Bistec a Caballo – La Casona

La Casona is one of my fallbacks – solid comfort food and a friendly staff make it an easy choice when a day has been too long. Their Bistec a Caballo is quickly climbing my list of great dishes along Buford Highway (no, it’s not horse meat…). Carne asada topped with tomato sauce and fried eggs are perfect for the pseudo-winter we’ve been having around here.

Platanos maduros – Las Casona

“Mini” Bandeja Paisa – La Casona

Yeah, that’s the “mini” version of the classic Colombian Bandeja Paisa – a multi-thousand calorie (a full badeja paisa averages around 3000 calories) gut-bomb suitable for hangovers or bad days in general. Carne asada, chorizo, chicharrone, arepa, platanos, avocado, frijoles, arroz…

Pollo Asado & Frijoles Charros – Home

Home. Like, at my house. Like, yes, I do eat this way every day.

Pico de gallo w/heirloom tomatoes – Home

A quick salsa fresca seems to go with anything coming off the grill (see Pollo Asado above).

Rescoldo – Home

I love grilled meat so much that we’ve been toying with the idea of a trip to Argentina to truly experience cooking a la parrilla. I’ve cooked rescoldo (burying food in embers) in the past, even though I didn’t know it had a name. That pile of coals is hiding an eggplant, onions and sweet potatoes.

Cơm đặc biệt – Pho 24

Another go-to place, made especially handy by being one of the few 24 hour restaurants on Buford Highway (I have a reputation of getting kicked out of restaurants along Buford Highway at closing…). Cơm đặc biệt (đặc biệt = special) is a sturdy offering – Vietnam’s answer to the Bandeja Paisa of Colombia.  At a minimum it includes thịt nướng xả (grilled pork chops with lemongrass), cơm tấm (broken rice), chao tom (shrimp on sugar cane), bi (shredded pork skin w/toasted rice powder), bi cha (steamed pork cake),  do chua (pickled daikon & carrots), fried eggs and I’m sure a few other things. Pho 24 does a respectable Ga Xao Xa Ot (chicken with lemongrass and chilies) as well.

Lahmajoun – Mediterranean Bakery

I won’t even try to place a nationality on lahmajoun, as pretty much anywhere in the Middle East will claim it, but I know it as a Turkish thing. Minced meat, onions, peppers and other good stuff on a thin crust. A squeeze of lemon gives it just the right about of sourness.

Fatoush – Mediterranean Bakery

A simple salad with fried pita bread, but fair warning, Mediterranean Bakery occasionally goes a bit too far with the sumac and this salad can become way too sour.

Pulled Pork – Home

I’ve been smoking quite a bit of meat over the past couple of months – trying to revive a family tradition. Boston Butt, spare ribs, chicken, bacon.

Pulled Pork Sandwich – Community Q 

Spare Ribs – This Is It!

Ponkan

What the hell is a ponkan? I asked the same thing, and I’m from Florida – where this specimen likely originated (obviously picked too early). Ponkans are a variety of Mandarin oranges – more closely related to the tangerine. Beautiful fruit – keep your eyes open for it.

So where to begin? It’s been a busy Spring (that’s me under the CAFE sign there) and I’ve had a hard time keeping up with the bloggin’. So here’s the quick rundown, complete with oversights and omissions and quite a few crappy phone pics….

Thiên Thanh

Clowns make me sad (and freak me out quite a bit). Now, unfortunately, Thiên Thanh (where the above clown now resides) makes me sad as well. I wrote about Thiên Thanh a while back and was excited about the promise this placed showed. No more. A. & I stopped in a few weeks ago for a quick lunch and were shocked to find that the Vietnamese menu (and my beloved bún mọc) had been replaced with “Cajun” seafood in an obvious attempt to follow in the footsteps of Crawfish Shack. Disappointed, we left and found solace elsewhere (Bo Bo Garden, across the parking lot). Feeling a little guilty, I returned for dinner recently with my buddy @TowerATL in tow. I feel bad saying it, but the best part of the meal was strategically choosing a table so that the Creepy Clown was looming over @TowerATL the entire time. The food wasn’t bad, it was just “sad” – mealy, damp crusts and off-flavors. I want my  bún mọc back…

Cafe Sinaloense

Tasty, competent pollo asado are what Sinaloense is all about. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if their location (in the old El Mustacho space next to Cafe Mozart) is a great one. The spot has been empty (or a scary biker bar) for so long that I’m not sure that it will capture attention…

El Rincon Latino

Tasty mojarra frita for dinner one night. Definitely going back for this – in my mind it’s every bit as good as the whole fried catfish Tom Catherall sprung on us years ago at Azalea, and that’s still making the rounds (Kaleidoscope in Brookhaven has it on their menu).

