S & P Hot Pot Restaurant, Lilburn GA

Surprisingly delightful, S & P isn’t the easiest restaurant to find. Tucked into a corner of the Burlington strip mall on highway 78, roughly across the road from Fisherman’s Catch, this may be the best new restaurant of the “no fanfare” variety I’ve found in a while.

In the mall with the Burlington store.

The inside is pretty. There are plenty of tables in this American-Caribbean hybrid, and sayings and art dot the walls of this attractive restaurant. Behind the counter is a flag of Jamaica, and patties and desserts are available on the countertop. There are at least two menus available here (and I’m guessing three), as I’ve had items off their breakfast and lunch menus.

Breakfast is a mix of American favorites and Caribbean specialties. You can get pancakes, or two eggs, or salt mackerel, if you wish. For breakfast I had their liver, and the mild, tasty meat was good enough to give me the “best thing I’ve eaten all week” vibes.

S & P’s liver. Genuinely tasty. Highly recommended.

Lunch offers a variety of appealing Caribbean items (jerk chicken, curries, goat, ox tail, jerk wing appetizers, etc). Their jerk is a wet jerk, with an aromatic beginning and subtle heat. In fact initially I thought it had no heat at all, and then it grew on me.

Jerk chicken, peas and rice, kale. All very good.

Staff are polite and pleasant. The food is good. It’s a small independent restaurant. This one is immediately in the conversation about best Caribbean near Snellville, and further, has to be considered in the “Top 10 spots to take a family” near Snellville.

S & P Hot Pot Restaurant
4051 Highway 78
Lilburn, GA 30047
(770) 676-9484

 

Post #850: Jimmy D’s New York Cafe, Lilburn GA

A newcomer to the area, hard to miss as you’re traveling down US 78, is the breakfast and lunch spot, Jimmy D’s New York Cafe.

The menu is smaller, as befits someone getting their feet wet. You can have bagels and french toast as typical breakfast items. More lunch like fare includes hot dogs, hot subs (meatball parmigiana and chicken parmigiana), spaghetti, chili, a variety of sandwiches, and a burger. You can get the sandwiches and the burger on a bagel roll, if you like.

New Yorker, toasted bread, cole slaw. Good sandwich.

Their product is good, but this is one eatery with a lot of competition (e.g. Paneras, Atlanta Bread, Summit’s, Jen’s NY Deli). Virtues it has are: sandwiches are neither tiny nor enormous, they have plenty of space, plenty of parking, and they are convenient to commuters on highway 78. I’m hoping folks find it and it gets off the ground. A good hot sub or reuben is worth some trouble.

Jimmy D’s New York Cafe
4111 Stone Mountain Hwy
Lilburn, GA 30047
(678) 395-6446

 

Snellville Farmer’s Market, 2013 edition

While many of my peers were at the Atlanta Food and Wine festival, I snuck out to this spot on the first day it opened.

Local farms attended.

Either there were fewer tents than in year’s past, or the tents were placed more compactly. I don’t recall open spaces in the first couple of these, though there was some open space towards the 78 side of the field this time. Again, the timing was not good, and folks who had become common sights in year’s past (e.g. King of Pops) were probably more focused on other competing events.

 

The Iberian Pig, Decatur GA

The Iberian Pig is a nice looking restaurant in Decatur, near the Marta station and along a row filled with good restaurants. We went on a day where we had no restaurant specifically in mind. We just wanted good food and the opportunity to be seated quickly. At Iberian Pig, they could seat us within 5 minutes if we could sit outside. Usually that’s the kiss of death for my wife’s asthma, but this day, she was feeling good enough that we managed.

