The following is a guest post by my friend Beth Robinette. She writes for Examiner.com as the Atlanta Ethnic Food Examiner, contributes a vast majority of the content to Naked with: Cooking and is an experienced world traveler. I haven’t had a chance to chime in about it too much yet, but she and I have just launched Atlanta Culinary Tours. We’ve got a lot of exciting plans and hope you’ll join us for a tour soon!

Atlanta isn’t known as a walking city. But that just proves that sometimes what is believed is often just plain wrong. There are plenty of neighborhoods that are completely “walkable.” And what’s more, many of these communities within and around the Atlanta Metro area are filled with history, local artists, interesting architecture, and wonderful restaurants and markets. That’s why my partner and I hit upon the idea of Atlanta Culinary Tours.

Our very first tour will focus on Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward areas rich in history. Inman Park was the first planned suburb in Atlanta, a garden community with curvilinear streets and an electric trolley to take homeowners to downtown Atlanta. Before that it was the site of the Civil war Battle of Atlanta. Before that, it was home to Cherokee and Creek Indians. The Old Fourth Ward, on the other hand, is known as the birthplace of the Civil Right movement and the home of home of Martin Luther King, Jr. This area is also on the new Beltline Project and the proposed Historic Fourth Ward Park. In the midst of all this history is a vibrant culinary scene as well.

This is your opportunity to experience the community while sampling from some of Atlanta’s finest restaurants and markets. It’s an easy stroll, mostly on sidewalks, about a mile and a half. The first two Saturday afternoons to schedule a tour are November 20ith and December 11. We will take only 12 on each tour, so don’t delay if you want to be part of this fun event. Eat your way across Inman Park, learn this history along with insider food finds, all for just $39!

As an Examiner reader, you get 40% off! Use discount code ACT2010 at checkout.

Here are some of the businesses featured on the tour, though we will likely pick 5-6 of them for any given week.

* Savi Market
* The Park’s Edge
* Parish
* P’Cheen
* Across the Street
* Sno-Flake

And more businesses are showing an interest. Sign up now. More neighborhoods are planned!

You want to hack me off? I mean, really just irk the crap out of me? Give me a bad taco. Dry, overcooked, stringy meat. Lifeless corn tortillas with all the moisture of a Frito, but none of the taste. Aged limes that may well have been scavenged from a barback at Hooters.

You want to make me happy? Make me dream about tacos? Take me to Don Pepe’s. Juicy meats (barbacoa, cabeza, al pastor…), fresh corn tortillas and simple salsa picante. That’s all. I eat until I’m full, and then I want to go back for more. I can’t think of a better recommendation.

Pickled jalapenos, carrots and onions

Located in the parking lot of Pine Tree plaza – in the crapshack that formerly housed Chef Liu’s – they’ve cleaned it up and removed all traces of the former tenant (other than the directions to the bathroom, which are still in Chinese…). There’s a pretty comprehensive menu of burritos, tortas, salads, pollo asado, etc., but I’ve yet to try any of it. To me, at least, the tacos are that good.

I only wish they had an alcohol permit so you could get a nice Sol or Corona with your meal…

Don Pepe’s Taqueria
5215 Buford Highway Northwest
Doraville, GA 30340

Once again, Atlanta area food bloggers are invited to get together in a casual, informal environment, grab a bite to eat and get to know each other. This isn’t limited to just food bloggers – we’ve got some devoted followers and food fanatics that hang out with us online and you’re welcome too.

This is a free, informal gathering. We’re trying out Eventbrite to see if we can have a better handle on how many people will show up. Please SIGN UP HERE if you think you’ll attend – let me know if you have to cancel (I don’t make reservations, but it will help the restaurant out if I can let them know how many people will be there).

The Where

This time up: Colombian! We’re going to La Casona. The only downside I’ve found to this place is that they close kind of early (around 8PM). The upside is the food – a great introduction to Colombian if it’s your first time. La Casona also serves beer and aguardiente!

