On The Scene: Grindhouse Killer Burgers on Piedmont Grand Opening

Oh Lawd I love me some burgers.

A member of the Atlanta burger elite, Grindhouse Killer Burgers, opened another location on Piedmont and had their grand opening party this past Sunday. If you're familiar with the other location (I could have sworn I posted about it before, but I guess I didn't), this one is way different from a logistics and layout perspective. More like an actual restaurant, not a burger counter.

Our participation in the grand opening party consisted of eating a bunch of awesome food (below), drinking several $3 beers and watching Tongo Hiti, my new favorite polynesian-surfy-loungey band from Atlanta. There was other stuff going on and after we left there was a burger eating contest. I didn't know there was going to be one, otherwise I would have prepared appropriately. Ever since the advent of Man Vs Food I've been looking for a good food challenge.

The entire feeling and concept of Grindhouse makes me fall in love. Maybe it's my affinity for off-beat styles or the marketing professional in me that's in love with the 'brand' they've created. I love everything about this place. Even the band, it fit perfectly with the vibe. Like a juxtaposition of the 'Grindhouse' movie concept. A chill loungey band grooving along like it's a 1970's horror flick and the main characters are riding a coastal road in California on their way to a gruesome ending. But at the last second, they stop in for a delicious burger and the killer misses them completely and chooses to attack some vegetarians instead. Everything turned out better than expected for our main characters this sunny day...so, yeah, as far as the idea of Grindhouse goes, I'm sold sold sold.

Appetizer. Cheesey Poofs. Deep fried pimento cheese. Holymotherofgodilovepimentocheese. And this was deep fried. Came with a sauce, I dipped one in, and it was good. I understand how it helps cut the sheer insanity of a giant ball of fried pimento, but I liked being over the top with mine.

I got the Grindhouse Style burger  (American Cheese, Grilled Onion, Lettuce, Pickles, Grindhouse Sauce) and instead of American cheese I got...Pimento. Seriously, I love pimento cheese. My wife had the Dixie Style (fried green tomato, pimento cheese, carolina cole slaw (diablo sauce on request)) and DAMN, it was good. I pride myself on making damn fine menu choices and this time she won the non-existent, but still sort of real in my head, competition.

It's obvious care goes into the burgers from start to finish. Here's a snippet from Atlanta Magazine on how the ingredients aren't accidents, the components of the burger are all very selected:

Brounstein obsessively researched the details for his burgers. The meat, freshly ground by a small North Carolina producer and delivered every day, consists of a secret blend of chuck and brisket. The bun (“very important”) is a soft potato roll made by a Pennsylvania Dutch bakery named Martin’s. The sauces are homemade. A fancy nickel-plated grill, shiny as a mirror, ensures that the patties cook evenly without sticking.

And then they wrap it all up, halfway, like a burgeritto. The presentation makes it obvious that these burgers are churned out with more love than surburban  burger darling, 5 guys.

I am a Vortex homer, I love that place and I have eaten there way more times than I can count. I am, however, about to become a father and you can't take kiddos into Vortex. So until my kid is 18 or I choose to go to Vortex on a kidless night, Grindhouse is my new ITP burger joint. I do have plenty love for both and an appetite for them to match.

cheesey poofs OMFG CHECK THIS

Poofed Cheese guts

GRINDHOUSE STYLE

DIXIE STYLE AND SOME BANGIN O' RINGS

Toasted and Tapped Brewery Restaurant in Flowery Branch

Snagged a $20 for $10 Groupon for this place a week or so ago and cashed it in on Friday. (Side note, Groupon type deals are all the rage nowadays. There's normally an ad for one of the companies in our sidebar. If you're not with Groupon yet, click here to sign up free. It's the jam.)

Toasted and Tapped is a brewery/restaurant in what I guess is considered downtown Flowery Branch. Heard about the place on a recommendation so I was jacked when the Groupon came through for it.
The building itself is in what looks like an old house with the front rooms converted into a brewery. All the guts of the beer operation are proudly on display as soon as you walk in. I've brewed some beer myself so this was intriguing enough on it's own. They brew a number of different beers in various styles on the premises. There were 3 available when we went 1. Big Bang Brew 2.Captain Eddy's and 3. Nutless Brown Ale. Lastly, on the beer side, I loved the smell of the place. It smelled like fresh beer. Delicious.

