Atlanta: "The Burger" at Holeman & Finch Public House

Spending a long weekend in Atlanta, the burger at Holeman & Finch was the one thing I had to try. Long on my "Official List of Burger Anticipation," (the OLBA is accepting 2011 submissions...) the H&F burger is a griddled, two patty monstrosity with everything except the American cheese and red onions made in house. Exactly my kind of burger.

There are two ways to get this burger: either fight through the hoards of people clamoring to get one of a handful of burgers at 10 PM exactly, or go for brunch, when the burger is on the regular menu. We ended up going for brunch after first failing miserably on a Friday night, when my buddy's girlfriend was nastily quoted a four hour wait. We sure showed them by showing up on Sunday morning shortly before their 11:30 AM opening and getting in line...

In the Hands of an Elusive Sichuan Master

There's no doubt that my search for the infamous Sichuan chef Peter Chang, who recently turned up in Atlanta, Georgia, was far less thrilling (and obsessive) than Todd Kliman's fascinating article in the Oxford American from last year. You should probably read his article before continuing with my post. Done? Ok, good. Maybe Calvin Trillin had a similarly dramatic adventure, but I wouldn't know, since his New Yorker piece is behind a pay wall. Anyway, Peter Chang's fabulous new namesake restaurant is set in what looks to be a country club dining room circa 1975. Hey it's Chinese food, I kid, but don't much care about the decor.

Somehow not only did I convince (connive?) four of my friends into joining me at Peter Chang's (none of them had tried Sichuan before), but they also trusted me enough to order the whole meal (after the round of wonton and hot and sour soups). Do you know how hard that is to pull off? I nearly abused that trust, but managed to order a solid introductory survey of Sichuan food (and asked for everything ma la and authentically prepared). How well that survey highlighted Chang's strengths, I'm really not sure. Regardless, we had an excellent and intriguing meal, making it all the more unfortunate that I'll probably never go back.

Indecisive in Atlanta: Pizza and Pupusas

This is Part 2 of The Great Roadtrip Series. Read Part 1 here.

Thursday night, we are starving after (just) eating Chick-fil-a at dusk. We pull into my friend James’ house around 9, but still need to eat dinner, buy beer and meet up with the rest of our former law school posse.  After too much debate, a decision is made to eat in-- or maybe pick up-- from a tacqueria along Buford Highway, but pulling into the parking lot, indecisiveness again overtakes us (due to earlier activities) and we freeze, panicked. Worry washes over me, should we wait to pick up? Don’t I want to see my friends ASAP? Will this place be any good? What if it takes forever? The waiters seemingly pleaded desperately to us from inside, mouthing “please... taste our tacos…" We are the only car in the parking lot, and the employees stare at us dejectedly as we drive off into the night.

The Great Roadtrip of 2010

It came together very quickly, but I'm excited to say that I will be taking a serious roadtrip with my younger brother between March 3-15th. We will be starting in Cincinnati, driving south down I-75 through Kentucky, Tennessee and into Atlanta for a night or two. I'm very familiar with this drive, but I'm debating taking a detour south of Knoxville to Benton's Bacon. There are also many, many delicious eats in Atlanta that I'll be revisiting.