We started with small dishes, were served only one main dish (my daughter’s cabrito carbonara), and otherwise just ate things that appealed. Things we enjoyed included fried eggplant, pork cheek tacos, some octopus (pulpo a la parilla), lamb ribs, and Iberian Pig’s asparagus. My wife had an arugula salad, and we also asked for bread, which took some time coming. By the time it arrived, my wife and daughter had grown bored and started wandering, as a King of Pops cart within a few feet had caught their eye.

pork cheek tacos.

pulpo a la parilla, a good tasting octopus small dish.

cabrito carbonara, a dish with shredded goat.

Overall, I’d say we enjoyed this meal. Service ranged from good to sensational at times. When Iberian Pig starts delivering food, you can have as many as 4-5 servers around your table. Our waiter was gracious and funny. Dishes ranged from good to superb (my daughter loved her goat dish). The restaurant is definitely a keeper, and I could easily see us coming back.

The Iberian Pig
121 Sycamore Street
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 371-8800

 

The Georgia Pine, near Snellville GA

Resurrected from the ashes of Gary’s Bistro, the sister restaurant to “Local Republic” has emerged with a pared down menu and a focus on locally sourced meats and produce. Staff tell me it’s been open about two months, and the chef of Georgia Pine, Scott Smith, has Local Republic roots.

I went for lunch on Mike “Gadget Geek” Stock’s suggestion. We met at the bar and moved to a table. He ordered a reuben, I ordered the trout special. As appetizers I ordered a pickle plate and Mike ordered octopus. I added an extra side, some collards.

pickles.

octopus.

One of the biggest reubens I’ve ever seen.

Trout special. Excellent fish, as good as anything I had in Savannah over the weekend.

Everything was good, no stinkers in the lot. The pickles were tasty and subtle, the octopus had a hint of spice to it. Collards were tender and hit the spot. My fish was as good as anything I had while near the Atlantic coast, and Mike’s reuben was the king of sandwiches, in terms of size.

I’m told the menu is a work in progress, so expect more changes. But what I’ve seen so far is promising, and gives me hope this restaurant will stand to the big three of this region (Local Republic, Graft, Three Blind Mice) and lose nothing in the comparison.

The Georgia Pine
1250 Scenic Highway, Suite 1240
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
(770) 978-1800

Note: Mike’s take on this meal can be seen here.

 

Beer options in Savannah, 2013

This is an area I’ll probably never complete in any real sense. Places like Churchill’s Pub, Kevin Barry’s, Molly McPherson’s Scottish Pub, and the Distillery pop up on “best of” lists with some frequency, but I never made it to their locations. Many of the eateries I have already reviewed (Dub’s Pub, The Cotton Exchange, B Matthews) have entirely functional bars. What we will be talking about briefly is Moon River, advertised as the only brewpub in town.

Moon River strikes me as a little troubled. The beer is good, the staff are notably indifferent to customers, sleepwalking through their jobs. Receptionists seem unable to find or see customer seating, even when it is in plain view. Bartenders forget to offer menus to customers. Staff are polite and cordial, but only that, and that’s really the issue here. No one wants to be the client in this old joke about Rogerian therapists.

I suspect staff issues in Moon River are new, as you can see a pattern of bad reviews, harping on staff, beginning in the spring of 2013 on Urbanspoon. It has gotten bad enough to affect the Urbanspoon ranking. A 74% rating is relatively low for an eatery with Moon River’s aspirations.

Moon River has a solid wit.

The drafts, such as they are, tend to be sweet. That’s probably an issue more for older drinkers than anyone else. Moon River wants to attract young drinkers. Who cares? If you need bitter, you can always try Moon River’s IPA. What I did try was their brown ale and their wit, both good solid beers.

The beer is good enough to recommend the restaurant. I’m hoping the staff issues are a passing phase, and not endemic to the restaurant itself.

Moon River Brewing Company
21 W Bay St
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 447-0943

 

Bangladeshi flavors – Biryani House, Lilburn GA

Biryani House is a small, neat Bangladeshi eatery just west of the Highway 29 – Indian Trail intersection in Lilburn, in a small strip mall south of the road, next to a halal grocer. This kind of small store is becoming a pattern along Indian Trail, and finding time to look into each one a little tricky. These are restaurants that, because of their small size, allow the patron a chance to get away from the steamed foods of Indian buffets. What you get here is freshly prepared. And if you have a preference – mild or spicy – places like this can accommodate you.

