We had an early dinner here before a play at the Fox on Friday. A lot of people must of had the same idea because the place was pretty packed at 6P.
We got a wonderful table outside. The street noice was not too loud and the breeze was perfect. Immediately, warm Italian bread, olive oil and parmesean cheese was placed on the table.placed It could have been real easy to eat that bread for dinner 
Instead we ordered two of their specialty pizzas for appetizers. We were not too adventurous-and went with the caprese and margherita. In case you are not familar with the two, niether have red tomato sauce-instead the focus is on the cheese. Everyone thouroughly enjoyed both pizzas. Their flavors were immense, but they were not too greasy/heavy.
Three of us ordered Chilean Sea Bass, which was a special for the evening. It was covered in artichokes and tomatoes and was accompanied by roasted potatoes. I honestly thought the sides tasted better than the fish, I think there was a tad too much olive oil that the fish swam in. Mitchell got the veal marsala, his go to Italian dish. He felt that the meat was a little rough/dry. As if we did not order enough food, we also got a side of spaghetti. The sauce was scrumptions-I literally scraped the plate clean–even when there were no noodles left.
Next time we go back, we will look into the mussels and salads for appetizers and be a little more adventurous with the pizza. Hey, maybe even get a pasta on the side. Either way-we will be back.
FAB or French American Brassiere is downtown near the newly re-developed Ivan Allen Blvd area. It’s right across the street from Twelve Downtown and where the new Mellow Mushroom is going in down there. It was our first time down there since all the redevelopment has gone on. Cool area, hope it catches on and some quality bars and night spots start gaining ground.
We went to FAB with Jenny’s parents when they were in town. It was MONSOONING outside when we went. That definitely made it difficult to gauge what the real scene would have been like on a Saturday night. For us it was a lot of conventioners and also couples. The restaurant has a good look to it with tall ceilings, an old-school kind of look. When you walk in, the circular bar is right in the front with flat screen TVs on all four sides. The problem is, the TVs are stuck on old French movies most of the time. Thank God the cool bartender let us check out the UCLA/Xavier game by going against the boss’ wishes and changing the channel. OK, sorry, back to the review. Anyway, the restaurant had a cool ambiance, nice decoration, cool bathrooms, etc. So the look of the place gets a double thumbs up.
Our waiter was not from the US of A. Very difficult to understand him and because it was loud, it was extra tough. By the end of dinner, however, we somehow began to understand part of his heavy European accent. Nice guy. We were starving when we sat down. We (kind of) made him bring us rolls right away. Delicious. It was really some of the best bread we all have had. They rolls were warm and the butter was soft.
Jenny and I immediately decided to go with the seafood tower with oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, shrimp, and crab. It was definitely plenty for two….hang on…back to the appetizers. Jenny, Mr. Menkes, and I got salads which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Mr. Menkes went with the filet and potatoes as a typical man’s meal and Mrs. Menkes went with skirt steak They both really enjoyed their meals and claimed that it was the best meal of the weekend. Jenny and I’s was the best though. I was extremely hungry and probably ate 75% of the platter, and I must say all the seafood was just REALLY good, especially in a land locked Atlanta. They also had a number of dipping sauces for the seafood including a flavorful cocktail sauce, and drawn butter.
We are definitely going back. Maybe you will be the lucky couple that comes with us. Oh yeah, the coffee was really good too.
We went to Kyma on a Friday night with Jenny’s parents. We had traded in our reservation at Floataway Cafe for Kyma after hearing negative things about Floataway.
My initial impression of Kyma was that I was a little disappointed in the interior of the restaurant. Except for the huge greek style pillars in the middle of the restaurant, there wasn’t much else that impressed me. It was all white and just didn’t have any WOW effect. Also, the seats were really hard, like sitting on concrete, which doesn’t make me or my bony ass happy.
Opening the menu, I was initially surprised at the prices. It was certainly pricey, from the appetizers to the salads to the soups.
