FoodieBuddha.com

“Luck is the residue of opportunity and design. – Branch Rickey”

If it isn’t already, No. 246 (say it like it’s an area code) seems poised to be the next “it restaurant” in Atlanta and Decatur.  While co-owner and executive chef Drew Belline mans the kitchen and his partner Ford Fry does the business stuff, Atlantans are filling this loudspeaker enclosure of an Italian restaurant like it’s nobody’s business.  Quite the shock if you ask me.  After all, I’ve waited well over two-months to recap my early day visits and we all know Atlanta hangs on my every word.

Just past two full trips, I will go so far as to say that of all the sub-six-month-old restaurants in and around the city, perhaps No. 246 is the one we should be most invested in.  As of today (August 26th, 2011), No. 246 is another small step forward for Atlanta and its love child city of Decatur.  This is not to say that 246 is without its problems (god knows there are some glaring ones); but, the list of places that do not suck has grown just a smidge longer.

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Time to get all “journalistic” on you peeps.

Step 1
On Friday, Spark Plug let it be known that David Sweeney, Atlanta’s leading vegetablemonger, was on his way to Cakes & Ale.  As she noted:

Dynamic Dish chef David Sweeney is slated to head the new bakery at Cakes & Ale for its daily lunch service that will start in a couple of weeks. This is perhaps the best restaurant news we’ve had in a long time. So excited!!!

Sweeney, who rose to fame on the heels of Dynamic Dish restaurant, was most recently at Restaurant Eugene.  Subsequently, I hit up the folks over at Eugene to see if there was anything else to be known.  They told me that Sweeney’s last week with the H+F family just concluded.  No word yet on the exact date of Sweeney’s arrival at C&A.

Oh, btw … Chloe also told y’all to get up to Bo Bo Garden post haste as their chef is getting ready to open a new restaurant on P’Hill in Gwinnett.

Step  2
In other H+F news, there have been some changes at H+F Bottle Shop.  Ashley Hall, Atlanta’s redheaded and bright-eyed wine maven who was the Bottle Shop’s opening wine specialist, has moved on.  According to the HF people, Hall “left about a month ago to work on a business of her own.”  To bide her time, Hall is rummaging through her old stomping grounds with the Quality Wine & Spirits folks.  She goes live there on the 1st of Sep.

Ian Mendelsohn has replaced Hall and while admittedly far less appealing to gentleman like me, he comes with a respectable amount of experience in his own right.  For the past few months he has been with Avant Partir and prior to that, he served as wine specialist for the Concentrics group and the wine director for the St. Regis Hotel.

Before I skipped town a little over a week ago, I made mention of some rumors.  I was hoping to get them posted while I traveled; however, a burned out MoBo and the realization that vacation was for … well … vacationing, left y’all with a stagnate page to stare at.  Anywho, while I operate on a bandaged up computer system, here’s what’s happened with those rumors about Decatur’s two most notable higher-end dining establishments …

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A few points of clarification:

1. I have no idea which Raging Burrito this came from, so don’t immediately think it came from the one in Decatur … unless you consider the fact that the only one around is in Decatur.
2. To the best of my knowledge, the cockroach burrito isn’t actually on the menu.

My advice to restaurants … maybe it’s best to just comp the meal and not line item the exact reason why you complimented said customer.

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Big Tex Cantina, a Tex-Mex joint from Fox Brothers Barbecue et al, is officially opun fo’ bid’ness.  Located just off the beaten path in downtown Decatur, you’ll find Big Tex’s in the vacant space that once housed Nathalie’s Fish House.

Opened nearly a year to the day after the dearly departed said adios, Big Tex is a straight up So-Tex watering hole that nudges the harshed upon stepchild of Mexican cuisine.  Regardless of the ultimate success or failure of such an endeavor, you can’t say Big Tex, for better or worse, is not trying to do something a little different with the portmantologism of Texan Mexican grub.

A typical plate of Tex-Mex is like a fortress of food.  In such a case, a plate covered by a castle of tortillas, cheese, meat (and sometimes gravy), and buttressed with some rice and frijoles refritos, will taunt you.  “Eat me … break down my caloric induced walls and best me … I dare you.”  That’s not what you get at Big Tex.

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In case you didn’t hear, The Great Food Truck Race was in Atlanta this past weekend for its penultimate stop.  As season two of The Food Network’s street food reality series winds down, Atlanta was treated to a visit and Roaming Hunger was there to get all the dirty dirty.

TGFTR is a reality competition show that pits food trucks from all over the country against one and other.  The basic format goes something like this: trucks visit city, host Tyler Florence greets them, money is dispensed for product, trucks are left to their own devices to bring in the cash.

Each truck, staffed by a chef and two helpers, has to buy their product locally, and the winner is the truck that ends up with the most cash in hand.  During each episode there is always a special twist which often results in immunity or extra cash for the winner of the “food stop.” However, sometimes it’s just an attempt to screw with each teams inner chi.

