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Consider this post a big middle finger directed at an unidentified party.  According to RestaurantsATL, the super awesome mega-sized King of Pops mural is apparently gone, up and vanished like a fart in the wind.  The mural was located in the parking lot of Buddy’s Gas Station, which has long served as home base for The King.  Smack dab in the middle of Poncey-Highland, this mural served as a call to arms … it said: “Stop, look at me … there is deliciousness to be had.”

It was fun, it was colorful, and it made me happy and it made the people happy!  According to RestaurantsATL, this is the work of our fabulous city government.  They are of course, enforcing some very serious, totally legitimate city ordinance. Interlude:

Gas Station Employee: I’m starting to picking up your sarcasm.
Richard Hayden: Well, I should hope so, because I’m laying it on pretty thick.

Mayor Kasim Reed (@KasimReed) happens to be a pretty big supporter of street food … so I hope this catches his attention and something is done to restore order in the universe.  If something doesn’t happen in the near future – don’t be surprised if an online petition shows up on this blog!

On a more positive note, I recently noticed that KoP is now at Sheik Burritos … you can get all your KOP news via their twitter feed and their website.

UPDATE: Steven Carse (the King himself) will be on TV tonight – you should be able to catch him on Channel 36 during the 10 o’clock showing and 11Alive sometime between 11pm and Midnight.

[image with permission from RestaurantsATL]

When Hector Santiago’s crew at Super Pan really puts their mind to it, the mediodia, a rift on the classic medianoche, is perhaps the single best sandwich Atlanta has to offer.  There is both good and not so good in this tiny sandwich shop located in Atlanta’s Poncey-Highland neighborhood; but when we fixate solely on that torpedo of goodness, we find that when it’s right … it’s freakin’ fantastic.

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Most people who visit HD1, Atlanta’s newest hot dog concept, will not have any misgivings as to the type of things they will see, touch, and taste while inside.  Few, if any, will expect a classic American meal as by now, proprietor Barry Mills and celeb chef Richard Blais are well known for their culinary riffs.  This expectation of contemporary interpretations is further attributed to the Blais celebrity.  He is, in and of himself, a draw.  And thus people have a common understanding for any project to which his name is attached.  That is, quite simply, to expect something well left of center.

This type of thinking extends to that the quasi-monolithic entrance.  Though beautiful, it is somewhat out of place amongst its more mundane surroundings.  That’s not a criticism, just an explanation as to why you’ll have a hard time missing HD1 as you drive down N. Highland in the Poncey-Highland ‘hood.  Beyond the visual introduction, what follows inside is a pacifistic assault on the senses.

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I’m Left Coasting it for a little bit longer and time doesn’t stop for those of us kicking back.  Meanwhile in Atlanta, HD1, the hot dog experiment with a heavy hand from Richard Blais, opened late last week in Poncey-Highland.  So while you all wait patiently for my return and initial visit, I thought I’d point you to a few posts on the fresh off the grill hot dog joint.

Savory Exposure did a magnificent job of providing us with some food porn … so much so that I, with his permission, lifted that great shot of his of the hot dog lineup.  The Food Abides put out his thoughts about his opening night visit.  And thanks to catlike curiosity, so too did the AJC’s Jon Watson.

Gummy Bears!  You know them, you love them, and you still eat them.  Their TV show rocked mad musical beats, and all you want to do is pop them like the pills.  But why eat them straight out ‘the package when you can dunk them in a vat of frozen deliciousness?

Yes, at Orleagian Snowballs (or-lee-gin) at the corner of Moreland and Ponce De Leon, you too can grab one of these snowball treasure chests.  Unlike this son of a bitch, marinating gummy bears in fruit flavored syrup is anything but wrong.  It’s Orleagian’s call to arms and makes eating an already delicious snowball just that much better.

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If my foodie gauge is correct, Super Pan, a Latin sandwich shop from Hector Santiago, is about to be the latest restaurant to permeate Atlanta’s food chatter.  How long this Pura Vida spin-off manages to last in that conversation will depend entirely on their ability to deliver good, consistent food.  Of course, Santiago’s notability due to his time on Top Chef will help with the buzz.

As you might remember from Monday’s post, I first visited the subterranean sandwich purveyor last week during their first few days of business.  However, I grubbed sans camera, so a return trip was necessary before I dropped this post on y’all.  Three sandwiches in, I’d say there is some real potential.

