Monday, September 28, 2009

A Cool (and Rainy) Time in Hot-lanta

Last Thursday I ventured away from the comforts of home for a weekend getaway to Atlanta. My fabulous friend, the Ab-meister, had two tickets to a concert and she let me buy one of them from her as one of my favorite artists was the first opening act. Yes, I paid full price for a concert ticket to see the guy who played 30 minutes of a 3 1/2 hour show. Matt Nathanson. Check him out. He's good.

In an effort to not bore you with all the stores I went to, I will give you the breakdown of the fabulousness that is the food I ate while I was there. Because really, shopping is shopping but eating is required for living.

Friday lunch - Ikea. Don't laugh. If you have not eaten at Ikea you don't understand. Their Swedish meatballs, mac-n-cheese, and lingonberry sauce are amazing. Seriously. Ask anyone who has ever been there and they will confirm. In fact, my friend Anna who lives in Atlanta and loves food as much as I do, said the same thing when I told her I had hit up Ikea first on my way into town. One of these days I will make it there for breakfast.

Friday supper - Twist - A tapas style restaurant located inside Phipps mall was quite the little find. They serve bread with housemade hummus rather than butter. I had the Shrimp Dumplings with Thai Curry and a dynamite tuna sushi roll. We also did the dessert trio and had banana white chocolate cream pie, blueberry upside down cake, and a strawberry rhubarb cobbler. All very good.

Saturday breakfast - J. Christophers - Two words: Blueberry Crunchcakes. I am going to attempt these when I make breakfast one weekend. I loved the crunch the granola added to the savoriness of the blueberry pancakes. I'm even thinking of making Bakerella's pancake muffins and sprinkling granola on the top. YUM. Charleston Cafe, you know I love your pancakes. You need to try this. Love, Random Carrie.

Saturday lunch/supper - Pappadeaux - Now, normally Pappadeaux would not be my first choice for dining in Atlanta, but you have to understand 2 things: 1) it was raining like it "was it's job" (<-- Abby's new favorite quote) and 2) we had to get home to shower and change clothes so we could make it to the concert so I could see the first opening act. So we stopped here. I am actually a fan of Pappadeux because I do love me some Cajun food. So this works for me. I had the Pasta Mardi Gras which had a wonderful light tomato cream sauce (barely covered the noodles) and was served with grilled shrimp, crawfish, and andouille sausage. You really can't go wrong with that. I also had a cup of the crawfish bisque in an effort to warm my body because it was 64 degrees, raining, and the restaurant was trying to freeze the water in our glasses to save money on ice.

Sunday lunch - Chipotle - Seriously. I love you Chipotle. Why do you not want to move to Charleston? Please move to Charleston and put Q'Doba out of business. You know we all love you more than Q'Doba. Your rice is amazing, your burritos are perfect, and your chips have the little hint of lime which I love so much. In fact, if you had queso dip you'd be dern near perfect. But alas, you are not near me so I must savor you when I am traveling.

P.S. Salsarita's...I still love you. If you moved to Charleston I would love you equally as much as I would love Chipotle if he moved to Charleston. You have queso and your quesadillas are great.

I know Atlanta has many more fine restaurants to indulge in, but these are the ones I encountered while I was there for this trip. And yes, for anyone counting, this would be the first time in the history of my adult life that I remember being near a Cheesecake Factory and not indulging in the wonderfulness that is their desserts. I will be back in the Spring, at which time I will try some new places and maybe revisit some others.

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