“So, how was that first bite for you guys?” That line from our waitress at Restaurant August in New Orleans sealed my love letter with the restaurant. I made our reservation two weeks in advance, knowing that we had a one night stopover in NOLA before flying out to our Carribbean paradise of a honeymoon. One night in New Orleans. One single meal. After some nerve-wracking research (which included wiping drool from my keyboard while comparing a number of menus), the near-impossible decision was made. We found Restaurant August to be a stellar choice.

Restaurant August

I was also excited to finally dine at one of NOLA darling Chef John Besh‘s restaurants, as August is one of the 8 he owns in and around New Orleans (and 1 in San Antonio). Coincidentally, my dad had reservations for 2 weeks later with some lawyer buddies. When I mentioned where we’d be dining, he said the phrases “absolutely sublime” and “the best restaurant in New Orleans right now” were used to describe it to him. Cue intense anticipation.

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I was back in Charlotte last weekend and Mario and I got a chance to meet up with some of my high school buddies that are new to the area. I’ve been debating on whether or not to do some name-dropping in this post, but I think I’m gonna go ahead and drop away One of my besties just moved to Charlotte to be with her longtime boyfriend and my old friend, recently acquired Bobcats player Tyrus Thomas. They requested a soul/Southern food spot, and after some debate, Mario and I decided to meet them at Boudreaux’s Louisiana Kitchen in NoDa. Obviously Boudreaux’s is not the name of this post, and that’s because I didn’t feel motivated to write a full post after our disappointing meal. The crawfish and spinach dip appetizer was the highlight. I had an oyster po’boy that was unseasoned and borderline gross. There was one interesting point on the menu–their selection of hurricanes. We couldn’t decide whether it was in poor taste or kind of funny/clever that they named their different hurricane concoctions after actual hurricanes. The Hurricane Katrina was made up of spirits from locations that followed the course of the hurricane. Hmm…

Anyway, toward the end of the meal, my friends asked if we had heard of Amelie’s French Bakery, also in the NoDa area. When we said no, they both insited we go right away. Tyrus, usually a pretty goofy guy, got extremely serious when he started to describe a fruit tart they serve. “Jessica. Ok they have this graham cracker crust. And then this custard that is really, really good. Then on top are these perfectly sliced strawberries and berries and stuff, gracefully arranged and topped with this apple jam….ok we have to go right now.” And so we did:

Amelie's French Bakery

A few weeks ago, Buckhead Restaurant Week kicked off and offered 3-course meals for $25 at a number of swank Buckhead eateries. Coincidentally, Mario’s birthday weekend fell during the same time, so I decided to make a surprise reservation at Craftbar Atlanta. Craftbar is part of Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio’s (hm, he doesn’t have his own website) restaurant group, which includes Craft, Craftbar, Craftsteak and ‘wichcraft.

The Craftbar Restaurant Week menu was quite extensive, so it was tough to decide what to try. For starters, Mario settled on the sweet potato soup with mascarpone and bbq’d pecans, and I had the glazed pork belly with jalapeño grits:

Sweet Potato Soup

Pork Belly+grits

On my recent visit home for Mardi Gras, my brother Spencer and I went cruising around New Orleans the Sunday before Fat Tuesday and ended up on Magazine St. in the Garden District. This is the neighborhood you see in romanticized versions of New Orleans: tree-lined streets, mini-mansions, and old-school architecture. Luckily, because of its location on high ground, most of the post-HK damage here was caused by wind and not water, and the vast majority of the residents have returned to the area. Anyway, on our slow stroll up and down Magazine, I happened to notice a sweets shop and of course had no choice but to stop in.

Sucré touts itself as an emporium of artisan sweets. According to their website, “unlike a traditional bakery, Sucré serves plated desserts with custom garnishes in addition to boxed treats.” As soon as I walked in the door, my eyes became the size of dinner plates. It took me a full 10 minutes to decide what I was going to order, and during that time I snapped a ton of pictures of Sucré’s offerings (not including the storefront below; it is from Sucré’s website):

Sucre

My selections

I finally decided to go with a gelato and 2 macaron flavors suggested by a staff member: lemon and the “Valentine’s special” raspberry & white chocolate.
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Another “finally!” culinary experience this weekend was trying the oft-discussed Holeman+Finch Public House burger. H+F offers only 24 burgers a night at 10pm on a first-come, first-served, no reservations basis. The burger is only even listed on the menu for Sunday brunch, when they make ~70, and is also when Mario and I decided to stop in and try it out.

The Burger

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I have been wanting to visit Star Provisions for the longest and finally made it over Friday afternoon with my friend Tracie. Star Provisions is a culinary shop with deli and cheese counters, a bakery, and an eclectic gift/cookware shop. But we were visiting to check out “Provisions to Go”, which serves up a fantastic array of gourmet dishes and my favorite, sandwiches, to eat-in or take-out. Arguably their most talked-about sandwich is the shrimp po’boy, but I was ridiculously excited to see that on my visit, their sandwich special for the day was an oyster po’boy:

Oyster Po'boy

I like to watch the Food Network while I’m on the treadmill so I can fantazise about all the delicious things I’m going to eat when I’m skinny.  But when I saw Ina Garten cooking up this lobster mac and cheese, I decided waiting to be skinny wasn’t going to cut it and had a casserole dish made within a week’s time.

Lobster Mac

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I spent two days in New Orleans this week accompanying my brother to his freshman orientation.  My dad and I went out to eat at The Red Maple in Gretna (on the West Bank) Thursday night.

The Red Maple

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Last Atlanta post in the queue! For my graduation luncheon, my family and I visited JCT Kitchen for some yummy Southern style bistro food. With a large party, we had to eat off of their special event menu, which proved to be nearly as good as their regular menu.

We were able to choose from:

1st course

• Tomato Soup; Fried Grafton Cheddar
• JCT Salad; Green Beans, Romaine, Spiced Pecans, Apples, Buttermilk Dressing

2nd course

• Springer Mountain Fried Chicken; Macaroni and Cheese, Garlicky Green Beans
• Shrimp & Grits; Tim & Alice’s Red Mule Grits, crusty bread for sopping
• Sweet Water Battered Fish & Chips; Fries, “Sweet & Sour” Apple Slaw, ooo-eee sauce!!

3rd course

• Ginger Bread-Pudding; Meyer Lemon Curd
  
• Georgia Pecan & Apple Fried Pies; Caramel, Cinnamon Ice cream
  

I tried to get photos and first bites of everything, but a girl’s gotta eat too! Many photos and family first bites after the jump.
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This weekend we tried out Top Chef finalist Richard Blais‘ new restaurant Flip.

Flip

Flip is in kind of a weird location, on midtown Atlanta’s Howell Mill Rd.  Situated among auto repair shops and hardware stores, its chic decor definitely stands out.  Uber-chic begets an uber wait, and we waited about 45 minutes for a table.  However, this is not unusual for a new, smallish restaurant with a famous head chef.

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