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Eli Kirshtein, one of Atlanta’s handful of Top Chef alums, appears to be on the verge of making a big splash.  Word around the campfire (translation: not finalized) is that Kirshtein is set to take over the old Repast space at 620 Glen Iris Drive, which sits on the edges of Poncey-Highlands and Old 4th Ward.

You might remember when Besha Rodell broke the news about Repast’s demise, which came just a few weeks after co-owner Joe Truex left to helm the kitchen at Decatur’s Watershed restaurant.  In the month since, a number of rumors have surfaced as to the future for the Repast location.  This one seems to have some real legs … though again … it’s not finalized.

When last we heard from Kirsthein, he was on his way to New York City to serve as a stagiaire at Solo Restaurant.  After spending the early part of this year working at the kosher restaurant, Kirshtein hopped around a bit … I believe he spent some time in Israel.  The mystery continued when ENO (Eli’s restaurant of choice during his Top Chef time) closed.  It left many of us wondering what was in store for the young knife slinger.

If this is indeed the case, it will be interesting to see how the concept develops.  This will be the first venture for Kirsthein, a padawan of celebrity chef Richard Blais.  More on this as it develops.

PICTURE CREDIT: Kirshtein (right) appears at a cooking demo with Blais. [courtesy SavoryExposure.com]

On the last season of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Atlanta made some real headway.  We were fortunate enough to have three local chefs make it on to the hit reality TV show.  Since then, the city hasn’t stopped buzzing.  Many moons ago, Kevin Gillespie, pork tats and all, was kind enough to make an appearance on our weekly series, Inside The Chef’s Kitchen.  Now, thanks to Hector Santiago of Pura Vida, we welcome the second of those three chefs.

Stupidly exiled from Top Chef after a French themed challenge (in which the one French chef on the show represented suck-tastic), Hector is back in our city and doing his thing.  Puerto Rican through and through, you can find him slinging pans most any night at his tapas restaurant in Virginia Highlands.  Appropriately located just off Ponce De Leon Ave (Ponce de León himself played an important role in Puerto Rico’s history … he brought them rum amongst other things), Pura Vida is one of the long standing Latin restaurants in the city.

What better way to end this beautiful week with a mojito and some light reading.  And with that, welcome to ITCK!

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(photo Courtesy of Steven Eubanks)

Got a very cool email yesterday.  Unfortunately, my throbbing head prevented me from putting together a coherent sentence, much less a full post.  Anyway, here’s the deal.  Playboy.com has a habit of putting together top lists, and Atlanta has a habit of showing up on them (Clermont Lounge anyone?).

This time around, they put together a Top 10 Diners List, and guess who made it? (The title didn’t give it away did it?).  That’s right … the Majestic Diner, a 24-hour drunken food haven on Ponce.  No word on whether or not P’boy took into account the new digs … which took the place from comfortably trashy to surprisingly clean.

Anywho, here is what America’s favorite … cough… Men’s Lifestyle Magazine had to say:

This Atlanta institution has been serving “food that pleases” under its Art Deco-style marquee’s blazing neon glow since 1929. The Majestic serves everything from cholesterol-threatening omelets and fist-thick burgers to blue plate specials and gyros. Red stools complement a red counter, while squeaky vinyl seats are well worn, providing cushy support for a multitude of derrières. The Majestic is located along a stretch of “Hot ‘Lanta” that’s resisted urban renewal, so the freaks do come out at night: college students, clubbers and other locals.

Be back with some more posts tomorrow, including the next installment of Inside The Chef’s Kitchen.

Majestic Diner Restaurant Address & Information

1031 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta, Georgia 30306 // 404.875.0273

This is one of those post-meal scribbles that makes me scratch my head.  Mind you, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand.  Instead, I’m wondering how it is possible that all these restaurants keep opening when heavyweights like The Dining Room and corporate backed endeavors like the ESPN Zone are shutting their doors faster than you can say “cheeseburger, cheeseburger.”

Who knows what this means for Fuze Burger, which opened its doors this past week.  All that aside, for me it’s about the food.  Early in, I’m not sure that the food at Fuze is good enough to draw customers from outside the Midtown adjunct of Poncey-Highlands.  Right now, they need to pick things up a bit just to draw people from the ‘hood.  Before we get our hands dirty, I must apologize for the poor pictures, I’m not very savory, and I was never spoon-fed.

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