Eating in NOLA:

Its good to be home.  But that doesn't mean I can't force one more Atlanta post on you.

We are only a few weeks away from the unveiling of the "Fattest States 2010" list.  Now both Louisiana and Georgia are bound to be on it but these states' fat strategies are very different.  What Louisianans manage to do with fried seafood in cream sauce, Georgians do with delicious, delicious quick service food.

Georgia must have the best quick service food in the country.  Just drive down any road in metro Atlanta and you'll find a Mecca of quick service food options.  Woven in among McDonald's and Burger King and Wendy's and Taco Bell you find Chick-fil-a, and Waffle House, and Nathans and Firehouse Subs and Bruster's and Steak 'n' Shake and tons and tons of other options.

Today we look at three.  One fast food, one independent quick service and one glorious super market.

Zaxby's



Above is Zaxby's chicken finger sandwich.  I hear a lot of people (one guy, once) talking about who reigns superior when it comes to Zaxby's and Cane's.  Both are chicken finger spots but really they are pretty different.  Zaxby's offers a lot more options than Cane's, with a bunch of different salads and sandwiches.  Zaxby's is also a little cheaper I think.  Cane's has better chicken though so i guess that's probably what actually matters.

Dacula Dogs


Even more impressive than the chains, metro Atlanta is laden with great independently run quick service places that, for the most part, reside in little strip malls.  I counted 4 independent pizza places in less than a mile just driving around.  Dacula Dogs is a hot dog place pretty close to my house.   I can only think of one good hot dog place in the city (Coney Island Dogs up on Airline), but when me and my dad wanted to grab one the day after Christmas we had something like 5 options.  This place was great.  Fresh Vienna hot dogs on warm poppy seed buns... great stuff.

Publix


When I was a little kid I remember people protesting outside of Publix all the time.  Now I don't know what they were protesting about but I like to think it was people from other places protesting how good Publix Subs are.  These are the best grocery store subs I have ever had and in my top 3 sandwiches anywhere.  And I have made it clear in the past I think, that I love sandwiches.  Publix subs are fresh and substantial, and come on bread that is soft and chewy and amazing.

So Louisianans... If you are interested in getting fat and you want to do it faster and cheaper than you can here... head on up to Atlanta.  Its delicious there.

The Holiday's are great.  They mean I can watch History Channel specials on Ancient Aliens (for the second time) and write blog posts without worrying that I'm neglecting something more important.  In recent years they have become a little greater with the addition of these two guys into the family.



There are lots of perks to having nephews.  One nice thing about them is they are a great tool for enacting revenge on my sister for years of sisterly torment.  For example every time I see them, I try to convince them that their shoes make their feet hot and they should take them off whenever they feel the need.  Ha!  Take that Sis.  As much as I enjoy using them as miniature saboteurs, the best thing about them is they open up opportunities for multiple Christmas meals.

This year, my sister and her family traveled down from Charlotte, while I traveled up from New Orleans, to converge at my parents house in Atlanta for a few days.  We did the Christmas thing early in Atlanta, then I followed them back home to prolong the holiday festivities... namely the holiday eating.


 The Atlanta meal included what is now becoming my mother's famous herb roasted turkey breast.



It was served with all the classic sides - mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, biscuits, stuffing and green beans a few different ways.   I enjoyed the meal with my mother and father, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law, and my nephews.  I actually don't think I helped with the meal at all.  But I ate it pretty good and I drank the wine so I feel like I did my part.



The holiday meal in Charlotte was a slightly different experience.  With a 5 year old and a 3 year old around extra help in the kitchen always seems appreciated.  So I spent the a few hours prepping some of the dishes.  Above are some of the dished in their early stages.  You're looking at the "before" of some pepper crusted pork tenderloin with a molasses glaze and pears and apples, and herb and garlic roasted potatoes.




I forgot to get a picture of dessert but it was a Bananas Foster bread pudding.  These things where in it.



And the dinner table looked like this.  I was lucky enough to share it with my sister and her family and my brother-in-law's sister and her family... which included two more toddlers for a grand total of 4 kids 5 and under.  Not quite the quietest Christmas ever.


Look and here is a picture of me and my sister, just to prove we have no problem getting along now.  I hope everyone had a great holiday.  There might be one or two more non-New Orleans posts in the future but then back to the grind of Eating In NOLA.  It's a tough life.

I'm thinking after the Christmas gluttony, a series on the healthy side on New Orleans eating might be in order.  If you have any ideas please comment here or shoot me an email.

Forgive the pictures I forgot my camera.


And I got the "Fig and Prosciutto"  Fresh made fig jam with prosciutto and bleu cheese topped with mozzarella and chives.  Its hard to screw up the sweetness of fig and the saltiness of prosciutto together.  And they didn't get anywhere close to screwing it up.  It was great.  Here it is.


I think its the bread that really made them good.  They are crispy and fresh and stone oven baked.  The whole restaurant is a simple concept but its a good simple concept.

So like I said.  If keeping high end shopping centers out of the city means missing out on places like this, I'm okay with it.  But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good Modern-Urban Casual Experience a few times a year while I'm visiting family.

My mom made us dinner our last night in Lawrenceville.  My mom is a pretty good cook and this was the second really good meal she made while we were there.

The menu was Chicken Cordon Bleu, rice, asparagus, salad, and garlic bread. It was really good and it came with wine and good conversation. My parents told stories about me when I was a little kid.

Here is a picture of my mom... she made the food.

We made some hot chocolate while we were in GA.

It was a Swiss Miss kind that was supposed to help you wake up in the morning and had 15 essential vitamins and minerals. I couldn't taste them but I tasted the Coolwhip and sprinkles that we put on top.

Kerry and my mom got the tall Starbucks glasses and I got the Halloween Cup because I'm spooky.

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.

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...

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....

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.

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.