Archive | February, 2011

Atlanta Nomming: Majestic Diner

28 Feb

In what can only be described as an evening of epicness, I wound up at The Majestic Diner at 3am.  I was told it was an Atlanta staple for late night “if I go home now I’ll be too hungover in the morning” grub.  I think this place defines greasy spoon.

The menu was simple with things like fried eggs, fried potatoes, and toast…

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Scrambled eggs and sausage…

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A cheesy version of the potatoes…

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And my unfortunate order, the fried potatoes (bland and under cooked), poached eggs (bland and under cooked), and corned beef hash (tasted gritty… and bland… though thankfully not under cooked).

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I get why this place exists in a city that isn’t in New Jersey (where diners are a staple of everyday life), but honestly, it was AWFUL.  I think I would have preferred the hangover.

Total Nom Points: 3 out of 10


Atlanta Nomming: Serpas

25 Feb

After completing some client meetings (and a great client lunch at JCT Kitchen & Bar, which unfortunately I didn’t photograph to avoid the uncomfortable situation of whipping out the camera in front of clients I am meeting for the first time), I met up with my college roommate, Vicki, for dinner.  She was excited to bring me to Serpas, as it was one of the best meals she had in Atlanta.  Their tag line is “True Food” and it focuses on approachable, fresh food that is made with care and attention.

The space was a cotton storage facility originally and they did a great job customizing the space so it was big, well designed, and yet not overly noisy.

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Their menu changes daily:

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I wanted to order almost this entire menu!

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We started with the tuna tartare.

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The eggplant hushpuppies.

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And I narrowed down my app choice to crispy pork rillette.  Delish!

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Orders included the stuffed chicken breast…

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The jumbo sea scallops…

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The veal porterhouse…

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And I chose the braised beef short rib.  It was supposed to come with chile creamed spinach and whipped potatoes, but I got the sweet potato puree instead.  This fell apart and had amazing flavor.  The sweet potatoes went SO well with the meat that I’m surprised this wasn’t the normal combo.

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Unfortunately, there wasn’t much food sharing… but it was scarfed down so fast that I know people enjoyed it.  I wish I had room for dessert to test it out, but I can say that my short ribs were good enough to want to go back in a heartbeat.

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10

 

Museum of Sex “Awaken Your Senses” Event

23 Feb

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the “Awaken Your Senses” event at the Museum of Sex.  It was touted as being a night filled with food and fireman.  Sold!  I invited That Lori of Stuff I Ate to join me.

WARNING: If you are too young or too easily insulted to be reading a post made about an event in a sex museum, please come back tomorrow when I promise more innocent posts will come up (though I can’t promise no cursing).  This also applies to anyone who may get nervous at the site of sculptures of private parts… Oh yeah… you can Where’s Waldo some interesting things in the pictures that follow.

I had been to the museum before (it’s a fun trip) but was excited to see an event they put on.  I was a bit late, so most of the fire fighters were already off of their calendar signing posts.

When we walked in, there was no sign, no greeting… just a table of food and people milling about. I would have loved some direction or a welcome, but we made do.

Funny thing… I wound up focusing so much on the food that I pretty much forgot about the firemen and only got one picture of them in the room!  (You can see the official pictures of the event at this link)

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The first food stop were truffles made by Mimi Truffles.

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This first bite (a spiced chai truffle) was the best thing I ate all night!

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The red velvet ones were pretty damn good too!  (Though they were both more like cake balls than truffles)

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(And made for some fun photography)

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The next set of desserts was brought to us by Michael Allen.  They had quite the spread of truffles, macarons, and other delectables.  I wasn’t overly impressed with this side of the table.

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I LOVE macarons, but these were a bit underwhelming (and the texture just didn’t have the snap that I have come to love for the cooking with the marshmallowy inside and filling)

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The left side of the display (all the way in the top left of the pic below), however, included mini canelés that were awesome.  Simply awesome.

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Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery had a display of wasabi cupcakes (that I avoided like the plague… NOT a wasabi fan) as well as the chocolate explosion bomb thing which was cake and mousse and something.  I was totally underwhelmed.  And obviously I didn’t care enough to photograph it.  So I had to end on a good note and get another chai truffle.

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Lori and I made our way downstairs to go to the bathroom and I had to giggle when I entered. I took EXTRA long and exploded in a fit of giggles as I exited and Lori looked at my quizzically.  How can you not giggle when a sex museum has a chalk board for people to write on in the bathroom?

I even left her a message:

And then she left the world a message:


(It’s true… we do)

Just outside the bathroom is a bar that JUST opened called “Oralfix”

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I liked the lamps…

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It was very modern looking.

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With a menu focused on aphrodisiac flavors.

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I also liked the tip jar…

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We opted for wine (people were milling with drinks that looked specific to the event, but we couldn’t find them… so we bought ourselves each a glass of Sexy Wine Bomb… not awful)

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I can only imagine what these are…

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As we were leaving, we perused the gift shop which included some notable books.

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And some fascinating stuffed animals…  (please… please read the tag and notice how they spell “Rabbit”)

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I wasn’t quite sure what a smoking labbit had to do with sex… then I turned it around…

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And that… my friends, is where I end this post.