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The love affair with Frank Ma South has come and gone in this city.  Late in 2008 when Frank Ma moved in with the gang at Chopsticks in the Emory area, all hell broke loose.  Most everyone got all giddy at the idea of a seemingly authentic Chinese restaurant located somewhere other than BuHi.  I was never all up in that … shocking I know.  At the time, I recapped my thoughts on “THAT SITE” during my pre-blog days.

Suddenly, like a fart in the wind, Frank up and vanished.  In his wake, chef’s have come and gone and the crowds have thinned.  However, the menu remains basically the same.  I’ve been diving in and out of there intermittently since Frank’s departure with the latest visit being yesterday for the Chinese New Year.  While the restaurant still satisfies my urging for non-nationalized Chinese grub, it’s still unable to compete with our cities top dogs.

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On an early afternoon scamper from Buckhead back to the Westside, I found myself looking for sustenance.  As I was heading right past the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center, I decided to swing by Zoës Kitchen, a fast casual franchise with a focus on health conscious and sustainable grub.  I wasn’t looking for something quick, cost effective, and relatively tasty.  At the end of the day, that’s basically what I got.

The decor reads straight out of a manual.  The tables are clean, the chairs are “futuristic,” and there’s a lot of orange going around.  The menu looks like it’s a sandwichized version of Moe’s (both in form and factor).  Though I haven’t double checked this, they are supposedly gluten friendly, so that should make at least one blogger very happy.  Thankfully, nobody yelled “Welcome to Zoës when I entered!

As I wasn’t terribly hungry, and I was hopping to spend under $5, I went with a small container of chicken salad.  Alas, the bill was closer to $6 … so that was a bit frustrating.  Anywho, upon opening the container, I found a straightforward sampling of shredded/minced chicken salad.  It’s the type they use on the chicken salad sandwiches at The V.

I kinda enjoy this alternative to the chunky salads that seem to permeate our restaurants.  However, at more than $4 for a simple container of it, I wasn’t in love with the price.  Meanwhile, the spice mix was your basic mayo, salt, and pepper.  They said they use “spices” on the bottom label, but i didn’t get anything special.  I would have liked a little more salt and pepper … and something to help with the texture.  In the absence of bread, some more celery would have helped make it a bit more substantial.  Still, it was pretty fresh and not too sweet, so it would definitely work for me if push came to shove.

In the scope of fast casual, Zoës seems likely to fit right in.  Further exploration is a must before any semblance of a true commentary can come out.

FOR THE FULL ALBUM, VISIT

Atlanta Foodies On Zoës Kitchen

• The Quick and Dirty Dirty on Zoës (08.27.09)
• Georgia Green Dining Guide on Zoës (08.19.09)

Zoës Kitchen Restaurant Address & Information

2333 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305 // 404.233.9637 // Zoes Kitchen website // Zoes Kitchen menu (pdf)

As I hobble through life with a Droid as my sole camera, it’s time for another one of my first impressions that really isn’t a first impression.  Falafel King sits on the Emory campus just off the junction of Oxford and N. Decatur.  Though it’s purveyors are of Korean lineage, this shack sized, spit using restaurant actually sells the oddly married cuisines of Japan (in this case sushi) and the Mediterranean.  This odd mish mash of grub, combined with a distinct facade (displayed at right by babythekitten) and pocket book friendly prices, helps to draw customers from areas well beyond Emory.

In many circles, the King is treated as royalty.  The reality is closer to something more understated; however, for a place that freshly pats down their chickpea mixture, they do just fine.

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Recently I had the opportunity to try out Two Urban Licks, a restaurant owned by the same folks that run One Midtown Kitchen and Trois.  Self described as ‘fiery American food,’ Two Urban Licks offers a diverse menu that changes daily, and offers hearty seasonal dishes with options that even fill up gluten-free bellies.

I went with a group of friends on a Friday night to Two Urban Licks and it was quite a happening place.  With high ceilings, live music, full tables, and the kitchen located in the center of the restaurant, surrounded by glass, there’s action everywhere.  Being that it was a weekend night, it was particularly loud and I was glad that our table was far away from the band.  (Does that make me old and lame?)

