This post is a tale of two cities…or two Smashburgers in two cities. I made a trip to Atlanta last weekend to hang out with Mario and do some “official” last hurrah-type activities (mani/pedi at my most favorite nail shop, my favorite cupcakes, etc). After a half day of furniture shopping, I was really hoping to get my last Bocado burger for lunch but forgot that they are only open for dinner on Saturdays. Bummer. So we decided instead to visit one of the newer burger joints in town, Smashburger. Just a few days later, I got an invite to the opening of the 1st Jacksonville Smashburger location at Neptune Beach. I guess the fact that I accepted means my first visit went well!

The folks at Smashburger are doing some rapid expansion as of late, trying to fill the fast-casual space that they say is wide open (and maybe it is, in places other than Atlanta). How they determined that fast-casual burger joints are lacking is a mystery to me, but if you’re executing well I guess more is ok. Direct competition for them is, of course, the also-expanding “multiple men” burger joint.

We liked the open and airy feel of the dining area (very Chipotle-like) and the friendly staff members at the register where you order before grabbing a seat. The menu is largely customizable, from bread to cheese to protein (beef, chicken, and black bean), but also contains some “pre-fab” burgers. These pre-fabs are one way Smashburger aims to specially recognize each local market–one burger that is only sold in that area. Jacksonville’s burger is the Sunshine Bacon & Cheese, with orange citrus bbq sauce, bacon, cheddar, and haystack onions:

Sunshine Bacon & Cheese

I like that the burger patties remain juicy despite being thin (and consequently well-done). The Sunshine burger had a little too much “stuff” for me, so I think I’ll stick to the burgers with fewer toppings, like the mushroom & swiss, but Mario enjoyed the BBQ, Bacon and Cheddar with peach bbq sauce in Atlanta:

Mushroom & Swiss

BBQ Bacon & Cheddar

Oh, those beauties next to the burgers are Smashfries and Sweet Potato Smashfries. I love that they use rosemary along with the usual S&P to season their fries, but I thought it worked better on the regular potatoes than the sweet potatoes. At the Jax opening, I also got to taste the fried pickles. Best I’ve ever had, no exaggeration (my previous favs were at Yeah! Burger in ATL). The seasoning in the batter was just right, and even after sitting out at the table for most of the lunch hour, they never got soggy.

In addition to the beef, chicken, and black bean burgers you can customize, Smashburger also offers salads and milkshakes (Georgia’s “special” is peach, Florida’s is orange cream). Because there were so many great burgers within 5 minutes of me when I lived on ATL’s Westside, I haven’t eaten a burger from Five Guys in a while anyway. Now that I’m not smack in the middle of burger heaven and with Smashburger on the scene…I may not want to.

Post Smash

www.smashburger.com

One of the best lunches–really, one of the best of any meal–I’ve had recently was packed in one of Empire State South‘s to-go tiffin lunchboxes. ESS, headed by chef Hugh Acheson of Athens, GA (and now Top Chef Masters) fame, has been discussed nonstop since opening. Keeping with the pack, I have nothing negative to say about my experience. The tiffin lunch menus are posted on ESS’s website every week (though they seem to have made some changes recently) and must be ordered before 10:30am M-F for pickup at noon. My box consisted of:

Snacks: Pork rillette w/ cucumber, pickled mustard and grilled sourdough
1st Course: Roasted turnips and pickled cauliflower salad, pistachios and red chili vingaigrette
2nd Course: Crispy pork belly, buttermilk biscuit, Louisiana jelly, arugula and pickled onions
Dessert: Blueberry cupcake

Snack + 1st Course

2nd Course: Pork Belly on a Biscuit

Dessert + Grilled Sourdough

I don’t have much to say except go get one now! The fact that I was able to get through most of that spread is a testament to its good-ness. I didn’t want to leave any leftovers in the tiffin (though some sourdough had to be sacrificed). It might be a bit to hot to “enjoy” anything outside at this point, but you are able to savor your tiffin lunch on ESS’s bocce-equipped patio.

www.empirestatesouth.com

I’ve driven by Delia’s Chicken Sausage Stand numerous times since its opening a few months ago, but have never been in a food mood during the drive-bys. It seems like I’m either heading to Starlight Six with picnic fare already packed, or to Morelli’s for dessert. So finally Mario and I made a special trip to East Atlanta to see what delicacies could be created with chicken sausage.

