Also check out my review of Maple Street Biscuit Company for the Florida Times-Union!

There can’t be many foods more perfect than a biscuit sandwich. Especially when what lies between those two biscuit halves is fried chicken. Maple Street Biscuit Company in San Marco has been putting out some pretty delicious biscuit sandwiches (with and without chicken) since opening a few short months ago. My first visit was on opening day, when I split a Loaded Goat (all natural fried chicken breast, and fried goat cheese medallion), Sticky Maple (all natural fried chicken breast, pecan wood smoked bacon all topped with Bissell Family Farm real maple syrup), grits, and mac and cheese with Folio Weekly’s Bite Club writer Caron:

Loaded Goat + Mac & Cheese

Sticky Maple + grits

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This is a much delayed post on the last Girls’ Breakfast (though this one was really brunch) of the semester with two of my lovely classmates. For this excursion, we decided to venture a little further outside our usual Midtown/Downtown range and try out Sun in My Belly in The Dec.

Sun in My Belly is a full-service catering and event design company that also happens to have both a “neighborhood cafe” in Decatur/Kirkwood and a “garden cafe” at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We visited the former for brunch on a warm and breezy morning and decided to sit on SiMB’s back porch to enjoy our meal. Both of my companions were in a breakfast-y mood and ordered the Challah French toast (stuffed with honeyed ricotta, served with brown sugar glazed berries and maple syrup), but I was in the mood for a sandwich and decided on the Rose Pistolla with a side of mac & cheese:

Challah French Toast

Rose Pistolla

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I don’t eat a lot of eggs. And I know I totally should, but aside from scrambling them or making an omelette, I never really know what to do. Recently though, I bought a carton of eggs to bake with and decided to try my hand at making a frittata (basically a baked omelette) with the leftovers. I found a recipe for one combining some flavors I like and jumped in:

Goat Cheese, Prosciutto, and Caramelized Onion Frittata

My frittata came out thinner than I was expecting (I was expecting something like a layer cake), but this was likely just due to the size of my pan. And who cares about the thickness when it’s delicious??
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I’ve been a little MIA lately because the end of the semester is always a little hectic. I have a big paper deadline looming so the blog has been neglected I’m actually scribbling this entry via the old pen and paper during a sleep-inducing class to be transcribed to the ‘net later on:

Class notes and a distraction

But I digress.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen a few Friday morning tweets related to “girls’ breakfasts.” I’ve been working my way around some ATL breakfast spots with a few lovely ladies from my Ph.D. program. Many of the restaurants thus far are places I’ve visited before–West Egg, Highland Bakery, Sublime Doughnuts. However, last week I was excited to stop in ATL mainstay Ria’s Bluebird for the first time.

Ria’s is located on Memorial Dr. across from the Oakland Cemetery (one side of it anyway–that thing is huge). It basically looks like a 70s truck stop diner, with only ~5 tables and an eat-in counter inside. I can see why the weekend waits are supposedly out of this world. However, since the weather is warming up, my companions and I opted to eat on the enclosed patio, which we found a little dark, but enjoyable. We were all struggling to decide what to order, but when our waitress mentioned “Today’s Omelette”–pesto and brie–3/4 of us dropped all other considerations and ordered it. Our 4th, a vegan, went with the Southwest Tofu Scramble (spicy tofu cubes, sliced tomato, broccoli, black beans & red onions, topped with cilantro pesto):
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Ellie Krieger is known for preparing delicious “light” versions of favorite comfort foods, and for a post-Christmas brunch I made up a pan of her peach French toast bake. This oven-baked French toast is a pretty good substitute for the pan-fried stuff you’re used to, so you can save a few calories and some time with this easy recipe.

Peach French Toast Bake

I made this using my copy of Ms. Krieger’s The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life, but it is also available on foodnetwork.com.
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The 2nd Bite post was previously reserved only for Flip Burger Boutique, but I had to come back to post on Noon Midtown’s breakfast offerings, particularly their special, The Stack (fried chicken, benton’s bacon, cheddar, sausage gravy, fried egg on a biscuit). Or maybe it was just to show off this awesome photo I took, and with my cell phone to boot:

The Stack

Yes, it tastes as amazing as it looks. And it was so huge, I ended up skipping lunch.

Check out Noon for lunch and breakfast, which I can now vouch for, and they even deliver around Midtown now (though not to GT )!

www.noonmidtown.com

Mario and I found a newly opened (October) and judging by the number of people seated, apparently as-yet undiscovered dining gem in Charlotte. Terrace Cafe is located in the Southpark area near the mall (I’m not up on my Charlotte geography enough to be more specific than that). We were looking for a brunch spot one Saturday morning and I surfed a few reviews, browsed their interesting-looking menu, and made the choice. Man, am I glad I did.

Terrace

Though I can only speak for the breakfast items, I can’t imagine that the rest of Terrace’s menu would disappoint either. I ordered the Red Velvet Waffle topped with cream cheese drizzle (can’t believe no one in Atlanta has done this!) and Mario threw together a meal from the sides menu of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon:
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I’m about 99% sure I found the exact doughnuts that make Homer Simpson drool. Sublime Doughnuts is located in the shopping center on the corner of Hemphill and 10th St. I’ve been checking it out for a while, but I’m not gonna lie, I mostly haven’t been because the exterior looks kinda sketch:

Sublime Donuts

I’m starting to think I have a legitimate fear of strip mall eateries. However, I’ve heard so many good things about it that I finally decided to stop by.
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Since Mario is in town, breakfast is always a must, so we tried yet another Howell Mill Rd. breakfast spot after church on a rainy Sunday.  The Social House serves breakfast and brunch 7 days a week, and like most other breakfast-centric eateries in Atlanta, had a line out the door.   The restaurant’s website advertises Georgia-grown food served in a “bright, cheerful” environment.   Aside from the room’s brightness by virtue of its many windows, “cheerful” is not what came to mind when I was met with a harried-looking waitstaff and an unfriendly host.

Because there is no real waiting area at The Social House patrons cram into a small foyer in front of the host’s stand.  It was raining, so a little overflow ended up in the dining area.  One table in particular up front became a “fish bowl” with people standing on all sides.  The first set of diners who declined the table were promptly seated at another one that was open.  The next set, however, after requesting a different table that was in the process of being bused, were told “I’ll see what I can do” and got skipped over on the list.  Less than 5 minutes later, another group further down the list was seated at the table they requested.  They were told that “when someone turns down a table, I move down the list and you have to wait.”  Similarly, Mario and I requested an empty table away from the front door, were skipped over, and had another group seated there.  I’ve never worked as a host and have no idea how table assignments work.  But I’ve never seen a host seat people in this manner, nor respond with such an attitude when questioned on his actions.  I was hoping our brunch would redeem our waiting experience, but unfortunately, I was disappointed here as well.

I tried Social House’s Andouille Cream Cheese Omelette (3 farm eggs, herbed cream cheese, andouille sausage, fresh tomatoes) with cheese grits, and Mario had the Fried Chicken and Georgia Blueberry Waffles with hash browns:

Andouille Cream Cheese Omelette and Grits

Fried Chicken and Blueberry Waffle with Hash Browns

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I revisited West Egg Cafe the weekend I moved back to Atlanta with my family and Mario and tried one of their specials, the Peachtree Plate. The standout of the meal was the brown sugar bacon, a mix of sweet and salty that left me (and Mario) wanting more. So, I found some recipes via web search and cooked up my own batch.

Homemade Breakfast