I had the Big Bang and Nutless Brown. Both were delicious...almost too good. Big Bang was a sweet malty brew and nutless brown is a sweet/sour brown ale. It didnt have the typical nutty taste of other brown ales, I guess it lived up to it's name. Next time I want to try their IPA and the 10oz pour Belgian. 

We showed up right after a big rush. Good and bad on that. They were out of some good looking appetizers, but we didn't have to wait or deal with crowds.

Food:
-Fried Zucchini app. - Pretty good, don't think I'd get it again.
-I had BLT Quesadilla - pretty good, very good house cut fries
-Wife got Burger Florentine - Very good. She had some preference about the spinach, but I can't really remember.

I'm bummed we missed out on  the full appetizer menu, so when you go make sure you show up early.

Big Bang Brew 4.8%abv

Nutless Brown Ale 5.5%

Will The Scalini's Eggplant Parmesan Throw My Wife Into Labor? (A follow-along case study)

Come close to your computer screen. I have something very private and graphic to tell you. Ready? OK.

There is a small child in my wife's stomach. And it technically shouldn't be there anymore. It's rather imperative that we get the child out, lest the 'authorities' will take said child out in a more aggressive manner. And nobody wants that.

And here's where we begin. Scalini's in Smyrna, GA has eggplant parmesan that is notorious for making women go into labor. They started a 'Bambino Club' for pregnant women that order the Eggplant. If you eat the eggplant parmesan and go into labor within 48 hours your baby is in the Bambino Club. They get a free shirt, picture on the wall and something else think. Maybe the newborn gets a free meal or something. 300 babies have been born as a result of this eggplant dish. I tried getting a total number of attempts so this process would be a little more scientific, but our server didn't know how many there were. Judging by the size of and number of names in the book they sign people up in, I'd be surprised if it was over 5%.

We went last night and gave the eggplant parmesan induction a shot. That was roughly 12 hours ago and there's been no action yet. I'll continue to update.

On the restaurant and food itself - if you're familiar with the Provino's restaurants around Gwinnett, this is essentially the exact same thing. Similar looking sign out front, similar decor, same looking menu and items, same food. There is a Provino's 5 minutes from our house so had we known it was the same thing, I'm not sure we would have gone. Provino's doesn't have a baby club or famous labor eggplant, so unless I really think the eggplant induces labor by itself, the extra drive was for novelty purposes.

Judging by all the graffiti on the walls, the section of booths we were in was in the cool section of the restaurant. My least favorite kind of graffiti was all over the place. It lacked art value and was mostly someone writing they loved their lover because the person before them wrote that they loved their lover. Many laughs were had as a result of these markings, for example, my wife asking me how long it would take to write 'sucks' after every single person's name. And then the awkwardness that one would feel if they brought a date there after they previously professed their love for a different person on the same booth.

 My wife obviously got the eggplant parmesan. I got Veal Diana, a veal and eggplant dish. Both were good. Like Provino's, the meal comes with unlimited garlic rolls and salad. The first set of rolls we got felt old and tasted way too salty. Second batch was much better.

Here's the aftermath of my veal diana:

Spiced Right BBQ in Suwanee, GA. The Challenge for Best Ribs (in the state, county, country?) is On.

This is the 3rd location for the Spiced Right BBQ family. I remembered eating at the one in Lilburn when I was a young pup many many years ago and was excited to see this location pop up. (In an old Shane's Rib Shack location, nonetheless).

This is based on my 2 visits there in the past 2 weeks. The first time my wife and I stopped in she got a pulled pork sandwich and I had a 1/2 rack w/ side of stew. The pulled pork was pretty good - not sauced before hand (GREAT sauce here) and nice big chunks. Stew was fine, even better with some sauce in it. These ribs though. Holy mother of pig Jesus. They were excellent.

Went back with the in-laws this past weekend and did what I suggest everyone reading this does. Go straight for the ribs. Forget everything else, except maybe some bread to make a rib meat sandwich.

