Flip

We went downtown today to the High to see the terracotta warriors. It's a very exhibit. I'm glad I got a chance to see it before I take my students in March. I never get to enjoy museums when I take students. Either I'm too busy keeping them from touching everything in their excitement, or they are bored out of their minds and racing through to get to the gift shop. The joys of teaching middle school. Anyways, if you are interested in Chinese history, make time to see this exhibit before it goes away in April.

Since we were downtown, we decided to do lunch there. And I'm going to amend my rule of "Only Northside restaurants will be reviewed here" to "Only Northside restaurants, unless they have Richard Blais". I'm just fascinated by that guy and what he does to food. I may blog about my opinions of the guy later when I get a chance.

So anyways, we ended up at Flip, Blais's new burger joint, for lunch. Flip is part of that growing trend of taking something incredibly common and making it with premium ingredients and attention to detail. Blais is the "creative consultant", which means he designed the menu, but someone else executes it. From what I understand (and also from what I witnessed today), he's pretty hands on about making sure that vision is accurately represented.

Flip is cool. Very, very cool. We were seated in the back at a bar where we could see the kitchen and watch them put the finishing touches on each plate before serving. There's another bar, with mirrors and HD TVs and plush stools as well. The booths look very comfortable and plush as well. Next time I'm bringing a big group so we can snag one. The colors are bright and busy. It's almost a bit TOO busy for my tastes, but then I spend my working day trying to get people to calm down, not jazz up.

Our attention was immediately attracted by the barman whiping a batch of toasted marshmallow with liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is a Blais trademark, so it was pretty cool to see it in action. In fact, we were so impressed, we ordered a couple Krispy Kreme shakes ourselves, which were still smoking when they were brought to us.

From blog

These were perfect. The ratio of ice cream and milk was just right. The donut had been pulverized, so other than that yummy sweetness, the only sign of it was a faint gritty texture. And due to the super cooling, it stayed chill and firm all through out our meal.

I was going to order a plain Flip burger initially (classic burger, with lettuce, tomato, etc.), but was sorely tempted by the more adventersome choices. I ended up choosing a Po Boyger, a patty made of ground shrimp, topped with Old Bay mayo, shredded lettuce, and a fried lemon.

From blog

This was pretty tasty. The fried lemon was a bit strong though. I'd order it again. I also got a side of fries, which were crispy and airy, and lightly seasoned with salt and chives. Not much potato flavor to them, but not bad either.

My husband got a real winner though. He ordered the Philly cheesesteak burger.

From blog

It's a beef patty smothered with green bell peppers and onions, and a dollop of Cheeze Whiz. It came out like canned whipped cream. That's awesome. The beef was cooked medium rare and was tender and juicy and full of big, beefy flavor. He ordered the vodka battered onion rings with his. I'm not a big fan of onion rings, but I took a nibble of the breading. It was light and crunchy, much like my French Fries.

While we were eating, Richard Blais came in and worked the room a bit, saying hello to other guests and allowing people to take pictures with him. I didn't speak to him, but in the small dining space, it was easy to see that he was a nice guy who enjoyed meeting his fans. In fact, the first person he made a beeline for, was a middle school aged girl out for lunch with her mother. Blais spent the longest talking to them of everyone. It was very cute seeing how star struck the girl was by her encounter with him.

Soo...Flip. I would definitely come back to this one. The shakes alone are worth the drive down. I really want to try some of their other burgers too.

Thanksgiving Local Logistics

Thanksgiving is next week. I'll be hosting my first one in my own home for my parents, siblings and, oh yeah, the husband this year. Since I am a food hippie, I have to do things the hard way.

Our turkey has been pre-ordered via Moore's Farm & Friends. I usually cannot justify to myself paying that kind of price for meat, even if I try. However, it's a special occasion. Our turkey is coming from Westwind Farms, about 90 miles outside of Knoxville, TN. It'll be freshly processed (meaning, just killed) and certified organic. We'll be picking it up at the Peachtree Road Farmer's market this Saturday.

Speaking of Peachtree Road, I've made an effort to select recipes that reflect what's seasonal in Georgia this time of year. Luckily, we've got a long growing season down here, so gives us a wide variety. I'm hoping to find most of the fresh ingredients I'll need at the farmer's market this week, and keep Thanksgiving local. We haven't been to a farmer's market since the ones up here closed and I think we're a little over excited by it.

