Acceptable Chain Restaurants

I'm visiting family in Texas right now, and like most people, I struggle finding acceptable places to eat when I'm away from my familiar haunts and dealing with a large crowd of eaters with different tastes. It seems like for every seasoned world traveler who happily eats cold jellyfish salad, there's at least two more that seem to subsist on nothing but chicken fingers with ketchup as a side. If I'm at home, I can easily navigate everyone to a local, independent place. But on the road? I'm pretty much at anyone's mercy.

That's where chains step in. As much as they get a rap for boring, mediocre food, they do serve a very real need on occasional. Sometimes that lowest common denominator is the best everyone can agree on. And the dirty secret of hipster food bloggers like myself? Some of them aren't terrible. In fact, some of them can be good. Here's my list of acceptable chain restaurants that you don't have to twist my arm to get me to.

My go to spot for quick, casual and healthy eating is Panera Bread. Panera has fresh made salads, soups and sandwiches. Best of all, they post the calorie counts right there on the menu board so I never worry that I'll accidentally eat a thousand calorie salad.



If I'm in the mood for a burger, 5 Guys hits the spot. Not nearly as good as the offerings at Oak Street Cafe, or even The Counter, 5 Guys still manages to put together a decent burger and more fries than a human being should really eat. Sure, you can do better. But you can also do much, much worse.



For sit down meals, I'm fond of Chili's. Most of their menu is crap, but every location I've been to can grill a decent steak and I can order a double portion of steamed broccoli to go with it. (I am slightly more like to indulge my weakness for mashed potatoes and gravy though. Okay, not slightly. Very likely.) And my husband and I used to go to Chili's all the time when we were dating. Nostalgia!



For fast food, my favorite is Chik-fil-a. I'm under no illusions that it's healthier for you than any other fast food. But it's much tastier than McDonalds. The chicken is an honest to go chicken breast, not extruded "chicken", which reassures me that I'm eating food and not a chemistry project. On Sundays, when they are closed, Wendy's is my next choice. There I have the option to replace my fries with chili or a side salad, which helps me not be such a fatty mcfatterson.

For other chain dining suggestions, I recommend "Eat This, Not That" from Men's Health. They have comparison guides telling you the worst thing, diet wise on national menus and offering a much more reasonable substitute.

How about you? Any suggestions on where to eat when on the road?

Also, if you like what I post here on the blog, consider following me on Facebook.

What I'm Reading

I'm trying a new thing for the blog. My Google Reader is crammed full of interesting articles about food, local or otherwise. I've often thought about doing a weekly round up of articles I've read here, but its too easy for me to forget what I've read by the end of the week. Finally, I've found a solution: Facebook.

I've made a Facebook fan page for Northside Food. Every day, I share a couple links to articles focused on the local restaurants, seasonal produce and other related items. If you like the things I've written about here, it's pretty likely you'll be interested in what I share over there. And every week, I'll round up the best of those links and post them here for those who prefer that. We'll experiment with this and see how we like it.

This week on Northside Food, we've got a recipe for blueberry butter, as well as simple instructions for freezing your extra blueberries.

FIGO has a deal for free meatballs. You can read my review of FIGO from 2009 here.

To get these as I find them, along with more great recipes, articles, reviews and more, be sure to "like" Northside Food on Facebook.

Review: Roswell Tap

Yesterday we were in the mood for something new, so we decided to try Roswell Tap. This is a new gastropub that just opened up in Alpharetta Highway in a renovated, historic home. I really enjoyed it and we plan to be back.

The menu is basic pub grub, like wings, burgers, pizzas, etc. But everything is made fresh with carefully sourced ingredients. We tried the "grit chips" appetizer on the advice of our waitress. These are corn chips made of pressed grits and what I guess is masa flour. It's served with a dip made of collard greens and bacon. The effect is somewhat like a spinach artichoke dip, but with a down home twist. It's the kind of dish I love finding at restaurants, a dish that makes me go "Why didn't I think of that?" What I'm saying is you need to go and eat this right now.