Here's a list of awesome things about these ribs:

1. Meat fell off the bone. And not in a mushy way either. Tender tender rib meat.
2. Smoky crust on the outside. Awesome flavor. Very smoky with just a hint of sweetness. 
3. Ribs didnt even need sauce. I used some, of course, because it's awesome. Not necessary though. If you're a glutton like me, the sauce also helps the ribs go down easier when you're approaching the fill level. 
4. I love animal fat. These ribs had the most delicious pieces of animal fat on them. It wasn't all over the place and not so prevalent that my wife was disgusted by it, but enough for me to taste and savor all the gooey goodness. 
5. Throw these things on some white bread with some sauce and say hello to an amazing sandwich. 

Also, they have very bangin banana pudding. So go get ribs, white bread and banana pudding. Maybe a drink too.

Publix Sub and Spicy Cayenne & Cheese Lays

Today was a work from home day. I love work from home days for a number of reasons, but one is that my lunch options are different than they are at the office. Lately I've been on a Publix sub kick. I don't know what brought it on, nor do I care. These things are awesome. I also treat myself to a fancy bag of chips almost every time. Today I went with Lay's Ketttle Cooked Spicy Cayenne and Cheese chips. They didn't taste exactly like cayenne or cheese. Do chips ever though? Have you ever had pizza flavored pringles? I used to LOVE those when I was a kid. They definitely don't taste like pizza.

The sub was an ultimate. Ham, cheese, turkey, roast beast and swiss + condiments. I've tried to nail down exactly what is better about these than Subway or whatever and I know it starts with the bread. I should try getting just bread and mayo one day to see how it tastes. My guess is it will be delicious. On to the pics...

I ate outside with the dogs today since it was so nice. Freaking perfect 70-72 out. I also got a new camera, (This awesome white Pentax k-x. I call it the Storm Trooper) so you are blessed with some super huge pics if you want to guess every condiment on my sandwich. 

Chips, Sandwich, Lemonade

Sandwich

Lasagna from ????

I took this picture of lasagna. I can't remember where I ate it. Pic is a couple months old, but it was probably delicious.















update: this is on a white plate and I have white plates at home. This MAY be from my house.

Shami Kabab in Duluth - Afghan Restaurant

I'm going to preface all this by saying I've never even considered Afghan food as an international style I have ever thought about, much less considered trying. So when I saw 'Shami Kabab - An Afghan Restaurant' pop up in a shopping center not far from my office I was intrigued to say the least.

So what is Afghan Food? Here's the wikipedia entry on afghan cuisine. It didn't really whet my appetite or anything. At the mention of naan I thought it was going to be like Indian food, and I love Indian, so I was willing to give it a shot.What I should have paid more attention to was that the shami kabab is an actual dish. It's a kebab that's made from minced mutton, beef or chicken and spices. AKA meat stick. AKA awesome.

Side was some awesome eggplant and rice. Shami beef kabab is where it's at though. Hit this place up if you're in the Duluth/Gwinnett Arena area and looking for something different.

BBQ Pork Sandwich at Dillards BBQ in Suwanee

Another late lunch. My wife and I went to Dillards BBQ for a quick 2:30pm meal before meeting someone in Suwanee. I had a BBQ sandwich and mac and cheese on the side. It was good, but I know the main complaint from a lot of people would be that bbq sauce is already mixed in with the pulled pork. Luckily the sauce at dillards isn't a sweet sauce, otherwise it would suck, but I like the sauce and added more anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to me. 

Fun fact: I put some of the sauce on my mac and cheese toward the end of the meal just for fun and it was pleasantly surprising. 

Havana South Cuban Tastiness - Croquetta Preparada

Had lunch with my wife at Havana South Cuban in Buford on Monday. Well, I say lunch, but it was more like 3:30 dinner lunch happy hour. The cool thing about a lunch that late is all the sandwiches at Havana South are $5 between 3-5pm so I got a $9 sandwich for $6.75 after adding a side of black beans.

This is the croquetta preparada. It's ham, swiss cheese, croquetta, and mustard on cuban bread. I had no idea what a croquette was before I ate this. I learned that a cuban croquette is meat and flour rolled in breadcrumbs and then deep fried. So it's like a deep fried sandwich inside of a sandwich. Win inside of win.

First time with this sandwich and it's on par with the other dishes I've had there. Top notch so far.