While I’m not sure if we should call this a review or a preview (as the show doesn’t air until August 14th), we’ve got plenty of details for interested parties.  Yes, with the help of my crack team of gorilla photographers and some grubbing on the part of yours truly, we’ve got plenty of pictures, food reviews, and show spoilers for all of y’all.  We’ll cover the food and reveal the final two contestants in our follow up post, so be sure to check that out.

LAST TIME: If y’all don’t want to know what’s going to happen on this season of The Great Food Truck Race, STOP READING!  If you just want to know who won and what the food was like, check out our Great Food Truck food review!

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Alright … done with the awws and “how cute is she” declarative questions? Good! Now let’s get it on!

You see, this isn’t so much a review as it is a not so subtle smack over the breakfast burrito reminding you that Gato Bizco Café in Candler Park is where it’s at.  Having survived my nubile attempts at restaurant chatter, Gato Bizco remains one of my go-to breakfast spots in Atlanta.  Folks – have I told you before that getting me to rise before 10am is an exercise in futility?  Only the most seductive temptresses can coax me from my slumber.  Well, that and the promise of a breakfast like the one at hand.  Back in the stream of conscious: Gato Bizco lays a serious beat down to that disaster across the street (which has spread like a fungus).

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While executive chef Eddie Hernandez may not be a household name, his restaurant chain sure is.  Ask someone to get tacos in this town, and there is a good chance that they’ll suggest one of the three Taqueria Del Sol locations as their destination du jour.  Started a few years back with a single location over on the Westside, the restaurant now stretches across Atlanta’s waistline like Orion’s Belt.  With locations on Cheshire Bridge and in Decatur, this taco bar empire has even showed up in Athens.

At the epicenter of this tortilla fest is founding chef Eddie Hernandez.  Along with Mike Klank, the duo opened the Westside location way back in 2000 [Holy Crap! That’s 10 years ago].  You may have caught wind of that; this past month TDS celebrated their anniversary with a handful of events.  They also made an appearance at the Souper Jenny Food Truck Extravaganza.  If anyone is capable of handling all the running around, it’s Hernandez.  The politically inclined gent once served as the mayor of Rosebud, TX.  How’s that for a career change?

In any event, Hernandez has turned in his pen and paper and taken up a knife and tortilla maker.  Thankfully, he found some time to join us for a little Q&A on this week’s edition of Inside The Chef’s Kitchen.  Taqueria Del Sol is as popular as ever, and Hernandez is the reason.  So get your Mint Julep (it’s Derby Day after all), kick back … and welcome to ITCK!

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As mentioned yesterday, in a frenzy of magnanimous delight, burger fiends have descended on Farm Burger in Decatur with fervor and excitement.  Like cows set out to pasture at Augusta National, people just can’t seem to get over this organically inclined burger joint.  Case in point: by noon on day one, tables were filled and the ordering line was 15 deep for the better part of the lunching hour.  Despite this welcomed intrusion, Farm Burger dusted off a few opening day jitters and managed to set the stage for potential success as one of Atlanta’s better options when your waste line isn’t given a second thought.

Though hitting restaurants early and often is just part of my MO, I too must admit an adrenaline rush during the drive over.  Thankfully stationed just a few miles away, had I been forced to commute any farther, there’s a good chance I’d have gone telephone pole all up on Ponce.  Yeah, I was kind of giddy.

Upon arrival, this excitement quickly turned to a case of “The burger loves me, the burger loves me not.”  For lack of a better term, parking at Farm Burger was a bitch, and it will probably stay that way.  You see, Farm Burger shares the same lot with Watershed and some dry cleaner whose name I’ve never taken the time to notice.  Excited that the place was a buzz, but pissed that people didn’t have the decency to save me a spot, I shoved my car in illegally and strolled on in (don’t worry – I didn’t block anyone).  I was dead on shocked by the size of the crowd; fortunately, the thought of running past my 45-minute time limit for lunch quickly dissipated … you just can’t help but feel good when a newborn baby grows up in a matter of moments.

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Yes, today is a foodie day.  You see, it’s the first full day of service for Farm Burger, Decatur’s next trending restaurant.  As you may infer from the wisely chosen name, Farm Burger is a burger joint that features grassfed beef from locally sourced providers.  The restaurant has been in the works for some time and is the brainchild of partners Jason Mann and George Frangos.  It’s located at 410 W. Ponce De Leon, the former home of Viola.

Frangos’ name might be familiar to those of you who follow the Jaw-ga food scene.  He is one of the partners at Farm 255 in Athens and serves as the director for both Full Moon Farms (website) and Moonshine Meats.  As logic follows, many of the menu items come from those two establishments.

There’s a whole slew of things to talk about, and seeing as I just skedaddled over for lunch (witness the messy hands), I’ll be sure to put something up just as soon as I can find the time.  By the way, did anyone spot me and win the prize?

Farm Burger Restaurant Address & Information

410b W. Ponce de Leon, Decatur, GA 30030 // 404.378.5077 // Farm Burger website // Farm Burger menu // FB twitter // FB facebook