Chow Down Atlanta

I’ve been trying to get to this place for a while now and I finally got my firefighter buddy to go with me. It’s right on the corner of the 285 exit and it’s easy to miss. I’m not even going to attempt to tell you how to get there — I wasn’t lucky enough to be born with the direction gene, sadly. Now, let me tell you a few rules about this place:

1. If the server tells you to get the special, by golly get it! Repeat: GET IT.
2. When you ask the server about a dish and she reluctantly tells you she hasn’t tried it, do not feel adventurous. Trust me. And trust her, she knows.
3. Drink water. My Diet Coke tasted like Pepsi. The refill tasted like Cherry Coke.
4. The Cuban Sandwich is really, really, really fantastic.
5. If you’re hungry at 4AM on a weekend, you know where to go.

Like I said, get the Cuban sandwich. The roast pork is heavenly– tender, moist, flavorful. There’s some non-overpowering mustard which I liked and a bread that would knock your socks off. You can order a half portion to go with your meal. But really, get the whole. You can thank me later.

The Picada. It has everything the kitchen has. Ropa Vieja, chicken, arepa, yucca, empanada (which was so good, by the way), gold potatoes, fries, sausages (delish), and chicharrones. This is a humongous plate and the menu says it’s for 2 people for $23.95. It’s an awesome deal if you can’t decide what to get. Just remember, two people get a plate each. The menu doesn’t say it but you can order half (or one plate) if you like.

There. Now go there and get whatever is special that day AND the Cuban sandwich.

Oh, before I forget… Another tip: the speed limit on this part of BuHi is a slow 35mph. Doraville PD is ruthless and will stop you for going 5 miles over that limit. Just like what happened to @takethoufood a couple of years ago. Right, SB? :p

Tostones Latin Cafe
5499 Buford Highway
Atlanta, GA 30340
(770) 936-3000

Technorati Tags: Latin, Cuban, Buford Highway

Just a quick post about this new addition to our Korean dining scene. This one opened a few months ago right before winter and sits next door to Cafe Mozart. It used to be First China restaurant. The menu is extensive and includes almost all mainstream Korean dishes.

I’ve been here a few times. Banchan is good: tasty, fresh, good selection. Dumplings are your regular frozen then fried variety. But at $4.95 per order of five huge ones, it’s a great deal. The soy-sesame dipping sauce is wonderful, however.

Soups are okay. They’re a little on the thin side but will do in a pinch. They do come in bigger-than-usual and bigger-than-everywhere bowls. The bbq meats are pretty solid. Rice dishes are decent.

I’m grateful we have another place to add to our pool of Korean restaurants to choose from. Prices are on the cheaper side, too, so you can hit it several times a week.

Korea Garden
5295 Buford Hwy NE
Doraville, GA 30340
(770) 558-2282

Technorati Tags: Korean, Buford Highway, Doraville, epicurious, tidal

At last, the long-awaited food court finally opened earlier this year. I had high hopes, thinking it would be as awesome as the one in Your Dekalb Farmers Market or Great Wall in Duluth or Assi Plaza in both Duluth and Suwannee or even Super H. But, alas, such is not the case here.

The food court is in its early stages. I see considerable space for expansion where other stalls can be rented out. For now, there are only three spots to eat from. The main one is the cafeteria-style food stall. They have Eastern European dishes as well as Korean, Southern, Indian, and Hispanic. The food is ok. They’re not as delicious as YDFM where every single item is amazing. It’s just passable here.

One of the stalls is the Delimanjoo joint. It’s those yummy creme-filled tiny doughnuts baked in the premises. It was a mainstay from the snack bar that was around since the market opened. These has been my favorite for many, many years. (Sorry, no photo.)

The other stall is a Creperie. They’re exactly like the ones on the streets in Europe. They have both sweet and savory flavors.

Everything here is take-out only. There’s a huge eating area right outside the cashier stand if you want to eat before you leave. The cafeteria food is sold by weight. The other stalls sell per item. Be careful with the amount of your selection. My tiny lunch, crepe, and a bottle of soda came to close to $20. That’s highway robbery! You could go to a nice sit-down meal at a nice restaurant for less than that. Consider yourselves warned.

