Middle Eastern Eating

To accompany my fascination with food, I follow a lot of chefs on social media, and constantly keep my ears to the ground for local and national food news. That being said, I also drink a lot and occasionally forget details or entire places and recipes I want to try, and that will occasionally end with me trying a place I had forgotten about. It becomes a weird, fun game of pseudo-dé ja vu. And I really win when it turns out that what I've tried is a pet project of acquaintances of mine!!!

Story time. I had never tried Shawarma before. Hell, I had only ever heard about it because of the Avengers movie. I have woefully little experience with middle eastern cuisine- my family, being career military, is not necessarily as open minded about that particular region. My first encounter with anything resembling that style of food was through a chef I used to work with in a Spanish restaurant and they let him do more Moorish-style cuisine. I learned about sumac and harissa, and was interested, but I didn't know where to find more stuff like it.

Now, a few nights ago I was jonesing for some tacos. I was also feeling incredibly lazy, and didn't want to go too too far for them. But as 8pm drew closer, and tacos steadfastly refused to appear, I hauled myself off the couch and ventured out into the Atlanta evening. I headed to Krog Street Market, knowing of a "Mex-Tex" restaurant there called Superica, but I wanted to check out the various other stalls to see if there were more enticing options to be had.

When I got there, half of the market was already closed for the evening. Lucky for me, the few stalls that weren't already closed were the more food-focused! No tacos, though. I was about to give up and just nab a sandwich from Fred's Meat and Bread (my second fave sandwich place), when Yalla caught my eye. Both Fred's and Yalla are projects of Chef Todd Ginsberg and his partners. I've accidentally been following Chef Ginsberg's career with my stomach ever since I first encountered him at Bocado. He's always headed kitchens with really solid menus, but I have to admit- Yalla is my favorite so far.

I ordered a Chicken Shawarma Pita, and was given a monstrous pocket half the size of my head. And it was LOADED. Chicken, spices, hummus, pickles- so many delicious things the pita literally couldn't hold the weight. As I chowed down, hummus and sauces tore through the bread and dribbled on to my hands. Usually, with something that large, I don't finish my meal. I pack it up, politely infer I'm saving it for later, and wind up throwing it out blocks away from the establishment. With the Shawarma, though... I couldn't get enough. I used a fork to shovel everything that had fallen out into my face. I licked my fingers and hands clean. And when the last bite was gone, I knew I could never go back to basic, boring pita sandwiches again, and tacos found themselves totally demoted in my pantheon of favorite foods. I have no idea how authentic Ginsberg's Shawarma is to "real" Shawarma. Frankly, I don't care either. I am now firmly in the "happy pita" camp.

Up in Smoke

August in Atlanta is a beast. Humidity hangs in the air, making frequent showers a necessity. Cicadas rattle through the trees in the hot sun, and storms breeze in and out in mere minutes. It's the last screams of summer, before the whole city starts to cool in September.

This summer back home has been great. I have finally begun to strike a solid work- social life balance. Granted, I'm still hanging out with cooks, but who else would I ever want to hang out with? I had the pleasure of introducing a friend of mine from California to a group of motley industry folk a few nights ago, at a proper southern pig roast! Twenty or thirty of us cycled in and out of this party throughout the night, and it was such a perfect example of southern hospitality.

For starters, we had SO. MUCH. FOOD. Our menu consisted of a 45lb pig, at least a dozen steaks, 2 whole chickens, corn on the cob, smoked potatoes, massive zucchini, oysters, and charcuterie out the wazoo. Someone brought salad, but the poor thing lay neglected on the table the entire night. Beer and conversation flowed, and paper plates were ignored in favor of just ripping the feast apart by hand like Vikings. Smoke perfumed the air, and strangers bonded over the picnic tables. Stories were shared, and true to the climate, the skies opened up for a brief downpour (Thank god for covered pavilions!). It was really energizing to be around such positive people just having a great time. It was the perfect end to my summer.

Now I'm getting ready to start working at a new place- a restaurant I have revered for years, and can honestly say I'm proud to work for. I'll be serving tables, but this won't be like other restaurants I've waited at: this is one of the greatest restaurants in the southeast (if not the country). This is my food nerd dream career step! So cheers to perfect closures and new beginnings! This fall is going to be fantastic.

