Daily highlight #50: Still no bagel - Bakery: Simcha

I saw an ad for "the first kosher bakery" in Atlanta and thought immediately of bagels. I haven't had any since my last one at Ess-a-bagel during my May visit to New York. I was craving some pretty badly.

A quick drive later, I found Simcha tucked behind Bagel Palace, the only decent place I currently know of where an acceptable bagel may be found. Walking inside Simcha, I was disappointed to find only a small rack next to the wall with two baskets for bagels while the display cases were populated with homemade donuts and rugelaches. Not wanting to give up, I bought one anyway.

The outer skin actually looked promising, all glossy and smooth from its bath in boiling water. Once torn apart, there was no hiding the fact that the innards looked more like bread than chewy bagel.

Good thinking on my part was to also buy a cinnamon regelach, just in case the bagel didn't work out. While not the best I've ever had, it fared pretty well with a buttery and moist dough and very cinnamony filling that spilled out to harden into slight crispy cinnamon sugar bits around the edges.

Simcha is not the bagel heaven I had hoped for, but being kosher, it is friendly to those not tolerant of dairy in their baked goods.

Simcha
2899-A North Druid Hills
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-781-2253

Daily highlight #49: Slide up one notch - market: Cabbagetown Market

Artistry's less than spectacular sliders in post #47 reminded me of these wonderful Italian meatball sliders at Cabbagetown market. Lisa made everything from scratch and toasted the appropriately sized little brioche buns to just golden. It takes a bit of time to put everything together, but nothing soothes quite like watching her work from the old fashions stools at the counter.

Cabbagetown Market
198 Carroll Street
Atlanta, GA 30312
404-221-9186

Daily highlight #48: Overkill - Restaurant: Artistry

Some restaurant people believe that certain spaces are cursed and no matter what goes in there, it inevitably fails. I don't know enough about Artistry's space, which used to house Sweet Lowdown, to declare it as that. But sitting through a hour and half long lunch in a completely empty dining room does give one a weird vibe, especially when the restaurant sits on a prime stretch of Peachtree St. smack in the middle of midtown.

Artistry has changed much of what I remembered of Sweet Lowdown. What used to be a light colored space now sports deep chocolate walls and burnt maroon/deep gold colored velvet curtains near the door. I suppose it could all be very glamorous under soft lighting after dark, but in the middle of a hot day, it seemed a bit heavy to me. Although I am biased as I love light and airy spaces.

Considering there were only three of us in the entire restaurant, everything took quite a long time. The lunch menu is small with mostly sandwiches, unless one is ready to pay twenty plus dollars for dinner entrees. I ordered the buffalo sliders with fries. I doubt anyone could accuse Artistry of skimping, as what came was the biggest slider dish I've ever seen. I got four baseball-sized mini-burgers with a good mound of fries. Actually the little burger patties were not of that size, but their statures were greatly enhanced by the much larger buns. For a nibbler, there were quite a few bites on the rim that were devoid of meat. The buffalo slider patties were cooked through as most sliders are. But somehow they were actually able to hold on to a decent amount of moisture to keep from being too dry. The good dabs of mayo helped the matter also. The fries were limp and pretty greasy. But I was in the mood for them, so ate quite a bit anyhow.

Housemade peach ice cream sounded good after heavy meat and starch. It looked very pretty adorned with a strawberry and a flower unknown to me. Sadly, the ice cream was specked with ice crystals. Perhaps it has been long since someone ordered it.

Cliff of creativeloafing wrote a pretty favorable blog entry for Artistry's dinner some days ago, so maybe the evening offerings are much better. As far as lunches go, it was not impressive, although not quite bad.

Artistry
942 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-888-0101

Daily highlight #47: last braise perhaps?

I've been resisting giving up the braises this summer. As the temperature outside went higher, I cranked up the AC inside to balance out the heat from the oven.

A pineapple smelled pretty good at the market and inspired this drumstick dish I have not made in a long time. The drumsticks were marinated for about half an hour in a mix of light soy, black pepper, roasted sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine, and some corn starch. In a pot with some oil, I lightly fried some garlic cloves and ginger slices then added the drumsticks. When evenly browned on all side, I put in about a cup of water along with 1/2 t dark soy, 1/2 tb light soy, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t fish sauce. When everything came to a boil, I added about a cup of small pineapple chunks and braised over medium heat for about 25 minutes.