Christmas foods

Here are some of the eats I had on Christmas Eve. Mostly sandwich stuff, finger foods, meatballs and some Auburn chocolates. My wife also made these little delicious coconut cupcakes from scrach. Amazing little cupcakes.

Quoc Huong Banh Mi Fast Food

 I've had Bahn Mi before, but I was left feeling underwhelmed considering my expectations. I decided to give it another shot after reading the Atlanta Bahn Mi guide on Chow Down Atlanta and seeing that the place I went didn't make the cut at all.

I met a buddy of mine this past week at at a Bahn Mi joint, 'Quoc Huong Bahn Mi Fast Food'. It's on Buford Hwy in Doraville just inside 285. Quoc Huong is considered the top bahn mi spot in Atlanta. Based on my comparison, I'd say it's definitely at the top of my list. The Banh Mi in general fascinates me. Baguette, basil, jalapenos...wild mix.

Here are the cool things about Quoc Huong:

•  First off, the bahn mi was amazing. BBQ Pork = great. 
• The new Karate Kid was on a TV in the background 
• The name. I can't even pronounce it. 
• There was a dude with a zombie-like complexion outside the place selling seafood.

 This is the BBQ Pork Bahn Mi. The pork had a fantastic flavor, the vegetables weren't overwhelming and the jalapenos added some zang to it. I don't know what the sauce is they put on these, it looks like hollandaise or something, but it is awesome also.

 I took an extra one home for my wife, but she didn't want it so I ate it for dinner that night also. Good stuff.

Combination Bahn Mi. This had some pate, pork and some other stuff I can't remember in it. It was goood, but BBQ pork was definitely better. Could have used a line of sri racha down the middle. I ate it in the car, otherwise I would have added some. 

Farm Burger In Decatur

My awesome department did some volunteer work a little south of Decatur last Wednesday. Since we're usually confined to the Duluth area, I was jazzed at the prospect of going somewhere different. My vote was for Farmburger and everyone else went along with it. I've heard a lot about Farmburger and love the concept (grass fed beef, local products, sustainability), but just haven't gone yet. Most recently, Farmburger came up a few times in off-blog discussions of my trip to Flip Burger, so FB was fresh on my mind.

The inside of the restaurant has a no-frills feel to it. Long picnic style tables are surrounded by tall barstools and high top tables. (I ended up sitting with a stranger on one side of me. It turned out just fine.) They had a special, but since it was my first time, everything looked special. My first choice was a No.1 - the Farmburger, but with bone marrow added. I've mentioned it before - I can't resist ordering weird stuff. There was rain on that part of my parade though...bone marrow was SOLD OUT. I was temporarily stumped, but my boss and the cashier started talking about the No.6. house cured bacon, sunny side up egg, pepperjack cheese and salsa verde. Both my boss and I were convinced - No.6 it was. We also had a fries and onion rings basket. Pics and deeper descriptions below.



These fries were cut from amazing and deep fried in delicious. The dipping sauce was paprika mayonnaise. I'm not sure what was in it, but I'm going to have my wife attempt a recreation. I suppose she'll start with paprika and mayo. (apologies for the blurry pic. I was hungry)

Here's the mess of burger. Yum yum fun. This did not have the house 'FB' sauce, so that was a bit of a bummer, but the burger was very tender and the bun was good enough for me to mention it. I normally wouldn't mention a bun unless it sucked but this bun we good enough, so I mentioned it. Twice now, actually.

This was funny. Not true, but funny.

Varsity in Athens

Helped my sister move into Athens yesterday and dragged my little bro (10) along with me for company. He'd never had Varsity before and it was close to the new apartment, so we stopped for some great fried greasy goodness. He loved the chili dogs and woofed down 2 of them before I knew what happened. I had good ol #2. Chili cheese dog and chili cheese burger with onion rings and an orange freeze. Chili dog didn't make it long enough for me to take the pic.
I don't know if I've never paid attention before or if the Athens Varsity is just  more expensive but the total was somewhere around $18 which is a little more than I would say it's worth. My brother had never been to a Varsity before, so I figured living in the Atlanta area he should be given a chance to experience it and pick a side for that debate.