GA on my mind

Part of my finding my footing here in SoCal has been finding the local food community. I moved here to be with a friend, and I love her to pieces, but she and her family are meat-and-potato-eating lawyers. I've been having to push to get them to try anything new and fun. So figuring out where farmer's markets and the like was really challenging for the first two months. Thankfully, I stumbled on the farmer's market one morning, which helped, and then I got my current job working with the catering company. The chef has been a godsend, he really has- he's not only taught me a lot, but more importantly, he filled me in on where to get the freshest seafood in the city. It's gotten me so excited! I can actually play with food I want to eat again. I haven't been able to do that since I lived in Atlanta. Even better, here in California,  I am literally making more money with two scantily part-time jobs than I did having 3 simultaneous jobs on the East Coast.  I can afford to go to specialty stores and blow $20 on a 12oz bottle of olive oil (my mom nearly had a heart attack when she heard I did that!). Even better, I am able to afford to take a trip back to Atlanta and spend most of my trip at my favorite hotel, the Georgian Terrace. California is a wonderful, wonderful place.
But, as much as I love this coast, I think I'm going to go back east in a couple years. See, while California has really helped me focus on my life and what I want, I've realized that what I want is still in the Southeast.  I'm staying here long enough to sort my life out and become a proper adult, but afterwards I fully intend to go back and fight for the life I want. California is paradise, but the South? The South is home.

Binge in the City Part 2

So where were we? Right. Saturday morning, post-show hangover. I had made plans with my buddy Charles to do lunch at the Porter (www.theporterbeerbar.com), and my friend Nathan joined us.
I love the Porter. The beer selection is unparalleled, but what really elevates it for me is the food. Oh. My. God. The food! The core menu has some decent staples, sure, but I always go for the specials. They are always changing, and you can tell the chef really goes all out with them. I've had amazing vegetarian dishes there, and I usually avoid those like the plague. This particular morning, my hangover demanded a Berliner-weisse beer and a ginger ramen they had on special. That ramen? Oh my tits that ramen. It was everything I needed. Not much broth, and what was there was more reminiscent of a gingery, vinegared glaze that paired beautifully with the mushrooms and cucumber in it. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and the sour Berliner-weisse complimented everything while not making me want to kill myself. The guys had the 'hangover hash' special which apparently did the trick as well. I tried a bite of the grits, and man- it was as if Paula Deen had made them; crazy overwhelming butter flavor.

Afterwards, Charles and I headed to the Wrecking Bar Brewery (www.wreckingbarbrewpub.com) for a few beers before I would rejoin Nathan later for the Germany-Ghana game that was playing that day. We tasted around the Wrecking Bar's draft list, working our way through the majority of the beer selection between the two of us. My hangover long forgotten by now, I got a serious case of the munchies and ordered a couple small plates, the hot nuts and venison tartar. I gotta say, while the beers are top notch and excellent representations of their styles, the food left me underwhelmed. The nuts were too spicy for my tastes, and the tartar had an unpleasant puréed texture with an overbearing horseradish flavor.
Still, overall the experience was a blast, and I was bummed by the thought of leaving for a different venue for the game. As luck would have it though, I ran into another friend of mine who had just started working at the Wrecking Bar, Tim, and he revealed to me that they did have TVs for the game- in the actual brewery event space. So they wound up opening it up for Charles and I, and as Nathan rejoined us, more futbol aficionados filtered in to enjoy the game. I couldn't not snack during game time, so I decided to give the pretzel and cheese dip a try as well as the rabbit "wings". The rabbit? Delicious. I loved it, and will absolutely order it again. The pretzel was good, too- the cheese sauce, however, bugged me. The flavor was on point, but whoever prepped it didn't melt the cheese down properly and it gave the dip a grainy texture. Cheese, like any meltable material, has a specific melting point temperature. What a lot of people don't realize is that different cheeses have different melting points, and melting it down at a too- high temp too quickly can create greasy, oily, grainy goo. Not appetizing.
The game ended on a 2-2 tie for Germany and Ghana, and by now a thunderstorm that had snuck through Atlanta had ended. I was feeling fat, buzzed, and happy, and ready to chill. Nathan and I parted ways with Charles, and finished our evening... Reserved for the part 3. (This story was a lot longer than I originally thought...)

Binge in the City Part One

I've been intending to post for the past week now, but I've been caught up in such a foodie fest it just made more sense to try to post something after the dust settled and I had time to sort through beer-soaked memories.