Then it was time to scoop over fresh rice. Maybe this will be the last braise of the season, then again, maybe not.

Daily highlight #46: Sadness lives at the bottom of the kaya jar

No matter how carefully I ration the stuff, eventually the kaya jar shows its bottom.

There will be no more toast spread thickly with butter and the heavenly pandan scented coconut milk and egg jam to lure me out of bed and ease me into the day. I shall live with longing from this day forward until the man comes back from the other side of the world with my new batch.

Daily highlight #45: Super design - Restaurant: Depot

I loved the feel of Depot the first time I set foot in it months ago. Today, Cliff of creative loafing confirmed that other people, especially those who really know what they are looking at, love it too. It appears that the space had won the Best Adaptive Use Award by Atlanta's Urban Design Commission. Bravo! We need more people to restore the handsome old places around town to make them cool and useful again.

We went a few weeks ago on a Monday night, when oysters were half off. J ordered them immediately. He loves the stuff. I said nothing, but was definitely worried about getting seafood, especially raw seafood on a Monday night. The oysters came looking quite plump and smelled surprisingly fresh. At last, they weren't as sweet and briny as the best, but they certainly were worth the price at well under ten dollars a dozen if one is in the mood.

The special of fried catfish was HUGE! The two large fillets were crunchy on the outside and flaky on the inside along side a big mound of mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach with garlic. A very well balanced, if super sized, meal.

The draught beer selection, while not enormous, was quite satisfactory. This is one place my beer-loving, flip-flop wearing J actually remembers by name and asks to go back to occasionally. But he is as far from a foodie as you could get. :)

The Depot
904 Memorial Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30312

Daily highlight #44: A new gem in my neck of the woods - Restaurant: 4th and Swift

When we first moved into the loft three years ago, our immediate stretch of Ponce de Leon/North ave. was pretty much a fine dining dead zone. Then Repast opened to offer the first glimpse of refinement. It took another two years for a second nicer restaurant to move into this corner of the poncey highland. So while I normally wait some time before hitting a new place, I just couldn't help but pay a visit to the new 4th and Swift.

Many people who have seen the place during its soft opening have already commented on the handsome space. To me, the design captured the essence of this transitional neighborhood, where interiors often strive to marry the simplicity and vertical scale of industrial space with the warmth and comfort of modern living.

We ordered a round of drinks at the bar and admired how surprisingly well the roomy bar seats supported our backs. While sipping our drinks, girlfriend J spied a Parmesan and truffle oil popcorn snack as well as a daily special potato dish in the form of pommes frites. What a coincidence, as we were just discussing the merits of some Parmesan and truffle oil scented fries that we both adore at JCT kitchen across town. With that in mind, we "cleverly" inquired with our server whether the pommes frites could be given the popcorn treatment as we settled into our banquette seating in the dinning room. Sure enough, he came back with the dolled up fries. While these were fatter and more rustic than JCT's crispier shoestring version, they were nonetheless addictive.

Instead of bread, 4th and Swift served up some cheese biscuits. In my mind, biscuits are like pizzas, even bad ones can't be that bad, and these were far from being bad. Warm and cheesy, they were much too easy to take down.

The majority at the table wanted the chilled melon soup with crisp prosciutto. I am not the biggest fan of cold soups, so only tasted a spoonful. I enjoyed the coolness and subtle sweetness of the slightly foamy soup, but was far more interested in the crispy proscuitto, which was superb in the way of crunchy bacon. I was also incredibly distracted by the other small plate of braised lamb shoulder "lasagna" (top). Much larger than it's "small plate" status would suggest, the lasagna was hefty enough to satisfy as a meal in and of itself. The tender lamb was braised in somewhat sweet liquid, which I suspect some people who have strong aversions to sweetness in savory dishes may not love. But I adored it as I am known to add a few spoonful of brown sugar to my pot roast. What really made this dish was the combination of this lamb with house made lasagna and an herbed ricotta, which I found denser and far more full flavored than usual. A bite that combined all three provided contrasting textures and flavors that kept the palate excited but not overwhelmed.

