Best breakfast in Atlanta goes to Ria’s Bluebird Diner

Aug12

Google “best breakfast in Atlanta” and one of the top results will probably be Ria’s Bluebird. This diner in Atlanta was featured on a Travel network show about breakfast places. This restaurant opens 8am-3pm. They do not accept reservations. When you arrive, you sign in and wait outside until your name is called.

The smaller the group the better chance you have of a short wait. When we went, it was hubby and I, so our wait was about 20 minutes.

I ordered the special: almond crusted French toast stuffed with cream cheese sweetened with local honey served with warm maple syrup on the side. This was the best French toast I have ever eaten. Everything about this plate equaled perfection. To drink, I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice. You cannot beat fresh squeezed OJ.

Words that come to mind to describe this restaurant: eclectic, artsy, trendy

The décor has a retro vibe to it. The wait staff is friendly but no nonsense. They make some small talk, but keep it moving because they have a lot of tables to serve and a lot of orders to get to hungry people.

Hipsters were crowding the parking lot waiting for tables in the packed restaurant. Sometimes a restaurant becomes a trendy place to eat but the food is mediocre at best. In the case of Ria’s Bluebird, the food lives up to the hype. I can see why they were featured on TV and are known for have the best breakfast in ATL.

I recommend getting there early and ordering the special (especially if it is almond crusted stuffed French toast). Leave with a happy belly and satisfied smile.

Its summertime with fried green tomatoes!

Aug6

This is more of a review of my own cooking than anything else. Plus I wanted to share with the blogosphere.

I made fried green tomatoes for the first time in my life. It was recently that I actually tried fried green tomatoes (FGT) and realized that I liked them. I think FGT is one of those Southern style foods that is probably a staple in many households during the summer months. Growing up with an British-bred mother, I was more likely to eat Shepherd’s pie. ***sighing fondly to myself***

Since we have a large garden this year with about 10 different varieties of tomatoes, I was excited for the possibility to be able to make FGT myself. I figured that it could not be too hard. I searched for perfect, plump tomatoes from our bountiful, producing garden. Hubby is a great cultivator of all things green. If I was more organized, I would know the variety of tomato used. But, the operative word in that sentence was "IF".

In any case, I searched the web for suitable recipes that looked easy enough. From those recipe websites, I realized that the common theme was seasoned flour, egg dip, and cornmeal/breadcrumb mixture.
Since I only measure when I am baking, there are no fixed measurements in my recipe of sorts for FGT.

I cut the tomatoes into thick slices and sprinkled with salt. I let that sit while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.
On a plate, I mixed a few spoons of all-purpose flour with a generous heaping of Old Bay (any season salt will do).

In a bowl, I beat one large egg (fresh from our chickens, of course) with a little water (maybe couple tablespoons).
On another plate, I mixed a few spoons of fine white cornmeal with finely crushed Ritz crackers.
In my cast iron skillet, I heated vegetable oil about half an inch deep. Stove temperature should be about mid-range. If 1 is the coldest and 10 is the hottest, set between 5 and 6.
I dredged my tomatoes in the flour, egg dip, and cornmeal mixture and then put into the skillet for a few minutes per side.
Once the FGT were fully cooked, I placed on a rack to drain excess oil and lightly salted.

I was so surprised how good they were! Even though there are several steps, the preparation is simple.
The trick is not to have the oil too hot. Otherwise the outside will burn and the inside will still be raw. The inside should be firm but tender. And I like for the outer crust to be crunchy and slightly salty.

If you have never had a fried green tomato, it is worth trying. I will be doing this again before all our tomatoes ripen and we have Insalata Caprese (salad made of sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, seasoned with salt, and olive oil).

Apple in a bag should be second choice

May12

I went to Subway a while back and instead of getting Lays potato chips as my side, I decided to get Apple crisps. I like trying new things. Plus I am probably every marketer’s dream because I am a sucker for pretty packaging. I can admit this about myself and I tried not to let a product’s packaging way too heavily in my purchasing decision making.

While the packaging may catch my eye, I read the claims that are made and try to decide if the product is worth my purchase with that. The package said crunchy premium apple crisps. I like apples. I love crunchy apples but at times if the apple sits too long on the counter it will get soft. I thought this would be a good way to carry apples around with me without having to worry about the apples over ripening and getting too soft.