Biryani House features counter style service.

These are the ideal spots for chicken 65. Anything fried, that needs to be hot coming to the plate, will be best prepared in a South Asian restaurant of this kind. And the chicken 65 here did not disappoint.

A good chicken 65.

Unusual in this dish are the spices and aromatics that accompanied the meats. The spicing was relatively mild (even though I asked for spicy) but grew on you as you ate. This was one of the better chicken 65 dishes I’ve had in Atlanta, good enough to go back and order take out.

I had beef kabab as well, unusual in that they used whole meat instead of ground beef. Spices were found in a layer outside the meat. I didn’t know going in the restaurant was Bangladeshi, so I wasn’t expecting anything other than generic IndoPak foods. But I’ve been surprised with every dish I’ve tried so far – not a bad thing really.

Staff here are friendly, and easy to talk to. I had no problems asking for additional spice on my chicken 65, for example.

Biryani House
535 Indian Trail Road
Lilburn GA
(770) 638-1626

 

Initial Savannah notes, 2013

This Memorial Day we headed out to Savannah, not having been in ages (in fact, the last Savannah trip we took predates my last camera). It was an emotional necessity. After arriving, I pretty much ate and collapsed, sleeping hard almost all of the night. I want to compose my thoughts and offer specific suggestions in a couple follow up posts, but for now, I’m trying to sort through thoughts and such and talk about more general issues in terms of a Savannah trip.

Sights and sounds unlike most American cities.

If you’re looking for a cheap place to stay near Savannah, your best bet is out by the airport. Hotels close to River Street tend to charge around $200/day during the peak (summer) season. You can beat this in part by coming off peak (e.g. February and March), but I can’t promise you any bargains anymore. The inexpensive hotel I used to use is now a grassy field.

Of course, with a 4 hour drive from Atlanta to Savannah, Savannah is suitable for a one day tour. Drive in, fight for parking, and leave, either to home or parts north and south.

If you want places to eat that appeal less to the tourist and more to the foodie in you, the walk along Bay Street will be more accommodating than River Street itself. Yes, there are bargains along River Street but you have to look. Nice seafood places tend to run high 20s to low 30s for their fare, and after having great experiences in Tybee Island and indifferent experiences along the River (the Cotton Exchange being a welcome exception), best to save your seafood dollars for a jaunt towards the Island.

I highly recommend the Discovery Map rendition of Savannah, and you can get one in advance here. Don’t click on the state. The Savannah map is in the dropdown below. If you’re already in Savannah, you might check out Dub’s Pub, because that’s where I picked up my copy of the map. Another resource is the work of Michael Karpovage, a Roswell GA resident. His Savannah Historic District Illustrated Map“map of Savannah is available on Amazon.com.

Connect Savannah is a tabloid format publication that appears to mirror Creative Loafing in many regards. When we arrived their “Best of Savannah” issue was on the news stands. They have a web site, and “Best of Savannah” has a prominent place on their front page currently.

Almost completely over the top are the candy stores along River Street. If you have a child from age 6 to 60, it is very hard to resist Savannah’s Candy Kitchen or River Street Sweets. These have become must stops when we show, and when my daughter was little, she cried so hard when we were trying to leave, it took us another half hour to get home.

Yes, well known Atlanta foodies with small children, I’m waiting to hear about the response when your youngsters see the place.

The collection of children’s books here is phenomenal.

Bookstores: There is a spot called Books on Bay that deals in antiques. In particular, they are very interested in old children’s books and series. Things like old Oz books, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and to my once 12 year old mind, a surprisingly large collection of Tom Swift books of various and sundry kinds. I was a voracious reader of Tom Swift Jr and have always held a certain desire to read a few of Tom Swift Sr’s books. They have quite a few of these there. Yes, Grant Goggans, if you like comics, I suspect you could get lost in this store.

