Taste of Atlanta

A couple weeks ago my friend and I went to the 10th annual Taste of Atlanta.  If you don't know, this event hosts a crap-ton of restaurants from around the Atlanta area from Iberian Pig to Morelli's to even Waffle House (sorry no pics of cheese n eggs here).  The streets are blocked off around the Georgia Tech square in midtown, and booths are set up for each of the restaurants to serve tastes of food.  When you purchase a ticket, you receive 10-15 taste tickets depending of whether you paid for general admission or VIP.  These taste tickets are what you use to "buy" tastes from each of the restaurants.

This was my 2nd year attending the annual Taste of Atlanta and of course the second year I found a deal for tickets.  Last year my twitter scouring led me to a $10 discount for general admission tickets, which my friend and I were very excited about.  However, as it was our first year attending, we were not aware of the perks of having VIP tickets and we quickly realized our naivety.  Therefore, we decided the next year we would find some way to afford the way better, more expensive tickets and indeed did we find that way!  Turns out if you test drove a Cadillac at any of the Atlanta Cadillac dealerships you could get a pair of VIP tickets for FREE!  So I hopped right on that free train and didn't actually end up test driving anything, but was just given the free VIP tickets.  It was pretty awesome.  So moral or the story...follow me on Twitter and I will lead you to the land of freeness (@frugalfoodiejg).

Back to TOA and the food.  So we get to Taste of Atl early in order to beat all the lines and make sure none of the food has sold out, but since we went on a Sunday, we couldn't get in the VIP tent where all the free alcohol was until 12:30 because of the stupid blue laws!  I won't go into politics, but....blue laws are dumb!  So we went to the restaurants first and started off with a Korean BBQ pork slider from Takorea.  This was pretty delish, but give me Korean bbq  any day because I always love.  This actually won best taste for Sunday, so apparently I was not in the minority liking this dish.

Another trick I want to share that my friend and I figured out last year was to combine our taste tickets and just order one item from each restaurant and split each sample.  This way we were able to try double the amount of food! Yeah, I bet we were the only ones to think of that.  We so smart.

Next we had the s'more doughnut from Sublime.  I had yet to try one of the Sublime doughnuts, but had wanted one for a long time, and this definitely lived up to my expectations.  It was so airy and light and the chocolate and mellow were sooo goooood!  I wanted to eat a dozen, but I had to move on.

Then I see the little Iberian Pig sign and I get all giddy!  We got the pork taco and the only thing I didn't like was that it was so tiny.  I liked the crispy taco shell and the guac, but it was just so small even though this picture makes it look the contrary.

At Rosebud we got 2 of their samples because they both sounded so good and my friend is crazy and isn't a fan of grits.  The first taste was slow roasted pork shoulder with creamy grits and the other was a chicken slider with slaw.  The grits were delish and the pork was tender, but the bun on the slider was a little too hard for me.  The slaw was great too, but the bun just made the slider hard to eat.  Also it seemed EVERYONE had made sliders, which makes sense because of the eating standing up situation, but it just got a little old.

Next we had some amazing pork and polenta from Strip.  The flavor was so rich and again I love me some grits/polenta any day of the week, and this dollop was very yummy!

The next restaurant we tried, 246, which is the new Italian eatery in Decatur, was a place I was also really excited about.  I have not yet been to the establishment, but love Italian food and have heard so much hype about the Ford Fry (JCT Kitchen) and Drew Belline (Floataway Cafe) collabo.  From their samples we tried the meatball slider and the meatball was sooooo gooooodd!  It was so juicy and a little messy but worth the sticky fingers.

So now it was time for a little dessert break and of course we went straight to Morelli's, and I was floored when they told me they had a bacon brittle ice cream flavor.  I was so excited to try it that my mouth was watering as they were scooping it into the cup, and boy, did it live up to the hype!  The bacon crisps were like candy.  Well, I guess it was kinda like brittle.  You don't say! Any who, it was scrumptious and not greasy bacon tasting, but sweet with a slight yummy bacon taste.

The last place we tried before we headed to VIP was Urban Pl8.  We decided to go the vegetarian route and had the veggie burger because I thought it looked pretty good, but it turned out to be a ball of mush.  Not appetizing at all, and we couldn't even finish it.  So on we went to bigger and better places.