We followed the excellent starters with the adorably named "three little pigs" in the form of a composed plate of pork loin, belly, and sausages. While I am normally a belly girl, my heart went to the loin on this night. Slightly cured, the loin had just enough fat and salt on the crust to taste moist and seasoned, but not fatty or salty. It reminded me of my grandma's freshly cured pork for Chinese New Year. The other star of the plate was the mac n cheese. I know that down here in the south people are fiercely divided on the preparation of mac n cheese. I am not a purist and love both cream moisten and cheddar infused versions. This one was clearly in the camp of the former. Under the crust, the macs were non-mushy, but were submerged in sufficient cream to remain scoopable. It's not stuff to eat by the bowlful due to richness, but indulgences such as this are always a great idea in small portions.

Our starch dish was a summer vegetable pappardelle. The pasta appeared to have been cut from the same dough that had made the lasagna. While I loved the lasagna's chewiness, I found the pappardelle a bit too thick in such large quantity. The overall flavors were still very good with a kick from red pepper flakes, but not too much to cover up the natural sweetness of the corns and carrots.

We also got a dish of some of the largest scallops I've ever seen. So pretty, I was almost holding my breath hoping that they wouldn't be over cooked. To my relief, they were not. Sweet, plump, and sufficiently seasoned with salt, I couldn't have asked for a better summer dish. I also enjoyed the cut tomatoes in the risotto as the cavities provided plenty of room for holding the savory bacon-infused sauce. The only draw back was that the fresh beans were just a tad undercooked and starchy. They really weren't necessary here as the sweet corn risotto was perfectly capable of holding its own.

We took more than half of the main dishes home to save room for dessert. The server highly recommended a passion fruit parfait. It's always hard to know what you'll get with a name like parfait. To me, this didn't look at all like a parfait (envisioning layered passion fruit goodness in a glass). Name aside, the passion fruit cream was surprisingly tart if you weren't ready for it, but since I love tartness (lemon tart is a favorite), I enjoyed this very much. The shortbread above and under, while buttery and crisp, were very hard to cut and slid off the creamy center with the slightest push. This was one dessert that is impossible to eat elegantly, but could be consumed messily with joy.

The ice cream flavor of the night was caramel. What can I say, I am weak in the face of ice cream and this was butter fat heavy stuff, just the way I like it.

For a new place, 4th and Swift had surprisingly few kinks in terms of food and service. I did, however, make a couple of interesting observations where style perhaps overshadowed functionality. The above were the plurality of menus one had access to in choosing food and drinks. Here, the normal menu was separated from the market menu, which was separated from the white wine list, which was separate from the red wine list, which was separate from the cocktail list, which was separate from the beer list. This stack didn't even include the dessert menu that was yet again separated from everything else. Now, that's a lot of cow skins and trees on one table when everyone gets a set.

Another form over function area was that of the silverware. Look closely you will see that the flat part of the knife handle does not line up with the knife edge, meaning when the handle is lying flat on the plate, the cutting part of the knife is balancing on its edge. We may be armatures at eating, but there was definitely a problem when more than once a knife slid off the plate taking bits of food with it.

Overall, we LOVED 4th and Swift for its impressive spacial scale, its simply but comfortable style, and for its tasty plates. Most of all, I am so glad to have another stellar place that I could walk to on a summer night.

4th and Swift
621 North Ave. NE
Building B
Atlanta, GA 30308
678-904-0106

Daily highlight #43: "Dog" days of summer

Did you know that the dog days of summer refers to the exact 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11 and coincides with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius? No? Well, I am pretty sure you know that at no other time in the year does a tube of mystery pink meat seem more attractive, be it boiled, fried, grilled, or electrocuted.

Every year, my "dog" days of summer begins with a batch of electrocuted Nathan's dogs right before 4th of July at the office event that never fails to let the sparks fly.

