Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 30, 2011
The rise of the fast-casual restaurant, including the new Westside Atlanta location of Bell Street Burritos, owes a great deal to the burrito. This Tex-Mex tradition is perhaps the burger of that fused cuisine. Like the burger, the burrito is generally a massively hulking inclusion of typical toppings. But as the trend to produce these wrapped time-bombs of gastrointestinal danger has risen, so too has the diversity of their staple composition.
The Atlanta restaurant space is now ripe with burrito shops. We’ve got the big boys like Chipotle, Willy’s, and Moe’s. Then there are single location operations like Decatur’s hot spot of love, Raging Burrito [REVIEW INTERLUDE: Speaking of Raging Burrito: Blow up the receipt at the right and then check out this post, which never got a lot of attention. Now back to our fair city and the series of burrito purveyors found within]. While these restaurants are a dime a dozen, and their food is often indistinguishable from the competition’s, Bell Street owner Matt Hinton has set out to differentiate Bell Street. With the opening of his second location, it appears he’s well on his way to that goal.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on November 23, 2011
Bell Street Burritos has officially grown from a food stall into a fully functional business. While the Sweet Auburn Curb Market location is still fully functional, you can now get your Bell Street fix of burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and nachos during normal business hours at 1663 Howell Mill Atlanta, GA 30318 in Westside.
Now that they don’t have to worry about Sweet Auburn’s limited hours, you can grab some BSB at dinner time. Though I don’t have the specific hours for the Westside location, they are serving lunch through dinner Monday thru Saturday – I’d guess 11am to 9 or 10pm. Now to hustle over there and see how it tastes! With the holidays upon us, BSB won’t be open again until Monday the 28th. Their hours moving forward are 11a-9p M-Th and 11a-10p on Fridays & Saturdays.
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on June 07, 2011
In a very Signal v Noise sense, there’s a lot of noise out there about Bad Dog Taqueria, and not a lot of signal. Several sites have put up content on the new Emory Village taqueria, but most of said material is regurgitated cursory information. I’ll do my best to give that info one more spin in the blender.
As part of the ever growing trend to open up what I call “anything but” taquerias, Bad Dog aims to serve tacos that have little to do those tacos de cabeza Mexican purists identify with. These restaurants are a playful bunch and utilize America’s multiculturalism to produce taco menus consisting of internationally inspired inspired Tex-Mex.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on May 13, 2010
In less than a year, Grindhouse Killer Burgers has firmly entrenched itself as the go to spot in the Sweet Auburn Market. On the heels of its success, the market is seeing some cool food spots open and an influx of traffic through events like Atlanta’s Urban Picnic. In a move that is signed, sealed, and delivered … owner Alex Brounstein is ready to expand his burger bar beyond the confines of Downtown Atlanta.
Grindhouse’s satellite location is set to open in the non-delineated area of Morningside/Lenox Park/Piedmont Heights. I believe the address is 1842 Piedmont Road, but I may be off by a digit or two. For those familiar with the area, the spot is next to the Gorilla Car Wash. It’s an area of town with a smörgåsbord of eateries, but this will be the first burger place in the area.
No word yet on how the operations will go, but I’m sure it will be different than it is at the counter-service necessitated by the original restaurants location. If all goes well, expect this place to be open in September.
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on April 06, 2010
Just a short time ago, The Sweet Auburn Curb Market (SACM) in Downtown Atlanta was an afterthought in the cityscape. Then, late in 2009, Grindhouse Killer Burgers got things rolling. Since then, SACM hasn’t looked back. In the midst of this buzz, The Greek Gyros and Pizza has hopped on the wagon and opened its countertop restaurant. As dumb luck would have it, they opened just a few hours before the dude who feasts and I showed up. I’d like to say that our visit was entirely impromptu, but alas, it was not! We had planned this excursion late last night. We both think it fun to see where things stand from the get go. So far, the Greek is looking pretty good.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on February 05, 2010
Yesterday, I mentioned that Food Network’s Chefs Vs City was philandering around Atlanta (in the foodie sense of the term). Turns out, their trip to Holeman + Finch was just one in a series of stops. As luck of the draw would have it, we caught CvC setting up shop in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market for a chitlins engagement. In between tasty burger bites at Grindhouse, I managed to snap the above picture.
If chitlins sound unappealing (cuz lord knows they stank something awful), it shouldn’t be a surprise feature. The premise of the show is that the two hosts (Aaron Sanchez and Chris Cosentino) hit up a city and challenge two local chefs to sample their cities most adventurous food. However, it appears that this episode will feature challengers of a different breed. Though I checked out a bit before filming began, I was told that Robert Irvine was one of the contestants. Irvine is a celebrity chef who has a habit of turning up on the FN.
