Chow Down Atlanta

I like Aqua Blue. I continually place it in my Favorite Restaurants list for their consistently good food and great service. My friend and I came back Wednesday night to try out their Winter Harvest Wine Dinner. They have monthly wine dinners where you get a 4-course meal with fine wine pairings all for $45 per person. It’s a good deal.

Our first course was a Tropical maki made with red tuna, crab, avocado, masago, mango, kiwi, and mandarin orange. The accompanying Adami prosecco from Italy was really good. In fact, it was my favorite wine of the evening. It was crisp yet smooth.

The Muscovy Duck Breast salad was fantastic. Clearly, one of the best duck salads I’ve had. The duck was tender, fresh, and very flavorful. Hoisin is not my favorite seasoning but the chef made it so smooth tasting that there was only a slight hint of it. The salad also had sweet roasted pecans, pear slices, and goat cheese and slightly doused with cranberry vinaigrette. I loved it. It came with Bouchaine pinot noir that was a little too dry for my taste. I didn’t like drinking it by itself but paired with the salad, it was a good combination.

For the main entree, we had a Beef Roulade stuffed with sundried tomatoes, mushroom duxcell, spinach, butterklase cheese on a bed of lentils then finished off with a black truffle glaze. It was a heavy dish and needed a cabernet sauvignon (Edge – Napa Valley) to ease off the filling taste. A good choice of entree for the wine.

Dessert came in a Chambord-infused dark chocolate mousse bombe topped with toasted coconut and accompanied by fresh whipped cream, and berry coulis. It was paired with a zin from Michael Davis. It was another great combination and a perfect ending to a wonderful wine-paired meal.

This monthly wine dinner event is a steal at $45. I highly recommend it. Call the restaurant for next month’s schedule and menu.

The scoop:
1564 Holcomb Bridge Rd
Roswell, GA 30076
(770) 643-8886

Technorati Tags: Aqua Blue, fish, steaks, seafood, American cuisine, fusion, Roswell, Alpharetta

Here’s another burger joint to hit our city recently. It’s a transplant from California that is settling in very nicely in suburbia. The concept here is that you can build your own burger — on paper. So instead of barking out your preferences to a server, you simply write it down yourself.

I got a 1/3 pound burger with Tillamook cheddar, Bermuda red onions, tomatoes, and my favorite burger topping: a fried egg over medium. I chose the garlic aioli for my sauce (additional $0.50). Nice bartender dude gave me the “2-o’clock-Special” so my burger came with a side of fries. I wanted to try the fried onion strings so I also got a side order of it.

The burger was perfectly cooked medium. Though tender, it was a bit bland for my tastes. The fried egg went very well with my burger and the onions were really crunchy; the tomatoes fresh and crispy. I’d say it’s a good burger overall although it’s not in the same class as H&F. The fries were definitely frozen but they were nicely fried and seasoned. The side of roasted garlic aioli was really good. Mix it up with ketchup and you’ve got a fantastic dipping sauce for your fries.

The fried onion strings were a bit greasy. I would have liked it better if they had used sweet onions. Will not order these again.

I also had the chocolate milkshake. I wasn’t impressed with the milkshake. It wasn’t chocolatey enough.

Verdict: pricey. My lunch came to $20 before tip. That included the +$1 topping and $0.50 aioli on the burger, milkshake, diet Coke, and an order of onion strings. I know, I know. But I do have a big appetite. I finished my burger, the fries, half of the strings, 2 glasses of soda, and quarter of the milkshake. Still, in this economic times, $20 is a bit much for lunch. Burgers are okay, fries are okay, onion strings are oily, and milkshakes are mediocre. Service, atmosphere, and the whole counter burger experience are all thumbs-up.

The scoop:
The Counter: Custom Built Burgers
850 Mansell Rd
Roswell, GA 30076
(678) 461-9661

Technorati Tags: The Counter, burgers, Alpharetta, milkshakes

Ok so I took the Chinese new year further by lunching at Mini Hot Pot. My mom is a huge fan of Chinese hot pot. I like it from time to time but I’d rather not cook when I eat out. Since no one else in my family likes hot pot, my mom usually has to drag me along with her whenever she gets a craving. We usually go to the one off Pleasant Hill but that place has gone so filthy it’s gross just thinking about it. So we’ve been visiting Mini Hot Pot since it opened.

MHP is sparkling clean and sits in the same plaza where Penang and Hoa Binh are at. I love that you get your own mini hot pot so you can do your own flavors and use the ingredients you prefer. At other places, they give you a gigantic pot and you either have to share with the entire table; or they put a divider in the pot so you can have two things going at a time. The part I don’t like about these divider things is that they don’t work. Your soups will get mixed-in after a while. Not good. With MHP you get your own.

I went for the Clam-Beef combination. I usually get the seafood-meat combination but everything here is a good choice. For $12.95 (and up), you get a heaping platter or greens which included napa cabbage, tofu, fried tofu, a taro wedge, a daikon wedge, a raw egg, tofu skins, a green-leafy veggie that I can’t remember the name of right now, a tomato quarter, a slice of fish cake, half a corn, and vermicelli noodles. You also get a platter of your meat/seafood selection. In my case, two huge clams and some thinly-sliced steak. I kicked it up a notch by getting the spicy broth (an upcharge of 75-cents) which is so worth the additional charge. Beware, as it is very spicy. Add more of the included spicy flavoring and you’re good to go.

The key to a successful hot pot is to not add everything into the pot all at the same time. Put enough ingredients that can fit in your bowl and replenish as you eat. The back wall has a myriad of seasonings that you can dish yourself and use as you please.