Food Court at Buford Highway Farmers Market (BHFM)
5600 Buford Highway NE
Doraville, GA 30340
(770) 455-0770

Technorati Tags: BHFM, Farmers Market, food court, Buford Highway, Korean, Hispanic, Russian, Indian, Epicurious

There’s this new bakery in Asian Square that opened this past Saturday. Funny that it’s a Malaysian bakery catering to Korean people with Korean baked goods and Taiwanese snacks. The inside is really, really cute with purple chairs and tables. And you can hang around until 2AM on weekends! Like all new hip bakeries everywhere in Asia, this one is made to look the same — including self-serve style display cases. Grab a tray, line it with paper, pick up a pair of tongs, and choose away.

I am not that impressed with their French style bread and pastries. The croissants are crunchy and absent of flaky, buttery layers. Instead, they are dense and chewy. Other breads are merely passable. There’s a mocha bread that tasted more like brown sugar. If you want really, really good Asian bread/pastries, you’re better off going to Mozart across the street or HongKong Bakery next door. Bubble teas aren’t impressive either. Go to Quickly at the plaza next door for stellar boba. Other drinks are okay but nothing to write home about. Still, this is a hang out place where you can literally spend hours whiling time away but you won’t spend an arm and a leg for the goodies. Most baked goods start at around $1.

But wait. There is only ONE thing you MUST get here. The BLACK PIG. The label says squid ink, bacon, garlic.

But when I opened it… SPAM SURPRISE!!! O. M. G. This is the BEST bread in the world. You can hardly taste the squid ink in the bread but the garlicky slice of spam sandwiched inside is pure heaven. This bread IS heaven.

Run, don’t walk, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Get that awesome Black Pig. You can thank me later.

Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe
5150 Buford Hwy
Ste A-100
Doraville, GA 30341
404-996-1993

Technorati Tags: Asian, Bakery, Buford Highway

So guess what? I found Chef Danny Ting!!! The slippery-as-Peter-Cheng chef came full circle and ended up where he started from: Wan Lai. I’m guessing his stint at BoBo was aimed at having a better opportunity; and his briefer stint at Golden House was all about fame and success. After all the politics have died down, he’s back to his roots and will start what he set out to do from the very beginning: cook. Where is he now? Coco’s Chinese.

The original Coco’s replaced Wan Lai after it closed. Opened on October of 2010, it stayed afloat for one year closing in exactly one year on October 2011. It reopened on January 20, 2012 and the savvy owners kept the name and the sign, I’m thinking, to save money. While the old Coco’s specialized in Fuzhou cuisine, the new Coco’s under the helm of Chef Danny, specializes in what he does best — Cantonese food. The menu is the exact replica of Wan Lai, BoBo Garden, and Golden House, except tinier. A lot tinier. The dishes are also a lot cheaper. I’m not gonna go through great lengths about the food. The food is as fantastic as ever. And, tastes just like when he was at the other three places.

Beef Tripe and Tendon: fork-tender meat and amazing savory sauce with a just a hint of five-spice powder

Spicy Pork in Garlic Sauce: this Cantonese style dish differs from its Sichuan cousin in that it is a tad sweeter and the sauce is thicker

No one does Salted Crispy Shrimp better than Chef Danny. No one.

There’s one tip I want to share, however. Go at lunch. Lunch combos cost $5.50 and comes with soup, egg roll, and rice. And while this deal sounds just like at any other Chinese places, the difference is that the portions you get are almost as big as the dinner ones. The pictures above are lunch portions. So… get two or three combos like I do so you can sample a bunch in one sitting.

I am so happy that Chef Danny finally came to his senses and decided to lay low and start cooking again. I hope he stays here longer than anywhere he’s ever been. Now don’t complain when he finally leaves again and you never had a chance because you were always meaning to go one day. There is no excuse. Go NOW.

Pictures of the menu are on my Flickr.

Coco’s Chinese Restaurant
4897 Buford Highway, Suite 104
Chamblee, GA 30341
(404) 555-1212

Technorati Tags: Cantonese, Danny Ting, Buford Highway, tidal