Saturday, February 28, 2009

Gordon Biersch


Does Gordon Biersch count as a chain? I guess it does but it's a pretty good chain. Last time we went during the NFL playoffs we got a bunch of different appetizers and the beer sampler. If you ever get the chance to hit up GB you should do it. Get the sampler and get the home style chips. Thank me later.

Last night we just went with a few pizzas. Kerry got the fresh mozzarella and enjoyed it. It was definitely better than my pineapple pizza and there was nothing wrong with my pineapple pizza at all. Both ere good and both were sans meat and both of us forgot to take pictures of the food until after it was boxed up.  And the crust was the best part of both pizzas.


Kerry's left overs are sitting in the refrigerator downstairs right now and shes going to eat them on the drive back to NOLA tomorrow.

Mine got eaten on the trip from Atlanta back to Lawrenceville at the end of the night.

Atlanta Brewing Company Tasting (did it) and Tour (didn't do it)

We headed to Atlanta Brewing Company after CNN. It's one of two big breweries in Atlanta and they have a tasting/tour Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights.

Fridays they have live music. This Friday they had this crazy looking guy playing off-the-wall jams. It was good though... we drank Ales, Porters, and Blondes and they were good.

Unlike Abita (look for that post sometime next week) its not all you can drink and you get four bottle caps that you can redeem for fill-ups. Also, the pour they give you is only about 3/4 full for some legal reason I don't understand. That being said four 3/4 beers was just the right amount and we had a good time. I don't look like it in this picture but I am I promise.


And we got to keep the glasses so that was good too. We skipped the tour because we have a pretty good idea how beer is made. After that we went to dinner at...

What'll Ya Have?

So I guess the one place you have to eat when you are in Atlanta is the Varsity. So we stopped by the world's largest drive-in at the start of our tourism day in Atlanta.

Because it was Friday we had to find something without meat. We went with grilled cheeses, onion rings, a chocolate shake and a frozen orange.

We were suppose to get tomato slices on our grilled cheese but I panicked while ordering so we had to go back for an extra grilled cheese after we consumed our first order. We wore the hats and everything. Kerry ate one of her onion rings like this.

Afterward we hit up the Cyclorama (to give Kerry one of her first tastes of Confederate history) and then the CNN studio tour. And then we....
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Panera Homework


We have some homework to do, so we're holed up at this Panera...

Me - Sweet Iced Tea
Kerry - Chai Tea Latte

Panera
is the CC's of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Chocolate Chip Breakfast in Atlanta


We are at my parents' house in Lawrenceville, Georgia for a few days. So the next few posts will be either be of Atlanta restaurants or my mother's kitchen. This is the second kind. You can see her red cabinets in the background. When I lived here they were white.

I whipped up some Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast. Just add water! I found some strawberries in the refrigerator so we did that too.

They were pretty good for just adding water. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product but I have a feeling you get the general idea.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

We Grilled Some Hot Dogs

All the food cookin' at the levee made us want to grill out. So we grilled up some hot dogs on Mardi Gras night. We got some Bob Evans sides (Macaroni & Cheese and Original Mashed Potatoes) to go along with our Oscar Mayer Deli Style Hot Dogs. I sauteed up some sweet onions too.


Kerry went with some of those onions, ketchup and mustard.

My plate looked messier because I went with chili and cheese and didn't skimp at all on the sides.

It was a nice quick, easy, pre-travel dinner. Look out for the Eating in ATL posts coming up this weekend.

Shrove Tuesday Blueberry Pancakes


So what do you know about Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday?

Well Wikipedia says that Shrove Tuesday is "widely associated with the eating of foods such as pancakes, and often known simply as Pancake Day, originally because these used up ingredients such as fat and eggs, the consumption of which was traditionally restricted during Lent."

So we made them. We cooked them like silver dollars...


And with blueberries that we threw in one by one from far distances...

And we topped them with whipped cream and butter and syrup and sprinkles in celebration of Mardi Gras. And we drank orange juice with them and the orange juice might have had some Malibu Rum in it... it's hard to say.


So... we had a better breakfast than you. It was quite the Mardi Gras Brunch before we headed to the levee for some football throwing.

Lundi Gras Dinner at LPK


So I know I promised a parade food post but we (I) had had to go to the bathroom so bad after watching the Orpheus Parade that we had to go right back to my place. So we decided the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen on Carrollton wasn't a bad option... but that's still up for debate.


It was crowded and just a few minutes before closing, but they still sat and served us. We started with the Fresh Mozzarella Salad. It was pretty standard but tasty. Fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, red onion, basil, and balsamic.


I had the Chicken Manicotti with chicken, mozzarella, Parmesan, mushrooms, and spinach in pasta with marinara and then baked. It was alright, nothing really special though and kinda watery which sounds really gross but it wasn't, it just wasn't great.