The good:
fat-free, not fried
100% natural – no added sugar- because apples are sweet enough only 45 calories for the whole bag!
gluten-free

The bad:
serving size was the equivalent of one apple -I should have had a fresh apple was not crunchy the texture of the Apple was chewy
it tasted tart – maybe a little sugar would have helped after they put the lemon juice to maintain apple’s color

Overall, the next time I will get a fresh apple instead.

Mission Mini – San Francisco

Apr29

One of the benefits of visiting a large city is that they probably have plenty of specials using Groupon Now feature. It is where you look for deals at participating stores/restaurants that are happening for a limited time period (usually only for the day).

When Hubby and I were in San Francisco, I checked Groupon Now and found a Mission Mini cupcake deal. I love deals and I love cupcakes. And when they are mini cupcakes, I think I love them even more because I can get more flavors to satisfy my sweet tooth. I quickly bought the deal and told Hubby that we were on our way to Mission part of town for cupcakes. After he finished rolling his eyes (he has no sweet tooth), he put the address in the GPS so that we could drive there.

This bakery of minis offers different flavors depending on the seasons.

Flavors of the cupcakes I ordered (shown in the picture from top left going clockwise)

Ruby Red Velvet – Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting {This was all right, but not as sweet as I would have liked.}

Banana Maple – Banana cake topped with a pure maple syrup glaze {the texture seemed more like a breakfast bread and less like a cake, but I think that is because it is a vegan cake. It was still really yummy.}
Swiss Almond Coconut – Fresh coconut cake with buttercream topped with toasted almond and shredded coconut. {I always love coconut cupcakes.}

Cinnamon Horchata – Mexican rice milk cake with cream cheese frosting topped with freshly ground cinnamon. {This had a mix of flavors that I was not familiar with -sweet cinnamon with a hint of spice-, but tasty nonetheless. }

Pumpkin Spice – Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting {Quite possibly, my favorite pick of all the cupcakes. The texture and flavor were perfect.}
Lemon – Lemon cake topped with cream cheese frosting {This was good lemony flavor, but a little drier than I would have liked for lemon cake.}

If are in San Francisco, especially the Mission area, do yourself a favor and go to Mission Minis.
Mission Minis 3168 22nd Street San Francisco, CA 94110
http://missionminis.com/index.html
(415) 817-1540

Mission Minis, your deal on Groupon worked! I might live on the other side of the country, but you have a customer anytime I am in the San Fran area!

Let’s go to SNOBs

Apr16

When I was in Charleston, my friend said “We are going to SNOBs for lunch”. I was like, “Where?”

SNOB – Slightly North of Broad (as in Broad Street). Lovely acronym.

She made reservations for 12:30 in the afternoon. I thought she was being overly cautious to ensure we had a table. How crowded could a restaurant be in the middle of week in February? When we arrived, I realized that was so necessary. The place was packed on a Wednesday afternoon in such a way that most restaurants would dream for a Friday night.

Since we had a reservation, we were seated in about 10 minutes of our arrival. Once at our table, I began to review the menu. I did not know what I wanted to eat. The lunch menu had so many different choices, that I was hard pressed to choose just one. I decided I wanted something light but more heartier than a salad. In the end, I ordered the ahi tuna. It was accompanied with rice and cabbage and drizzled with some Asian style-flavored soy sauce reduction. I thought the portion size was small, but I was surprised that after eating all of it, I was so full afterwards. I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach, especially when I see so much good food.

For dessert, I had the special of the day: key lime pie with a shortbread crust topped with a passion fruit sauce. I really liked the pie because it was tart enough in the way that I like it, but still sweet. The shortbread crust was buttery and went well with the creaminess of the pie. If I ordered this again, I would opt to leave off the passion fruit sauce. It was too sweet and I could not fully enjoy the tartness of the pie for the sweet sauce. It seems harder and harder to find restaurants that make key lime pie. So if I come to SNOBs again, I hope they have the key lime pie that day so that I can order it.

SNOBs has won awards for their food and their efforts to buy local ingredients. This restaurant is worth all the hype that has been created around it. Everything was delicious. I could tell that the ingredients were high quality. The food was fresh tasting and the flavors were bold. Price wise, this restaurant is not too hard on a budget for lunch. You could probably spend $10-15 per entree. I think that is about the same as some chain restaurants, but the food at the chain restaurants does not have the same complexity of flavors. And dessert prices were comparable to chain restaurants but 1000 times better.

Next time you are in Charleston, go to SNOBs…but make sure you make a reservation if you do not want an extremely long wait. When you ask for directions, ask “How do I get to SNOBs?” I doubt many people know the restaurant by its full name.