Ah but the info doesn’t end there. Thanks to a heads up from @AtlantaDining, we’ve learned that CvC stopped in at The Buckhead Bread Company and the Atlanta Fish Market, two Buckhead Life restaurants. Though I haven’t been able to get secondary confirmation of that, AtlantaDining is a reliable source … definitely worth the follow.
Last but not least, some investigative blogging turned up that the Atlanta episode will air sometime this summer, during season two of the program.
Posted by Foodie Buddha
on January 01, 2010
What better way to start off the new year than with a visit to Inside The Chef’s Kitchen. Today’s chef du jour is Alex Brounstein of Grindhouse Killer Burgers. Brounstein and his team, serving up round mounds of ground since September of last year, and have already garnered a good bit of praise.
With a come as you are attitude and an über cool location (inside the Sweet Auburn Curb Market), Grindhouse has already put itself closer to the top of the burger heap than to the bottom. Meanwhile, Brounstein makes it a point to be a constant fixture in front of his wall projected movie screen.
Brounstein’s answers are in depth and full of good tidbits, so this should be an enjoyable read for y’all. I’ll second his JBA suggestion for Kenny Shopsin. If you make it up to New York City, a visit to Shopsin’s General Store should definitely be on your itinerary. Anyone who makes Mac-and-Cheese pancakes is a hero in my book. But we digress, as Brounstein is the star of the show. So kick back, relax … and with that, welcome to ITCK!
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on October 28, 2009
I’m starting to think that I should do most of my writing after the witching hour … it’s amazing what you see late at night. As I ho-hum here and poke around the net, this tweet showed up in my twitter feed. My goodness, maybe twitter isn’t completely useless. For those of you who don’t want to do a lot of click hunting … here’s what all that translates to.
Todd Mussman, the former in the tagline Muss & Turner’s, has been called into action at Grindhouse Burgers in Downtown’s Sweet Auburn Curb Market. With the help of Grindhouse’s owner Alex Brounstein, Mussman will be chopping up an entire lamb for your viewing and educational pleasure.
Full details are available here, but the short of the long comes after the jump!
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on September 16, 2009
The Ambiguously Foodie Duo has struck again, and this time our victim was Grindhouse Killer Burgers in Downtown Atlanta. In just a few short days, Grindhouse has thrown down the gauntlet, though not for their food. The freshly cooked Sweet Auburn Curb Market eatery is alive and kicking and it is readily apparent that owner Alex Brounstein and his crew have hit the ground running.
Before I wax-foodetic about the specifics, Grindhouse has done something many new restaurants, even those run by experienced restaurateurs, have failed to do: open smoothly, at least from the perspective of a patron. While I am usually inclined to give people new to the restaurant business a bit of a pass in the early stages, Brounstein’s joint requires no such grace period. Perhaps this is do to the abbreviated amount of service, the relative simplicity of the menu, or the layout of the space (how many fooderies can you name that don’t even have walls?). In a number of ways, Grindhouse has gone simple. Some may say they have played it safe, I say they have played it smart.
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Posted by Foodie Buddha
on August 31, 2009
My goodness are burger joints in Atlanta exploding! The latest entrant is Grindhouse Killer Burgers, scheduled to open September 8th 14th inside the Sweet Auburn Curb Market in Downtown Atlanta.
A few months ago, as I knocked back a nightcap at Top Flr, I stumbled upon a friendly gentleman and his quest for the most delicious burger. His name is Alex Brounstein and he’s the owner in question. A friendly chap, we had a pretty good conversation. Ever since that night, I’ve been watching the Grindhouse website like a hawk.
In the past few months, a facebook page and a twitter account have sprung up, the website has turned snazzy, and the menu (pdf) plays the role of teaser.
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The Atlanta restaurant space is now ripe with burrito shops. We’ve got the big boys like Chipotle, Willy’s, and Moe’s. Then there are single location operations like Decatur’s hot spot of love, Raging Burrito [REVIEW INTERLUDE: Speaking of Raging Burrito: Blow up the receipt at the right and then check out this post, which never got a lot of attention. Now back to our fair city and the series of burrito purveyors found within]. While these restaurants are a dime a dozen, and their food is often indistinguishable from the competition’s, Bell Street owner Matt Hinton has set out to differentiate Bell Street. With the opening of his second location, it appears he’s well on his way to that goal.