Delia's Chicken Sausage Stand

The small shop on Moreland Ave is helmed by the brains behind Flying Biscuit Cafe (see the connection? Healthy breakfast…chicken sausage). Inside is little more than a cashier and some non-edible merchandise, so all “dine in” eating has to be done on the tables outside. This could prove difficult once summer gets into full swing. We quickly perused the menu and made our selections: I got the The Grinder
(chicken sausage meatballs, mozzarella, marinara) and Mario had The Naked Slinger (link sausage, “comeback” sauce).

The Grinder

The Naked Slinger

The flavor of the poultry products was of course much more noticeable in Mario’s naked dog. I think many feel that such a lean meat product has to be highly seasoned to be good, and the chicken sausage dog was very herbaceous. Mario really enjoyed it, and liked the H+F hot dog hoagie bun (though we both thought they could use a good toasting, they were a tad too soft). My chicken meatballs were good too, but most of their flavor was lost beneath the overly generous helping of marinara sauce. I’ve read a lot of complaints about the ability of the buns to hold up to the heavy toppings Delia’s provides, but mine held up pretty well to the end (and wouldn’t enter myself into any speed-eating contests).

Overall, I thought Delia’s was good, but not great. I would definitely like to try more of the menu. Would I make another special trip from Midtown for it? Maybe not. But it might serve as my choice for picnic food at my next Starlight Six movie viewing.

www.thesausagestand.com

2011 is turning out to be an amazing year so far. I’ve successfully defended my master’s thesis, had a paper approved for publication in a scientific journal, graduated with my second degree from Georgia Tech, and my wedding is coming up in October (plus a highly anticipated honeymoon). And now I have some bittersweet news to add to the list: I accepted an AMAZING job offer in my major field…..in Jacksonville, Florida. Yes, I’m leaving the place I now consider my second home, Atlanta.

Since starting First Bite about 2 years ago, I feel that I have learned more about Atlanta and fallen more in love with the city than I had in the 5 years previous. I’ve been given a lot of great opportunities, made a lot of great contacts, and eaten a lot of great food. I hope that continuing the blog in Jacksonville will help me to quickly learn about the community and culture there, and I’m really looking forward to it.

This wouldn’t be a proper post-Oprah goodbye without mentioning the woman herself, so in her words, “I won’t say goodbye, I’ll just say: until we meet again.”

Atlanta Skyline

I feel like there should be an instrumental track of Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” playing behind all my cupcakery posts. I have stumbled upon a new-to-me cupcakery, and they may just be my new favorite pusher(wo)men: Lenox Cupcakes.

Vanilla Caramel Cupcake

I don’t visit Phipps Plaza often, but I recently had a Nordstrom gift card burning a hole in my wallet and decided to peruse the rest of the mall while I was there. I had heard of Lenox Cupcakes before, but kind of put them in my “bourgie” pile with many other things Buckhead. Well, I now know that bourgie cupcakes might just be the best cupcakes.

I’ve recently realized that I need to tell people not where the best Atlanta cupcakeries are, but where the best places are for the type of cupcake they like. Like classic flavors? I’ve got the place for you. Prefer creativity? I know exactly where to send you. I’m partial to thicker, sweeter icing as opposed to the light whipped cream type, so Lenox Cupcakes really works for me. I loved the caramel sauce filling in the vanilla caramel cupcake (Madagascar vanilla cupcake filled with buttery caramel and topped with creamy vanilla buttercream) I tried on my first visit. The filling soaks into the super-moist cake nicely. I talked the place up so much to Mario that he wanted to give them a try too, so a few weeks later we stopped in to try a strawberry swirl cupcake (strawberry cupcake with chunks of delicious strawberries topped with strawberry frosting):

Strawberry Cupcake

The moist cake and yummy icing both had the taste of fresh strawberries. So, their thick, sweet icing may not be for you, but it’s definitely for me!