Biggest surprise in Savannah? In many respects, It might been Dub’s Pub, also called Dubs, a Public House. It was near where we were staying, easy to access via stairs and an alleyway. They are advertised on Urban Spoon as a gastropub, though it was hard to tell when we went. They were down to only tacos when I arrived. Their beer selections are good, however, and they sell beer flights. A flight is 5 different selections of beer, 4 ounces each, all for a reasonable price. I had never had Tybee Blonde before, and sandwiching that between a Bells and a Allagash wasn’t so bad at all.

Pork and shrimp tacos from Dub’s Pub. The shrimp, if I recall, had a delightfully spicy bite to it.

The tacos at Dubs were really good. The vibe is more that of an upscale sports bar, with some quality food. I didn’t eat enough to pass judgement on “gastropub or not”, but nothing I saw or had would lead me to think otherwise.

It was nice enough that on a quiet day, I’d not have any issue taking my family to Dub’s.

Savannah’s Candy Kitchen
225 East River Street
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 233-8411

River Street Sweets
13 East River Street
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 233-6220

Dubs a Public House
225 West River St
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 200-3652

PS – Savannah Red reviews Dubs in an article titled “Low Tide and Zombies at Dub’s Pub“.

 

The falafel at Shorty’s, Atlanta GA

Shorty’s was an impulse try one evening when my wife wanted something new in our repetoire. This is a restaurant whose reputation is heavily influenced by Jimmy, who reviewed it in Eat It Atlanta’s pizza tour. In his review of the restaurant he says:

Everything was in balance though. The dough wasn’t soggy. There was a noticeable amount of sauce. You could taste the mozzarella. And the pizza with toppings tasted fresh and didn’t weigh down the pizza.

I’m mentioning this now because this comment has set my expectations of Shorty’s for a while.

And having set the scene, I’m going to diverge for a bit and talk about Shorty’s plates. They have small plates, tapas inspired, and large plates. One of the large plates has 4 falafel and those caught my wife’s eye. Turns out, this was the best thing we ate that night.

Crunchy. Delightful.

The falafel were crunchy and delightful. The restaurant in general has a good eye for ingredients and tremendous creativity in terms of their various plates and pizza combinations, pizza names for that matter. What I have never been able to do is duplicate the eating experience as in the Jimmy quote above.

Great ingredients. Hilarious names. Ordinary crust.

What I get in a Shorty’s pizza (I’ve been three times, twice to the Tucker location and once to the Decatur location) is some crisp around the edges and a soggy mess in the middle. It’s frustrating. You get the impression they know about good crisp crusts, but the pizza chefs, when I’ve been there, couldn’t execute. In terms of quality, I’d say that Hearth Pizza Tavern has a better crust and is far more consistent. And it makes me want to do this to their pie sometime, to see if it’s recoverable.

So I recommend this spot with some cautions. The inventiveness and creativity of the menu makes it worth a trip, but be warned, I’ve yet to see the crust and pizza that Jimmy thought so much of.

Shorty’s Pizza
2884 N Druid Hills Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
(404) 315-6262

Shorty’s Pizza
3701 Lawrenceville Hwy
Tucker, GA 30084
(770) 414-6999

 

The fried rice at Iron Age

We had never had it before, even though Iron Age, the Korean BBQ with a sense of humor, has slowly become one of the options in Duluth for us. They take your left over meats and fold it into their rice mixture, and cook it right on the pan, on your own table. Once it starts, you can even see the rice steam.

Hints of steam coming off the rice can be seen in this photo.

Iron Age is truly a unique experience, and if you have daughters, they’ll appreciate the character of staff here. The non stop KPOP on the big screens doesn’t hurt either.