Archive for September 28, 2010

My Trashy City Part 2

September 28, 2010 ashley What the *^#@?, Yadda Yadda

I am in a horrid mood today.  So, I figure I will take my wrath out on the City of Atlanta and The State of Georgia and many of its residents for the amount of trash being thrown out on our streets.

This past weekend, East Lake Golf Club sponsored the Fed Ex Cup of the PGA Tournament.   Many many people were “bussed in” from Turner Stadium to East Lake for the tournament- and what did they get to see?  They got to see loads and loads of trash coming onto and off of the Maynard Terrace Exit of I-20.  It makes me sick.   The PGA brings millions of dollars into this city and state and this is what we have to show for it.  Bravo, Atlanta.  Bravo.

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52 Weeks of Drinks: Week 39-Holeman & Finch Public House

September 23, 2010 alison 52 Weeks of Drinks, Bars

We mustered up the energy this week to head to Buckhead’s Holeman & Finch.  We ate-up yummy house-cured meat and cheese, fried pickles, mussels, deviled eggs, and dessert, plus all sorts of other things.  Had we known Seam and Jennifer were going to pick up the tab, we would have exercised more restraint.  I swear we ate half the menu.

Oh, and the drinks!  We loved this bar.  All of the cocktails are served in hand-washed glasses by bar tenders wearing vests and ties.  We are suckers for bars with bartenders who dress up.  (Evan looked especially handsome as you can see.) The cocktail menu was seasonal and featured lots of nice bourbon drinks mixed with just the right balance of citrus flavors.  We really enjoyed the staff here – especially Dawn Marie (Misty Dawn…) – who gave us excellent recommendations for drinks and nibbles.

I opted for the Pig-Pik Sour consisting of Bulleit bourbon, Marie Brizard apry, Regan’s orange bitters, tamarind, lemon, and smoked egg white.  It also had a home-made bacon salt rim.  De-li-cious.  I felt confident that anything on this cocktail menu would have been yum. My ratings:

Presentation: 4 of 5 Olives.  All drinks are served in appropriately sized crystal clear glasses.  This one came is a tiny little rocks/low ball glass.  The bacon-salt rim was a nice touch and the custom ice-maker allows for perfectly square cubes that look home-made.  A little egg-white on top – but nothing too crazy.  No need to add an umbrella to this baby.

Taste : 4.5 of 5 Olives.  I’ve said it before – I don’t drink much Bourbon, but a finely crafted bourbon cocktail with a nice balance of sweet and citrus can’t be beat.  This was a nice one – an orange citrus balance to the bourbon that was not too strong and smoothed out with the smoked egg white.

Creativity 5 of 5 Olives: Unless the Pig Pik is some sort of southern classic that I missed because I rarely drank bourbon before this journey, I thought this was a unique combination if goodness.

Overall – 4 of 5 Olives:  Get it.  Drink It.  You will like it.

Jennifer (pictured below toasting all of our readers) chose the La Huevadora which consisted of Cazadores Blanco tequila, Frangelico, grapefruit, lemon and egg white.  Her rating is below:

“Presentation:  4 olives.  La Huevadora comes in a petite sculpted tulip-shaped wine glass.  Creamy butter yellow at the bottom and white frothy foam on top.  Bellisima!

Creativity:  4 olives.  It was my first drink made with egg white, so I’m very impressed with the creativity.  The drink also had the right balance — I smelled tequila and I sort of tasted the tequila like Goldilox, in just the right amount.

Taste:  3.5 olives.  I’m torn over this rating.  I thought it tasted great, but in addition to smelling tequila, I could also smell egg.  I don’t know if that was the drink or if I smelled it from food around me, but I associated it, perhaps unfairly, with the drink.  The citrus was a nice touch to the drink, but it also wasn’t overly acidic like I would have expected it to be.

Overall: 4 olives.  I would drink this drink again.  It was smooth, it was pretty, it was Huevos.”

Certainly we will be back and if you have not tried this place, GO NOW.

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52 Weeks of Drinks: Week 38 – Empire State South

September 15, 2010 ashley 52 Weeks of Drinks, Restaurants

This hot new restaurant is the place to be from what I hear.  Just opened by Hugh Acheson of Athens fame, Kristen and I decided to go spend an evening at the bar.  (Alison had a dinner scheduled with Trenton at the same place.)  Before I go into the drinks, I will say a couple of things about the restaurant/food.  It is obvious that the southern farm to table movement is alive and well in Atlanta.  The “let’s use regional produce” for our meals is wonderful and quite frankly should have been started years ago.  But I digress.

Empire State South (at this point) has got nothing new. In fact, other restaurants (like Wisteria for instance) just rock it so much more in taste.  I will be burned at the stake for those sentences above and maybe Kristen and I just did not get some of the best menu items.  ( The scallops for example were chewy and had no flavor until I put a crap ton of ground pepper on them.)   Although, I will say the collard greens were the best I have ever had in a restaurant.  Either way, we weren’t chomping at the bit to come back and neither were our other peeps who were there at a separate table.

