Chick-fil-A is pretty much my favorite fast-food restaurant, so I was excited I got the chance to get an “advance” taste of their new spicy chicken sandwich, which is being debuted for real on June 7. All you had to do for a free sandwich was visit getspicychicken.com and reserve a time for May 24-June 5. A great gimmick for Chick-fil-A, I think. But on to the sandwich:

The anticipation is killing me

The Sandwich

Read the rest of this entry »

While I’m talking about New Orleans, I suppose I should mention what was served at my Saintsbowl party on February 7, 2010, the day the SAINTS won the Superbowl!! Yeah, I was excited. Anyway, my New Orleans-themed party was complete with jambalaya, king cake, and hurricanes for sippin’. I tried to keep my prep simple and my cooking to a minimum so I could fully enjoy the game, so one of the few “from scratch” items I made was meatball sliders:

Meatball Slider

These were quite easy to make, and more important, quite delicious.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m ashamed to admit that I have spent almost zero time in the Inman Park area since I’ve been in Atlanta. Equally as surprising is that before last week, I had never visited Parish Foods & Goods, a New South eatery with a New Orleans flair (hence “Parish”…we don’t do counties in Louisiana). I stopped by the market side for lunch (Parish consists of the restaurant upstairs and the market downstairs) and was looking forward to trying a po’boy. They offer shrimp, oyster, and for those of us who can’t make up their minds, combo po’boys. I went for the combo:

Shrimp & Oyster Po'boy

Atlanta’s Westside has a ton of lunch spots I’m trying to check out, and last week’s stop on my rounds was TINY Bistro. TINY is an offshoot of Figs and Honey Catering that serves mostly sandwiches and salads during lunch hours. It is located at the weird little intersection of 8th St, Marietta St, and Brady St, or across the street from my cupcake fav Caryn’s Cakes if you’ve checked it out

TINY Bistro

I’ve heard lots of good things about TINY’s Cuban sandwich (guava mojo pork loin, ham, pickles, swiss, on Cajun pistolet) and decided I was in the mood to try one out on my visit:
Read the rest of this entry »

I checked out new Midtown favorite Noon Midtown for lunch last week. Noon is run by a chef-turned-lawyer-turned-chef again who was searching for good lunch options in Midtown and decided to open her own. I don’t know much else about Noon, other than that they serve sandwiches, my favorite food, and are receiving awards for said fare.

Noon Midtown

I tried the Turkey sandwich (house-roasted turkey, fresh mozzarella, cranberry relish, basil aioli on country bread), which, according to their website has changed for fall to include bacon and a different condiment combo.
Read the rest of this entry »

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

Searching for low-cost lunch options has led me to the conclusion that most of my grad student lunches will consist of sandwiches.  Luckily, this cool site, Scanwiches, is providing me with some really great ideas.  Check them out…but maybe wait until after lunch.

Bistro Byronz is a old new addition to the Baton Rouge Restaurant scene. After closing their doors 20 years ago they’re back and expanding. I visited on my last BR afternoon to get a take-out lunch.

Bistro Byronz

With all the construction on Government St. right now, Bistro Byronz was a little tough to get to, and their parking situation didn’t make things much better. But my lunch more than made up for the difficulty.
Read the rest of this entry »

Spencer and I visited Dempsey’s Po’boys, a place a little outside of my usual Baton Rouge stomping grounds (Coursey/Sherwood) on the recommendation of another BR blogger. This blogger named Dempseys’ French Dip and Gumbo one of Baton Rouge’s best dishes, but I’m not sure that I agree.

Dempsey’s is a locally owned place specializing in po’boys with other typical South Louisiana fare making appearances on the menu. On our visit, the place was packed with a lunchtime crowd and we had about a 10 minute wait for a table. Service was a little slow, but I didn’t see many staff and most tables had parties of 5 or more, so with that volume, a little slowness is forgivable. Spencer and I both ordered the “soup and half”, a cup of soup/gumbo and a half po’boy for $10. I tried the soup of the day, cream of corn and crab, and Spencer had seafood gumbo:

Cream of Corn and Crab

Seafood Gumbo

First bites and more after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been a very bad blogger.  I try to update the blog every other day, but I am discovering how difficult it is to be a foodie on minimum wage.  Without further excuse, here’s a great food option when traveling through Louis Armstrong International Airport’s Concourse C.

Overcast morning over Lake Pontchartrain

Read the rest of this entry »