Now not only did we get free wine tasting (there was also beer, but I just stuck to the wine), but we also got free food only for VIPers.  Inside the tent was the new Italian place that is opening next to the new STK, Cucina Asellina.  This Italian restaurant also had meatballs, but just as a tre tre by itself and this did not need ANYthing else.  They put some fresh grated parmesan on the top and I just dug in.  If you remember, previously, I called 246's meatball slider "sooooo goooood" but this meatball was soooooooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooood!!  Get the picture? Ha- get it...down below....

The last place we came upon was Three Sheets and at this point I could hardly walk up-right because I was so freaking full (not because of too much vino), but I pushed through for the the cherry on top.  Three Sheets had both grilled cheese sandwiches and deviled eggs.  I mean who doesn't like grilled cheese, and I could probably down half a dozen deviled eggs in one sitting, so I thought this was a pretty good ending to a delicious day.  This deviled egg wasn't any kind of deviled egg; it was a truffle deviled egg.  Nuff said!  The sammie was an applewood smoked cheddar grilled cheese that was creamy and crisp.  

All and all I thought the food was pretty good this year.  I did feel there were more restaurants last year, but I still walked/slouched away full and happy as a clam.  Hopefully next year Cadillac, the best car dealership EVER, will be doing the free VIP tickets next year and we can all go for free!

Shrimp and Grits

One of my favorite southern dishes is shrimp and grits.  I didn't always like or even understand the concept of the dish, but I have grown to love it and have finally decided to make it.  The first time I heard of the dish was many years ago when my parents were throwing a dinner party.  As always it was craziness in the house before the guests arrived.  People were yelling, pots were clanging, and I was sitting there confused over this shrimp and grits mixture.  My step-dad, Jack, was the chef for the night, and he was such a great cook.  He was more of a throw-something-together-sort-of-using-a-recipe kind of chef, and he used his creativity to make great meals, but in return, left the kitchen a huge mess, which did NOT make my mom a happy camper.  Thank goodness kitchens have doors and none of the guests had to witness this debacle!  (I believe I learned all my cooking attributes from that smart, crazy man)  I remember hearing that we were having shrimp and grits for dinner and being so confused.  "Why would you eat grits that you eat for breakfast with shrimp?!"  I did not understand it and being the picky, stubborn child I was, I did not eat it.  Years later, though, I have learned to love this dish, and now I think of this moment every time I eat shrimp and grits and think how I missed out on one of Jack's great meals (lesson for all those picky eaters out there!)

So now here I am wanting to spread the love of this special southern meal with this recipe.


Grits
3 cups of milk
1 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 tablespoon of butter

1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits

1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan

1/3 cup of mozzarella or  any other type of cheese (I also use Gouda)

Shrimp

5 slices (or 10 whatever your preference) of bacon

1 pound of shrimp

1 cup of thinly sliced onion

2 cups of grape tomatoes halved

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon of sriracha

Start off by making your creamy, cheesy, delicious grits!  Mix the milk, water, salt, pepper, and butter and bring to a boil.  Keep an eye on the milk and stir occasionally as the milk will stick to the bottom of the pan when it starts to cook.  Once the milk has started to boil, stir in the grits slowly and turn the heat down to low.  Let the grits cook for about 5 minutes and stir in the cheese until it melts.  I like my grits super cheesy, so you can add as much cheese as you like.  Just be careful with the salt content because the more cheese you add the more salty the grits will become. 

Now comes the best part! BACON!  Cook your bacon in a big fry pan and take in that yummy smell of cooked bacon.  I like mine pretty crispy especially for this dish, so I cook mine for about 7 minutes on the first side then flip and cook for about another 3 minutes on the other side.   Once cooked, take out the bacon and crumple it all into pieces and set it aside for later.

Pour out the bacon grease (but not into your sink, duh), but leave about a tablespoon in the pan because....you will be cooking your shrimp in that heart healthy grease!  Add your shrimp to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side and then set aside the shrimp.

Now add your sliced onions and halved tomatoes to the same pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender.  Add the garlic and cracked pepper and cook for another minute.  Now add the shrimp and bacon back to the pan and pour in the sriracha.  I like my shrimp pretty spicy, so I tend to add about 3 squeezes of the hot sauce (real technical measurements here) until I taste enough spice.  Only cook until the shrimp are warmed up because you don't want to over cook them.  Now just spoon the shrimp mixture over your yummy grits and you are ready to chow down! 