Okay, enough of the food.  This is about the DRINK.  We ordered a few to taste (we did not actually drink all of them) but we will rate two of them: the Brown Derby and the A Martinez.  

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Trenton is reviewing the Brown Derby which consists of Bulleit Bourbon, fresh grapefruit, lemon, chamomile, and thyme honey.  Doesn’t Trenton look dapper in this photo?  His review is below:

“Presentation: 4 olives – a fun presentation of a new twist on a traditional “suh-than” bourbon drink.  With a great southern name like “Brown Derby,” you almost felt bad picking up this mint leaf laden drink while not wearing seersucker and watching a sunset on Sea Island.

Creativity: 4 olives – I questioned the ability to put fresh grapefruit in a bourbon drink and retain authenticity, but this drink balanced the tight rope between edgy and authentic.

Taste: 3 olives – The “Thyme Honey Simple” won the taste battle and provide a pleasant but not overpowering sweetness.  At the end of the day, the “Brown Derby” was a little too fruity for a bourbon drink, and not one you would recommend to your actual cigar loving buddies at a “derby,” but certainly enough fun for a carpetbagger to enjoy.

Overall: I give it a 4 olive overall rating!”

Kristen, as you can tell, did not like the A Martinez.  It was wayyy too orange bittery.  It truly tasted like bitter orange peel.  The A Martinez consists of Leopold’s Gin, Luxardo Marachino Liqour, Dolin Dry Vermouth, and orange bitters.

Presentation: 2.5 olives – Served up, the drink has a nice hue to it and came with an orange peel (that was not needed because it already tasted too much like orange peel.

Creativity: 3 olives -It sounds pretty creative, doesn’t it?

Taste: 1.5 olives. We won’t give it only one olive – but it came close.  We have had worse, but this just came across as too bitter (as I have said before.)

Overall: 2 olives – I’d not get it again or recommend it.  Sorry!

We certainly will be back to Empire State South.  And there is not doubt the restaurant will be fine even after my critical review.

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52 Weeks of Drinks: Week 37 – Universal Joint

September 7, 2010 ashley 52 Weeks of Drinks

A staple in our Oakhurst neighborhood, the Universal Joint is one of our favorite spots on a mid Saturday morning.   We especially love to split something and get a side of those amazing [tag]Universal Fries[/tag].  Oh, yum yum yum.  We usually sit at the bar on the weekend(s) since so many many many kids come to eat and frolic on the patio area.  But this past Saturday, it was so gorgeous, we decided to sit outside with the families.

One of the best things on the menu – and by far one of the best around – is the Universal Joint Bloody Mary.  Therefore, Week 37 of 52 Weeks of Drinks, is dedicated to this one amazing and delicious Saturday Morning delight.  As the UJ’s motto goes, “Drinks Well With Others.”

The UJ Bloody Mary consists of Absolute Peppar Vodka, a dash of olive juice, a dash of fresh lemon juice, (or lime juice depending on who is making it) Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix (the only kind anyone should EVER use) and is topped off with Guinness.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 3.5 olives.  I usually would give this a 4 olive rating, but Nancy jipped me on garnishes this week.  MOST of the time, I get olives, pepperoncinis, a lime wedge, and even sometimes like a pickled okra.  This Saturday, I only got one pepperoncini.  Blah.  It is served in a big ole pint glass and the rim is covered in celery salt. Yum.

Creativity: 3.5 olives. I mean, it is a bloody mary for lord’s sake – but the fact that they use Zing Zang rocks and topping it off with Guinness makes me happy.

Taste: 5 olives. Mere perfection – but always ask for Nancy or Eric to make it.

Overall: 4 olives. I know I don’t look hot in this photo, but I am enjoying my drink immensely.

GO GET ONE.

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52 Weeks of Drinks: Week 36 – Chez A and A

September 1, 2010 ashley 52 Weeks of Drinks

So, sue us.  We did not go get drinks anywhere fun and exciting this past week because we both went out of town to visit our loving families.  Therefore, we created one of our new favorites at home when we both got back in town.  We decided to review it and put it out there on the blogosphere world for all of you millions of readers to see.  And it is so easy to make.  Be careful, though.  More than one makes you a bit loopy.  Notice Brutus’s look after he has had a sip.  (He did not really drink any – although he looks as if he did.) I just wanted to put a photo of my big boy on here.

The classic French Gimlet is our new “make it at home for friends” favorite.  It comes from the St. Germain website and since St. Germain is all the rage, we chose this particular drink to make.  We choose vodka as our main liquor, but you can also use a nice gin.  It is basically, vodka, St. Germain, and fresh lime juice all shaken together nicely and served up. Potent and delightful!

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 4 olives. Only because we served them in these gorgeous retro glasses that Jules and Erika bought us.  Otherwise, I would have given it a 2 olive rating.

Creativity: 2 olives.  Vodka, St. Germain, lime juice.  Period.

Taste: 3.5 olives.  I think Alison has made them better before, but it was still wonderful.

Overall: 3.5 olives.  Easy classic drink to make at home for loved ones – not dogs.

Sorry so slack this week.  We promise to take you to a much better place next time.

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