Free Pasta, Xanax Not Included
It’s 9pm on Friday at Varuni Napoli, the five-year-old pizzeria across from Ansley Mall. Virtually packed when we arrived, its largely neighborhood crowd has already begun to thin out when someone begins shouti...
Meat and Three “Supper”
My father used to scream at me to “turn down that goddamn country music!” whenever I played Bob Dylan’s “House of the Rising Sun.” I’d scream back, “It’s not country music! It’s about a whorehouse!” This memory...
Mexican Must-Haves and Have-Nots
This week’s category is Mexican street food. I’ve got some news and reviews.Tuza is a newish taqueria in the Berkeley Park section of the Westside. The name confuses me. There is a tiny town in the Oaxaca s...
Cheap Eats, Strong Drinks
This week, we’re going to take a brief look at two restaurants. They are inexpensive and quirky. One of them will happily get you drunk.Feedel Bistro: This Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant is near the intersec...
Food for the Soul
How much do I hate the Food Network? Let me put it this way: The only time I’ve ever watched it more than a few minutes is when my mother was dying. She kept the TV in her room at a nursing home tuned to it 24/...
Baguettes on a Budget
You’ve probably noticed that Atlanta is in the grips of an explosion of French restaurants. I’m not altogether sure why this is, but I’m guessing it has to do with the city’s ever-louder, chest-pounding prosper...
Making Sweet Love
If your sweetheart has a sweet tooth and you want to make them squeal with delight, you’re in luck! Atlanta is blessed with a cornucopia of creamy baked confections to make anyone’s mouth water. Whether it’s do...
Atlanta’s Hidden Tamale Treasure
The last few weeks haven’t been fun. I had minor eye surgery followed by a stomach virus, followed by a cold of such ferocity that I began to wonder, “What would Jesus do?” Soon my nostrils and eyes cleared, I ...
Limp Fries and Sugar Highs
Many years ago, I used to hang out with Bill Cutler, a former academic who biked around the state and reported his adventures in restaurants for several publications. Maybe a year after his untimely death, I wa...
Son of a Bear: Where Spam is a Luxury
In my last column, I wrote positively about the new Ramen Station in the Larkin development in Grant Park. As it happens, the owners also recently opened a Korean gastropub called Son of a Bear in Decatur. I wa...
Eating My Words: A Very Merry Ramen Holiday
Cold weather has arrived, and that means you’ll be slurping a lot of ramen, the Japanese noodle soup that is absolutely everywhere these days. I dined last week at one of the newest venues in Grant Park called ...