The famous hot dogger, while banned everywhere else in the free world, is welcomed back into our break room with a procession. After allowing a few minutes for everyone to admire its glory, B, guardian of the hot dogger, impales half a dozen, scared out of their skin, naked dogs onto the electrodes. Soon, blue sparks begin to fly within the see-through chamber as the primal smell of burning flesh fills every office on the floor.

Sixty seconds is all that's necessary to turn innocent supermarket dogs into crispy on the ends and sweaty all over electrified monsters. The skinless dogs are most appropriately topped with the no beans chili.
Alternatively, one could also go the sauerkraut and mustard route. The important thing is to keep things simple so as to allow the heady smell of the hot dogger treatment to shine through with full intensity.

Following the tube eating theme, we end the meal with authentic hostess Twinkies. Like the hot dogs, freshness is also well preserved in these delightful yellow cakes. So while other law firms wine and dine their summer associates, we feed them what real lawyers eat. :)

I can feel your envy of my one of a kind meal and my kooky office even through the computer screen. So let me share this secret with you, your own hot dogger is out there on ebay and ready to come home. You may even score one new in box as people were somewhat slow to make the returns during those hippie years.

Happy 4th of July and let them sparks fly!

Daily highlight #42: Beef is in the name, but lamb is the star - Restaurant: Taurus

Tom from AtlantaCuisine reported Taurus sold. The news didn't come as a surprise. I suppose very few chef owned places can really survive for the long haul. I do hope that it doesn't change too much to become one of those corporate style steakhouses. I am not saying that Taurus has the most amazing steak or that corporate steakhouses always lack in good meat, but there is just something a little more endearing and relaxing about this place.

Our meal a couple of weeks ago started off with a really great snack of grilled lamb tenderloin. The presentation was eye catching and the sauce of balsamic and olive added a surprising salty/tart/sweet dimension. The eleven dollar portion was so large, I ended up eating it for dinner. The lamb was perfectly medium rare with a nice salty crust.

J's Delmonico was also done to the right medium rare on top of some thin beans and topped with crispy onions. At twenty six, this is again a large and quality cut. Unusual for a steakhouse, the steak came with its own sides, further eliminating the need to spend more.

We did, however, get a special side of scalloped potatoes. The layered dish was perhaps the most refined I've seen a long time, but the flavors unfortunately fell flat. It was so bland in every layer, even salt on top couldn't quite save it.

We ended the meal with a tres leches cake. You can tell from the photo that this is not a classic tres leches. It was more like the description said, a milk soaked vanilla cake. The berries were a bit too candied and lost their tartness.

Taurus is where we go when we feel like having a steak on a whim, but are not up for dressing up or spending too much. It's always nice to have a place like that where you know the food, even if not exceptional, may sometimes be great and will definitely not suck.

Taurus
1745 Peachtree Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-214-0641

Daily highlight #41: It's time for Hami!

Growing up in central China, I heard a lot about this melon called hami that is the pride of the exotic Xinjiang province, which borders Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and parts of both Pakistan and India controlled Kashmir to the west. I didn't manage to taste this melon until I was about nine, when a friend of dad's brought one back from this land known for ripe grapes and beautiful women. To this day, I still remember the honey smell that permeated the box it came in.

This past week, I saw this old friend at Trader Joe's on Monroe. What a treat! I picked myself a pretty one and let it sit on the counter in front my kitchen window to ripen. I almost always do that with my melons, since they are almost never at the right ripeness straight from the store. When I smelled that familiar honey scent, I cut the melon open. The insides looked like a cantaloupe, but the juices that ran down my elbows and dripped all over the floor gave it away. Never have I encountered a cantaloupe that ran like a river. The taste, after a few hours in the fridge, was so sweet and cool, I almost didn't share with the man. Almost. I am nice. :)

Daily highlight #40: Joy of the table

To me, eating is special and sharing, the ultimate joy. Like my mother, I love having people over for dinner. For a long time, I tried to run things the way she does. It was hard work. The woman is a perfectionist and all about efficiency. She is known to turn out ten dish Chinese banquets by herself and serve everything warm all at the same time. While it always looked impressive, it was no fun helping her in the kitchen. Neither my dad nor I ever did the right thing or was fast enough to get her what she needed. Inevitably, we got kicked out of the kitchen.

