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)

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I looked at some fellow bloggers’ posts on this place from 2-3 years ago before I started writing and saw a few hits, but a lot of misses. However, on our recent visit to Bone Garden Cantina the restaurant seemed to have made it past its “awkward stage” and come into it’s own. Located in a mostly industrial area off Marietta Blvd. (on Ellsworth Industrial, fittingly), you could easily miss Bone Garden’s warehouse-like digs…or you could just keep an eye out for the giant skeleton out front. The restaurant markets itself as one of the only authentic Mexican restaurants in town (i.e. not Americanized and drowning in cheese) and touts its fresh, made from scratch dishes.

We started with our free basket of warm chips & salsa, which we both enjoyed. Both elements tasted very fresh and we kept snacking on them throughout the meal.

Chips & Salsa

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West Midtown, or “the Westside,” as some inhabitants like to call it, has been an epicenter for hot new Atlanta restaurants for about a year now — and for good reason. Many of these restaurants are headed by prominent, award-winning chefs who decided the Westside was the place to plant their talents. Since this ‘hood is located just minutes from midtown/downtown office buildings, much of Atlanta has access to these lunchtime hot spots.

Bocado: This contender in Atlanta’s “burger wars” has much more than just a delicious burger to offer. Bocado emphasizes seasonal ingredients in its delicious dishes, and they almost never disappoint.

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I’ve actually eaten at one of the newer restaurants on the Westside, Bocado, many times, but have never written a blog post on it. This is partly because ~80% of my visits consist of me ordering their delicious burger.

Bocado

Delicious Burger

On one of the most perfect days we’ve had in a while (beautiful weather and the start of college football), Mario and I visited Bocado after GT made a decisive rout of South Carolina State in our home opener. Mario couldn’t pass up the usual burger (no pickles, add bacon), but I decided to step outside the box and try a lobster roll. Now, this is important news because I was just one more bad lobster away from finally conceding that I just don’t like lobster. All my experiences with the crustacean have yielded a lukewarm, slightly rubbery, unseasoned piece of tail meat. I will partly chalk this up to the fact that I grew up eating crawfish, and lobster, I’m sorry to say, is an inferior substitute for perfectly seasoned crawfish. Bocado’s lobster roll, however, turned my assumptions on their head.
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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:
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Here’s a quickie post while I study for two tests, write a fellowship proposal, and make more substantial posts on a girls’ night out last weekend and Taste of Atlanta.

It’s probably no secret now that I’m a certified cupcake addict. Well, I’ve found my new pusher, and she’s fortunately/unfortunately in walking distance of my place. Caryn’s Cakes appears to mostly be a wedding/special events cake shop (think “Ace of Cakes”), but they also have some amaaazing cupcakes, which I discovered when I walked over to pick up 2 last week:

Caryn's Cupcackes

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

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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On a lonely Saturday evening, I decided to order out at Osteria Del Figo (or just Figo) for pasta. Figo is an Atlanta pasta chain that allows you to create your own dish by selecting the pasta type and sauce. With more than 15 types of pasta and as many sauces, the possibilities are endless. It’s also pretty cheap, so it’s perfect for my new grad student budget. This time, I tried artichoke ravioli in 4 cheese sauce:

Artichoke Ravioli in 4 Formaggi Sauce

By popular demand, we decided to visit Thumbs Up Diner for a brunch-time meal Friday.  Thumbs Up is another breakfast-centric eatery located right near where I live.  Unlike other places I’ve passed and never tried, somehow I’ve never even noticed this unassuming building on Marietta St.  Their menu has both breakfast and lunch items with breakfast served all day, but lunch only after 11am.

I decided to try the Yukon Omelette (Smoked salmon, fresh spinach, and cream cheese) with a biscuit, and Mario had 2 pancakes, a scrambled egg, and bacon.

Yukon Omelette

Pancakes, Eggs, and Bacon

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