Lenox Cupcakes has daily specials and will even deliver around Atlanta. The icing on the cake (pun intended) at The shop is the friendly staff (not bourgie at all ) It’s great to have sweet service when ordering sweets!

www.lenoxcupcakes.com

In my current (but soon changing) state as a financially challenged recent graduate, I was sadly unable to participate in this weekend’s inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. The preview I attended was so great I knew the festival would be too, but maybe next year. I decided the best way to mitigate my sorrows was on a patio with libation in hand. I had heard tell of a place that served what some might consider the holy grail of summer drinks, a Jack & Coke slushie: Inman Park’s newest addition Victory Sandwich Bar. So Mario and I snagged one of their tree trunk patio tables and I ordered up:

Jack & Coke Slushie

Don’t worry Mom, I didn’t have a liquid lunch. We also enjoyed some of Victory’s surprisingly awesome sandwiches. At $4 apiece, you’re encouraged to order more than one to try more of the menu. Mario stuck with what he knew he’d like and ordered two of The Hambo (Proscuitto, mozzarella, arugula apple, & reduced balsamic), while I decided to try a Castro (Slow-roasted pork, ham, fontina cheese, & yellow mustard) and a New Bomb Turk (Turkey, arugula, avocado spread, & baconaisse):

The Hambo

Castro & New Bomb Turk

Everything was really delicious. The folks at Victory were smart to price these babies at $4, because they’re both high quality enough and cheap enough to keep you coming back for more. The bite of Mario’s Hambo that I tasted was a great mix of flavors and textures: crisp, sweet thinly sliced apples alongside the salty prosciutto and sweet/savory balsamic vinegar. My Castro, a play on the Cuban sandwich, was full of juicy pork and pickles–so good! Because I will almost always pick a hot sandwich over a cold one, the New Bomb Turk was my least favorite, but that’s like saying I have a least favorite variety of cupcake (i.e. I still loved it). I liked the cool avocado spread, but I would have traded the baconnaise for an actual piece of bacon. I also liked that all the sandwiches came on different breads best suited for each.

Victory Sandwich Bar is a great addition to Inman Park. And they’re open until 2am every day, so you can get your Jack & Coke slushie fix at anytime of the night

www.vicsandwich.com

During Inman Park’s recent restaurant week, Mario and I visited Wisteria for some “new South” fare. I was really hoping to be able to visit again before writing this (especially because they’re now on Scoutmob), but the start of my wedding diet has delayed many of my must-trys for a while. Restaurant week is not always the best time to judge a restaurant on service, but I thought the service at Wisteria was outstanding for a regular night, and the fact that it was a Friday evening during restaurant week just made it that much better. Although not typically the case for Inman Park, many restaurant week menus are so boring to me–steak, chicken, fish. So I LOVED that Wisteria’s menu had an array of non-boring appetizers and entrees (rack of lamb, shrimp and grits, 3 meat bolognese) at two different price points. We started with the crawfish and corn fritters and fried oyster toast:

Crawfish and Corn Fritters

Fried Oyster Toast

The fritters were a good combination of creamy and crunchy and had a nice “Cajun” taste (from the seasoning) but weren’t distinctly crawfish-tasting. I loved the oyster toast (but then I just love oysters) and the creamy sherry sauce drizzled over the whole arrangement. Honestly these would have been just as good minus the toast, since fried oysters on top of a baguette isn’t the easiest thing to eat (we went in with fork and knife). For the main course, after deliberating over the 10+ menu options, I settled on the Pan Roasted Nantucket Sea Scallops over orzo with sweet corn with roasted tomatoes, Grana Padano and arugula almond pesto, and Mario had the skillet fried chicken with mushroom-herb broth, subbing the included side for whipped sweet potatoes.