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Café Alice is one of those non-descript restaurants that exists in every strip center in every city around the country.  In this case, you’ll find this glorified sandwich shop in the Windy Hill Shopping Center off Cobb Pkwy.  It’s probably family owned (seemingly Asian in persuasion) and the idea of being “chef driven” is as foreign to the staff as nuclear physics is to me.  They aren’t trying to win any awards or garner the attention of foodies near and far.  No, it seems instead that this is one of those business run by people who want to do the best they can without any misconceptions or false hopes.  Mind you, that statement is entirely assumptive.

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The drive up the Eastern seaboard of the United States is daunting to say the least.  Considering the trek from Miami to Atlanta, there is just something wrong about the idea of driving for 12-hours plus and only hitting two states.  A break (or three) is required, and what better way for a foodie to chew up the monotony than with a destination worthy meal?

In preparation for that drive, the Unabomber’s Girlfriend and I spent some time perusing the internet looking for one of those hidden eateries of lore and legend.  As we were in seafood central, the cuisine was seemingly selected for us.  After scanning several internet sites, we were led to believe that we had found one such gem.  Yes, Capt. Shrimp came with high marks from casual dinners over a bevy of websites.  Unfortunately, what it delivered was a glorified alternative to Captain D’s.

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Saturdays and Sundays, at least the good ones, equal football and football equals wings (of the Buffalo persuasion).  Late in the calendar year, and on into the earliest months of the newest 365, men and women come together on those days of little sun for rowdy goodness.  At the intersection of beer guts and team pennants, you’ll find droves of people yelling at TVs and bantering with their nearest compatriots, all while donning their gayest apparel.

These engagements of caveman-like behavior would not be complete without a significant amount of sustenance.  More often than not, discussions of what to eat and what to order dwindle down to the sympathetic duo of pizza and wings.  For the past 28-years, J.R. Crickets has tried its best to remain at the forefront of those discussions.  In more ways than one, this wing establishment has matured into the wings version of Mellow Mushroom.  What started as a solitary fryer has blossomed into a dozen+ location chain with a reasonably strong following.

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                                                                                                  Photo by David Naugle via MU

A recent dining excursion took me to the ever bustling Miller Union, a Westside eatery that has become one of the “it places.”  MU is a restaurant that showed up on the scene roughly two-months ago and is currently in the middle of a love fest not uncommon around these parts.  Some heavy hitters love it and judging by the packed house we witnessed, so too do the lay folk.

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It’s been several years since Taka Moriuchi packed his knives, left his position as understudy to sushi God Sotohiro Kosugi (aka the dude who ran the much discussed Soto), and settled in as the leader of Taka Sushi Café.

Much like my father, it took me some time before I warmed to the idea of visiting Taka-san in Buckhead.  Even after Soto departed our fare city, something in me caused this undue shackling of obligations.  Mind you, nothing about that decision had anything to do with the kind and approachable Taka.

Time passed and wounds healed, and so began my long inevitable decent into complacency.  Yes, I finally started to drift in and out of this notable Buckhead establishment.  As it happened, 24-months had flown by since my last soirée, well before the young Buddha was born within.  Rather than try and recall experiences buried in the cobwebs someone might call “my brain,” a recent night cap inspired this infant impression.

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You don’t go to China to enjoy great pizza (though I’m sure it can be found somewhere in the Middle Kingdom).  Similarly, you don’t go to Florida for good Tex-Mex.  No, if you find yourself around 25th parallel, you best ought to stick to the fruits de mer.  So while I dug around Key West early last week, the Unabomber’s girlfriend and I decided to hit up (but not blow up) B.O.’s Fish Wagon, a seafood shack well known around those parts for its kitschy decor, come as you are attitude, and approachably delicious food.  Popular enough to get a shout out in the NY Times and a visit from Bobby Flay (via Food Nation), it was high times that Buddy Owen’s Key West institution tried to take down the Foodie Buddha.  All in all, this was an enjoyable experience, even with some shortcomings in the grub.

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