We started with two appetizers that we all shared. The spanikopita and mussels in a saucey bowl were our choices. The spanikopita was good and was enough for 4 to share, but the $10 mussels that came de-shelled in this feta cheese sauce was not a good share dish with 5 mussels.
Now we must all understand that I am not a fish conossieur or even a fish eater, so this place did not impress me off the bat. Apparently, this is one of the best places to go for fresh fish. This was confirmed by Jenny and the rest of the fam, but I cannot comment here. I ordered the lamb chops. They were good, but again, not enough food for the $35 that they cost us. It’s a little after the fact that we are writing this so………………..let’s just say that the other three all got fish and agreed that they were all extremely fresh and were really good. Mr. Menkes took the waiter’s suggestion and really enjoyed it (actually, I don’t think we heard from him the entire time food was in front of him), so we should all trust the waiter’s suggestions at this place. Safe bet. Safe, like putting the Braves bullpen in charge of the game when we are up by one run. Safe, like putting Blaine Boyer in the game with runner’s in scoring position…….oh, nevermind, I’m just kidding. It is safe to trust the folks at Kyma.
Good people watching spot, kind of expensive, solid fish option, good waiters.
We headed out to Brookhaven on Saturday night to watch the Dawgs win themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament. We met up with some of our favorite people and ended up with a group of about 13. We were seated in a back room..fabulous! Two flat screen TVs, a little quieter and a fireplace.
I think most people know that this is not the place for a delicious meal–and honestly we are not sure if it was going to even make the blog. It is really not all about the food-but about the big TVs and the beer.
However, we thought we had to mention how that fabulous back room turned into a disaster. Some people had finished their meals, others hadn’t. There were definitely a few full pitchers of beer left on the table. All of the sudden, the channel was changed-and the Georgetown pre-game appeared. We were told that the room had been rented out and we had to leave. What?! There was food and beer on the table and the Georgetown game hadn’t even started yet!! We were all way confused, and our waiter was of absolutely NO help.
Luckily the Gtown fans were pretty decent-and we switched the channel back to the Dawgs–hurried up with our beers-and left to go watch the game elsewhere.
So in our opinion…Taco Mac it is…..
We went to a wine tasting there on Wenesday. The deal is, $10 bucks to taste the wine and then $10 bucks off dinner if you stay to eat.
When we first arrived at six for the tasting, the place was empty. Good thing we decided to make reservations, because it was packed by the time we sat at 7:45.
I loved the decoration. Very simple, light colored walls and table cloths–mixed with dark wood chairs.
However, I did not immediately love the menu. A $26 hamburger, a $21 “fish and chips” dish and a pasta with chicken livers all definitely concerned me…
The table ordered shrimp and grits, crabcakes and duck with almond risotto. I must say all the dishes were fabulous. The shrimp and grits came in a big glass mixing bowl, and Mitchell counted over 12 shrimp in there-so that was exciting! The grits were cheesy and very rich. The crabcakes were wonderful as well-very little, if any, bread filling-leaving each bite full with tasty lump crab. I got the duck. It came as the chef suggested-medium. It was extremely tender and juicy with just the right amount of crisp on the skin. I must say the best part of the meal was the almond flavored risotto. It had an almond extract taste-more on the sweet side and it paired excellently with the duck.
I think we all ordered the best dishes Shaun’s has to offer. The menu is not gigantic–so with the 3 dishes that scared me a bit and the 3 dishes ordered, there are probably only 4-5 dishes left. We did thoroughly enjoy our meal–the service was on point and the atmosphere was pleasant.
We will probably not go back anytime soon–too much else out there. However, this is not to suggest that you shouldn’t put Shaun’s on top of your to go list, you should make it to this spot sooner than later. It’s just we got everything we needed and did not leave feeling that we are missing out on the wagyu meat hamburger…..
Shaun’s site