Archive | March, 2011

Albert Hall Tavern- Back for Brunch

9 Mar

Yes… I am writing another post about Albert Hall Tavern.  I can’t let new meals come up and not try them!

We managed to get there to try their brunch.  I was hoping a bit for some bumped up, fancy brunch choices.  But it’s mostly just the classics here.  Here’s the menu:

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Then they have a number of items from their dinner menu.

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Mike chose to get the smoked salmon bagel, which came with capers and smoked cream cheese.  The salmon was REALLY fresh and full of flavor.

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They had no fried potatoes of any kind (bummer), so we split my second favorite hangover brunch food… a side of the bacon (extra crispy).

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I got the eggs benedict with Canadian Bacon and “tomato hollandaise.” I’m not sure what made the hollandaise tomato, but it was good.  And the ham and eggs were cooked perfectly.  I wish it were served on a potato pancake, but that’s probably just my incredible fascination with fried potatoes during brunch.

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Albert Hall Tavern is one of the very few places in the neighborhood that do all-day brunch.  It has a lot of classic items, and while I like a little more panache in my brunch, this was still a very good classic brunch menu with well cooked comfort food.  (I just wish they had damn good potatoes! Or something like The Heap from Thumbs Up Diner.  I feel like Chef Bill could do a damn good heap)

Atlanta Nomming: R. Thomas Deluxe Grill

7 Mar

My last Atlanta Nom with Mark and Sara took us to R. Thomas Deluxe Grill.  I was amused to see that the owner loved parrots so much that he had cages of them around his restaurant…

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His entrance…

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His waiting area…

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And on his menu.

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He was definitely a parrot fan!  The story as I remember it was that this place was originally very small, but grew so much in popularity that they wound up putting a (very green) tent with heat lamps outside for the patrons.  The tent was so green that it actually made everything inside glow green.

 

 

It was a pretty cool space.

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I started with the “Blue Moon” Yerba Mate (which was free with a Four Square special!)  It tasted like it could cure just about anything, and was delicious to boot!

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Mark went with the french toast (which was buttery and delicious).

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With the smashed potatoes and (delicious) gravy.

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Sara showed more great self control and got the seaweed salad.  (Man I wish I could eat like that!)

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I went with the Benedict Thomas.  It was on nine grain toast (that was way too tough to cut through, sadly) and homemade hollandaise (which was missing something).  I got it with ham which was delicious, and the poached eggs were perfect.  I wanted to like this more.

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I even tried to get an action shot!

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Sara ordered a slice of the vegan cake (which was HUGE!) and I was shocked that not only was it good for vegan dessert, it was just good!

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Overall, I think this place was fun, but they could definitely use a little influx of seasoning.  And the parrots are fun.

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Total Nom Points: 5.5 out of 10

Atlanta Nomming: The Vortex

4 Mar

By the time we ended up here…

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I was shocked my stomach was still holding up and I knew I would probably put on 10 pounds in this weekend.  Atlanta can eat!

So what was this crazy place? The Vortex Bar & Grill.

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They are known for their burgers and crazy attitudes.  They actually have so many awards that they had to start decorating the ceiling with them.

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Their menu is quite humorous and is worth reading.  They have rules that sound like The Soup Nazi has gone to hell and started making burgers.  Enjoy:

The decorations were like TGI Fridays… also in hell.  And the entire place glowed orangey red from the lights.

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We were STARVING by the time we made it through the hour+ wait, so we started with some sweet potato fries.  They came with a spicy sauce and a marshmallow sauce.  Marshmallow sauce!

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And THEN we found out they had sweet potato TATER TOTS!  Mmmm tots.

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I’m pretty sure this was the Hell Burger… with a roasted jalapeno on top.  I stayed FAR away from this.

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I went with the Yokohama Mama burger, which had teriyaki glaze, melted jack cheese, and a grilled pineapple.  I think the combo of meat and pineapple is always fantastic.

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And it was cooked just a little past medium… but still was VERY juicy.

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Overall, you go to the Vortex because of the atmosphere… but the burgers are damn good too.  It wasn’t the burger heaven I found just a few days prior at Flip, but it was still well worth the wait.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10