmon that is laden with salt and herbs and is delicious as is or mixed into the locally milled grits.

 

Lunch consists of sandwiches, salads, and soups.  Don’t miss the tomato soup dolloped with goat cheese and garlicky croutons.  Ask for extra croutons.  The grilled cheese sandwich, complete with gruyere, provolone, and tomato, is the perfect accompaniment. Finish with a double chocolate cookie.

 

The interior of the restaurant is tiny, with only a few, tightly clustered tables, but their outdoor patio is spacious and on nice days, packed.  There’s usually a wait on Sundays at brunch, but why complain when the sun is warm and you’re relaxing with a tall glass of their peach iced tea.

 

Big City Bread

393 North Finley Street

Athens, Georgia 30601

Flip Burger Boutique

Judging by the crowds that throng to the very recently opened Flip Burger Boutique, I find it hard to imagine that there is anyone in Atlanta that hasn't been there to eat yet.  I've been there twice, once on a slow Tuesday afternoon around 2, where I was seated instantly, and once on a Saturday night, where we waited just over an hour to eat.  To be fair, much of the delay was due to a 10 person group waiting to be seated.  Call me crazy, but bringing 10 people to a small, extremely popular, newly opened restaurant on a Saturday night is just dumb.

The setup is great -- several individual 4 seat tables, a couple of curvy booths, two long trestle tables in the middle, a bar, and then a 'chef's bar' with a peep hole into the kitchen.  Both times we sat at the chef's bar and watched the very, very hard working kitchen crew put together burger, after burger, after burger...

Unsurprisingly from the name, the whole focus of the menu is burgers, both beef and the more esoteric.  The lamburger is rich and greasy and delicious in the best way, topped with an olive mixture, raisin ketchup, and a cucumber yogurt sauce.  I had to wash my hands afterward to keep from licking my fingers in a most inappropriate way.  The codfish, ground up thank you, was light, fluffy and sweet, perfectly fried and crisp.  The menu says it comes topped with a pea-shoot salad, although mine was not -- it was lettuce in a lemon dressing I would not have been ashamed to lick off the plate.  Mr. FoM had the po boyger: ground shrimp, fried lemon, plenty of old bay, and hot sauce. 

The burgers are smallish -- a bit smaller than a palm, so don't miss out on the sides.  The tempura rutabaga is just awesome, crisp and sweet and with a nicer texture than boring old potatoes.  Each time I ate there it was accompanied by a different dipping sauce, once ranch, and the next a sweet and sour jelly.  I'd say pass on all -- these babies don't need sauce.  They come sprinkled in parmesan and herbs.  The pickled vegetables are also great.  Each order arrives in an individual little crock, and it's filled with a rotating variety of veggies like daikon, tiny pink radishes, cucumbers, parsnips, and what I originally thought were olives but turned out to be tiny, adorable green tomatoes.  The pickling juice is sweet and lemony, and the veggies make a great contrast to all the grease.

Of course, it's impossible not to mention the shakes.  We were not quite bold enough to try the fois gras shake -- I like my milk shakes meat free, but the nutella shake topped with burnt marshmallows was fantastic.  We fought over the last forkfuls of marshmallow.

Visit Flip on a weekday afternoon and chat with the folks at the chef's bar.  It's definitely not a place to be missed.

EDIT: They are currently closing between 3 and 5 on weekdays, a decision I find to be both foolish and annoying.  Best to call ahead if you're trying to go at an off-peak time.

 

Flip Burger Boutique

1587 Howell Mill Road

Atlanta, Georgia 30318

Mini Hot Pot

I love soup.  There is nothing more satisfying than a bowl of home made chicken noodle, of pho, of congee...  So, the thought of a restaurant specializing in dunking assorted ingredients into a bubbling vat of broth is deeply satisfying.  Mini Hot Pot, located in the same shopping center as the very tasty Panang (another day!), is a tiny little room with 3 tables, two four tops and an eight top, and a bar.  Each seat has a personal hot-plate-at-the-bottom well that holds a pot of delicious bubbly broth, which can be spicy if requested.

The placemat menu offers a wide selection of meat choices, ranging from seafood, steak, chicken, pork, and lamb.  Meats are all sliced very thin, which makes for quick cooking.  Each main dish order comes with a very generous selection of cabbage, watercress, pickled veggies, tofu, taro and other veggies.  Additional items are available a la carte -- the squid is one of my favorites, while Mr. FoM is very fond of the fish balls.

My only real complaint is that all of the non-veggies are frozen, but that's one of the reasons they can offer such an extensive list of options.  It'd be a real nightmare to try to keep all those perishable seafoody bits fresh and available.  They make no attempt to pretend otherwise -- a gigantic chest freezer is just behind the bar, and the kitchen staff will occasionally come out and dig through the bags to find something especially well buried.