Since I decided to leave Atlanta, I created a bucket list of things that I wanted to do before I left the city. I posted it on Facebook, and my friends have all started helping me accomplish them. Coincidentally, I've been having the best time of my life lately!

First on the agenda, it is World Cup time of year again! I am a staunch Germany supporter (big surprise, right?) So I've been making time to watch all of their games. Last Monday, Germany had their first match against Portugal. I called my friends Anthony, Thomas, and Darrell, and we convened on a local Taco Mac (www.tacomac.com) with a vengeance! The beer was flowing, the wings were surprisingly mild (next time I'm getting a way hotter sauce), and Germany *decimated* Portugal 4-0. My friends tried getting me to stay out for the US-Ghana game, but I had other plans- my evening was commandeered by my other friend, Nathan, and the Atlanta Braves.

I have been to Braves games before, but I have never been able to remember the end of a game (a curious side effect of hanging out with alcohol distributors...). On my bucket list was the entry, "See a Braves game, and remember who won!". So, Nathan got the tickets, and away we went!

Surprisingly enough, every game I've ever been to has been Braves v Phillies, and this one was no exception. Hopefully, however, the Braves performed better in the games I don't remember; because holy crap did they phone it in for this one. This is the game that I learned that Turner Field essentially shuts down at 7pm and beer and coffee became totally unavailable. Thankfully, we did manage to snag a couple of H&F burgers before we realized what a tragedy gameplay was going to be.

H&F burgers are a " thing" here in ATL. The original was created by Holeman & Finch, one of Chef Linton Hopkins' restaurants. I've never had the pleasure of a classic Holeman & Finch burger, but with the H&F burger stand at Turner Field, I got to try an approximation. And it was deeeeelicious. Juicy, messy, and just a beautiful double stack of burger, onion, and cheese. Paired with a Sweetwater 420 and I was a happy camper!

Fast-forward to Friday. Item 2 knocked off of my bucket list was going to see more live music- Atlanta has some great local acts, and I haven't been able to make the time to see any of them. So I nabbed tickets to see a coworker's band, Greco (www.wearegreco.com), and planned on having a chill night at home prior to the show. However, got roped into watching another World Cup game prior to the show, and thanks to the Black Bear Tavern (www.blackbeartavern.net), got to try my very first Boot. They have secured my loyalty for this upcoming Germany-USA game just because of this Boot. <3

Had a blast afterwards at Greco's show, of course. They played at the Basement, a fun, grungy dive venue in East Atlanta, where I proceeded to drink far too much vodka soda and sadly had to dip out early. However, my weekend was really just beginning... (Continued in part 2!)

How to become my least favorite place on the planet

I admit, I should have posted this last week, when the events referenced were more relevant.  However, I made the decision to wait based on two criteria- I wanted to see how the general public would react, and I wanted time to really process my own thoughts on the matter so I didn't wind up sounding like a kindergartner calling someone a poopface on the playground. Well, I've had enough time to think, and I'm finally ready to write.

On April 3, a friend of mine, Arianne Fielder, was fired from her mixologist position at Parish in Inman Park, Atlanta. I heard about it through Arianne's Facebook page. Now, had it had been a normal firing announcement, I probably would have just thought, "Bummer", and went about my day. However, Arianne wound up finding out about her firing in a much worse way.  EaterAtlanta announced that Parish had decided to go "another direction" with its bar program,  and that Arianne no longer was employed there. That one post was Arianne's first exposure to said news. That disgusts me.

In this day and age of mass and instantaneous communication,  there is no excuse to take such a cowardly approach to releasing an employee. Especially as Parish is a small part of the larger Concentrics Restaurant Group, a company known for its involvement with high profile restaurants and Richard Blais. In what backwards backwoods way of thinking did their upper management ever think that going that route was ok? If they were comfortable enough to make a statement to Eater, they had clearly already made up their minds long enough in advance to inform Arianne first. It could have been a respectable, dignified break. Instead, they pulled the employer's version of whipping their tits out for 'Girls Gone Wild'. Honestly, after hearing about this, what self-respecting mixologist (nevermind even just a halfway competent one) is going to want to work for them? I myself am not going to say my employment record is completely unmarred, but now there is no way in hell you could convince me the Concentrics restaurants are worth applying at.