Loroco

Not really a revelation, but I was happy to stumble across a 2 lb. jar of loroco at Carniceria 3 Hermanos on Roswell road. El Rincon Latino (above) makes pupusas stuffed with cheese and loroco. Tasty.

Atlanta Food & Wine Festival

I was privileged to lead a tour of Buford Highway for the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. As such, they let me run amok through the festival. I only took a few pics as I was too busy eating. Can’t wait for next year!

The Rathbun brothers cooking steaks (would have been quicker to throw them on the pavement – was about 900 million degrees out there…).

Kevin Ouzts of Spotted Trotter gave a fantastic presentation on charcuterie as well as a great sampling of his work.

Cooking

Yes, I’ve been cooking quite a bit recently. Still working on refining my pollo a la brasa recipe. Getting it right is a royal PITA.

And here’s the fishy ribs (brined in fish sauce & palm sugar). I really like this. A. can’t stand it…

Bibim Bowl

A. & I hit up Bibim Bowl for a quick dinner one evening. Not bad for fast food Korean.

The fried mandoo were tasty. Definitely worth a visit.

North Georgia Wine Country

Did a research trip up to North Georgia Wine Country for Atlanta Culinary Tours along with @FoodGodtess & @Suburbanwino. Beautiful, early Spring weather, too much wine and a stop for lunch at La Vigne (Montaluce Vineyards).

Cauliflower Soup

Smoked Trout

Barbecue Chicken Sandwich

Dessert – I’ve forgotten what it was, but I loved it…

Moon Pie with RC Cola Shooter

Another dessert I can’t remember…

Beer

I’ve also taken to drinking a lot of heavy, pricy beers lately…

So you want to know how lazy I’ve become? I visited Heirloom Market BBQ for the first time a couple of weeks ago and took my time writing about it. Then one Tuesday morning I decided that I’ve become too lazy and I set about working on this post.

Not 10 minutes later, Gene over at the AJC posted on their Korean barbecue pork sandwich and I decided “eh”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not Gene’s fault – it’s just when your enveloped in a shroud of ennui, it can get the better of you.

That being said, I can now get over myself. So – HX and I ventured out one evening and with only one misstep found our way to Heirloom Market. I won’t get into their backstory. Their website paints the picture. We decided to share the unfortunately monikered Texas Trinity – brisket, ribs and sausage (…you ain’t got no horns…). I’m not much of a brisket fan, but I’ll admit – this stuff could convert me. I’m not sure how they go about cooking it, but it seemed to me a combination of a braise and smoke. Don’t know, but it was moist and tender – very different than what I’ve had before.

Ribs were tasty, if a little dry – but I’m not blasting them on this. I’ve mentioned many a time before how hard it is to hold ribs at serving temp without them dying out. I’ll have a better idea after another visit (yes, I’m going back).

Sausage… HX wanted to try the Texas smoked sausage, and all I can say is that it struck me as an overcooked, oversized, too-smokey hot dog. Pick a different one…

This place is tiny – one communal table in the middle and some narrow ledges along the windows. It’s also a bit hard to find (look for the Akers Mill Food Store sign) - but do look for it. A fine addition to the local barbecue scene (don’t doubt me…).

Heirloom Market BBQ
2243 Akers Mill Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30339

I’ve been itching for a reason to get the smoker going for the first time this year when it hit me that I’d never smoked any beef – only pork and chicken. So chunk o’meat in hand, the plan was laid.

As much as I love pork, I’ll be honest. I really love beef. I mean REALLY. For years now, one of my favorite things to cook (and indeed the most requested thing on holidays), is a dry-aged standing rib roast. For those of you not so addicted to all things cow, this is essentially “prime rib”. Prime rib is a standing rib roast of “USDA Prime” grade. I can’t afford “Prime”, so I buy “Choice”. “Choice rib” sounds stupid, so this a standing rib roast.

So, to the plan. If you’ve read anything else on this blog, you already know that I prefer things that are simple, as long as it’s good. Normally, I’d dry-age a roast before cooking (simple), but I didn’t have the time for this one. (For the record, I use Alton Brown’s dry-aging method – is there another one?).

Prep, was simple – I left the roast on the counter for a couple of hours before cooking (internal temp came up to about 45º – if your meat is too cold, you can end up with a roast that’s raw inside and overdone on the outside), and an even coating of kosher salt and cracked black pepper was applied.