My husband, being a man of large appetite ordered a sausage and pepperoni pizza for himself. It was 14", so even he could only eat half of it. The pizza crust was thin and slightly chewy with a little char on the bottom. Good stuff. The toppings were very flavorful and just the right amount.

I ordered the spinach caprese salad for my lunch. This was a large portion of baby spinach leaves topped with marinated mozzarella balls and tomato wedges and a balsamic vinaigrette. I was disappointed in the tomatoes. They were "grocery store" tomatoes without much flavor. But the cheese was excellent. Get better tomatoes and this dish becomes a winner.

I think next time we go, if we don't decide to try the sandwiches, we'll split the pizza and salad together for a slightly more balanced meal. The bar menu looked interesting, with a variety of beer, wine and cocktails. From their website it looks like they've only been open a few weeks, so I encourage you to check them out.

Farmer's Market Season is Upon Us

With spring comes fresh vegetables and markets to sell them at. The Alpharetta Market is in full swing and we've been shopping there for a few weeks now. The Roswell Market is about to open this weekend. Unfortunately, we have to skip both as my husband is running the Warrior Dash in Mountain City, and my job is to hold his wallet and look admiringly at him when he jumps over the fire pit.

The Alpharetta Market is doing really well this year. Several meat vendors have joined, so you can now purchase grass fed beef, free range pork and free range buffalo. Atlanta Fresh Creamery also has a booth, along with an ice cream lady and a few other goodies. The farmers aren't as plentiful as they can be at the Roswell market, but I've still managed to find broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes and more in the last few weeks.

The Roswell Market? Well, I have no idea. Partly because it hasn't opened yet, but also because the City of Roswell doesn't have any kind of serious web presence for the market. They post announcements on the city's website, but they get buried quickly. And this evening, they posted this video on the city's Facebook page. Sigh. The lack of easy to find, updated information on local markets, farmers and other sustainable, hippy food sources is a BIG pet peeve of mine. Is it really that hard to set up a Facebook for your market/farm?

If you are new to shopping at farmer's markets, you might be interested in this guide I wrote a few years ago.

Easy Leek Potato Soup with Yogurt

The last few months have seen me ridiculously busy. I've been working two part time jobs, going to grad school and chairing a fantasy literature convention. But as of yesterday, I've finished all my school work for this term (I'm on a self paced program via Western Governors University. I finished approximately two months ahead of schedule according to my pacing guide. I'll just add more classes later this week so I can get my Masters in Special Education just that much faster.), my convention was two weeks ago and for the first time in a long time, I find myself with nothing more pressing this afternoon than reading and updating my sorely out of date blog. It's kinda nice.

After some fitful half starts, spring is truly underway here in Roswell and it is glorious. The awful storms from last week have given way to warm afternoons, low humidity and light breezes. Even the pollen isn't so bad today. I'm typing this on my netbook from the back porch. With spring has also come fresh produce from farm stands and the Alpharetta Farmer's Market. My husband and I have been a little giddy at the prospect of fresh fruit and vegetables, straight from the ground, instead of the limp, pale imitations we've endured all winter.

The primary source of our spring time bounty has been a farm stand run by Floyd Kessler of Moss Hill Farm, in Milton. Every week, Floyd sends out a cheerful email update with pictures of the produce having equal weight with those of his grandchildren. We've been buying from Floyd for several years now, usually through the Roswell Farmers Market. This year, we're ordering from Floyd directly and picking up our vegetables at his charming farm every Saturday.

This week's haul includes two pounds of joi choi, an Asian greens stir fry mix, green onions so large and heavy you could club a man to death with them, and a leek. I could not recall if I'd ever eaten a leek before, so I only ordered one for this week. Today it became a delicious potato leek soup. I liked it. Leeks now have a place at my table.