Holiday Luncheon at work

Prime rib, spinach-stuffed chicken, bacon-wrapped shrimp and cheese grits, smoked salmon and some spinach dip with pitas

America's Top Dog in Chamblee

Came across this place while surfing the web Saturday morning. A description I read was that if you want a burger, you go to Flip and if you want a hot dog you go here. Worked for me. I wasn't really hungry for a hot dog, but for some reason it sounded good. After checking out the menu and discussing with my wife, it was settled.

Americas Top Dog is in the same shopping center as the Velvet Room. I've never been to the Velvet Room but I always thought it would have been a fancier, free standing facility, not in a strip mall with Big Lots. That's really neither here nor there, but if you know where the Velvet Room is, you know where America's Top Dog is. The main sign doesn't actually say "America's Top Dog", it says Dogs Fries Burgers, or some combination of those words. It's in red, white and blue though. The interior is equally patriotic and it fits. What's more American than hot dogs, burgers and fries?

We were greeted by what I presume was the owner running the show. He was behind the counter, probably working on something fantastic. His accent was heavy...New York maybe? Whatever it was, it helped with the whole experience - like being somewhere up north where people know their hotdogs.

The menu is full of crazy hotdog combinations. I ended up with the Georgia dog while my wife went with ol faithful, the Chicago dog. Even cooler than the funky menu is the topping bar. There are 40 items ranging from pineapple to fried shallots. If you don't get one of the pre-made dogs, you can get a plain one and then go to town at the topping bar. When we go back, that may be what I do. I have another dog in my sights though, so we'll see. Scroll on down for pictures and some deeper descriptions.

Georgia Dog and chili cheese fries. The chili cheese fries were messy and awesome. And the Georgia Dog was insane. It had chili, pimento cheese, chow chow and slaw on a red hot inside of a deli roll. All the different flavors balanced out really well, the hotdog itself had an awesome flavor and it was great having a real bun instead of some floppy white bread with this giant mass of ingredients.

=

My wife's chicago dog and onion rings. I didn't try the chicago dog, but she said it was good. I'm still very amused by the neon green relish that's standard on those. The onion rings were good. Not as good as the rings we had at Flip last week, but still good. They were more of a dry batter I think.









Topping bar. The website says 35 toppings, but I heard the dude say 40, so maybe they added some stuff. I couldn't begin to list all these toppings.

Where the action happens. Also some more DIY dog combos.

Pinata Apples (I learned more about apples today than I even knew to begin with)

Pinata Apples, also called Pinova, are a cultivar apple from Washington. A mix of  a cross between a Golden Delicious, Cox's Orange Pippin and a Duchess of Oldenburg. Pinata's haven't been around very long - marketing and official growing only started in 2004. 

I saw these for the first time at the Dekalb Farmers Market on Sunday. Never heard of them either so I figured I'd grab a couple and see what was up. (Looking back, another factor in my attraction toward these was the display setup. There was only one small section - about the size of a box - with Pinata apples. Other varieties had much larger setups so I think some internal consumer kicked in and said scarcity = demand = good.)

It was a darn good apple. Crispy, sweet, but not too sweet, had a little tart to it, but my favorite thing is that it had a distinct 'apple' flavor. I really can't explain that part, but it was good. 

Pinata Apples are on Facebook  (I 'like' them now) and there's also a handy youtube video that talks about them: 

Brown Mustard Pork Chops, Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I don't know where my wife got the idea, maybe Food Network or maybe just out of nowhere, but she makes this awesome brown mustard glaze(?) for pork chops. It smells ridiculously good when she's cooking them up and the flavor is very complementary to pork chops. She's been doing those for a while but this was a first for us: mashed sweet potatoes. We didn't want to wait for them to bake, so she chopped  em, boiled em and smashed em. I've just come around on sweet potatoes in the past couple years and I'm glad I did because they are freaking awesome.

Flip Burger Boutique in Buckhead

I got a jolt to head ITP for dinner this weekend. My wife and I are by no means afraid to head down 85S into the big city and usually make the trip for some kind of event or dinner every couple weeks. Not counting our biweekly visit to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. There are so many options when it comes to dining in Atlanta that it can be difficult to make a decision (case in point, we went to 3 different places on my birthday: Brick Store, Leon's Full Service and Young Augustine's), but the decision to go to Flip Burger Boutique's Buckhead location came pretty easily for some reason.

