Highlight #210: Weeknight beef Stroganoff

I had cubed some beef in preparation for a red roasted dish, but ended up not having enough time to wait for the slow simmer required. At the last minute, I decided to reduce the cubes in size for a quick cooking improv beef Stroganoff.

Change of plans happen often in our household and I am generally ready to deal since I don't cook from recipes. Not bound by rules gives one a lot of freedom in the kitchen. Growing up in China, my mother never had a single cookbook in the house. For that matter, I never heard of friends' moms cooking from books either. Everything was passed down or figured out and generally done by feel.

Beef Stroganoff normally involves thin strips of meat that sear quickly. I had cubes, but because they are cut small, they can also be used for flash fry in a pinch. Once my beef is browned on all sides in some oil on high (just a few minutes), they were removed to a bowl.

To the same pan, I then added one small diced onion to brown on medium. While that is going, I sliced up a box of button mushrooms. When the onion started to look caramelized, the mushrooms went in with a toss of salt to help them sweat.

As the mushrooms got to the point of looking half reduced in size, I poured in about 1/4 glass of the white wine that I was drinking (a Sauvignon Blanc) along with a half cup of beef broth and a tiny pinch of nutmeg.

When all started to look good enough to eat (mushrooms sufficiently reduced to desired size), I tasted it for salt level and added some pepper. The beef went back in with about a cup of Greek yogurt for thickness once off the heat.

For a quick 20 minute main, it was pretty perfect over a bowl of rice with some veggie on the side and a glass of wine.

Highlight #209: A very competent cuban sandwich - Restaurant: Tiny Bistro

Ever since Havana Sandwich Shop closed due to fire, I have been hoping to find another reliable place to go for a simple cuban sandwich. As of this week, Tiny is on the list. What I like about this version is that it doesn't try to be out of the box. There is no more filling than the requisite ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, but each is of good quality, especially the roasted pork, the element that tends to be dry, was moist and flavorful. The majority of the pleasure I derive from eating a good cuban sandwich is from the bread. The satisfying crunch from a good press is what puts the smile on my face. I heard that the bread here comes from New Orleans. I am not sure if New Orleans categorically makes better bread, but this one is definitely wonderful when pressed. Another thing to note is that this sandwich was pressed flat, the way that cuban sandwiches are supposed to be done in my mind. This seems to be a detail that was consciously thought out, since my friend Debra's pressed turkey sandwich got the press grill marks as shown below.

What you see here is actually a half sandwich, so I imagine the whole one is big enough for a growing boy.
I had meant to ask for the broccoli salad, but failed during execution. Debra, however, remembered to ask for her side of cucumber salad. I didn't taste it, but it looked pretty and fresh.

Tiny Bistro

1039 Marietta St
Atlanta, GA 30318

(404) 745-9561

Highlight #208: Horlicks!

A malt barley, wheat, and evaporated milk powder that you mix with more hot milk, horlicks is sold at coffee shops all over Asia. Toasty, malty, and creamy, it's real comfort in a cup. And it's even pretty healthy. I flew with my powder from Singapore, but I am pretty sure some version of it can be found at the local H marts too.

Highlight #207: Now I can say that even the dessert is good - Restaurant: Cafe Antalya

So I've raved about the savory here in a previous post, now I can say that the baklava is heavenly as well. As you can see, these babies are not over doused with too liquidy syrup, but are certainly saturated with a fragrant honey sugar mixture.

Each forkful is sticky with pistachio and syrup soaked phyllo layers. The crispy top layer realy brings the whole thing over the top. Love love love and I am not even normally a fan of baklava.

Cafe Antalya

8290 Roswell Road
Atlanta, GA 30350

(678) 527-0900

Highlight #206: A different kind of business meeting - Restaurant:

Last week I had a lunch meeting very different from my usual. There were no conference rooms, video casts, or catered food. Instead, we met at Catfish Jim's, a kick butt fry joint that is totally worth the drive up to Kennesaw.
The menu is simple. From the big board near the front counter, we each picked out a fried main, including catfish fillets, catfish in the whole, chicken etc., and two sides. Free hush puppies were given for snacking while we waited for our number to be called. Hot, crunchy, a little sweet, and almost greaseless, I had to try very hard not to ruin my appetite with these.

