Comment Archives: stories: Food & Drink: Grazing
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
Why don't you assholes that come here to complain about Cliff find something better to do??? Seriously the same group of ignorant trolls complain and complain yet here they are reading the articles and taking the time to post inane responses, like a bunch of children sitting around smelling their own farts. jezuz......get a fuckin' life already.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
It's a shame. Paul is a great chef with great food concepts. Unfortunately he let his son run two of his restaurants and both (well actually one had two incarnations), so three, have been failures in every possible way a restaurant could fail.
Same thing happened with the Vinings Inn & the River Room. The owner, not Paul, let his son run the business. You could mark on the calendar when the son took over managing the two businesses and their decline. Those two restaurants haven't folded because they are protected financially by other interests.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
FYI - When I drove past Dos Amigos Cantina on Spring Rd in Smyrna last week, there was a For Lease sign out front.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
@Jamie - it isn't actually a restaurant. Although I think she caters. Recent Chilean acquaintances told me that this woman's empanadas help them cope with missing home: http://www.empanadaschilenasenatlanta.com/ I'm not Chilena, but will be ordering from these folks next time I have a party.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
"I can hit Peruvian, Uruguayan, actually all of Latin American, all of SE Asia, and most of Eastern Europe in Gwinnett. "
Show me a Chilean place and I will pay for your meal...
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
@Wesleywhatwhat - what is frightening isn't just his inability to read a map etc, but that the man has degrees in psychology! Deep personal prejudices would be disturbing in a psychologist. For want of an unbiased food writer, dare I say food critic (vs people critic), in a major city like Atlanta.
Oh well at least through these comments we can all help each other figure out what is going on with the restaurants.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
jadzia, i think you've figured out bostock's schtick.
it's a shame for his sake that he can't read a map or work a GPS device, but then we would all miss out on the opportunity to crap on the shitty articles he writes every week.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
@Smitty true about the Hong Kong sauce being sweet. The original AFM chef, who created the dish had a light touch with a savory focus. I moved back to Atlanta in 2008 and one of the first dishes I wanted was the Hong Kong seabass - what a shock!
Almost all dishes in Atlanta restaurants tend towards sweet whether directly or as a supporting flavor. Hard to get a decent savory dish in the Atlanta area. Even some of the Vietnamese places have been turning up the sweetness of their dishes :-(
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
I knew I shouldn't, but I went to AFM once last year.
Fish and shrimp cocktail were overcooked and ALL the food had too much salt, sugar, or something. The Hong Kong sauce was nauseatingly sweet.
I wrote it off as serving Atlantans what they really want--Red Lobster.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
Haven't been back since getting a severely overcooked piece of fish, ten years ago. Never again.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
I've been to the Optimist the oyster bar is great, the dining room meals are incredibly uneven. Must everything be "special and different" to be considered an excellent meal? Swordfish poached in duck fat - fine as an occasional offering but not a steady diet. Seafood restaurants need to focus on fresh seafood prepared consistently with a menu that has a majority of entrees that don't have you picking thru choices that have ingredients competing with the flavor of the seafood.
This constant harping on ITP diners being more diverse than OTP is a clear indication of the writers personal prejudices of race/ethnic and money. Let's see I live in Cobb I have Trinidadian, African, Brazilian, Cuban, Colombian, etc restaurants that primarily cater to people from those countries. I can hit Peruvian, Uruguayan, actually all of Latin American, all of SE Asia, and most of Eastern Europe in Gwinnett. Somehow these restaurants (people, food, status in society) don't meet the writer's definition of diverse diners.
Re: “Grazing: Barça Tapas & Bar and Tartufo”
Love the wine barrels of Beringer out front. They just scream tapas.
Re: “Grazing: Barça Tapas & Bar and Tartufo”
One failed restaurant re-imagines itself into another restaurant doomed for failure, and they don't even have enough creativity to come up with a unique name, that isn't being used 5 miles south
Re: “Grazing: Barça Tapas & Bar and Tartufo”
The eggplant involtini was on the La Fourchette menu right before the change in concept (Salem told us of his plans that night) and was the best thing we had.
Re: “Grazing: Barça Tapas & Bar and Tartufo”
I love authentic Spanish tapas and Barcelona does some of the best!
Check these out http://www.succeed-at-spanish.com/recipes-…. They're so quick and easy and I make them at home all the time.
Like Spain away from Spain. Home away from home :).
Re: “Grazing: Barça Tapas & Bar and Tartufo”
I thought there was some schmutz on my computer screen but it's not that. There's something funny with the "c" in your font.
Kidding Joe! Just kidding.
This place may actually get me to go to Buckhead. I can't get the image of those awesome looking fish toast thingys out of my mind.
Re: “Dining at Atlanta's 'best new restaurant'”
Hey Brandon, take that chit over to Yelp!
Re: “Dining at Atlanta's 'best new restaurant'”
I think this review is pretty close to the truth. Took the GF here for her birthday. The meal was pricey, but worth the price.
PROS: Great atmosphere, interesting drinks, amazing food, great service
CONS: Very loud, decent wait even with reservation, expensive
Here's a summary of our experience.
During the wait:
She got one of their homemade iced tea drinks which was very well made.
I ordered one of the IPA's and they were nice enough to let us keep the beer koosie (probably not a big deal given the price of the meal).
Appetizers:
whole ga white shrimp a la plancha- Very good, about 6 or 7 jumbo shrimp that were messy and very tasty.
spicy glazed spanish octopus- Not a big octopus fan, but it was flavorful. GF loved it.
Entrees:
tomato braised monkfish- Great flavor on this fish, mushrooms were amazing as well, fish was cooked perfectly and not at all dry.
duck fat poached swordfish- This was a well put together dish. Although I was expecting to taste more duck, the fat really gives it more of a subtle flavoring while mixing the flavors of the ingredients and keeping the swordfish very moist. If I remember correctly they put a piece of the fatty swordfish belly on top and a thin slice of some kind of cured meat under. I felt like everything on this plate worked together well, and nothing was thrown in there just for the hell of it.
Sides:
basmati fried rice- This was the only thing I ate that I wasn't that impressed by. Flavors seemed rather muted and it didn't taste better than a regular fried rice I could make at home.
assorted mushrooms- Freakin amazing.
Portions were all of a decent size. Me and my GF were very happy and the meal was so good and interesting we actually talked about it for quite a while after we left. The best seafood i've had in Georgia.
Re: “Grazing: Atlanta Fish Market”
@Dumpy good suggestion. Maybe we'll stop reading the food articles in CL altogether. Sure it will help your buddy the food writer to have a paper that can't get advertising for its food section due to low readership.
Why don't you take all your protective energy and give him the advice that he should consider all his readership feedback, not just the praise, for future articles/blogs.