  

I hope you enjoy and maybe you too will now think of my step-dad whenever you eat this dish!  Go Jack!

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Local Three

This week my friend, Sophia, from Birmingham was in town for work, and as we both love to eat, I got to pick out a restaurant for dinner while she picked up the tab using that wonderful corporate AmEx.  I always turn into a 5 year old kid in a candy store when I get to choose a restaurant for dinner even if I'm not even going!  I am just happy someone I know will be enjoying great food that I have been eager to try myself.  So I went through my list of places I have yet to visit and we finally decided on Local Three!  

Local Three is owned by Chef Todd Mussman and Ryan Turner of Muss & Turners in Vinings and Chef Chris Hall, who coincidentally grew up on my old street Peachtree Battle Avenue! They focus on all things southern and even have a whole Bourbon section in their drink menu.  I mean you can't get more southern than that!  

The restaurant was in a bit of an odd location I thought.  I found it on the bottom floor of some random luxury condos off of Northside Drive near West Paces.  You walk into a very modern lobby and turn the corner to see this wooden, speakeasy looking door that was so unexpected.  I almost couldn't even find the door handle! So I made my way into this hidden place and played with the toys in the basket on the floor which I guess is meant for kids, but we found them quite entertaining for the little wait we had.

We started off the night with some delicious deviled eggs, again, so southern.  They were dusted with paprika and little bacon bits which just added a great crunch to the softness of the eggs.  It had me at bacon, duh.  Next, we ordered the boiled peanuts that caught the apple of Sophia's eye when we were previewing the menu earlier that week.  They were perfectly salty and hot and they just added to the southern feel of our meal thus far.  Too bad we didn't have a bourbon drink, but I think that might have just put us over the edge, and her and I would have started screaming "Roll Tide!" and "Go Dawgs!", respectively.

For my main course I chose the pork chop that came with roasted potatoes and swiss chard all immersed in a cipollini onion agrodolce sauce.  Agrodolce is a sweet sauce, which in this case, was made from caramelized cipollini onions.  I thought the sauce had a great taste especially with the pork, but I did think it became quite sweet as I kept eating especially the swiss chard since it was underneath the pork on the plate and had soaked up a lot of the sauce.  The chop itself was insanely huge! I swear the thing was 4 inches thick and was the size of my head, but the other amazing part was how tender and juicy the meat was.   For a piece of meat that size, I would think it's rather difficult getting it perfectly pink in the middle while not over cooking the outside, but I have to say this was a finely cooked pork chop.  Due to the enormous size of this steroid chop, needless to say I did not even come close to finishing the plate, and I made a whole 2nd meal of it the next day!  They don't call me frugal for nothin people!

Sophia chose the almond crusted flounder for her main course which was served atop a spinach and sunchoke risotto with yellow beans to top it all off.  Of course I tasted her dish!  The fish was fluffy and the crust on the outside was not too dried and hard.  The risotto was so creamy and went well with the almond crunch.  I don't think I paid much attention to the menu because the whole time we were eating our entrees I though the yellow beans were very long skinny versions of some ziti pasta, so when I reached over to grab what I thought would be pasta, I was shocked when it was actually a veggie!  That is such a strange feeling when you eat something thinking it is one thing and it is actually something totally different.  Even if the taste is so familiar, your taste buds and brain are so confused you cannot think what you could have possibly just put in your mouth.  Is that just me? Anyone? Oh well, on to dessert!

While I wasn't really thinking we would be getting a dessert, Sophia just happened to be eavesdropping at another table and heard some mention of a snickers bar as a dessert choice.  As I love me some snickers which is proven at every Halloween when I buy a bag of them and use the holiday as an excuse and I have no children to blame the empty wrappers on, we both decided we would have to get this dessert.  If you're a big Top Chef fan such as myself, you probably have heard them utter the word, "deconstructed," from time to time.  If I were Padma, I would have to say this would probably count as Local Three's version of a deconstructed Snicker's Bar.  It was simply amazing.  The outside consisted of chocolate mousse with a dark chocolate inside and caramel sauce and candied peanuts on the plate.  Once you got all the components on your fork it tasted like a gourmet freaking snickers bar!  Incredible.  Brought me back to the CVS where I get my $3 bags of those mini candy bars. Good times.

All in all this was a great experience.  We had good service, good food, and good wine and it was so great seeing my girl who also loves to eat as much as I do!