Scallops & Risotto

Pan-Fried Chicken

You may not be able to tell from the photos, but these are some huge portions. I certainly didn’t mind, as restaurant week is supposed to be about bang for your buck and Wisteria definitely delivered. That said, I was very disappointed that I couldn’t manage to finish the whole delicious plate. The nicely cooked scallops, which there at first seemed to be a lot of on the plate, were actually cut in half–a smart move for the restaurant, I think. It felt like I had double the usual 3-4 scallops on an entree plate. Mario also couldn’t finish his entree, which was probably a half chicken + sides. He enjoyed the crisp skin and gave a thumbs up to the juicy meat.

For dessert, we were both given the dessert sampler: Sweet Potato and Praline Cheesecake with Whipped Cream, Granny’s Carrot Cake with Bourbon Sauce, Warm Fudge Tart with Swiss Chocolate Orange Ice Cream:

Dessert Sampler

My favorite was definitely the carrot cake…so moist and delicious! The fudge tart was too rich for both me and Mario, but if you’re a chocolate fiend it’s the way to go. The crust of the sweet potato praline cheesecake was great (and was the praline component), but I thought the filling was pretty bland.

I loved the atmosphere at Wisteria–the restaurant was smallish, but very open, and really felt like a neighborhood place. There were groups coming in just for wine at the bar, a small birthday party, and of course a number of restaurant week diners. As I mentioned, service was fast and friendly. This is the kind of place I wish I could walk to from my house.

www.wisteria-atlanta.com

JCT Kitchen is one of my favorite places in general, but also one of my favorite places to take out of town guests for meals. I feel that it’s a reasonably priced representative of Atlanta’s great food scene. JCT Bar, located above the restaurant area, is also a fun spot for meeting with friends –live music, good drinks, skyline view. The food served at the JCT Bar has always been good, but here’s a new reason to venture out on Wednesdays: JCT’s Wiener Wednesdays. With Top Chef’s Richard Blais opening a gourmet hot dog restaurant in the coming months, we’re all hearing talk of hot dogs being “the new burger.” JCT’s Chef Ford Fry has also declared 2011 “Year of the Wiener.” Regularly $4 each, on Wednesdays, the gourmet dogs are only $2. Mario and I attended a Wiener Wednesday Tweetup hosted by Twitter personalities @ATL_Events and @AtlantaDish recently to try the new dogs. Our selections that night were the Smoked Coca-Cola BBQ with Vidalia onion relish, and the Pimento Cheese with Bacon, Pickled Cabbage and House Mustard:

Smoked Coca Cola BBQ Dog (back) and Pimento Cheese Dog (front)

Firstly, I have to credit my new blog photographer, Mario His skills with that iPhone camera have vastly improved! But those dogs don’t just look good, they taste good too. Both of the actual dogs were juicy and gave a satisfying “pop” when bitten into. Of the two, I enjoyed the pimento cheese dog the most (maybe it was the bacon). I didn’t think the Coca-Cola BBQ dog had any particularly memorable flavor; i.e. it was very good, but not a standout. The creamy pimento cheese and crisp bacon made the former dog taste extra special. As a side, we shared an order of JCT’s fantastic truffle Parmesan fries:

Truffle Parmesan Fries

Yum! I love how these fries are cooked, and the earthiness imparted by the Parm and truffle. I almost always snag an order when I visit JCT.

The new gourmet dogs at JCT are not all beef-based; I’m most looking forward to trying the non-beef offerings like the cider braised fennel and onion wiener with Sweet Grass Dairy Asher Bleu cheese; chicken liver wiener with apple butter, house mustard and tiny pickles; and the “corn dog” wiener with hush puppy crispies, green tomato relish and rémoulade. You can count me on board with Atlanta’s newest food fad.

www.jctkitchen.com

Local celebrity chef Richard Blais recently returned to Bravo’s special “All-Stars” season of “Top Chef” after his surprising loss in Season 4 to claim the title once and for all. The brains behind FLIP Burger Boutique talked with City’s Best about the show, Atlanta’s food scene, and what we might see from him in the future.

