This is the Kitchen Sink Salad at Community Q. The restaurant has a partnership with some local farmers (it’s even a pick up site for a CSA). So the salad is chock full of fresh goodness, like mushrooms, a hard-boiled egg, beets, radishes, fiddlehead ferns and English peas. It’s odd to find such a great salad at a BBQ joint (where mac n’ cheese is typically considered a vegetable), but this one gets full marks. Although, the mac n’ cheese is also delicious and heart-attack-inducing.
Cliche Pun on Book Title
eat. drink. be merry.
A couple of my Chicago friends were lucky enough to get tickets to Next, Grant Achatz’s newest restaurant in Chicago. Needless to say, I’m incredibly jealous and hope to be able to visit the restaurant the next time I’m in Chicago.
Grant Park Cemetery
This was my second visit to Young Augustine’s, but the first time I had food there. The bar/restaurant reminds me of what The Brick Store was probably like before it got insane. YA has a great beer list with about a dozen different quality brews on draft in any given night. The dining room is small enough to feel cozy, but large enough where you can usually walk in and grab a table.
Reasonable prices and crave-worthy (although certainly not heart healthy) dishes make this a fun bar to unwind at with a group of friends. The food is inventive and different from any other menu I’ve seen in town. They do tacos, and especially good gourmet hot dogs:
The one on the right is an homage to New York’s David Chang (featuring bacon and kimchee), while the one on the left included pork belly and an entire fried egg. The corn in the middle is available as a side or appetizer and is Mexican-style corn (elote) with mayo, lime, chili and parmesan cheese.
I had the Pimp-Fill-eh, and it was everything Chick-fil-A wishes it could be:
Crispy fried chicken breast with Duke’s mayo (it’s a southern thing, google it) and pickled jalapenos on a brioche bun. For my side I picked the brussel sprout/cauliflower hash. Two detested veggies make for one delicious dish. If every kid had their veggies like this at dinner, there’d be no complaints.
So, venture down to Grant Park and take a break from the crowds. This is the perfect spot for a dinner with friends and lingering over some beers.
Pizza last night at Antico (Taken with instagram)
Google adds recipe view, and eliminates the need for me to ever directly search on epicurious.
I finally visited Hector Santiago’s burrito stand, el Burro Pollo, this past weekend. Unfortunately, Fulton County conducted a bust of the street food vendors along N. Highland that morning. Luckily for us, Hector was still serving, just inside his sandwich shop, Super Pan.
Word has definitely spread about these delicious burritos. We ended up waiting about 30-40 minutes in line. But the wait didn’t seem that bad. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we had fun chatting with other people in line. Some were regulars and gave us advice on what to order.
Apparently around 7:30 a.m. Hector was outside serving French Toast from his stand (yum!). They also told us that there are usually two burritos available, the standard chicken, and then whatever Hector’s serving that day (for us- tofu). He also sells delicious cookies (we had a chipotle chocolate chip) and agua fresca (like gourmet fruit punch)
(chicken burrito)
(tofu burrito)
The burritos are $5-7 for a regular size and $11 for a large. We got two regulars and it was plenty. He grills the tortillas, which gives them an amazing flavor. They’re filled with veggies you don’t typically see in a burrito (radishes, picked carrots, etc) and then either pulled chicken or grilled tofu. Wrapped in a newspaper, you’re good to go. We took ours outside and continued our conversation with our line-friends curbside.
There was something really awesome about being out on a Saturday morning, enjoying the weather, and sharing a quasi-secret with a bunch of other Atlantans passionate about good food and city life. It sounds cheesy, but I wholeheartedly recommend stopping by next weekend. I know I’ll definitely be going back.
(Located at the corner of Ponce and N. Highland, across the street from Pura Vida, or possibly in the Super Pan sandwich shop)
UPDATE: Apparently the French Toast starts at 10:30am, see this Thrillist post for pictures. Also, check out el burro pollo’s facebook page for the daily specials and other cool updates.
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