I prefer my food in the whole whenever possible. As anticipated, my whole catfishes were fried at such high temperature, the tails turned completely crunchy and chip-like. Love that stuff! Even better than the hush puppies, I couldn't detect any grease on the catfish even when patting them with my paper napkin. The cornmeal crust had a sandy texture and totally satisfied in its perfect contrast to the tender white flesh within. The mac and cheese and green beans were just okay. but seriously, who has the stomach space for that when there are two whole catfish to devour.

As a side note, Catfish Jim's advertise that it sells only Mississippi farm raised catfish. In most cases, farm raised fish is less flavorful than wild. But for catfish, a natural bottom feeder that tends to pick up a muddy taste in the wild, the farm raised breed, which eats feed that only float on water to encourage the catfish to stay off the bottom, has a much more delicate and clean taste. As a matter of fact, Mississippi's catfish farmers are already marketing some grade-A fillets not as catfish, but as Delacata, to differentiate it from the humble catfish.

Catfish Jim's
1997 Cobb Pkwy NW
Kennesaw, GA 30152-4503
(678) 290-8808

Highlight #205: Still the favorite - Bakery: Matty Cakes

I may stray from time to time to flirt with other pretty cupcakes around town, but I always come back to my sweet old fashioned staple at Matty Cakes. Deeply chocolaty, almost finger stickingly moist, and borderlining too large, this old fashioned chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting is immensely satisfying and the ultimate in my book.

Matty Cakes
1830 Piedmont Ave
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 917-2253

Highlight #204: Congrats and late night pizza

Congrats to dear Debra, whose first book "The Go-Getter Girl's Guide" is finally in print and ready to hit stores nationwide on September 1.

After many drinks we all needed something cheesy and salty to soak up the alcohol. There is no better place for that than Cameli's in the scary Kroger complex near our loft. The monster slices are enormous, crunchy, salty, and immensely satisfying during these after midnight hours. But seriously, even during daylight hours, this slice is deserving of being called "great" in the "by the slice" category. The dough has a great crispness, but is not cracker-like. In other words, there is a nice chew. The topping are not over done and the sauce not too sweet. Really, when all one wants is a slice, this is hard to beat.

Cameli's
699 Ponce De Leon Ave NE # 12
Atlanta, GA 30308-1859
(404) 249-9020

Highlight #203: Smore! - Bakery: Star Provisions

Look at it, how could I walk away and not take it home with me. The size of a baby's fist, the marshmallow portion dissolved in the mouth like a puff of cloud. The real surprise lay at the very bottom of this little package, a real graham cracker crust! Sealed and held together by a layer of dark chocolate, the crust was loose like that of a pie crust at room temperature and crunched like a cookie the next day straight out of the fridge. In fact, I liked the fridge treatment for the chocolate cake portion too. My preference for a denser texture was satisfied as the chill compacted the normally fluffier cupcake. Cold or room temperature, the chocolate taste was deep and nuanced indicative of the high quality dark chocolate used in the baking. Lovely stuff.

Star Provisions
1198 Howell Mill Rd NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5552
(404) 365-0410

Highlight #202: Southern delight - Restaurant: Udipi Cafe

Located in a predominately Indian strip mall situated off a quiet stretch of Church street, the slightly dark dinning room was sparsely populated with lunch patrons. From the moment we walked in, it was clear that the servers wanted us to partake in the lunch buffet set up in the back. We managed to hold firm and order what I really came here to eat, the utthapam.

Described as Indian pancakes, the utthapam or uttapam are made from a mix of lentil and rice flour. Unlike pancakes made from wheat flour, these are a bit less fluffy and a bit more sticky like mochi. The slight tang of these and the bubbling holes on the surface suggest some level of fermentation. That aspect reminds me of the fermented injera, of course the tang is a lot more muted here.

To top or dip the utthapam, I asked for vegetable korma, a coconut based dry curry of potatoes, peas, and carrots. The ultra smooth almost slippery texture of the potatoes were particularly pleasing.

For those who generally consider Indian food unhealthy, the utthapam would prove them wrong. Simply composed of rice and lentil, these babies are much healthier than the cream and butter infused American breakfast pancakes. Top or dip them in as much or as little curry/chutney as you like and enjoy.