The Fine Print

The is an open social gathering. There is very little planning, no management and no control. The meeting place is public – the environment is what it is. When I did the first dinner I posted a few rules (some people told me they were pretty harsh), but they were intended to minimize the discomfort of meeting strangers in a strange environment. They don’t all apply here, and I’ve softened them for this “eat up” but some are common sense.

1. Have an open mind and be willing to explore. If you haven’t been to La Casona before (or you aren’t familiar with Colombian food, or you don’t speak Spanish), it may be a bit confusing/overwhelming. Don’t worry – the proprietors are friendly and some of us may be able to help – a bit.
2. Big one here – pay for your own food (BRING CASH!). I’m not providing food, etc. I’m just looking to meet people with some common ground! This event is Dutch. My previous rule was: “If you show up and forget to bring cash – you work it out with the owners/cops – I don’t know you.” You know, as a group we’d probably help you out, but don’t put your new friends in that position… BRING CASH! The restaurant accepts cards, but don’t make them run a bunch of small transactions. Just bring cash and make it easy on everyone.
3. Please – no whining. If you like the place and the food (and I hope you do), great. Even better – write about it. If you hate it – enjoy the company and help me pick out a different place for the next one!

Escabeche de Pescado

From the pictures, you’d be excused for thinking this was a Peruvian festival. This just happened to be my first time trying food from Machu Picchu in more than 15 years. I didn’t like in on my first visit. What I tried at the festival blew me away.

The escabeche was by far my favorite, followed by the Peruvian tamale (surprising, given my obsession with papas a la Huancaina). Yes, there was a lot of food there, from many other countries – I was just too busy eating to take too many photos…

Papas a la Huancaina

Cuzco Maize

Peruvian Tamale

Macchu Pichu

Brazilian Sausage & Cuzco Maize

Puerto Rican Carnival Mask

Starts with an “m” – can’t remember – Los Andes Bakery

Flan – Los Andes Bakery

I’ve learned that the rule of thumb in ordering a Cuban sandwich us to ask the provenance of the bread used in the making of your sandwich. Even if you’re not entirely satisfied with the answer, this is your warning shot across the bow that they had better step up to the plate.

And so it went on my inaugural visit to Crazy Cuban. The bread is from Pan- American Bakery, according to the owner, but somewhere after this conversation something went off the rails. I ordered a Cuban sandwich. While taking the next customer’s order (who seemed to be a Cuban sandwich novice), I was asked what I thought about a Cuban with lettuce, tomato & jalapenos. “Not even close to acceptable,” was my reply.

So imagine my surprise to discover, upon opening my lunch, just this very thing… As I’d taken my sandwich to go, I really didn’t have much recourse beyond eating it. Now in its defense, it was a tasty sandwich – lots of léchon asado (roasted pork) & ham, and a strong taste of mojo criollo. But a Cuban sandwich, it was not. The bread was a little flakey, but the lettuce and tomato had rendered it soggy in the 5 minutes it took me to get from restaurant to where I was eating.

As it’s close to my office and affordable lunch options are limited, I will give them a chance to redeem themselves.

Crazy Cuban
290 14th Street
Atlanta, 30318
M-F 11AM – 3PM

[This post also appears on Naked with: Cooking]

You’ve got to love a good pun – especially one that works all the angles: “Pan American Bakery”. Get it? It’s a Colombian bakery (South American), but it’s in the U.S. (North American) – “Pan American” – get it. And they bake Cuban bread – I guess that’s just “Pan”. Oh, and “pan” is Spanish for “bread” – and it’s a bakery. Get it?

OK, enough ass-hattery for today. Tasty Cuban sandwiches (lunch only, I believe), right off Buford Highway. Go.