Verdict: a good place for hearty soups on a chilly day. But I call this diet food. Because I can never get satisfied. I have to run to the Vietnamese grocery next door to eat more food (they have good cooked food to-go such as the steamed black rice with sugar and peanuts, steamed rice cakes, and more). Else, I am hungry again 30 minutes later. My mom loves it. I just don’t go here when I’m very hungry.

Here’s a tiny clip of the dragon dance show they had for Chinese New Year:

Insider tip:
A bowl of steamed rice to accompany your meal is available upon request.

The scoop:
Mini Hot Pot
4897 Buford Hwy
Chamblee, GA 30341
(770) 458-8882

Technorati Tags: Mini Hot Pot, Chamblee, Buford Highway, hot pot, Chinese cuisine

current President of the Chinese community — a GaTech graduate

Happy New Year!!! My family has close ties with the Chinese/Asian community here in Atlanta (my dad has close business ties with the region). As such, I had to tag along to the yearly Chinese lunar new year celebration dinner held the Saturday before the lunar New Year. This year, it was held at Oriental Pearl. This year marks the 4707th year of the lunar new year. This year’s event is the biggest so far with 38% more in attendance: a total of 180 people. A surprisingly low number considering there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese here in Georgia.

The evening began with some speeches from the notable officers of the organization. Dinner was supposed to start at 6:30pm but we didn’t get served until close to 7:30. I’m used to it so I was smart enough to eat a snack prior to arriving. Good move on my part.

The 10-course dinner started with the Crab Meat Fish Maw soup. The soup was so bland I had to “re-cook” it myself — dousing it heavily with red vinegar, copious amounts of salt, and about 2 teaspoons of pepper. Still no taste. After 2 spoonfuls, I conceded defeat and abandoned it altogether.

Next, came the beef and Chinese broccoli. The beef was tender and the broccoli was crispy yet the dish didn’t really jump at me and make a lasting impression. Passable, if at all.

The Shrimp with Roasted Walnut was probably the one and only winner of the evening. The shrimp were plump and fresh with just the right amount and consistency of the mayo-based sauce. The roasted walnuts added texture and slight sweetness to the overall taste. Delicious.

Dinner service is interrupted as a young lady performs a Chinese fan dance on stage. A good way to pacify hungry people who are waiting for the slow kitchen that is so slammed at this point. The performance ends and still the kitchen isn’t ready. More performances. This time, from two teen-aged boys who wows us with their prowess of hip-hop and break dancing. More speech from the emcee and dinner resumes.

The Baby Chinese Vegetables was actually quite good. It had baby bokchoy in a chicken broth garnished with dried shrimp. The saltiness of the shrimp gave flavor and contrast to the bland broth and vegetables. I liked it.

The Spareribs with Peking sauce was actually Porkchops which was even better. Tender porkchops were battered, crispy deep-fried, then topped with a Malaysian-flavored sweet and sour Peking sauce. Good, but the porkchops had way too much batter.

The Grouper Fillet with Special Bean Sauce came next. The fried and battered fish was so chewy our entire table thought they were squid at first. It was also tasteless and the fish didn’t seem very fresh.

The Steamed Chicken looked so appetizing. It was a whole chicken sliced beautifully then topped with white sauce then garnished with Chinese broccoli. One thing I hate about steamed chicken is that some places can’t get it right. Tonight, they didn’t. Though the chicken was tender, it was also flavorless. Worse, the leg and thighs were so undercooked. Gross.

The most abominable dish of the evening came in the form of the House Special Fried Rice. This fried rice was so awful. First, the rice is so undercooked, you can taste the raw rice. Second, there just wasn’t any flavor. Like the chef forgot to season it. Now if a Chinese restaurant can’t get its fried rice right, then they have no business being a Chinese restaurant. I can still taste its awfulness in my mouth.

At this point, I’m thinking that everything just didn’t have any taste at all. I was right. The Black Mushroom with Prosperity Delicacy (baby cabbage) was a gooey mess of black mushrooms with some tentacle-looking things on a bed of baby cabbage in a thick chicken-broth-based sauce. No taste. Soft and chewy.

The last dish served, supposedly the best for last, was the Double Lobster with Ginger and Scallion. Now, would it be too much to ask that a dish be seasoned before being served. This is another bland dish. Too bad, the lobster was fresh out of the tank.

I have never liked Oriental Pearl. Back in the late 80s, my parents used to take us here for dimsum when we were kids. Back then, they served good authentic food. Really good food. But back then, the owners were different. It has changed owners and names several times since then. Now, it’s gone down hill. We haven’t been back in a while and we don’t intend to come back. None of the attendees that evening liked the food especially the respectable elders. In fact, none of the people there ever go to Oriental Pearl to eat. It’s probably the reason for the low turnout. But the organizers got a good deal so it was held there.

Still, the camaraderie among everyone more than made up for the awful food. And the event was very well organized. There were prize giveaways and a raffle. I even won a lucky envelope filled with a lucky coin. Best of all, it was fun. I had fun. It’s nice to see how other cultures celebrate.

The scoop:
5399 New Peachtree Rd
Chamblee, GA 30341
(770) 986-9866

Technorati Tags: Oriental Pearl, dimsum, Chinese cuisine, Chamblee, Buford Highway

I’ve never been a fan of sunflower seeds. In fact, I admit — I’ve never had them until today. Silly, I know, but I just prefer watermelon seeds and nuts. I’ve been seeing these bags for years now but my curiosity got piqued when I saw ISO 9001 stamped on the bag. Cool. Makes it sound like software engineering.

These are huge Asian sunflower seeds. With a very, very slight hint of 5-spice powder. Negligible all in all. I would have loved it more had they been really spicy. Bottom line, I loved it.

Available at all Asian stores in the city. I got mine at Ranch 99 on Buford Highway.

Technorati Tags: Asian sunflower seeds, food finds