Kerry Mitchell had the calzone with cheese, Italian sausage and mozzarella and ricotta, which was more of the same as far as quality goes. She said it didn't have much flavor. Afterward she felt sick until the morning. So I said in the first post that 90% of what we eat is good. It was about time for the other 10% to show up I guess.

Really, maybe it's our fault for not getting Pizza at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen.
Monday, February 23, 2009

Lundi Gras at Crabby Jacks

After a great time at Bacchus Ball Last night (and a whole day of Popeye's that we spared you the posts about) we woke up pretty hungry on Lundi Gras.


What better place to have a Lundi Gras lunch than Crabby Jacks over on Jefferson?


Kerry had a craving for a Shrimp Po-Boy. It was full of shrimp. Like real full of shrimp. I don't want to say too many shrimp but the bread couldn't contain all of the little suckers. She said it was pretty good especially with some of the salsa from my....


Fish Tacos. They were real good and I ate them all. I'm going to have to make sure I take my dad when he comes into town. I assume tonight might be a parade food night so I'll try to remember to take a few pictures. So look for a parade food post on Mardi Gras.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Return of Bananas

So after the infamous "Banana Day" we stayed away from bananas for a few days.


But we brought them back this morning in style. Banana pancakes! They were good and we had them with syrup and butter. We made them in this pan.

Beer Dip and Chili

Last night we broke out my Valentines gift and made our first recipe with beer.

We made a Beer and Cheese dip. It was awesome and we ate it with pretzels that look like snow shoes. It had cream cheese and cheddar cheese and chives and Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager in it. We ate it up. Kerry ate it up while she did accounting homework.


We got the ingredients at Rouses. Kerry went incognito.


After the dip we made some chili and didn't burn it and then ate it. I ate it with Tostitos Scoops and Kerry ate it with Fritos. We had the left overs for lunch even.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

CC's Should Pay Us Advertising


Vanilla Latte (mine - ok) and a Sugar Cookie Latte (Kerry's - she says it isn't very good). Good dinner tonight though so stay tuned... and don't lose faith in us.

*Not pictured - Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Monday, February 16, 2009

In Heaven at Nirvana

After a great Valentine's night dinner, I had to head over to the b-school for a team meeting early Sunday morning. I tackled our team Accounting assignment with a vengeance, and worked up an appetite in the process. During the meeting I was overcome by a craving for... Indian food! When I lived in Sydney we used to get the best Tandoori chicken wraps with tzaziki from street vendors, and I haven't really had it since I've been back. Anyway, when I get a craving like that Justin's usually happy to go along with it, so we decided to go one of New Orleans' only Indian restaurants, Nirvana on Magazine St. Lucky for us, they offer lunch every day, and a special lunch buffet on Thursdays and Sundays. For only $10, you get all you can eat of delicious Indian specialties.


Now normally, I'm pretty averse to buffet food, but Nirvana's good reputation in the city (and my now-starving status) made me trust it. We headed over to Magazine amid parades and marching bands, signaling the start of Mardi Gras. Before we could even sit down inside, our waiter had poured our waters and told us to help ourselves to the buffet in the back of the restaurant. This is what we ended up with:


Needless to say, we took full advantage of the "all you can eat" aspect. We both got two heaping plates of tandoori chicken drumsticks and thighs, chicken breast in a buttery tomato sauce over rice, vegetable fritters, and naan. Also
available were steamed vegetables, salad, vegetable soup, and something in a yogurt-based sauce. Clearly J and I avoided anything green... but it was so good that I don't feel guilty. The tandoori and the chicken in sauce over rice were the big hits.


We rolled our overstuffed selves home and prepared for Family Gras in Metairie, which Justin just posted about. I was ecstatic to see Better than Ezra for free, and especially happy to catch their last concert as a group before the drummer, Travis McNabb, departs to headline with Sugarland. Annnywho, we headed over to the concert very full and happy and ready to rock. We did a lot of rocking out, but no eating -- sorry y'all. I do have some great pics of the band though! Happy Monday. -KMK

Red Beans and Rice Monday


Every Monday the student center (LBC) serves red beans and rice. You can get it with an extra link of sausage or vegetables. Kerry went with the vegetables... I went with no extra anything (well cornbread) and then consumed all of it in about 6 minutes.

The reason red beans and rice are served in New Orleans on Monday traditionally is that Monday is laundry day and the women could cook the beans all day while they washed clothes. I litterally just learned that 2 minutes ago. And now you know too.

It was good.

Family Gras - Part 2

As promised a second Family Gras post.

