Chow Down Atlanta

I opened the door, stepped in, and heard angels singing. The smell of yeast and fresh-baked bread enveloped my entire body. I’m in bread heaven.

I. Love. Bread. I can live off of bread alone. That and chocolate. Seriously, I would rather eat bread than dessert. And I’m known to eat bread for dessert. Star Provisions is my favorite bakery. They have the best baguettes in Atlanta, chocolate croissants, and the no-longer-available chocolate cupcakes. But now, I’ve found another favorite.

H&F Bread Company supplies bread to big brothers Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch Public House which are both next door. Its popularity started at the Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market where they would sell out in an hour or two. Back then, it was the only way to get a hold of their baked goods. Until now.

H&F Bread Company reminds me of the bakeries in Europe where you can get fresh-baked artisan breads and pastries, as well as cheeses, house-made spreads, and homemade jams and preserves. It is literally bread heaven.

Chef Robert’s lunch menu offers sandwiches and soups that change daily. My $14 lunch consisted of turkey and brie on a croissant with apple butter and a bowl of crab bisque. The sandwich was very good and very filling. I love the slight sweetness that the apple butter provided to the shaved turkey breast and soft brie cheese. The croissant is just perfect — it is buttery and had just enough flakiness yet it also had a soft, doughy inside. The crab bisque was smooth and velvety and delicious. It is a pricey lunch but the servings were huge and it was worth every penny.

I wanted to bring a piece of this heaven with me so Joshua, the resident bread keeper, told me to just have a go and pick everything I want. I did. $46 dollars worth of bread. And a tub of house-made pimiento cheese, a small bottle of fig jam, and a small bottle of peach preserves. These should last me a week (*wink*).

Insider tip:
I can’t bake to save my life so this tip is all new to me: Joshua told me that to re-invigorate an old baguette, simply wet your hands, touch the baguette all over, and reheat at 325F for 10-15 minutes. Cool!

The scoop:
H&F Bread Company
2255 Peachtree Rd. NE
Suite H
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-350-8877

Technorati Tags: Holeman & Finch, bakery, Restaurant Eugene, Buckhead, Peachtree Rd.

My family used to go to Ted’s a lot when it first opened.  Until the novelty wore off.  Then we totally forgot about it for a couple of years.  We visited again three times in the last two months.  Most everything is still the same, except for a miss or two.

First the hits.  The Bison burger is really fresh and very good depending on the location.  The one in Norcross (at The Forum) and the one in Midtown both make consistently great burgers:  the ground meat is seasoned very, very  lightly before grilling, just enough so that the real bison flavor gets to stand out.  I also like that my burgers always come out at the perfect temperature. The one in Cumming (The Avenue), unfortunately, makes theirs bland. And they tend to overcook their burgers.

The Bison Chili is fantastic.  Always. It is meaty and flavorful and only has a few beans in them. I don’t like beany chili — I’ve had some where there are more beans than ground meat. The chili here is really so good. There are big clumps of ground meat despite having been simmered for hours. Partner this with their heavenly fresh baked rolls and it’s already a meal in itself.

The Bison Meatloaf is also very good. But I’ve gotten one or two orders at different places that were dry. This meatloaf tastes just like beef meatloaf so for those who are apprehensive in trying bison, this is a great way to initiate yourself. I really love bison meat because it tastes great — it’s not gamey at all and it actually tastes much like beef. No to mention it is leaner and contains less calories and cholesterol than beef or chicken.

The Pot Roast lately, has been watery most times especially at the Cumming location. However, when you do get a good one, it is fork-tender and the sauce is smooth and flavorful. It is available on Saturdays and one day during the week.

If ever you get a craving for a bison burger or just want a light lunch of bison chili, head on over to Ted’s on Midtown or Norcross. They make it good. All the time.

Insider tip:
You must leave room for the Malted Chocolate Milkshake made with Haagen-Dazs ice-cream.

The scoop:
Ted’s Montana Grill
For locations, click here.

Technorati Tags: Ted’s Montana Grill, bison burger, bison chili, bison potroast, Midtown, Norcross

Chow Down Atlanta is just everywhere!  First flickr, then Urbanspoon which even has an application for the iPhone:  you shake and you get a list of restaurants.  Now how cool is that?

www.flickr.com Go to ChowDownAtlanta’s photostream

I also just recently joined Facebook and that is so much fun — reading everybody’s status and poking people. There’s even a Chow Down Atlanta group in there where I post food-related news, tips, discounts, events, and other tidbits I come across that I’m sure are worth sharing.

Then I became a Featured Publisher at Foodbuzz and that seems to be fun, too, since you can connect with foodies all over the world.  Next, I finally relented and joined Yelp which is an awesome site with all these hard-core foodies from everywhere.

Lastly, I am now the latest addition to the Restaurant Reviewers Blogroll, the project of Hendersonville Epicurean.

Hope you can follow CDA around the WWW. See you around!

