Places to eat in Atlanta

Some of the best restaurants I usually find on business trips often end up in obscure strip malls. Local people usually know about these spots, but because a lot of them don't do a lot of advertising in Where Magazines or other local of national media you probably wouldn't even know they are there unless you do a little review either here on VT or else my latest go to source American Airlines Dining. Using this site, not only have I been getting to some really nice off-the-beaten path restaurants in Atlanta, but also earn some airline miles for that next leisure trip. But enough advertising for another site or else this review will be in trouble.

Favorite Dish: As the name of the restaurant suggest, the house specialities are a number of Snapper dishes. Snapper is a mild white fish which is best accompanied with a light sauce. I ordered one of those Snapper dishes which in addition to the light and flavorful sauce came covered with slivered almonds for a little crunch. All this was served with a side order of fresh winter vegetables and rice pilaf. In fact there was enough of this dish for me that I saved about 1/3 of the meal for a lunch the next day.

I also treated myself to dessert that night as I had read about there wonderful coconut cake. And I'm a sucker for anything coconut. The large slice of cake was served with a drizzle of raspberry sauce on the side. Needless to say, I did finish my entire dessert that evening.

Sorry, no pictures. But check out the website for pictures and additonal information.

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I was without a car this particular week in Atlanta, so I either had to order in, go for a short walk for a hamburger or pizza or convince one of my temporary co-workers to go out to dinner. Fortunately, Dave from another consulting company in Canada was staying at a hotel just a mile from mine, so when I asked him if he was game for trying something different away from the hotel he was all for it.

I had been to this section of town called Poncey-Highlands a few weeks before and noticed a restaurant across the street. Dave had never eaten at a Tapas Restaurant before, so I asked if he was up for a little adventure into some sharing foods.

Favorite Dish: We started out with a glass of home made Sangria (have to have this type of wine in any Latin American, Spanish restaurant). It was very good, but could have been in a bigger glass to give us a few more sips before dinner. We ordered 4 different Tapas. 2 were specials of the evening, one with a little fish and the other some type of salad. In addition we also order a coconut bun (actually smoked pork belly with tamarind sauce, shaved cabbage and cilantro and pickled chiles) and an empanada.

We only ordered 4 main course Tapas as the desserts looked good. And they were. We had some very good churros that came with a delicious chocolate sauce for dipping and probably the hit of the evening was the flan which was light and fluffy and had a hint of a hot pepper. (This is probably why Dave and I compared notes the next morning and found that we had both woken up in the middle of the night with a touch of heartburn).

Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening. Oh, and as far as the title of this tip. When we were seated in the dining room there were indeed many paintings of Topless women. But then when you first heard the word Tapas what did you really think???

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By my third week on business in Atlanta, we started to venture a bit farther from where we are staying. We asked our now friend and main parking lot attendant, Roderick, to give us a suggestion on where we might take our rental car that evening for dinner. He said there was an Italian place he liked that was a little bit away (maybe a total of 4 miles) from the hotel that was a family run Italian Restaurant that had been in business for over 30 years. This fit my bill, Italian, family run and in business for a long time. You know the food is going to have to be good for anything to be open for that long of time.

So we started on our way. The restaurant is located in a very unassuming, in fact not very scenic area of Atlanta between Midtown and Bucktown. You can see the buildings of Bucktown in the upper left corner of my picture. They had the outside patio area closed and the interior is a bit run down (think duct tape on my seat). But never judge a restaurant by looks alone.

Favorite Dish: Again, I need to write restaurant reviews closer to when I actually visit them instead of several months after the fact. Fortunately I did take one indoor picture of my food that evening. I know I started out dinner with a lobster bisque soup which is always one of my favorites. More then 1/2 the time in an Italian restaurant I will go will some sort of ravioli dish and this time was no exception. This one, as you can see from the picture, was in a cream sauce. It must have been very good, since I did finish the entire meal (sometimes the portions are so large it is hard to finish in one sitting).

We opted not to go with a dessert, but I did have a cup of cappuccino (I always have to look at a dictionary to spell this correctly - note to self 2 p's and 2 c's with u in the middle).

