The bad news when we got back from five days of walking six to ten miles every car-free day in Atlanta? I weighed exactly what I did the morning we flew off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good news? I weighed exactly the same even after the most indulgent lunches and dinners every damn day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So which tastes were most memorable? Not in any order, but: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014The house biscuits at South City Kitchen<\/a>, rivaled only by the perfectly rich and meaty she-crab soup and the perfectly fried, goat-cheese-stuffed green tomato slices + the Nashville hot fried chicken sandwich with pickles and white barbecue sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Roasted oysters at Miller Union<\/a>, and the blood orange mousse. (Also the white from the Canary Islands, despite the sommelier\u2019s warning it tasted \u201cmusty.\u201d TF?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014The signature crab fritter and the amuses (especially the oozy gougeres) and the cheese course of ribboned Parmigiano with black garlic-date oat cake at Bacchanalia<\/a> + the Banner Butter<\/a>, which they sent home along with our other unfinished food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Fake shrimp at Slutty Vegan<\/a> with A+ crinkle fries tossed with more than enough salt and spices. (The faux burger was also vaut le voyage from the MLK Park.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Parmesan polenta bites at Lucian<\/a>, where the omelet was also all it was cracked up to be (although pretty much what Bob had on the last night of our trip to Paris for 50th-birthday decadence when he couldn\u2019t face more foie gras). The place is more restaurant than bookstore, but we did score an amazing apple book. Which we gave to an applephiliac friend, so I can’t recall the name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Coleslaw and roasted oysters at the W.H. Stiles fish joint<\/a> in the Ponce City Market, which outshone our shared fried oyster po\u2019 boy (good but not up to best thing I ever put in my mouth in Lafayette, LA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Green papaya salad plus hamachi collar and sweet potato salad with crab at Talat Market<\/a>, in the awesome neighborhood of Grant Park, every bite of which made us marvel at and despair over how much mediocre Thai there is back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Marsh Hen Mill grits with bacon, Tuscan kale and tomatoes from Bob\u2019s shrimp order at White Oak Tavern<\/a>, our first lunch, where it was just a mystery how the server pegged us as not-from-around-heres when we had the tourism promo mag spread out on the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014The charcuterie board (deviled ham, smashed Spotted Trotter salami and Benton\u2019s smoked hog jowl) at the just-opened Holeman & Finch<\/a> + the bok choy with sherried shrimp butter and the roasted shiitakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Olive bread from the Saturday Peachtree farmers\u2019 market<\/a>. Which went especially well with that kittybagged Banner Butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We didn\u2019t have one meal that was bad. The one weak one was my fault, because I was so fried from all the walking that I insisted we go to a place close to our Sonder<\/a>. A place near all the downtown hotels, and on a Saturday night. And despite the stressed servers and the cleanliness issues with wineglasses, it was far better than it had any right to be. The grouper ($36, but good luck finding that in NYC!) was grilled right, as was the accompanying (woody) asparagus, and the wedge salad was as good as any back home. Mints at the host stand shoulda been a warning, tho\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and the hed? This must-experience<\/a> in the most American city right now. I couldn’t do it, but it includes a simulation of a lunch counter where you can get a sense of how brutal the assaults on students trained to protest nonviolently really were. Not for nothing is there a box of tissues at the exit of just that exhibit. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bad news when we got back from five days of walking six to ten miles every car-free day in Atlanta? I weighed exactly what I did the morning we flew off. The good news? I weighed exactly the same even after the most indulgent lunches and dinners every damn day. So which tastes were… Continue reading