Flip Burger Boutique is one of a few handfuls of burger joints around town. It is owned by Top Chef runner up, and currently on Top Chef All Stars, Richard Blais and has a distinctly different look than the others and after going there, I think the 'boutique' part of the name describes it well. There are 3 locations total, Midtown, Buckhead and Birmingham, AL. Our choice, the Buckhead location, worked out well for us since we're from Gwinnett and generally despise the parking situation (or lack thereof) in Midtown.

When we walked in I felt like I was in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Everything was futuristic, from the booths (they are like mirror images if you look at the pic below, the top could also be the bottom) to the simple white tables and shiny chairs. There were touches of an older style mixed in - like the antique looking frames around the flat screen TVs. It appeared there would be quite a wait, but we were given a table fairly quickly; the hostess said she "liked 2's".

As far as the menu goes...wow. I definitely set a record for the number of times I changed my mind about what to order. I am a sucker for weird stuff (organs, glands, raw meat, etc) and exciting flavor mixtures so there was plenty for me to choose from. I finally settled on roasted bone marrow for an appetizer and picked the Churasco for my burger. My wife got the Local and we split a side of onion rings. For dessert she picked the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow milkshake. (They have a Burger of Today. Today's (Dec 7) burger: szechuan chicken - tempura fried chicken, chili garlic glaze, puffed rice, stir fry vegetables, black garlic mayo. OMFG)

My gut's reaction: "Damn, that was a tasty burger adventure. I can't wait to go back."
Check out the pics below for some deeper descriptions and opinions.

Roasted Bone Marrow

The caveman inside of me has wanted to try properly done bone marrow for a long time. They served it inside of a big beef bone along with some BBQ -something- on top. I can't for the life of me remember what the hell it was on top because I was so enamored by the marrow. I do remember it was good. The marrow itself had a gelatinous/fatty texture to it and a flavor to match. This was great for me as I've been known to eat my wife's fat scraps from a good steak. Bites with some onion, marrow, BBQ whatever and the sauce were

The Churasco Burger

 Burger choice was the Churasco. Wood grilled, grass fed flank steak, chimichurri sauce, grilled sweetbread and some criolo salsa. The beef was awesome and cooked a perfect medium-rare. The sweetbreads (another first for me) were a fun addition. The flavors all around the burger were so bold it was tough for me to tell exactly what each one was, but they all worked together so perfectly that my first bite required a long quite chew. Which, for, me, is either a sign for "This is great" or "This is awful, I'm looking for a place to spit this shit out".

Close: Onion Rings - Far: The Local

 My wife ordered the Local. Maybe could have been seen as  a 'safe' choice, but also a 'this is definitely going to be good' choice. It was local grass fed beef, some local beef bacon, tomato, vidalia onion and house pickles. It came with Flip Sauce, but my wife ordered it on the side. Flip Sauce was described to us as the chef's take on Thousand Island. I thought that was selling it a bit short, but regardless of the description it tasted good and melded nicely with the other burger ingredients. I had more than my share of her burger so I can offer an official opinion that it was very good, but for the $14 price tag there are other burgers I would get instead.

Onion rings are a favorite of ours. Flip's Vodka Battered O-rings were great and O-face inducing. More along the lines of crunchy rings from the Varsity than sweet, doughy rings you find at some places. Served with honey mustard.

Nutella and Burnt Mashmallow Milkshake

 This was an easy choice for my wife, a Nutella fanatic. Nutella is ridiculously good and anyone that hasn't tried it needs to go have a jar of it for lunch. Unfortunately, this wasn't screaming Nutella as loud as we wanted. It had a chocoloatey malt taste to it and, as my wife said, could be more appropriately named a S'more shake. I'm not much for marshmallows, so my opinion is skewed, but my wife likes them and she finished every bit of it.

The bartenders take a blowtorch to the marshmallows on top, and then add liquid nitrogen. I'm not sure whether it affects the flavor of it at all or is just for show, but the show part of it is damn cool because it comes to your table with a cloud of frozen air or whatever around. Definitely a spectacle.

I don't know this woman, but she is probably from the future.