The one good thing about living with a man who has no sense of time (unless it's for business) is that it trains you in the fine art of being patient. J collects watches, but definitely not for the purpose of keeping time. When there is no life or money on the line, the man knows exactly how to take his sweet sweet time. It would have drove my mother absolutely crazy, but it did wonders for me. It actually taught me to be a much much happier woman when I learned the fine art of taking it easy.

Now when I have people over, I cook things that allow me that luxury. My friends can go out to a restaurant if they wanted. They come to my house, not looking for four star execution, but for fun with friends and good home cooking. The easiest way I found to provide that is in the form of a pot roast.

This is not to say that I don't like the mood to be special. I find that taking a little time to lay out the table does wonders for making people feel welcome. I am fond of scarves and many a times I'd pull one out in the color of the season for the table.

I also like to leaving something at the bar for people to nibble on while they talk to me in the kitchen, where I am the happiest. There is always a bottle of something to lubricate throats and whet appetites. The pot roast never fails to smell wonderful even when all you had in the fridge to thrown in were some baby carrots and onions.
When it's done, I put everything out on the counter for people to serve themselves.

For my man, there is often rice. For company, I make it just a bit more special with some roasted corn and peas added in.

A green salad is a good idea. J and I love our vegetables and it's so easy. I like to add some hot elements to the dish at the last minute. In this case, I pan fried some sweet peppers and onions to wilt the arugula a bit right before serving.

I like to bake something earlier in the day for dessert. This time, I didn't have to do that. A dear friend had sent us some French madeleine in a basket. J and I really are so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Ice cream rounds out the meal and makes everyone happy. It doesn't even matter the flavor. It's always good.

Often we end the meal and move on to games. A little competition helps with digestion. At the end of the night, I am relaxed and happy and ready to do it all over again soon.

Daily highlight #39: Comfort food in the neighborhood - Restaurant: Feast

And I am not talking mashed potatoes or mac n' cheese, not that those things can't be sublime when done well. I am just a firm believer that every neighborhood deserves a cozy place where residents can go knowing that they will be comfortable, that food will be unpretentiously good, and that the menu will still harbor surprises.

In my neighborhood, we have Wisteria. A fifteen minutes down Ponce De Leon to Decatur, where my parents will soon reside (yeah, no more Cleveland winters for them), there is Feast, among other favorites like Cake & Ale. J and I love this area. It has personality and doesn't try too hard to impress. Feast is an embodiment of those characteristic. Hidden in an old brick building near the rail track, this place says warmth as soon as you walk in. Someone always says hello like he or she means it. There is a wood burning brick oven in the corner providing a romantic glow (below).

The bar is rustic and comfortable with cushy leather chairs. Everything is just nice and makes you want to take a seat. The menu is not too long, reasonably priced, and interesting with small and big plates for all appetites. But the best part for me are the daily specials. They never fail to sound tasty. This time, there was a scallop and large couscous dish (above). I am a big scallop fan, so had to order it. I didn't go wrong. The scallops were cooked just beyond raw with a nice char above and below. The couscous had a nice texture and had absorbed enough flavor from its cooking liquid to stand on its own.

J went for the other special, a pork chop, which he almost always chooses when it's on the menu. The chop came with nice grill marks. It looked juicy. Since J is incredibly bad with getting meat off the bone, I got the most juicy bits near the handle. It's really lovely stuff when you know how to work a fork and knife. :)

The disappointment of the evening was the dish of fried mushrooms. J and my dad seemed totally into it, so I said nothing. Why spoil someone's enjoyment when the experience of taste is so subjective. To me, the oil that the mushrooms had been fried in smelled and tasted none so fresh. As a consequence, the mushrooms came off somewhat heavy and greasy.

As full as we were, I couldn't skip dessert. We shared the lemon pound cake and the tirumisu. While the pound cake came recommended, I only found it okay. Maybe it just lacked some excitement. On the other hand, the tirumisu, while surprising me in its cake form, tasted lovely with just enough mascarpone, espresso, and lady fingers. We had enough dessert to take home for breakfast. :) The pound cake turned out much more awesome toasted with a cup of espresso.

