Last Post of the Year!

So I wasn't intending on this being the last post of the year, but my lazy bones took over and I didn't eat out as much as I had thought I would due to too much holiday spending, but after all is said and done I thought Top Flr would be a great way to tip my virtual hat off to the year!

I have been to Top Flr once previously and fell in love with their tuna tartar flat bread, so I knew I HAD to order that appetizer as well as their infamous mac and cheese because for some crazy reason we didn't order it last time.  So I met my friend on a rainy night at this lovely establishment right next to Merry Macs on Ponce.  We arrived a little earlier than usual because my friend was coming from work in midtown, but usually if you stay a little later the place can get hoppin, with their delicious drinks and good music, but I don't think to the extent of their sister establishment, Sound Table, which I have yet to go to because every time my friends and I try, there is some cover that no one wants to pay for.  Maybe one day it will happen.  So back to the rainy night.  We spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out what kind of wine to get because I am the most indecisive person besides my friend sitting across the table from me who is THE most indecisive person, so put us together and you get...nothing.  No decisions.   So I just lied because we finally decided not to get a bottle of wine until they told me they were out of the freaking Tempranillo!! Deja freaking vu.  So then we decided to get a half bottle of wine.  Whatever.  Let me get to the happy part of the meal. 

Finally our appetizers arrived!!  We chose the pork skewers just because we couldn't help ourselves and they sounded so good.  Oh and also I forgot to mention we had a $60 Living Social coupon, so we went a little cray.  I always find skewers hard to eat.  Food always seems to end up being shot across the room because I'm trying to get those suckers off the damn sticks.  I wish someone would come up with a way to make them slide off easily but until then I will just eat as much as I can get off the skewer.  I had a couple lost souls but nothing extreme, so I was happy, and the pork was covered in a delicious Asian spicy sauce that was also kind of sweet.  They were pretty tender, but that sauce was really good.  

Now this was what I had been dreaming about the whole day knowing I was going to this restaurant.  The tuna flat bread.  It was tuna tartar atop a very thin crispy flat bread with avocado, Thai miso pesto, and lime aioli.  So freaking good!!!  The flat bread is sooo thin that all you can really taste is the yummy spicy tuna and the aioli but it still gives it texture with the crispiness.  It all goes so well together and is so delectable.  I could eat two of those by myself, but I will move on. 

  

I had a hard time deciding on my main course, but I eventually chose the sea bass which came over a cauliflower puree and a sweet raisin sauce.  The fish was pretty good.  Honestly, it wasn't that memorable as I'm writing this a week later and I can't remember how it tasted, but I remember it being good enough to eat a whole fillet, but not enough to take the other home, plus I have a thing about reheating fish.  Just doesn't seem very appetizing to me.  I did really like the puree though.  It was very subtle and light and went well with the fish.

My friend had the grilled chipotle chicken which came with kim chi and a sweet soy reduction.  I thought it was a nice, very tender piece of chicken with a nice Asian sauce, but.....it was a piece of chicken.  Nothing too exciting.  I don't eat chicken too often for dinner just because I think it can get kind of boring (unless its Chickfila, duh), but I give them props for how juicy and tender it was.

Last but certainly not least, we had a side of the sharp cheddar, smoked Gouda, and spicy panko crusted mac and cheese.  Do I need to say anymore?  Well, I will.  It was so creamy with a little spice to it which I loved.    I mean who can't love Gouda.  Who can't love saying the word goouuudaaa.  Simply divine.  What you should know about their sides though is that they are meant to be shared.  They come a la carte, but are definitely worth the additional cash. Considering how full we were, we probably could have shared the mac and cheese with another person, but we didn't so we just ate it instead.  

I honestly think the best parts about Top Flr are their appetizers and sides (I had the kale at my previous visit and it was delicious), so maybe next time I have a coupon, I will make a meal of apps and sides.  You live and you learn.  

I must give a disclaimer for the next couple of months.  For all my 5 readers, I must let you know in the upcoming months I will be most dedicated to my job as an accountant and therefore will be hooked to my work computer making wonders in excel and will most likely not have much time to blog.  I know you are probably thinking, "Well, it's not like you blog frequently anyway."  Well, you can shut it.  But I will try my hardest to eat and write, but until next time...holla!

Alma Tell Yo Mama!