Pan American Bakery
3671 Clairmont Road
Chamblee, GA 30341-4907


Com Ga Thailan

In chasing ethnic food along Buford Highway (or anywhere for that matter), one thing that I have difficulty with is that restaurant owners are often afraid to break the boundaries of what they think people expect.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my tacos carnitas, phở tái, niu ro mien and char kway teow, but damn it, I’m paying you to cook, not think! I’ll do the thinking around here – you get back in the kitchen and cook like your frickin’ mother…

Cha ram nem nuong

Fortunately, I’m starting to see a few places break away from the mold and differentiate themselves, cooking the food they like to cook. Bamboo Grill & Hot Pot is a newcomer to Buford Highway, and is broadening the offerings seen on most Vietnamese menus in the area. The big standouts on the menu are lau (Vietnamese hot pot – hence the restaurant’s name), and a few claypot dishes (Cơm Tay Cầm Do Bien, Com Ga Thailan). Lau is a big, cook at your table affair – it ‘s a lot of food. The clay pot dishes are served in a pot that is reminiscent of  Chinese clay pots, but the dishes themselves remind me more of Korean dolsot bibimbap – crispy rice and the vegetables still sizzling in the bowl when it comes to the table.

Bun Thai

A few other ingredients caught my eye on the menu as well – duck being the one I’m going back for (bun mang vit – duck bamboo vermicelli soup), snail paste – the one I’ll pass on for now.

In a slightly eerie strip mall near the CDC on Buford Highway, Bamboo Grill is located in the space formerly occupied by Pho Pasteur.

Bamboo Grill & Hot Pot
4646 Buford Hwy NE
Chamblee, GA 30341

Sliding southward out of the mountains, the big V-8 was sucking in sleet and freezing rain faster that gas. Turning off onto an unmarked side road, the sleet finally gave way to snow. The Benz had all it needed – a tank of high-test and cold, dense air. We, on the other hand, were hurting. We needed something to take the edge off – fat. Preferably something super-trans-modified and searingly hot…

So why were we now sitting in the snow, moaning over McDonalds? We were at our edge. The long day behind us had left us reeling. Because after six hours of refined food and more wine than I will typically see in 4 months (I lost count after 16), we needed something to remind us how special what we had experienced was.

Rob and Brent Beecham had graciously invited local food bloggers to a Food and Wine Conclave at their Montaluce Winery, hidden away somewhere outside of Dahlonega – hidden in the sense that I couldn’t find it. Which given that I was pretty sure I was mistakenly invited, I’m thinking the hidden part was intentional…

The stumbling for words began almost as soon as we turned onto the property – as in how the hell am I, who most definitely is not a wine guy, supposed to write about this? Well – I’ll keep it simple. The property, even covered in ice and fog – is beautiful. The winery, a massive Tuscan-style building that also holds Ristorante La Vigne, is impressive, inviting and best of all – comfortable. The people – friendly, warm (and I never use that word) and just truly nice – it’s not often that you meet people that really, sincerely seem happy with what they are doing. The food and wine speak for themselves.

The menu

Chicken Liver Mousse with house made pickles and lavosh

Smoked steelhead trout, boiled peanuts, fennel, Meyer lemon, sweet tea froth

Montaluce Risata, sangiovese rose

Coppa di testa, apple mostarda, cider braise cabbage, apple

Chicken thigh terrine, chicken oyster, cipollini onions, baby carrot, celery leaf

Butternut cup custard, maple gel, oat crumble, buttermilk espuma

Executive Chef Steven Hartman

Chicken livers

Tamis

Too many cameras

Ristorante La Vigne

Wine Bar

Charcuterie leads to celebrity

Winemaker Oliver Asberger

Winery

Montaluce Winery & Estates
501 Hightower Church Road
Dahlonega, GA 30533

Niu ruo mein – Ocean Garden, Chinatown Food Court

Sliced fish in chili oil – Delicious Kabob

Torta al Pastor – El Pastor

Deli Manjoo – Buford Highway Farmers Market

Galbi & Mandoo – Cho Sun Ok

Pollo a la brasa – Pollo el Rey

Cha chiang mien – Manchunhong