Feast
314 East Howard Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
404-377-2000

Daily highlight #38: The engagement party that started the countdown

Over the years, J and I have been blessed with many opportunities to taste good food amongst good friends. But when good friends go way out of their way to create wonderful food and bring together busy people just to celebrate something in our lives, what we feel is much more than gratitude. We are floored by the happiness and love in our hearts.

For this something in our lives, we must rewind back eight months to the lovely city of Barcelona. J popped an important question as the sun was setting over the awesome park Guell. I, temporarily blinded by the accompanying sparkler, promised to keep it for life . . . along with him. Our families were definitely excited, but having waited out our ten years of getting to know each other, four years of dating, a major career change, the starting of a new business, and moves from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, then New York, and then Atlanta, they were, we think more relieved than ecstatic. :) Since none of them is actually here in Atlanta and most are on the other side of the world, we have lived in peace (meaning slacking off from planning the wedding) for most of this year. If we could have it our way, we would have coasted all the way up to the day of the wedding. But now I know that plan cannot and should not be, because I am responsible for throwing a good party!

L, my mentor at work, set the bar for me when he announced a month ago that J and I must have a proper engagement party, the southern way, and he was going to take the matter into his own hands. Sure enough, a few weeks later, invitations went out and a party of sixteen gathered at L's beautifully decorated home (a little peek above) this past Friday for a non-stuffy but plenty fun party.

Talk about going out of his way, L planned every detail, the invitations, the menu, the wines, and even managed to smoke the fish for the dip (above), all while keeping busy with depositions and other things in his heated up case. One heck of a way for your mentor to illustrate work and life balance, that's for sure.

Chilling in the ice bucket was a magnum of Louis Roederer Brut. Opulent with intense fruits and a rich toasty finish, the bubbly went exceedingly well with the smoked fish dip.

For the main event, L turned to his striking ceramic grill. The elongated egg grill, so hefty yet adorable in its custom table, it induced this incredible urge in me to pet it like I did with my very first piece of flame-colored le creuset. Luckily, common sense was still with me at this point in the night to nip that thought in the bud.

Look at these beautiful tenderloins grilling away! It's hard to keep a conversation going when the sights and sounds of grilling were so mesmerizing.

In the mean time, upstairs, C gave J a gift of Southern Comfort to continue a running joke. Little did she know, my man could always be counted on to break out the limes for some old fashioned SoCo refreshers. The funny thing was, the drink soon became so popular, J was having trouble keeping up with demand. It was amusing to watch a group of "grape juice" drinkers rediscover the beauty of a well-made SoCo and lime. Of course, C also gifted us a wonderful bottle of Brunello that will be ready to crack open just in time for our third year anniversary. Thanks for believing that our marriage will last. :)

G and his lovely bride-to-be, stirred up some creamy mashed potatoes. It took some elbow grease to work in all that cream and butter :) But they did it all perfectly under the watchful eye of the "seasoned" piggy (below).

To get our veggies in, L also provided us with a textually interesting snap pea salad (below) with what else, but BACON! Also provided was a pan of tasty broccoli corn bread in keeping with the southern spirit.

Finally, it was time to slice up the tenderloin. Boy, was the wait worth it. Perfectly medium rare to medium, every slice lived up to the cut's "tender" tittle. There were plenty for the hungry men to go back for seconds.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, we found a bottle of 2001 Barbour Cab quietly decanting in the corner. The nose was fragrant with currant and chocolate. The rich garnet liquid glided smoothly on the palate, where its mole style finish picked up the smokiness of the bbq sauce gently slathered on top of the meat. Just perfect.
Continuing the easy going party theme, we finished things off with a big bowl of banana pudding (below). Cool and creamy, it made me wonder why pudding isn't on every menu all over town, now that new southern is all the rage.

For some reason everyone gave us wine as gifts. Perhaps they all knew that we'd put them to good use soon. As a matter of fact, that bottle of veuve came in super handy for brunch yesterday. Thanks everyone! And now I have to hurry up with the wedding planning so I could at least come close to this bar that has been set so high. :) Let's do it all over again in Singapore!