One of the real highlights is the dipping sauce creation station.  You construct your own sauce from cilantro, fish sauce, onions, garlic, pepper sauce, a very very very spicy pepper oil (it's not good unless your nose is running from the heat!), and other condiments.  The staff will be happy to assist you, or you can go it alone.  And in case you're feeling bereft, you can always add in a healthy sprinkling of salt, pepper, and msg.  You have to love a place that is that up front about the whole msg controversy.

 

Salt, Pepper, and MSG!

While strict carnivores might quibble about the low meat to veggie ratio, I've never ever left the place without feeling stuffed to the gills. There is no where better to eat on a cold day, because all the warm bubbling broth makes the restaurant a delicious mini hot pot sauna. 

 

Mini Hot Pot

4897 Buford Highway

Atlanta, Georgia 30341 

Honey Pig

 

Mmmm, is there anything more satisfying than sizzling meat?  Or pungent?  This is certainly the case at Honey Pig, a fantastic local Korean barbeque restaurant in Duluth.  Their specialty is the cooking method; rather than using a grill like many places, each table is equipped with a cone shaped metal surface.

To start, the waiter brings out the kimchee and bean sprouts and adds them to the cooker -- hot kimchee is fantastic, pungent and rich, especially when combined with the juices from the cooking meat.  The other banchan is limited to a pepper and onion dish, a chilled kimchee soup (yum!), and a bowl of spiced scallions and lettuce.  Although it doesn't cost extra, if you want gyerantang (hot bubbling egg in a seafood broth), you have to ask for it -- and you should.

With the meat, they include bean paste, red pepper sauce, and a mixture of sesame oil, salt and pepper, along with a few slices of raw garlic.  For wrapping, there are daikon radish slices in vinegar and wasabi and thick rice paper sheets, which are rather difficult to separate.

There is a wide selection of meats, including the tender eponymous honey pig (the cut normally used for bacon, from a young pig), marinated pork belly, a fantastic prime short rib of beef, and seafood like scallops and shimp.  Mr. FoM voted for the miso marinated pork belly, and I selected the short rib.  The short rib comes in thin, quickly cooked slices, while the pork belly is in thicker slabs. Although one shared order of meat will be perfect for two people, those with larger appetites might want to order two different meats. 

After the meat is all cooked, and the thought of more food is painful, the waiters will bring out a bowl of rice with vegetables and pepper sauce, and fry the whole lot on the still hot grill.  Any of your left over kimchee and bean sprouts are added in, and it's a big pile of yum.  After it cooks, be sure to scrape up the crispy bits of rice that adhere to the metal.  Even if you can't finish it, the rice is just as good the next day cold out of the fridge.  The waiters will occasionally skip this, so it doesn't hurt to tell them you want the rice.

The restaurant is charmingly decorated in pigs, and the air is heavy and delicious with frying meat.  This is not the place to wear your new wool pants, or anything that wouldn't be improved by eau-de-cochon.  They offer a selection of febreeze spritzers at the door, but they don't help much!

Also, don't miss their $8 lunch specials -- they are all fantastic and a great deal.  Honey Pig is open until 2:00 am on the weekends, and they are a perfect end to a night of drinking or for a late night urge for sizzling meat.  If you do go late, tell the night club valet parking people that you're going to Honey Pig and they will let you park for free.

 

Honey Pig

3473 Old Norcross Road

Duluth, Georgia 30096

Mirko's Pasta

This summer, I ate at Mirko's Pasta whenever I could -- their fried smelt and a glass of wine on the patio was the perfect way to spend an evening.  Sadly, when they presented their next seasonal menu, my beloved smelt was absent.  Mirko's Pasta is an appealing Italian restaurant, with a changing menu consisting of appetizers, mix and match house made pasta and sauces, specialty pasta dishes, and three or four pasta-free entrees.

I visited tonight to see if they'd switched to their winter menu, but was out of luck.  For kicks, I decided to try something new rather than the Sogliola alla Mugnaia Faggioli e Radicchio (sautéed tilapia with white wine, lemon, capers, radicchio, and cannellini beans, which is fantastic, by the way).

When you enter the restaurant, you order at the bar and then find a table and sit down.  The waiters bring out a glass bottle of chilled tap water and a very small, dense loaf of bread with an olive oil laden spread of pureed cannellini beans.  The spread is tasty, but I'm always disappointed by the bread; it's so heavy it feels like a difficult start to the meal.

Tonight I started with the Pure di Cesi con Capesanti e Balsamico (seared scallops with chickpea puree and an aged balsamic reduction).  The scallops were the tiny variety, and while they weren't seared by any stretch of the imagination, they were tender and tasty.  The problem was in the chickpea puree -- I'm not entirely sure what they did to one of my favorite vegetables, but there was an odd, jarring flavor.