Like in most cities, Atlanta has become home to a few different restaurant groups, which own a collection of restaurants throughout the city.  Hopefully you are familiar with the most well known, Concentrics, who own One Midtown Kitchen, Two Urban Licks, Parish, Murphy's, etc, and of course there is the Fifth Group, who I have mentioned before in my post regarding Ecco.  Well Fifth Group decided to grow their company by one more restaurant adding a Mexican flare to their repertoire, a place called Alma Cocina in downtown Atlanta.  My friend and I were lucky enough to get a reservation, well sort of and I shall explain later, by giving a generous donation from yours truly to @fifthgrouper, who I follow on Twitter of course, for his Movember campaign.  In return, I received a reservation for 2 before the restaurant even opened and everything was complimentary! Shall I say that is the most divine way to eat!!

So a couple Friday nights ago, my friend and I head off to the not-so-frequented down down downtown area where we eventually see Alma in the 191 Peachtree building.  Our next feat...finding a parking spot.  Since we rarely venture that far downtown, we had a little trouble finding a place to park, but we eventually came to a correct entrance of a parking deck and rationalized the $5 fee to what we would have paid a valet (plus a couple more dollars).  Once we finally weaved our way back to the front of the building, we see the restaurant and the ever so cute patio in the lobby of 191. At first it kinda had a mall restaurant feel to it just because everyone was sitting in a huge indoor patio with greenery and Christmas lights surrounding them, but once we got inside, it felt a lot more cozy.

We had our first hiccup though when we arrived at the hostess stand and they could not find our reservation, but the host added us to the list and we went to the bar to have ourselves a yummy margarita. We both chose the Just Wear Black margarita that was made with fresh squeezed lime juice and agave syrup and of course some good tequila.  It was very simple, which is just the way I like my margs, and it was super delicious!

As this was a pre-opening function, the full menu was not available, however, each table had a different selection of options to choose from and while the suggestions we received from the bar were not on our menu, specifically the chicken mole, our meal was quite good.  We started off with not 1, not 2, but 3 appetizers not only because the meal was free, duh, but also because it was about 9:30pm at this time and I was freaking starving.  And also because we couldn't decide what not to get.  The first app was fried avocado taquitos with poblano pesto and roasted tomatoes.  Not really much I need to say about this dish.  Give me pretty much anything fried and I will probably like it.  As you can tell, the avocados were perfectly fried, and it had just the right amount of crispiness.  I have never had fried avocado, but I fell in love.  I also liked how the tortilla was extra crispy since the avocado still had a soft consistency and the pesto and tomatoes topped it all off.

Next came the yellowtail ceviche with pickled mango in cucumber-serrano water.  When we were given this dish we were given pretty specific instructions as to how to eat the ceviche. We were told to get a piece of fish, slosh (technical term) it in the cucumber juice, and then add the mango and pepper all in one bite.  I have to say those were pretty specific instructions but I was glad I followed them!  The fish was less of a ceviche and more of a hamachi sashimi if you know what I mean.  Either way, I thought it was amazing with the mango and the cucumber water or juice or whatever it was.  Some of the best sushi, I mean ceviche, I have had in Atl.

The last of the appetizers was a grilled salad.  It enticed us with the goat cheese notion and our waiter told us the lettuce was actually grilled, so we just went for it.  This was probably my least favorite dish.  I guess when I read the menu I didn't assume the "grapes" that were referenced would actually be olives, and the entire dish was covered in some type of olive vinaigrette.  Seeing as I am not a fan of olives, I did not take well to this app, but it's all in personal preference.  Also, the fried goat cheese balls just were in no comparison to the balls at Ecco.    

On to the main course.  As we just wanted to get the best food on our menu, we relinquished our power to our waiter and he told us to order the Chile en Nogado and the Red Snapper Mole Amarillo, and with my vast spanish knowledge I can tell you Amarillo means yellow (see picture below).  Damn I'm good.  The chile was made up of poblano chile, winter squash, raisin apples, cranberries, walnut sauce, and pomegranate seeds.  I think I need to read my menus a little more closely, because this dish was just that, a mix of veggies and fruit.  It was a lovely mixture of winter foods, but I was just glad we had ordered a crapton of apps and another entree because I do not see how that could be a main course.