The week previous I had eaten at the sister restaurant next door and saw this place as we walked on by. There is only a small sign out front which gives its name, but as you walk by the kitchen is along one set of windows, so you could actually watch the kitchen staff preparing the evening meals.

The entrance is also a little tricky. There are 2 doors in front (see photo) and you can see that 1 of them has tables next to it. So when I entered I went through the other door (the one farther away in the photo) which brings you into a very small alcove area with velvet curtains right in front of you. As you walk through the curtains you enter the main area with a small host/hostess area. I showed up without a reservation on a Sunday night around 7:00 p.m. and the only seat available for the next few hours was at the bar. As I was by myself this evening that was actually a very good spot for me.

There appeared to be somewhere between 15 to 18 tables. Fairly noisy because of the small size, but very nice.

Favorite Dish: I sat down and the lady at the bar asked if I wanted anything to drink. I think I took her aback a little bit by saying all I wanted this evening was an ice tea. She said it would take a few minutes as they had to get some made next door at their sister restaurant. Indeed it took about 5 minutes, but it was fresh brewed ice tea and very good.

I had done some internet research before I came to Sotto Sotto and saw that they actually served 1/2 sizes of their main course for a little over 1/2 the price of the full meal. I have personally mentioned this to several restaurants that I have been to while on business trips, as I rarely take food back to the hotel, don't like to over eat and really hate wasting food. This is one of the few restaurants I've eaten in that did offer this.

So with a 1/2 size meal coming I ordered the Mista salad (just a regular salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing). It was just the right size and very tasty. I finished all of it. The pasta dish I ordered came next which was 6 medium size apple and sausage ravioli in probably the best tasting homemade casing I've had. This came with I believe an apple walnut type sauce. Very light and very tasty. Again I finished the entire meal.

Read more: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/f8615/beb0a/2/#ixzz1d4E0AJvg

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Having spent 8 weeks in Atlanta on business I was on the lookout for additional places to eat that weren't too far distant from where I was staying. In the Sunday, Chicago Tribune travel section I happened upon an article about fancy hot dog places and one of the places they featured was called HD1 which just opened in Atlanta in September, 2011.

One of the partners of this restaurant was Richard Blais who has been on TV on several food channels and is noted for his unusual creations. He has another restaurant in the Atlanta area called Flip which features gourmet hamburgers.

I went there on a Monday night and you could tell it wasn't your usual hot dog place as there were 2 BMW's sitting in the small parking lot. Apparently the restaurant was previously a coffee shop so again parking was at a premium.

Favorite Dish: There are other items on the menu besides hot dogs including (and I'm taking this from their menu), cocktails, beer, wine, beverages, bits and pieces, stuff and sweets.

Now how many hot dog places do you see with cocktails like a drink called "Dark 'N Stormy" which has gosling rum, ginger beer and honey and ginger infused aged CayRum?

The Bits and Pieces included shrimp fried in grits, Dr Bacon baked beans and Deviled ham in eggs among others.

For my meal that evening I has a Louisiana Lobster Dog (really a lobster roll) with mirliton salad and shrimp head aioli along with some waffled fries with maple-oy. $13.50 for the 2 again tells you this isn't your typical Chicago Dog and Fries.

The food was ok, but I think I'll stick with a regular Chicago Hot Dog and Fries.

This opened recently in Virginia Highlands near Alons bakery---here is a sampling of the appetizers---
housemade cheetos, duck fat potato chips, bowl of local pickles, pickled eggs, and more---
the main menu has lots of different things to try from burgers to pinkytoe crab dip....give it a try! Huge bar selection including some local brewskis....

Favorite Dish: 4-5 appetizers

They have a huge cold bar in the middle of the room with 4-5 different salsas to pile onto their tacos, enchiladas and other typical mexican dishes. The Margaritas are great frozen on a hot day! Patio is a little loud from the big intersection nearby.

From fresh croissants, great expresso, local Sweetgrass Dairy cheeses, ready to eat meals and salads and more from this great location bakery in Virginia Highlands area.

Favorite Dish: cinnamon stick ( a pastry) and coffee