atlanta edition.
i know i’m a little late on this, but my work is the host of the florida film festival, and i’ve been really busy. however, i will say that i went to atlanta for the weekend of april 20th for possibly the last ryan adams and the cardinals performance ever. we’ll see. it was fantastic, but that’s for another blog. let’s talk about food.
all in one day, i had two fantastic meals, only to be had in atlanta (for now). for lunch, we stopped in at the famous mary mac’s tea room for some southern home cooking. oh man. first of all, i’m convinced every server there is the grandmother you wish you had. cute, doting, funny, the epitome of southern hospitality. i wanted them all to move back to orlando. they start you off with a basket of delicious rolls and breads, fresh and piping hot. side note - on the menu, it lists sweet tea as the “table wine of the south”. so true. next up, they bring pot likker soup. this is genius. it’s basically the juice that you cook collard greens in, and they bring you a little cornbread muffin that you break into it, and eat away! so simple, so delicious. we decided the three of us should order all different things and share, since this is my favorite way to dine. we started with perfect fried green tomatoes, just the right amount of batter. other items consumed: chicken and dumplings, roasted pork over stuffing, fried perch, collard greens, black eyed peas, tomato pie, and of course mac and cheese. the tomato pie was phenomenal. it can be made so many different ways, and this one is my favorite thus far. simple and flavorful, with fresh tomatoes, basil, sauteed onions, parmesagn, and some ritz cracker crumbs, served warm. beautiful. no worries, i bought the cookbook.
later on that evening, we went to the place i had been dying to go for weeks: richard blais’ flip burger. i loved blais on top chef, and i was so excited to eat off a menu he created. i was super torn on what to order, so i narrowed it down to two burgers and asked the chef which to get. (luckily, my friend knows him, which made this very convenient.) so i got the chorizo burger. a spicy pork sausage with hash browns, romesco ketchup, smoked mayo, manchego cheese, and yes, my favorite on any burger, a fried egg. add to that a side of veal sweetbread nuggets (!), and you have one really happy cheryl. the burgers are a perfect size for me, not huge, not small, just right. everything was so incredible. brian’s steak tartare burger and heidi’s mushroom burger were delicious too. to finish our meal, i was convinced to share a krispy kreme milkshake with brian. oh man! it has little bits of actual donut in it. plus, they use liquid nitrogen on top so it comes out all steamy and lovely. to top it off, they have sweet tea vodka. for me this is heaven.
i can’t wait to go back.