The red snapper on the other hand was better than expected.  It was cooked just right and the mushrooms in that sauce with the swiss chard on top just warmed you up from the inside out.  I honestly don't think of mushrooms or swiss chard when I hear mole, but it all just worked and the swiss chard was cooked just right in my opinion, not too mushy.  The entire combination was super scrumptious, especially when you piled all the components on to your fork for one great bite!

Even though we were full to the max, we of course ordered some dessert, but due to our late eating, the dessert that was recommended to us, the grapefruit sorbet, was all sold out, so we ordered the flourless chocolate cake instead.  The first bite was so chocolately and yummy, but then you waited and the after taste became super spicy.  Not my favorite chocolate cake ever.  Maybe I'm a wuss, but I just like my chocolate cake to be rich and milky, not really spicy, but to each his own.

All in all, it was a really fun experience.  The food was great, the margs were delicious, and the servers were really enthusiastic which made me more excited!  Obviously this is a new restaurant so I was not super harsh about my missing reservations.  I don't know how many times my friends and I will venture downtown to eat since we like to stay in our little bubble, but maybe on special occasions we will fight the tourists at the Hard Rock and come back.

Eclipse de Luna

I assume if you have lived in Atlanta for a while you have been to Eclipse de Luna, and, therefore, you are asking yourself, "Why is Frugalfoodie writing about a place that has been around for forever and that is not particularly what you would call a 'foodie' spot. "  Well my friend, Eclipse just happens to be a fine good staple in the good ole Atl.  My friends and I have been going to this Spanish tapas restaurant for years now and it is one of my good friend's favorite restaurants in Atl, and since she has moved away to the Nation's capital to become a famous basketball star, I always go to Eclipse with her when she visits home.

My friends and I have eaten at this establishment so many times we know exactly what we want to order without even looking at a menu.  One thing I have to say is this past time they were out of the $6/glass Malbec, and I was quite disappointed.  I expect a Spanish restaurant to keep their Spanish wines in stock,  but I sucked it up and just ordered the $6 Pinot instead.

Back to the food....our order consisted of the potatoes, tomatoes and mozzarella, calamari, shrimp, mussels, ribs, and a deviation from the usual, fried bananas.  Not sure of the official Eclipse names on the menu, but they knew what we were talking about.  We got that Eclipse lingo.

We usually get 2 plates of these delicious fried potatoes because I myself could probably eat an entire plate, but what is quite essential to this dish is the sauce that accompanies the taters.  You must dip and then eat and then you will say "mmmmmmm."

I love the tomato dish because the maters are always so think and juicy and then the mozzarella in between each slice is the perfect proportion.  The cheese doesn't overwhelm the tomatoes and vice versa.  Then the fresh basil and the balsamic vinegar top the whole thing off.  So good, which you can see because someone already started to cut them before I had taken a picture! Not cool when eating with Frugalfoodie!

Now my friend who I mentioned earlier LOVES her some shrimp and we all love these as well.  The sauce is buttery, garlicky, and spicy!  You have to sweep the shrimp in that yummy sauce and then just put the whole thing in your mouth (less the tail).  I actually forgot how spicy they were, but it just makes it so much better!

Said friend was not a huge fan of mussels, but I love them and as did another person at the table, therefore, these clam cousins were ordered.  Not really much to say about mussels.  They are drenched in a delicious buttery sauce that you want to drink down but would be looked down upon so you just dip some bread politely.

The calamari pic came out a little blurry, but that is not to say it is an underwhelming dish.  This is one of my favorite dishes at Eclipse, which is probably why the pic is blurry as I am most likely trying to stuff my face and picture take at the same time.  That is the problem with tapas places.  Food is coming every which way and there's so much excitement going on and so much to look at that I forget that I must blog with these pictures!  I digress.  I love the fried calamari because it is nice and crispy without being overly fried and you can still taste the fish.  Also this dish comes atop a sweet tomato sauce that you dip the calamari in. It is soooo gooood!!

 
Because we are mature adults, we allowed a dish we had never tried to be ordered, the fried bananas, which were actually quite tasty!  Don't know if I would keep them in our rotation, but it was a nice little sweet surprise.

Last but not least, we also had their ribs, which unfortunately I did not get a picture of because I guess we ate them too quickly.  They are so tender and marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette sauce that is so fingerlickin good!

This was a great Eclipse de Luna venture as they all are, and it was great to see my famous basketball star girl.  Can't wait until she comes home for Christmas and we can go again!!