Technorati Tags: Chow Down Atlanta, flickr, Urbanspoon, Facebook, Foodbuzz, Yelp, Restaurant Reviewers Blogroll

Taste of Atlanta is Atlanta’s premiere food festival and event.  I was so impressed at how well organized the event is this year.  I thought last year was already fantastic but they’ve managed to make it even better.  And bigger. There were more trash cans this year, more volunteers assisting with directions and such, more people, and more restaurants. One thing I noticed is that shrimp and grits seem to be the recurring theme today. There were probably 5 or so restaurants offering their own version of shrimp and grits.

Cooking on center stage was our very own Chef Richard Blais who, not only wowed the crowd with his cooking skills (not to mention his weapon of choice: a sous vide machine), but made it a point to connect with the audience by actually getting off stage and having a one-on-one with the regular folks. To me, that was way cool. He also fed everyone! His “rb-qued beef brisket with candied apples and cauliflower dumplings” was out of this world! The brisket was so tender that we were able to eat it with a spoon (no forks available). It was so flavorful with a nice balance of sweet, mustardy, and tangy. I would love to see this dish on a menu somewhere. It was worthy of fine dining!

On the other side, cooking at the Country Store cooking stage, was Chef Tomas Vallejo of The Highland Bakery. Interesting thing about him was that he used to be John Travolta’s personal chef. Local radio and tv celebrity, Adam Murphy of Channel 46 was at hand to host the cooking shows. There’s a reason why he’s on tv and radio — he’s really good at it! (By the way, thanks to Adam, for recognizing Chow Down Atlanta during the show. That was a nice shout out.)

the youngest (and very dapper) chef of the event

Notable restaurants making an appearance for the first time this year were Bhojanic, Desta, Chef Rob’s Caribbean Cafe, Mediterranean Grill, The Feed Store, Highland Bakery, West Egg Cafe, Ikea (with their sticky buns, Cafe 458 (an endeavor of the Samaritan House of Atlanta), Sweet Auburn Bread, Asam House, Strip, Lobby at Twelve, Room at Twelve, and a few others. Here are a few more pictures:

I attended a wine tasting session sponsored by Robert Mondavi (which had a nice set-up there complete with tight security, and a cooking stage). The wines they showcased were really very good (surprisingly). They worked in conjunction with Kroger Cooking School and had a cooking show. I can’t remember the chef lady’s name but she was great and very personable. She prepared two dishes that complemented a chardonay and a pinot noir from Robert Mondavi’s Private Selection.

I had a wonderful time today. This is one event you should never miss. See you there again next year!

More pictures here.

Technorati Tags: Taste of Atlanta, Atlantic Station, Richard Blais

Back in maybe 1997 (or 98, I can’t remember exactly), a friend of mine who grew up in Texas called me from her cell phone, literally, from the sidewalk of Windy Hill. Except there is no sidewalk on Windy Hill.  That time.

“I am on Windy Hill, jumping up and down! (sounds of cars honking in the background) Guess what they’re building? (dead silence) PAPPADEUX!!!”

And I’m like, what’s the big deal? So when Pappadeux finally opened, we had to go on day one.

There are several reasons why chains are generally more successful than independent restaurants. The most important one is that the taste of the food is always consistent: consistently good or consistently bad. The fact is, their recipes are kitchen tested and most food arrive at the locations pre-cooked or pre-prepared (at least, for the lower-end ones). The menu, also, is set for most of the life of the restaurant. So, you can visit 10 years from now and the menu has hardly changed. Pappadeux has been successful all these years for their consistency in the the taste and quality of their food. Although portions are no longer gigantic (a crowd-drawer for sure), they are still big enough to warrant to-go boxes.

My favorite here is the Crabfinger Dinner or Appetizer — tasty crabfingers with a light dusting of batter; they are good-sized, too. The Seafood or Pappadeux Platter is a great way to have a taste of everything. But the most surprising thing here are the crab cakes. They are fantastic. They have just a tiny bit of filler to hold the patty together. The lemony creamy crawfish sauce is just so delicious and complements the sweetish crab meat. Really, I thought I was in a high-end dining spot for a while there! I never fail to order this every time I’m here.

Another solid item here are the seafood entrees. I love the fried oysters and fried catfish and even the broiled fish dishes. Entrees come with their seasoned fries but I go for the more hearty dirty rice. The rice is slightly spicy and peppered with bits of sausage. It’s really good.

Pappadeux aims to bring New Orleans to Atlanta and succeeds in quite a few ways. Including the noise level.

Postscript: This post is dedicated to one of my ‘bestest’ friends, MSB, who passed away in 2006 due to breast cancer. The very same one who called me from the sidewalk of Windy Hill. She would have been 37 this year. I must have been nostalgic today. Will have to eat at Pappadeux this week in her honor.

Insider tip:
Lunch buffet available weekdays at the Alpharetta location. Incidentally, this is the location where there’s hardly a wait during peak times although they are always crowded.

The scoop:
Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen
3 Metro Atlanta locations. Click here for more info.

Technorati Tags: Pappadeux, Pappas, seafood, Cajun cuisine