There's been a flurry of emails back and forth from my mother and I this week. As is our wont, my sisters are contributing a few things to the meal. Allison does desserts particularly well. I'm not sure if she's settled on exactly what she's bringing yet, but it'll be some sort of pie. Kim does appetizers and drinks. Mom and I both nixed "Pumpkintinis". Instead, I suggested either Cape Cods or Pomegranate Martinis. While not really local (Where do cranberries come from anyways? Since I hate them, I'm going to say "Straight from hell"), both flavors are seasonal. Mom is handling wine. It's impossible to find a single wine to go with Thanksgiving, so I suggested a pinot noir. I've recently become a fan of pinots. They've got a subtle sophistication to them, but also a nice, robust flavor that can stand up to any meal. Kim is also planning a traditional antipasto tray, which is something I will probably blog about later.

Wednesday is going to be my big baking day since I have the day off from school. I'm off pie duty this year, thanks to my sister, so I'm going to prep the corn bread stuffing, and get the biscuits ready. My husband has requested that I make a batch of White Lily biscuits (Just follow the recipe on the back of the bag. It never fails). I'll make that dough ahead of time too. Any other prep work I can do a day ahead I'll do then too, like fry bacon and hard boil eggs to top the spinach salad with. I can also make the cranberry-orange relish the night before as well. Thanksgiving is a big meal, and I've no doubt that SOMEONE will get under my feet before the end of the day.

I'll try to remember to take pictures this time.

The Atlanta Greek Festival

I have a love hate relationship with the Atlanta Greek Festival. I adore the food, the music, the crafts, the Cathedral itself. I hate the crowds. Unfortunately, there seem to be thousands of people who adore the same things I do there, so it's elbow throwing time. It's been a nearly annual stop for us ever since I was in college. One of my professors offered extra credit to anyone that attended the Cathedral lecture at the festival. Learning + food = I will be there. That first year we had a great lunch of roasted lamb sandwiches, attended a greek cooking class, and bought a crazy amount of cheese and olives. We were hooked.

However, the crowds just keep getting worse and we stay a shorter and shorter time each year. I think we'll skip it next year, in favor of the smaller Cumming Greek Festival.

I got some great pictures though and I did pick up some cheese and cookies.

From greek festival

Greek pastries for sale outside the Cathedral. I can never recall, or spell for that matter, the names of any of these things. We bought a bag of the twisty looking cookies. They are slightly sweet and crisp. I think they are perfect with a mug of hot chocolate on a cool fall evening.

From greek festival

The selection of cheeses available. For years, this was the only place where I knew I could get some of these cheeses. My favorite is the manouri, which is a soft, mild sheep's milk cheese. We also bought some feta, which will be part of my lunch tomorrow, and a sharp white cow's milk cheese. I'm going to be eating pieces of that for breakfast along side Honeycrisp apples from the farmer's market.

From greek festival

Lamb, roasting on spit outdoors. Not something you see every day. Unfortunately, their lamb is so popular and the roasting process takes so long, they had supply issues. So we sadly skipped eating lamb from the Festival this year. Which was a pity, because my husband wanted to buy a pound to take home for nibbles.

From greek festival

Since there was no lamb for us at the Festival, we had dinner at Veranda instead. I had meant to take pictures of our food BEFORE eating it, but I, uh, forgot. So those are the remnants of my lamb chops and stewed lima beans in tomato sauce.

If you'd like to flip through all my photos, here's the link. I got some great pictures of the inside of the Cathedral.

greek festival

Greek Festivals!

I nearly forgot yesterday, that it's Greek Fesitval season here. I don't know if there is actually a season for this sort of thing, it just seems they all happen at once here.

This weekend is the venerable Atlanta Greek Festival. This is pretty much the gold standard of Greek festivals. Great food, traditional crafts and dances on display and lots and lots of Greek culture and pride. All held in the beautiful Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Clairmont Road. Which is actually the only thing I don't like. Don't get me wrong, the catherdral is beautiful and listening to the lecture about it's history and the history of Orthodoxy in general is always a highlight of my visits. The problem is that the festival has outgrown the grounds. I have found it nearly impossible to navigate through the crowds some years. Every year, I say I'm going to skip it because of the crowds... And every year I remember how great their roasted lamb is. Sigh.

Admission is $3 per person. Parking is free in the Century City Office Park and a shuttle will run you over to the festival and back. It's very efficiently done, so there's little waiting.

A little closer to my Northside beat is the Cumming Greek Festival. Less well known and far less crowded than its big brother downtown, this is held in a tiny country church in Cumming, Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Orthodox Church on the weekend of Oct. 18 & 19th. Admission is free.

The Cumming Festival is smaller in every way, but the food. The organizers offer a bigger menu of Greek treats, and a more laid back atmosphere to go along with it. They've been holding this festival since 2005, which is plenty of time to work out the kinks, but not so much that word has gotten out about this hidden gem.

Something tells me I'm going to be eating lots of roasted lamb this month. Yum.