What I'm also finding disappointing is the lack of coverage by the local food and beverage media. I have only seen one other mention of this event, and I would like to think I keep decent track of the Atlanta area food and bev news.  Pretty Southern did a piece after Arianne's post (http://prettysouthern.com/2014/04/04/atlantas-best-bartender-gets-fired-via-the-web/), and that is all I have seen. I wish more people were reacting. How on earth can we help support our fellow industry professionals if incidents such as this are kept so quiet? I hope this changes. I hope Concentrics realizes what a really shitty mistake they made. In the meantime, I will not be entering into any restaurant/bar/kitschy provisions shop that they have any hand in. Shame on you, Concentrics. I can't wait to see what undoubtedly better place Arianne winds up at next.

How to Win My Restaurant Loyalty

It is always a pleasure when I get to walk into restaurants that I've been eyeing for a while, and get exactly the experience I'm looking for. It's even better when a place surpasses my expectations!  Cue the Salt Yard.

I moved about two blocks away from this place back in February. I pass it nearly every other day when I head to CVS, the dry cleaners, or the liquor store. I have frequently told myself I needed to stop in, just never seemed to have the opportunity to do so. Well, yesterday I was having a bit of a lonely day, so I decided to haul my butt away from the Law & Order: SVU reruns that had commanded my day and get on with my night.

Entering the Salt Yard, it looked very similar to many of my favorite rustic-but-modern decor'd restaurants that have become a familiar sight here in the South. The inside of the restaurant was on the calmer side, being that it was a gorgeously warm spring night, most guests opted for patio seating. I slid into a plush leather-cushioned bar seat and perused the menu.

This is where I got really excited. The wine list was accessible, the beers were an excellent grouping of choices designed to transition people to craft beer, and the cocktail list was short and simple- making my normally overwhelming drink decision MUCH easier (Whether the bartender, Brett, believes it or not- I still spent a good 8 minutes deciding! ).

Even more exciting to me was the food menu.  My former boss, Richard, always used to joke that I "ate like a bird", and he's quite right. I prefer tasting around a bunch of different dishes rather than trying to inhale a massive entrée. Salt Yard specializes in small plates! They had 5 different sections of the menu devoted to different varieties of tapas-sized plates, with influences across the culinary spectrum, but they all fit together in a way that made sense. They also had a small entrée segment, but it was clear they wanted people to try a variety of what they were capable of. 

Over the course of my adventure there, I tried their stuffed piquillo peppers, grilled octopus, deviled eggs, and 'shrooms on toast. Nothing disappointed me at all, though the grilled octopus was easily my favorite- it was served with arugula and roasted potatoes, and lightly dressed with a citrusy vinaigrette. Even better, the octopus itself was TENDER. I was hooked immediately.

The personnel also has me hooked. Brett was entertaining and engaging, and then a gentleman who I thought was a manager, Christian, was kind enough to buy me a beer. After a bit of post-visit research, it occurs to me that he may have been the owner. Even their expediter (possibly/probably the chef?) kept checking on me. I love attention, so I had a grand time.

Ultimately, the Salt Yard has easily won my business. They took what was originally a sad night for me and turned it around in the best way. I can't wait to go back, especially as they mentioned that the menu is changing next week!

Http://www.saltyardatlanta.com

Launching!

Friends, Family, Mysterious Denizens of the Internet,

I am finally ready to officially make an announcement.

I have been vaguely speaking about this for months, divulging bits and pieces as I saw fit. Now I can comfortably say: it's happening. I am ready, with a new partner on board, to begin moving forward with plans to create Atlanta's newest member of the Food Revolution. All goes well, and Trinken will be operational by 2016!

So here's the skinny: Trinken is unashamedly German, with local Atlanta sentiment. Specializing in German food utilizing locally sourced products, I have teamed up with Rob "the Brewru" Merrick to develop it into a full-on brewpub. We will also be featuring guest taps of other excellent Georgia breweries, and of course a quality import list of some of our favorite German beers. I want this to be a pub for Atlanta, by Atlanta- so next month, I will be launching a crowd funding campaign as well as searching for investors. Over the course of the year, I will also be hosting a variety of dinner parties and other fundraising efforts. We're going to make this happen. It will be incredible.  And if you want to get more involved, email me at TrinkenBarAtlanta@gmail.com. Join the future of Atlanta's food scene!

Wilkommen auf Trinken- Not Your Grandma's Biergarten!