For my entree I had the Paglia e Fieno Mare e Monti (spinach and egg tagliatelle with shrimp and wild mushrooms).  This dish was fantastic -- the pasta was tender with an inviting toothiness, and the olive oil based sauce had just the right amount of polite heat from the red pepper flakes. Mmmm, garlicky goodness.

I just can't wait for summer again... dreaming of wee little fried fish.

Mirko's Pasta

1040 Gaines School Road

Athens, Georgia 30605

Thomas' Country Buffet

Disclosure: In general, I hate buffets.  Food of an indeterminate age sits mouldering in a warm sandwich of heat lamps and bain-maries.  Not to mention the ick factor of people breathing, coughing, or otherwise spreading their particular collection of germs all over the food.  Sneeze guard? Ha!  Also, I never feel that I eat enough to make a buffet worth while.  I have been dragged to sushi buffets in the past (don't even get me started), and the hefty price tag for lots of rice and slivers of fish make me long for the generous portions of my beloved Haru Ichiban.

In any case, a buffet has to really be something special for me to visit it more than once.

Thomas' Country Buffet is in an old train station on an active train track.  On my way over yesterday, I had to wait for about 10 minutes  while a train was parked outside the restaurant because the engineer was inside, getting a to-go plate. Definitely a good sign!

The restaurant itself it set up with 4 buffet lines: 1 with only vegetables, 1 with meats and a few veggies, 1 with salad bar trimmings, and the last with dessert.  I generally stick to the vegetable line -- there's enough there to keep me happy.  The assortment usually consists of corn, green beans, fried green tomatoes (more on that in a moment!), black eyed peas, and a rotating selection of others.  They had brussels sprouts this visit, which were surprisingly un-bitter for being boiled.  The vegetables are usually fresh tasting, though I suspect them of being frozen or preserved in some way.  The green beans and black eyed peas are especially tasty -- foods that don't mind a good freeze before cooking.

The fried green tomatoes, however, enjoy a special place in my heart.  I prefer cornmeal batter for my tomatoes, but this place is enough to nearly change my mind.  Their batter is light and crispy, despite the application of heat lamps, and sets off the lemony tartness of the green tomatoes.  This restaurant is worth visiting for the tomatoes alone.

I've eaten at the famous Blue Willow Inn, and Thomas' Country Buffet wins hands down in variety and flavor.  Plus, for $8.00 (tax included), it's significantly cheaper than the crazy amount the Blue Willow Inn charges for their buffet gluttony.  If you're out that way, skip the Inn and visit this little train station.

 

Thomas' Country Buffet

4122 Emory Street

Covington, Georgia 30014

The Original el Taco

We tend to avoid the crazy, trendy action of the Virginia Highlands restaurants, mostly because I hate waiting for a table.  Despite this, Mr. FoM decided he wanted to try the Original el Taco this weekend, so we decided to invite our eating buddy AH along and give it a game try.  At the last minute, however, AH had to back out -- we should have realized it was a sign.

The wait was minimal due to calling ahead -- the restaurant doesn't have a reservation system, but they do let you call on your way to get onto the waiting list.  It was packed when we got there, and as noisy as any of the bars in Athens.  I guess it's just a sign of my lame self, but I like to be able to hear the person sitting next to me.

We started with the "Just Crushed" Guacamole with lime-salted chips.  Chips were good -- the lime salt was a nice match with the guacamole, which was unremarkable but fresh.  Both Mr. FoM and I decided to try the tacos, as we're suffering from a sad withdrawal of taco deliciousness after the chain transformation of Athens's Agua Linda.  I had the fried tilapia, the carnitas, and the fried pork belly (sans mayo), while Mr. FoM had the carnitas, the chorizo, the pork belly, and a side of corn grilled with lime mayo.  They mixed up our places, and my first couple of bites of pork belly was goopy with mayo, but once we switched to the proper tacos, the pork belly was by far my favorite.  Crisp and sweet, the pork was well paired with cabbage and mint.  Mr. FoM was much happier with the addition of mayo.  The tilapia was fine, not very spicy despite the promise of habenero, and though the fish was rather mushy, I think that's more a characteristic of tilapia rather than an issue with the chef.  Mr. FoM said that the chorizo tasted suspiciously like polish sausage.  The carnitas, however, were nearly inedible, so salty that I, a devoted salt lover, couldn't more than a bite or two. The taco included onions and a bit of cilantro, but the salt overwhelmed everything else.

After that, we declined desert.  Over all, I wasn't impressed.  The noise was dreadful, the food was so-so, and though reasonable priced, tastier meals are available for less.  Guess I'm sticking with Taquieriea Los Hermanos for my Mexican food needs.

No pics this time, the restaurant was too dark and tacos didn't really lend themselves to pretty pictures.

 

The Original El Taco

1186 North Highland Avenue N.E.

Atlanta, Georgia 30306