Congratulations on your “Top Chef All‐Stars” win! Do you think the competition was tougher this season, or on your first go‐round?
This season was way tougher, first of all it was the longest season Top Chef has ever had, the competition was incredible. Every chef brought their A game.The challenges were very challenging.

You have been in Atlanta for a little more than 10 years now. How do you think our food scene compares with other big cities?

Read the rest here

Finally getting myself over to Miso Izakaya in Inman Park was the result of two things: 1) Blogger friends repeatedly asking whether I had tried Miso Izakaya’s pork belly or crispy duck buns, and 2) a new iPhone app I’ve been beta testing, Trumpet. It’s one thing when people tell me I HAVE to visit a restaurant, but it’s another when an app does. Trumpet gives personalized restaurant recommendations based on simple star ratings you give places you visit. I had spent about a week playing around with Trumpet by rating restaurants (and drooling over its design: the photos are GORGEOUS), and it was starting to give me feedback on places I would like. Miso Izakaya popped up on my screen along with a “You’ll Love It!” and I decided it was time to go.

An “izakaya” is a Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food. Plates are small, but more substantial than tapas. Mario and I went one Friday evening and were promptly seated. I already knew I wanted to try both the pork belly and crispy duck buns, but I also decided to add an order of steamed gyoza (pork filled dumplings, sweet toasted sesame soy sauce) to round out my meal. Mario had the tempura (lumpy “batter fried” tiger shrimp, shitake mushroom, sweet potato, freshly grated daikon in dashi dipping sauce) and a chicken and rice bowl, the name of which I unfortunately can’t remember.

Pork Belly Bun

Crispy Duck Bun

Steamed Gyoza

Tempura

Chicken & Rice Bowl

The pork belly and duck buns came on airy, slightly sticky steamed buns. I preferred the pork belly to the crispy duck, which I found slightly dry. The steamed gyoza were delicious, but I hear the pan-fried version is even better than the steamed. Next time! Mario inhaled his chicken and rice bowl and was in awe at the enormous shrimp in the tempura basket. One note about our visit: the gyoza was not my first choice for a dish. I really wanted to try either the fried oyster or scallop dishes, but both were sold out. So be mindful that some dishes may not be available later in the evening.

Speaking of evenings, Miso Izakaya recently started offering a limited late-night menu from 10pm-12pm. This includes their new Tonkotsu Ramen, which I knew warranted a return trip after seeing Chow Down Atlanta’s Twitpic and subsequent blog post. So here’s the big bowl of goodness:

Tonkotsu Ramen

Wow, wow, wow. Within this enormous bowl are kakuni (braised pork), soft-boiled egg, bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, sautéed corn, naruto (the swirly pink and white thing, which is fish paste), scallions, and sesame seeds. I’m no ramen expert so take my interpretations with a grain of salt, but the broth was light enough that you could taste and enjoy each of the toppings, but still flavorful on its own. I slurped up all my noodles, and much of the broth afterward Although dessert is not included on the late night menu, we arrived close enough to 10pm for Mario to snag a bowl of green tea ice cream for himself. Yum!

Green Tea Ice Cream

Putting aside all the delicious food and great prices at Miso Izakaya for a moment, my one complaint on both visits was the service. There’s really no reason my glass of Sprite should remain empty for 15 minutes when we’re the only people in the restaurant! And no, I don’t need a refill while you clear the table and we take care of the check. Despite that, overall my visits to Miso Izakaya have been enjoyable. The small plates allow you to try a lot for not a lot of $$, and everything I’ve tried has been great. So, have YOU tried those pork belly or crispy duck buns yet??

Oh, and if you want to try Trumpet out, go here. And you can tell ‘em I sent ya