Udipi Cafe
1707 Church St.,
Decatur, GA
404-325-1933

Highlight #201: Salty and sweet - Restaurant: Stella

I couldn't wait to get to Stella when I read on Creative Loafing that the fig and prosciutto pie is back. We made it this past weekend for brunch, not knowing that the pie is a dinner special. As you can see, they gave it to us anyway. :)

For a light lunch, two can share this special, which also comes with an arugula salad. Salty and sweet is the ultimate combination in my book. On top of that, I am completely smitten with fresh figs. These were small, but still fresh and sweet. The light drizzle of balsamic vinegar is right up my alley, but I could do with just a little less of the olive oil used to finish the pie. Not really a complaint though, it did make the prosciutto quite moist.

Stella
563 Memorial Dr
Atlanta, GA 30312
(404) 688-4238

Highlight #200: Good wedding food - Caterer: Dennis Dean

Alexis and Craig got married and looked wonderful doing it. Reflective of the happy couple's style was their wedding food, which, unlike most wedding food I've had in this country, was actually simple, elegant, and tasty.

We started off with a minimalistic arugula salad very lightly dressed. The best thing about this salad was the freshness and the fact that all the extra components, the goat cheese, the watermelon, the green tomato slices, and the candied pecans were all in balance and did not overwhelm the arugula or each other.

The plating of the main course, a fillet, impressed. It actually looked as if individually prepared in a restaurant kitchen. Again, all the elements were well executed. Unlike the withered skinny asparagus spears often found on buffet tables, these were plump and with a tender snap. The roasted tomato had char flavor. But most impressive of all, the fillet was actually cooked to medium in the center and deeply flavored. I mean after eating quite a few chunks of chewy gray meat at various weddings, the pink center was a very pleasant surprise.

Unexpected good meat makes happy girls.

Dennis Dean Catering
http://www.dennisdeancatering.com/base.html

Highlight #199: Girls with drinks - Restaurant: RA Sushi

I am not a chain hater. Some chains do very well simply by catering to one specific need of their target audience. After a media dinner at Ra Sushi last week, I am sensing that this first Atlanta outpost of an Arizona chain is here to give midtown a nice airy happy hour spot away from the congestion of 14th street.

Across the street from the marble federal reserve building and just off of busy Peachtree street, RA sushi's cheerful red umbrella dotted outdoor seating looked mighty inviting. Walking inside, we found an airy space with very high ceiling separated from the outdoor by a bamboo fence, which let in both light and a comforting breeze.

Both the bar and a communal table on the wall side of the large dinning area were populated with happy hour people. In short, this place was cheerful, something we were definitely in the mood for on a weeknight.

We didn't come here to be food snobs. We wanted a happy place to drink and have girl talks and that's what we got. Here is my beautiful friend Amanda happily sipping her saketini.

With drinks, we must snack. Experiences taught me that successful chains tend to have solid appetizers that are crowd pleasers, so we ordered along those lines. And we were proven right. The pork gyoza was of the thin wonton skin kind and boast juicy innards with plenty of pork flavor. The outside, browned in butter, was very pleasantly crispy.

We eat sushi often, but mostly at small Japanese run joints that serve fish unadorned. The most we do is dipping the fish in a bit of soy. We didn't come to Ra Sushi for that, which, to me, is not what this place is about. We came open to experiment a little with its American twists and combinations. For that, our server recommended the yellowtail appetizer showing off some texture and taste variations brought on by a mix of jalapeno, cashew, and a sriracha based dip. I know what sushi snobs would say about this, but I am a believer that food doesn't need to follow any specific format as long as it pleases the senses. This combination worked. A little spicy, a little nutty, a little creamy, it was fun to nibble on with drinks. Again, just because sushi is in the name doesn't mean that it is here to compete with MF Sushi or my favorite sushi house hayakawa on Buford highway. I wouldn't think of going to these two for happy hour drinks with raw fish, but I'd be happy to snack with drinks again at Ra Sushi to start a summer evening.

For sweets, we ordered the cinnamon tempera ice cream and the green tea ice cream not knowing that the former is large enough to fill a large dinner plate. The tempura portion was actually yellow cake lightly battered and fried, so a bit lighter than other versions that are pure tempura batter. We both noticed the unusually deep green tea flavor of the green tea ice cream. This may sound silly, but most green tea ice creams do not show off the slightly bitter true green tea flavor. While not very sweet, I enjoyed it.

So, in short, we are happy to see another airy place pop up in midtown, where one can sit away from the traffic congestion, have a drink, and nibble on some gyoza. Maybe we were lucky that day, but we actually found the adjacent parking garage open and free.