1 leek, cleaned and chopped, about a cup
1/4 cup spring onion, cleaned and chopped
2 cups potatoes, diced
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
1/4 yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in pan. Add leeks, onions, cook until soft and translucent. Add potatoes and enough water to cover. Simmer until potatoes are soft. Add milk and yogurt, use immersion blender to combine and puree ingredients. Add generous pinches of salt and pepper. (I actually salt at every step of this recipe, and still needed to add a big pinch here.) Simmer gently for five minutes to combine flavors, and serve.

This soup is tangy and delicious, and is slightly lighter than the one I converted using whipping cream and buttermilk. The leeks and onions give it a nice flavor, and the potatoes add body. Over all, it's a good soup and one I'd make again. I highly suggest getting on Floyd's mailing list so you can try it yourself.

Gluten Free Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

For me, "gluten free" always conjures up visions on neurotic suburban housewives knocking cupcakes out their kids' hands in a panic. "Not gluten!" they gasp. Which is unfair of me, because I know that many people have a real sensitivity to gluten. I just think there are many people who don't actually understand food and just hop on the latest nutritional fad.

 The other things I think of when I think of "gluten free" is "taste free" and "weird, complicated ingredients". Fortunately, these muffins feature neither. The weirdest thing is oat flour, which is obtained by simply pulsing a few cups of oatmeal in the food processor until fine. Oatmeal is easy! And the flavor on these is amazing. they have a nutty texture, a rich mouthfeel from the yogurt and big apple flavor. You can substitute a cup of any fruit puree for the applesauce and still have a delicious muffin. The original recipe from Cheap Healthy Good that I've tweaked used mashed bananas and I've done it with pumpkin as well. Just make sure it's a full cup, otherwise your muffin will be bland.

The only downside of these muffins is that they are not very pretty. The lack of gluten means they don't rise very well, so you end up with something about the size and shape of a hockey puck, but made of oats and delicious. Never you mind that! Just enjoy your tasty muffin and share it happily with gluten sensitive friends.

1 1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups oat flour (This can be made by putting two cups of rolled oats in your food processor and pulsing it until fine)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce (or other pureed fruit)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grind oats to make flour. Combine with rolled oats, yogurt and milk. Allow to hydrate for a few minutes. (This step is important! If the oats don't hydrate, they won't cook and it'll be gross. This is usually when I find and measure my other ingredients. ) Combine spices, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, oil and applesauce with the oats. Measure into well greased muffin cups. Bake for about twenty minutes or until a knife point inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Serve and enjoy.

Roswell Neighbor Article

The Roswell Neighbor did an article on local bloggers this week. I'm one of them. Hooray!

If you're one of the new readers brought here today, welcome! Here's what you need to know about this blog.

I love food. I love trying new recipes and eating new things. I stuffed my face full of Korean BBQ the other day and I loved it. I shop at local farmer's markets when I can. My cooking influences are mostly traditional southern food, with a healthy dash of Asian inspired cuisine. I love to bake, but so far I've been too impatient to manage a decent pie crust. But I do plenty of cakes, cookies and quick breads, along with an assortment of yeasted breads. I love finding hole in the wall places with fabulous food and sharing them. I am not a fan of chains, or fast food (unless it is Chik fil a).  My weakness is Chinese take out. I'm a busy lady who is on a budget, but still wants to eat sustainable, healthy food.  This is what I write about.

When I'm not cooking or blogging, I'm a fan of science fiction and fantasy. I am best known as a fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I run a programming track for it at Dragon*Con and I chair a convention dedicated to it here in Atlanta. I'm the kind of fan that gets early copies of the manuscript for the next Wheel of Time novel "for feedback". It's finally turned into a part time job doing microblogging and social networking for the publisher. If I disappear from blogging for awhile, it usually means that I'm either getting ready for a convention, or there's a Wheel of Time book coming out.  Yes, the whole thing is slightly ridiculous, but its also hella fun.

I hope you enjoy reading.