About 45 minutes before cooking, I got the smoker ready (I use a large, offset Brinkmann, but any smoker that you can control will do). I won’t get into the mechanics of smoking – that’s another article, but I do use only lump charcoal and natural wood in a basket and start the fire using the Minion method (a good Google subject if you’re really bored).

A temperature probe goes into the thickest part of meat, and another probe is set at level of cooking grate.

I was shooting for medium rare – somewhere between 130º-137º. Since I intended to finish in the oven (remember, smoking is done between ~ 220º – 250º – you won’t get much of a crust), I removed the roast from the smoker at 118º.

So simple, and absolutely amazing. So good that I did an 11-pounder the next weekend for a friend…

After a recent hike up Stone Mountain, HX and I stopped for a quick lunch at Community Q in Decatur. Somewhere (maybe on Google Maps) I seem to have read that the folks at Community Q were on a mission of some sorts (I don’t really recall – locally sourced, sustainable, something like that?), but I really haven’t hunted that info down.

If that is the case, more power to them, I was there to eat and don’t really have a problem with eating just about anything…

We shared a combo plate with pulled pork and brisket. The pork – good flavor, lots of bark. Brisket – some was a bit dry, the rest had a good balance of fat & moisture. Nice, soft texture. Won’t hold it against them – the dilemma that most BBQ restaurants face – how to hold meat at temp without it becoming dry. Maybe it’s because I’m a Florida boy, maybe because my grandfather had a hog farm at one point, maybe because his joint only served pork – but no matter how much I’d like to, I just don’t get brisket. Don’t get me wrong, I love beef and this is no negative to Community Q, but brisket always disappoints me…

Macaroni & Cheese made with rigatoni – good tasty, sticky and substantial.

Baked beans – different that I’ve had before. Tons of onion (minced?) added sweetness and characteristic flavor. A little too sweet to eat much, but I’d order again.

Community Q
1361 Clairmont Road
Decatur, GA 30033

Hey, if I can eat sitting on a moped next to a bombed out gas station in Mexico, I can eat in the parking lot of a liquor store on Marietta Street. Dude in a trailer, with a flattop. It’s not really barbecue, but it’s not bad. ‘Nuff said.

Combo City – buy your beer next door

Dude – I named him that – he really didn’t have much to say….

Combo City
Somewhere in the 900 block of West Marietta Street
(Next to the liquor store)

I’ve blathered on about being from a barbecue family before, and I’ve been asked when I was going to get around to writing some barbecue posts. Well, finally I have my smoker back at out of storage, and today was my first cook in over two years.

Since I’m a bit rusty, I decided to keep it simple (in case things went horribly awry – don’t want to waste too much meat) - 1 rack of pork spareribs and 1 chicken. (A moderate amount of pre-smoke anxiety made me forget to take prep photos – I’ll add some after my next cook).

Nothing special about the ribs – standard 2 1/2 down – about a 4.5lb rack, trimmed, membrane removed.

I’ll go into more detail about rib prep in subsequent posts, but I agree with most that removing the membrane (the pleura) is critical. There’s a lot of debate on whether or not it affects seasoning, etc., but it ultimately comes down to the fact that it contributes nothing to the eating, and it’s so simple to remove that it there’s no reason not to…

The ribs were trimmed and given a dry rub the day before. Growing up, we never used rubs, but I’ve been experimenting with them on and off. I’ve been using a basic rub that is pretty easy to tweak, primarily brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, onion and garlic powder, white and black pepper, salt and cayenne. I’ll post the recipe soon – I don’t mind sharing that. The family sauce is off limits though… The chicken was simply rubbed, inside and out, with salt and black pepper.

Fuel choice is pretty important as well. I’ve done full cooks on wood only, but temperature control becomes extremely difficult in a (relatively) small smoker. Natural lump charcoal is the key (no briquettes) with the occasional addition of unburned wood for flavor (I used mesquite for this batch).

End result is that after a 7 hour cook (5 hours for the ribs – I put the chicken on late) – perfect. Best ribs I’ve had since I took a break 2 years ago, if I do say so myself. Oh, and the chicken was pretty amazing too.

Geek stuff follows:

Remember, barbecuing is not grilling. Barbecuing is slow cooking with relatively low temperatures, in the 225 – 250 degree range. As you can see from my cook log (yes, there does seem to be something a bit wrong with me – but that’s not the point) the key is to maintain that range. Dips in the temperature graph are from loading product into or removing product from the cooking chamber or just screwing around with the door open too long (if you’re lookin’, you’re not cookin’). Spikes are associated with loading fuel into the firebox.