Ra Sushi
1080 Peachtree Street, Suite 8
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404) 267-0114

Highlight #198: Thick and fluffy - Bakery: Alpine Bakery

I try my hardest to avoid going OTP during rush hour, but sometimes I fail. After my necessary errand, rather than rejoining the traffic to come back to town, I took a detour to visit Alpine bakery, a place I heard many good things about.

Because most things I heard in connection with the bakery involved some kind of bread, I was surprised to find primarily cakes and pastries on offer. The selection of bread was restricted to a basket set on top of the large display case showing off some pretty tantalizing looking cakes. I picked out a medium sized garlic loaf and asked it sliced (I like to freeze my bread sliced for easy toasting through the week). Rather than using a machine, the guy serving me took a knife to it and gave me hefty slices. Nice!

Rather than the crusty and holey type I was expecting, I found fluffy and squishy slices. With a little toasting, the first slice was perfect for easy spreading. I am thinking this would be great for a artisanal twist on the classic soft tomato sandwich. I bet it'd press well for pan toasted sandwiches too. An idea that I should test out soon.

Alpine Bakery
295 Rucker Rd
Alpharetta, GA 30004-6678

Highlight #197: Second breakfast - Restaurant: Ria's Blue Bird

I don't know about you, but this nibbler needs to nibble immediately after rolling out of bed. So when I make plans to meet friends for breakfast, I am really just arranging to eat for a second time in the AM, which, during the weekend, is perfectly acceptable. :)

My first at home breakfast was sweet from honey, so when I got to Ria's, I was ready for salty. Our server never told us about the brunch special, but because I happened to check the website before our 9:30 meet up, I asked for the lamb Benedict special and a biscuit as my side. At first, I was a little disappoint that there were no English muffin bottoms, which I love. When I heard potato cakes, I thought hash brown. I know many out there love hash brown, but it's just not my thing. But no, what I got were pan fried cakes of creamy mashed potato! Now, that's cool. :) Above that, there were the plentiful tender lamb slices, savory from a light pan gravy. Everything really hit the salt spot. The only less than stellar component of this plate was the biscuit. Perhaps my standard rose dramatically since the excellent biscuits I've recently indulged in on our trips to Charleston and Asheville, but this one was just not flaky or fluffy. Then again, I had more than enough food to keep me happy.

Ria's Blue Bird
421 Memorial Dr SE
Atlanta, GA 30312

Highlight #196: Small town charm - Restaurant: Smith House (Dehlonega)

Spending this past weekend without the darling husband really made me miss our fun day trips. It's simply impossible not to have a good time with the man when he is the kind to suggest a large bowl of ice cream right before dinner. With folk music in the background, lazy late afternoon sunlight on our faces, it was easy to imagine living a quiet small town life during our recent trip to Dehlonega.

After ice cream, we were hungry for salty stuff and headed to the subterranean Smith House inside a large residence that also is the site of a deep gold mine, which can still be viewed through protective glass in a room next to the dining hall.

Food is served family style here. Arriving at 7pm, we were considered late diners (the place closes at 8pm) and got to start a brand new table. As soon as we sat down, we were asked by the super nice server to order our drinks. No sodas or alcohol here, just variations of ice tea and lemonade. While we waited for our sweet tea, a basket came hot with dinner rolls and cornbread. The cornbread was crusty and salty in the proper southern way.

Then some company arrived at our table. A jolly party of four retirees enjoying life away from the city. They were funny folks and got us laughing quickly. I still remember one joke that came up after a short discussion of whisky between one of the older gentlemen and my husband. "My uncle drank so much in life, when he was cremated, the fire burned for three days before it could be put out." Doesn't sound so funny now, but it was seriously laugh worthy at the time.

Then our food came on a big cart and everyone got down to serious business. There were large platters of fried chicken, fried okra, green beans, sweet potato, mashed potato, Brunswick stew, collard greens, country ham, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall now. The photo shows but a very modest first plate that I gathered in an attempt to pace myself. There was so much food, modesty soon went out of the window. My definitely not food focused husband was the first to comment on how good everything tasted without excess use of butter or other grease. In fact, nothing was overly salted either. It just all felt fresh and wholesome, like eating at my mom's house, even though my mom cooks nothing but Chinese, the philosophy of clean cooking is most certainly the same.