We expected to have some pictures of food to show... but we ate too much earlier (more on that later) and didn't end up getting any thing there. So you know... here's a picture of a daiquiri. Its almost food... its a semi solid.


We took in a Better Than Ezra show which was pretty fantastic and we took this picturer during it and Kerry is at least as happy as she looks.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Valentine's Dinner

Last night we ate at Le Meritage (formerly Dominique's) in the Maison Dupuy on Toulouse in the Quarter for Valentine's. My sister (who I can't thank enough) had gotten me a gift certificate for Christmas and we had been looking forward to it for a while. There was a set Valentine's Day prix-fixe menu but we opted for the normal menu.

Each dish is paired with a glass of wine and you can get large or small plates. We both did a small salad, soup, and entree.

I'll apologize now for not getting a picture of everything and the lighting not being great but we got some good ones I think.

First they sent out a complimentary starter appetizer. It was like a tiny little cheese and egg omelet. Here is an incredibly blurry picture of it!


First course (sorry no picture) was a arugula salad with grapefruit, apples, goat cheese, pine nuts, and a little avocado. Kerry got a glass of Moet-Chandon with it that she drank with her dinner (I got a half glass).

Second course (..... sorry) was a Corn and Crab bisque. It was really good. It wasn't as creamy as a standard bisque but was really good and sweet with lots of crab. And it was good with the rolls that they brought us. I had a glass of Chardonnay with it that I drank with dinner. Now onto something we can show you...

Kerry had the Grouper served over quinoa (I just looked this up on the menu, I think it is kind of like couscous dish, you can see it in the picture below [definition according to dictionary.com]). It was served with three sauces, one of which was a compounded red wine butter sauce (top left in the photo) that was really good. I think she liked it, I had a bite and I liked it.


I had the Flat Iron Steak cooked medium rare and it was good and I ate it all. It came with pickled Louisiana Cucumber and was in a red wine sauce. Here is what it looked like before I ate it.

The half sizes really worked out well, we could try a few different things and still had a little room left for a Valentine's Day Dessert. We went with the Chocolate Pot. It was good and rich and a great way to end a good meal. Plus it came with a gigantic chocolate covered strawberry and some macadamia nuts.


Just in case you were wondering we went to Circle Bar in Lee Circle afterward and took this dark and shadowy picture of us in a nook while we drank an Abita, a PBR, and a incredibly strong Absolut Mandarin and Sprite.


On the whole it was a great night, we had a great dinner and Kerry got compliments on her dress, and I got a book on cooking with beer and Kerry got roses and looked very pretty. I hope everyone else had as good a Valentines Day.

Family Gras - Part One

We went to Family Gras in Metairie yesterday and saw Sara Bareilles. We ate here I promise. I forgot to take pictures of the food... Here is a nice picture of us though.


Just trust me when I tell you Kerry had some oysters (char-grilled I believe) and some crawfish etouffee (funny side note Blogger doesn't recognize "crawfish" or "etouffee" as words) and I had a meatball po-boy and it was delicious.

We are going back today to see Better Than Ezra today and I'll remember to take pictures this time.

Second Trip to Clever


So Friday the 13th was a night of seconds for us... We also took our second trip to Clever Wines. We had been there once before for a weekly tasting they do.

Now we didn't eat anything there but we had a drink each and listened to Johnny J play some music. I realize I just referenced Johnny J like we listen to Johnny J all time time... or maybe like we have ever even heard of them (him?) before... we haven't. It was good though. We were by far the youngest people there and you could tell people were pretty jealous of our youth and good looks.


This is a picture of our drinks. Kerry had an amaretto sour. I had something called a Grandfather Clock that they invented there are Clever. I don't remember exactly what was in it but I think there was some grapefruit something, bitters, a sparkling wine of some sort and a sprig of thyme. It was good. And then we went and saw Taken at a high school hang out movie theater in Kenner and it was awesome and you should see it too.

Frozen Pizza - Double It

Well it was good the first time... why not do it again?


We did the whole frozen 4 cheese pizza with tomatoes cut up on top thing again two nights ago before we went out (more on that later). It was pretty good again, the tomatoes seem to add something more than just color. I've never been a huge frozen pizza fan in the past but this keeps being surprisingly pleasing. This one was round and of the Red Barron variety. This picture has a big knife in it because it was Friday the 13th.


We did salad again as well. Just some romaine tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette, Parmesan, and some croutons from my mama. There is a bear in this picture because I forgot to move it.


And white wine (Francis Coppala on special at Roberts Fresh Market) this time instead of red.


Well I guess that's it. Sorry if it was a repetitive post... I figured the pizza being a different shape and the white wine might have made it post worthy. This picture has a Kerry in it because she hasn't decided to take it down yet... maybe she wont.