VallieBee's Profile
Emory University - Closeby Choices
LOVE Community Q! They use locally-produced meat, their mac & cheese is the ridiculous bomb and they also have seasonal, local sides (including the kickass "kitchen sink salad") every day. Big, big fan.
A better, walkable option for breakfast is Rise & Dine, right across from the Emory campus. It's a little like eating in an Anthropologie store with the happy retro decor and hipster servers, but their sweet potato pancakes are awesome, they have good chicken sausage, they do breakfast sandwiches AND they have killer iced coffee with free refills!
Regarding transportation - look into the Emory Cliff shuttle busses (I don't know the schedule, but I've seen it pick up students from the grocery store well after dark). Last I knew, they were free for anyone and they take all around the area, including near Community Q & Bhojanic and into downtown Decatur (where Cakes & Ale, Leon's Full Service, Brick Store Pub, Sawickis, Farm Burger are). You don't need to rent a car. Cliff and a cab back, if necessary.
Have fun!
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Cakes & Ale Restaurant
254 W Ponce De Leon Ave, Decatur, GA 30030
Bhojanic
1363 Clairmont Road, Decatur, GA 30033
sandwiches decaturish
Strong ditto on Sawickis. Their sandwich menu is online, and they always have several specials on the board. My two favorites are the prosciutto, parmesan and arugula on a baguette and the Mediterranean, which is roasted chicken, hummus, veggies and a "salsa verde" of capers, parsley, olive oil, etc. on ciabatta. The cold Italian sandwich looks awesome, too. Lynn (the owner) is a lovely person, and it's a great little shop.
If you're around Kirkwood, check out Le Petit Marche. Also, I kinda dig Dave's Cosmic Subs near Emory. No frills, dumpy place decorated with psychedelia, but they have something like 40 sandwiches on the menu, and I've been happy both times I went. Not sure what brand of meats they use, though. Also hear great things about the Mercantile. And frankly, the sandwich counter at the Candler Park Market has made me happy in the past.
Enjoy your extended stay and your sandwiching!
Chez Panisse Cafe - RANT
I live in the Atlanta area and visit the Bay Area often. Last year, I went to Chez Panisse for the first time. We went for lunch, and I don't recall and don't feel like looking up whether it was the restaurant or cafe (cafe, I think?), but it was upstairs. I'd been looking forward to the visit for months. And, it was lovely. The space was beautiful, our server was friendly and helpful and efficient and cool, I was happy with my wine and every course (we were a later seating and they did run out of the entree that most appealed to me, and all but one of the items left featured a prominent ingredient that doesn't appeal to me, so I ended up with most excellent homemade sausages). It felt like a pilgrimage.
But I wasn't "wowed" and I wanted to be. When I talked to my travel and dining companion about it, I realized the reason. At the time, I was several months into being very involved in my local food advocacy community and had been fortunate enough to attend many events featuring top chefs from my region putting their best foot forward. Frankly, the multi-chef , all local ingredient dinner at a conference I attended wowed me more than my meal at CP.
But it wasn't their fault - CP did nothing wrong. To me, it was just that they're not the only game in town (or in the country) anymore. By doing and promoting what they do so well, they've made it possible for so many others to follow suit. And while that accessibility to fresh, local, lovingly prepared "gourmet" food is a gift to people all over the country, it means anyone who wants to be "wowed" can be in their own backyard, or at least within a short drive, and at a variety of price levels.
So, I'd absolutely go back. But I'd also be just as (or more) likely to check out a new restaurant headed by a chef who was inspired by the groundwork laid by CP.
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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Atlanta/ local sources of grass fed, pastured, humanely and sustainably raised meat and dairy.
Riverview Farms' grassfed beef and Berkshire pork (everything the pigs eat is organic and grown on the farm) is available on Saturdays at Peachtree Road Farmers Market and Morningside Farmers Market (they also have a meat CSA - check their web site for details), and also on Thursdays at the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market. Tink's Grassfed Beef and Darby Farms (chicken) are often at the Wednesday afternoon farmer's market in downtown Decatur. White Oak Pastures is also a local producer of grassfed beef, and I've seen it for sale at Whole Foods, Sawickis in Decatur, Kroger and Publix.
need Perimeter area recs
I never went to Wasabi House and now wish I had - will keep it in mind for next time I'm up that way.