Even though we've already had dessert, who can say no to warm yellow cake topped with fresh strawberry sauce and homemade soft serve? Unlike most strawberry sauces, the berries in this one were not cooked to obliteration and still retained texture. The slight tartness was super with the soft serve. The yellow cake was decidedly simple but quite eggy, the way I like it.

The sun was still out when we finished, perfect for enjoy a bit of quiet time on the porch rocking away.


The Smith House
84 South Chestatee Street
Dahlonega, GA 30533
706-867-7000

Highlight #195: sweet source close to home - Bakery: Desserts by Latrell

Somehow I lost my typed text to this post. Too lazy and mad at myself to redo, I'll just say that this red velvet slice was light yet moist and the icing was not leaden while tasting distinctly of cream cheese. Simple and good is what I am saying.

Desserts by Latrell
581 Edgewood Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30312

Highlight #194: what's not to love

Normally I am not a fan of Godiva. But how does one resist such cuties? Check out these smile inducing ice cream parlor truffles the next time you pass a Godiva counter. Better do it quick though, they are limited editions. I have tried two out of three and the mint chocolate is pretty great.

Highlight #193: Great lunch spot - Restaurant: Waterhaven

The name sounds funny. It makes me think of Kevin Costner's horrible all brown movie Waterworld. But waterhaven is not brown and there are no men covered in fishscaled leather walking around. There are, however, plenty of seating outside in the shade of tech square. We parked ourselves there and got an excellent lunch.

What you can't see that well in the back of the above photo are the fried green tomatoes. I am always wary when ordering it because it so often turns out soggy or bland. These were none of that. Super crunchy and salted just right, even the one that grew up on fried green tomatoes loved them.

In the foreground is the daily flatbread. While it looks slightly thick in the photo, it was in fact rather thin and crunchy throughout. Evenly covered with cheese and olives, it was easy to put away despite the large size for an appetizer.

Here is a perfect example of lost perspective in photos. This salad was, in life, the size of my head, but appears puny here. The dressing surprised me. The menu said only buttermilk, at least that's what I read without reading too carefully. What I didn't expect was the powerful dash of curry powder in the buttermilk. It wasn't a problem as I love curry and have used it on my own seared salmon before. It was only surprising because my first bite was of an apple chunk and I had not thought about pairing apple with curry. Once I got acquainted with the curry, it was a pleasure to eat.

I was had at the first utterance of "icebox pie." I love that term! Something chilled and old fashioned, perfect for a summer day lunch. As the name promised, the little wedge was cool and light, anchored by a denser cookie crust. It was the perfect ending to enjoy while watching the lively square that never got too noising to disturb our lunch.

Waterhaven
75 5th St
Atlanta, GA 30308-1019
(404) 214-6470

Highlight 192: Lowcountry charm - Restaurant: 82 Queen (Charleston)

Michael and Jane Stern wrote a few of my favorite books on road food. Back in the 70s when "foodie" was a term foreign to most Americans, the Sterns were already driving across the country tasting and writing about their beloved "American" food along the highways. Today, they have a website roadfood.com dedicated to these eats. Most of what they seek out and recommend are specialities from diners and other hole in the wall establishments. So when I came across this "too fancy" recommendation and read Michael's review that claimed 82 Queen's shrimp and grits as the "best," we had to go there. I mean it beat out the highly regarding Hominy Grill and Jestine's Kitchen, both Charleston favorites.

We ran through what appeared to be a monsoon to get inside the cozy bar of 82 Queen. An excellent dirty martini almost got us to forget about our wet clothes before we came to the realization that to get to the dinning room one must cross the courtyard, which is of course uncovered. While we sipping on our drinks, we watched the dripping servers make trip after trip delivering food covered in trays in the pouring rain, looking completely calm and unaffected. Crazy!


When our turn came, the hostess walked us out into the wetness and slowly up the stairs to the 2nd floor dining room. I was getting drenched so quickly, I almost shoved her along to move as fast as possible. Once inside, it was all much better, especially when the she crab soup came.

Full of cream and heavy with roe, it was heavenly on its own, but was even better with a liberal splash of dry sherry, which came on the side. Luckily I got my fill before Jason went too far with the sherry. Perfect for dipping were these Cheddar chive mini biscuits.

