Atlanta - Food & Fun

[ben says]

Hey guys,

Going up to Atlanta for a long weekend (Jags game, see some friends, etc).

Need some MetroJax food recommendations....restaurants....entertainment.

Thanks!

[duvaldude08]

Im sure simms has plenty for you. Hopefully he see's this post 

[Tacachale]

Well, if you're looking for a drink by far the best beer bar in Atlanta is the Brick Store out in Decatur.

[KenFSU]

Ditto that.

I can't make it in for the game on Thursday night, but I really want to try out the Megabus, and get away from work for a few days in Atlanta.

Any suggestions would be fantastic Simms

[fsujax]

The Cheetah in Midtown!

[ben says]

The only "classic" Atlanta place I know is the Varsity and Buckhead Diner...looking for some quality, "must-see" restaurants...i.e., Atlanta institutions. Also looking for some up-and-comers.

[thekillingwax]

Some neat places from our last visit- Chow Baby ( http://www.therealchowbaby.com/ )- it's like an upscale mongolian bbq type place but with great prices. They even had valet parking when we went for lunch. It's not like anything we have locally- they have tons of sauces and great ingredients available. Full bar too. Sounds weird but it works. It's primarily a business crowd for lunch but for weekend evenings it's supposed to be a real hotspot.

Lots of people suggested Vortex for great burgers- didn't care for it. I did find burger valhalla there though- Farm Burger ( http://www.farmburger.net/ ). They were without a doubt the best burgers I have ever had and I've had a lot. I'd also go ahead and call their fries pretty much perfect as well. Amazing selection, you can go from traditional to getting burgers topped with bone marrow, pork belly, and lardo. Fantastic quality ingredients at what I'd consider very fair prices (the burgers are pretty big!) and best of all, none of the whiny hipster pretentiousness that tends to go along with "ethical dining" stuff. They'll tell you where and how they get their ingredients but quality is paramount. I only care about good, grassfed beef ground on-site because it tastes great and I feel really safe ordering a burger medium rare there, I usually only do that at home.

We tried the varsity- not impressed at all. I guess it's neat that it's such an institution but the hotdogs were no better than your average cart. Absolutely no desire to return there.

I really like the atlanta area. We set our GPS to avoid highways and really enjoyed navigating the local streets, I hope we can go back soon.

[simms3]

Choose from following restaurant list for breakfast:

Silver Skillet, Flying Biscuit, ria's bluebird, J. Christopher's...oh and Rosebud for brunch

Choose from the following list for lunch:

Table1280 (at the High), Flip Burger Boutique (chef Richard Blais won Top Chef Masters, though everyone in the city thinks it's overrated I still like it), Miller Union, or Anise.  If you want ethnic, go to Buford Highway.

Choose from the following list for dinner:

Empire State South, JCT Kitchen, Restaurant Eugene, Barcelona, Iberian Pig, Fritti, Sotto Sotto, Parish, Rathbun's, Eccho, La Tavola Trattoria (in Va-Hi, famous Paolo's gelato is across the street), or Serpas.  Buford Highway has all the ethnic foods...concentrated such that nobody speaks English lol


As Tacachale has mentioned, Brick Store is a great bar, lots of young people/post grads go (like me when I'm out that way).  If you go to Decatur, follow his recommendation and do the Iberian Pig for dinner.  They are on the same block.  Absolutely avoid the Varsity at all costs...nobody from Atlanta steps within a mile of that place.  You really can do no wrong with restaurants if you do your own research...look for restaurants that are helmed by good chefs with reputable bios that extend to other parts of the world/country or are part of major labels like Buckhead Life/Fifth Group/Concentric Restaurants.  I find the internet to be pretty comical and useful when searching for people's opinions on restaurants.  If there are A LOT of comments, bad and good, at least a lot of people are going and that's a good sign.

Farmburger is good, lots of people like it...but you can do better for lunch I think.  Chow Baby, the same.  When in a major foodie area, go for it all the way...I say.  Don't do business crowd places or chains or tourist traps or local "go-to" places like the Buckhead Life restaurants (all pretty much excellent, but they are for Atlantans who don't feel venturous that night...kind of like Ortegans going to the club instead of 13 Gyspies).

I failed to mention that with Restaurant Eugene, the chef is in the James Beard Foundation inner circle, and he operates an "across the porte cauchere" restaurant called Holman & Finch, which has America's supposed #1 burger (I don't see it).  Eugene is $$$$$, but H&F has a limit of like 10 burgers a night, and then opens up into unlimited production on Sunday during brunch hours.  No reservations permitted, there is usually a 1-2 hour wait, but the drinks there are great!  And you can see all the meats curing in their cases.  H&F Bread Co supplies the 4 Seasons and teh Ritz and other hotels with their breads.

http://www.restauranteugene.com/
http://holeman-finch.com/

[simms3]

Entertainment:

segway tour, Odysseo (the Cirque horse show), shows at either the Fox or the 14th St Playhouse, the High is a must see if you haven't been (their current exhibit is Picasso to Warhol), and do the Botanical Gardens at night...they have a light show and drinks.

It's not too cold, btw...warmest winter I have experienced up here in 5 years

[thekillingwax]

We went to flipburger, I still prefer farmburger. Flipburger tries too hard or something, didn't enjoy the atmosphere and the burger didn't wow me, the sides were interesting.

Tried the highland bakery because people were yammering on about it. My food was pretty good but the location itself was like sitting in a dirty warehouse full of flies, it was pretty damned gross, we got our stuff to go ate in the car.

Buford was really impressive- we stayed in Norcross and traveled via buford almost every day. At some points you could go for several blocks and not see any signage in english, I think I even saw a couple of car dealerships that were all korean. I've been to big asian marts before but the H-Mart there was amazing- super clean and absolutely massive. On our last day, we actually stopped and got ~$60 worth of their vegetables to take home because they had some really great deals.

[ben says]

We set our GPS to avoid highways and really enjoyed navigating the local streets, I hope we can go back soon.

How did you do this? Love the idea...

[ben says]

Oh, and, thanks simms3. Will look into most of these places.

[fieldafm]

Breakfast:
Highland Bakery
West Egg
Flying Biscuit- added benefit of being close to Little Five Points, my fav neighborhood in Atlanta

Lunch:
Tin Lizzy's
Café Sunflower 

Dinner:
Empire State South
Two Urban Licks - the old Pie Bar people
Strip

Coffee:
Café Intermezzo
Octane

[fieldafm]

The Cheetah in Midtown!

Lol

[thekillingwax]

How did you do this? Love the idea...

We have a garmin, you go under settings and it may be under the navigation menu, you'll have an option for avoidances. Highways are an option,  as are things like u-turns, toll roads and our new one actively avoids heavy traffic, technology is awesome. In atlanta, I think the wait times for the major highways are listed on signs by the off-ramps, they were usually clogged to all hell, so going the back ways was not only a lot more fun, it was much faster.