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Wasabi House
5500 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd Ste 31, Atlanta, GA 30338
need Perimeter area recs
Yay! I have warm fuzzies from helping to save you from potential food hell. Glad you had good experiences!
Best espresso in downtown?
"Downtown" isn't specific enough here, but I'm going to read it to mean, "I'm staying in the hotel district around Peachtree Center and don't have a car at my disposal". If that's the case, I work down here and there isn't much for non-chain coffee in walking distance. If I want good coffee, I walk down to the Sweet Auburn Curb Market and get it at Cafe Campesino, which just has a few little tables. Lovely people, fair-trade coffee, I'm addicted to their iced coffee, and the market is an interesting place with lots of lunch options. But it's not especially "businessy" and is a solid several blocks from the hotel district. I noticed a sign at the Ellis Hotel yesterday stating they have a coffee/breakfast bar inside featuring some brand from Seattle I hadn't heard of. It's a boutique hotel with a quality restaurant (Terrace), so maybe they have the setup you need. Otherwise, it's the land of Starbucks and Corner Bakery.
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Peachtree Cafe
99 Jeff Davis Rd, Thomaston, GA 30286
need Perimeter area recs
Will you have a car or be using hotel shuttles and/or public transit? Perimeter is chain restaurant hell, but there are a few gems (and frankly, when I worked up there, I went to Chipotle quite a bit - love it despite it's chain-ness). Assuming you can get around, my other favorite lunch places were:
C'OM Dunwoody Vietnamese Grill (in the Dunwoody Village shopping center): very fresh Vietnamese bun (rice noodle) dishes with excellent char-grilled meats. I always got the pork bun, my friend always got a dish with grilled meat and flat rice noodles that was also excellent. Papaya salad and spring rolls are also lovely.
Alon's Bakery (across from Perimeter Mall, behind the Exxon gas station - you can't miss it) is an upscale bakery/sandwich shop/deli - amazing sandwiches, prepared foods, cookies and other baked sweets. Basically it's a European-style market, you can get a beer or small bottle of wine from the cooler and decent prepared food to microwave in your hotel room if you don't feel like going out.
East 48th Street Market - this is way over in deeper, darker suburban Dunwoody, but it's a lovely little Italian market with amazing sandwiches, house-made mozzerella and sausage, as well as a nice selection of Italian grocery products.
5 Seasons Brewing at Roswell and 285 has fantastic beer and food (not exactly cheap, but not over the top either, and worth it for quality/local business support).
You're just a couple exits away from Buford Highway (I'm sure there are threads about it on here somewhere where you can do your research), where there are miles of authentic Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Salvadoran, insert-ethnicity-here-an restaurants.
If you have a free evening and need to ditch the mall area, use MARTA to go to downtown Decatur and have dinner at Watershed or Leon's Full Service and beers at the Brick Store.
Have fun!
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5 Seasons Brewing
5600 Roswell Road (The Prado), Atlanta, GA 30342
Short Notice Atlanta Trip!!!
Not sure I have much to add - looks like a lot of good food is already being suggested for such a short trip! But I will say that I had some amazing gazpacho at The Porter last night, and I coveted a scallop-creamed corn app somebody else ordered - they do some fun specials, and I love their local-food focus. Bhojanic is fantastic (though you will have to drive there - not far, just not near easy transit), and a bonus is that they have a shop next store where you can purchase Indian spices, sauces, etc. for an at-home fix, since you seem to live in an Indian-food-free zone.
Ditto on the thought that you can't really kill a WHOLE day in L5P. One really cool, close and free thing to do is visit Oakland Cemetery (and actually, Ria's Bluebird, another great breakfast joint, is across the street, and you can also walk to the Cabbagetown Market from there). It's beautiful, tons of history, great city views and there's no end to the cool photos you can take there. If you do decide to ride MARTA, take it to downtown Decatur, which is totally walkable and the site of the other beer bars that were mentioned.
Oh, and if you're shopping, check out Youngblood Gallery on Highland (right next to Cafe di Sol, a few blocks from L5P) for cool stuff from local crafters.
Have fun!
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Bhojanic
1363 Clairmont Road, Decatur, GA 30033
Cafe di Sol
640 North Highland Ave., Atlanta, GA 30306