After the soup, we split a crab cake. Having grown up in Maryland, where crab cake is a religion, I'd say that this is pretty up there in terms of quality and percentage content. The "cake" was short on bind agents and fell apart easily to show off lot of big crab chunks. What really put it over the top was the creamy sauce. Again very rich, a theme of this cuisine.

We got our mains in half portions, but looks didn't reflect that fact at all. Without me saying you can probably already tell the cream and butter content in that grits. It stayed soften and loose for quite some time. The shrimp surprised me. They looked and tasted of bbq sauce, a very very good one, but nonetheless different from the transitional preparation. Had I not expected a comparison with my favorite in the atl from JCT kitchen I would probably have fully embraced these. But the slight sweetness got me off guard.

Now here is what really blew my socks off. This jambalaya was so full of shrimp, crawfish, sausages, etc., I couldn't even get just a bite of rice by itself. The best part was that the sausage, rather than being added in chunks, were cooked into the rice, so every forkful was imbued with intense sausage flavor. We ate so much to only find the plate looking almost exactly like it arrived. The leftover went back to the hotel with us and became breakfast when we really saw the binding Cajun butter in its solid form. Let's just say we were glad that the dish didn't come with a nutritional chart. :)

According to the server, the owner's wife used to be the pastry chef at the restaurant, but now only makes a single thing on the dessert menu and that is this peach cobbler. Let me first say that I am no huge fan of cobblers, but I do love ice cream and found this topper very pleasing. The warm bottom was good, but not something I would dream about like the jambalaya.

82 Queen
82 Queen St.
Charleston, SC 29401
1-800-849-0082

Highlight #191: The dependable - Restaurant: Aria

Despite the economy, a fair number of new places have opened, some with much buzz. We are all for trying the new, but when a true occasion comes up and nothing short of a great meal would do, we head to the old dependable. And there are only a handful of those. This time we wanted a bit of privacy and not too much meat, so we ended at Aria.

Aria is not our normal hunting ground. Not that the food isn't good. It's just that we don't normally mingle with the Buckhead crowd. But it's perfect this day when we showed up late without a reservation and just wanted a cozy table in the corner.

Having just ate a big snack, not knowing that this dinner was coming up, I picked out the lighter items from the menu. The above appetizer starter was fantastic despite the difficult to maneuver vessel in which it was served. I particularly liked that the lobster meat was slightly warm, rather than chilled, which complimented the equally warm and intensely umami pea puree.

The main of seared scallops echoed the sweetness of the lobster earlier. Really good scallops don't need much else and not much were done to them in this case. Great showing of restraint.

Between the two of us, Jason is the chocolate dessert fan. Without looking at the menu, he asked for the Valhorna chocolate creation that used to be served there. Our server suggested the chocolate dome instead, but brought us one more, the mousse. I ended up liking the freeby much better for its lightness and hints of hazelnut. The dome was somewhat difficult to eat due to the hardness of the shell. Both desserts were more or less predictable, but were all tasty.

Aria
490 East Paces Ferry Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 233-7673

Highlight #190: We have caught the weekend travel bug - Restaurant:

Ever since I finished up the case that occupied all of my weekends, we have been going places. This time Greenville, on a whim. The cute downtown was vibrant on a Friday night. There was even an outdoor concert between buildings with a beer stand in front. A great idea!

We walked around some and then looked for the all important food. Soby's was described to me as modern southern. I used to be skeptical of that term until Watershed was coined as such. I can certainly do with more fresh looking greens and less grease. The ultimate plus was a two top bar table right in the middle of these french doors that opened into the busy street. A perfect spot to enjoy the breeze and people watching.

What you see above is my favorite plate of fried green tomatoes. I am normally not the biggest fan as I find the breading soggy and the tomatoes bland. These were super crispy and the sauce was awesome. A little tangy and maybe a little mustardy? Also perfect were the fried sweet potato curls. Pretty and tasty.

We were told that the hush puppies are their best seller. They were indeed quite good. a little sweet with a good rough texture and big kernels of corn. Butter on the side makes everything better.

While beautiful, these non-southern seared tuna things weren't the best. Mostly it's because the pita pieces were hard enough to chip a tooth. The pea puree, however, was very nicely seasoned.

These deviled eggs started Jason's new obsession with this egg preparation. A good dose of mustard in the very smooth filling distinguished these from primarily mayo laden versions. The ham also gave them a nice salty kick. These were the perfect snacks for a summer evening. Happy days.