Atlanta & Orlando Restaurant Recs

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Additional data point - also enjoyed White Oak Kitchen, which I may have seen on this thread last year. Incredibly convenient for cocktails, given the number of hotels in the area that friends were coming from.

22

Personally I could do without ever going to Restaurant Eugene or Bacchanalia again. I think better things are happening at places like Miller Union, Cakes & Ale, the General Muir, Umi, Bocca Lupo, One Eared Stag, among others.

23

Also, RE- Orlando, friend recently said Cask & Larder was as good as Ravenous Pig. Thoughts?

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These are great suggestions! BoccaLupo is absolutely incredible.

25

Cafe Agora for cheap eats in ATL.

Also Park 75 in 4 Seasons if you want to kick it up a notch.

26

+1 for Ravenous Pig and Primo. Primo is closer to the Hyatt.

27

I like Canoe. It’s in the Atlanta area (I believe just a bit North of the City proper closer to Buckhead). I have had some fine meals there and they also have an above average wine program, nice glassware, etc…

28

Annndddd we’re back to downtown Atlanta. Thank ya jeebuz.

One Eared Stag looks AWESOME. Buccalupo also looks pretty cool, kinda of like a Sotto Sotto? Will report back on wherever I land, including the wine damage from Sunday night’s annual Cab/Syrah shootout with an old VinoCellar/WinoDepot buddy :smiley:

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Hey, why you hatin’ on Buckhead. I’m hurt (well not really, but I don’t think we’re so bad here). [cry.gif]

30

Not like Sotto Sotto at all. Very different- best pasta in the city right now. Also, excellent cocktails.

31

Buckhead does mostly suck. I mean, I love where I live, but I drive away everyday to go do stuff.

[neener.gif]

32

Buckhead is fantastic… unless you have to get on a bus with 2000 other people to get to the Georgia Dome by 8:00 AM every day.

33

Ah, 'nuff said. I’m no longer offended. [cheers.gif]

34

I’ve closed the Whiskey Bar in the W down several times; I’m a fan :smiley: At that point, though, I either have to take a cab back or pass out on a couch in somebody’s room and get in line with the masses at 6AM. After a long night drinking, that’s never a good thing. And on Sunday night? Taking a taxi from my buddy Scott’s house (believe he’s on the edge of Inman Park) after 3 bottles of wine will cost me quite a bit of money [drinkers.gif]

35

Quick update - did the annual Brisket and Wine dinner with a local buddy. Brisket and ribs were from Fox Bros and fantastic. Ordered the chopped brisket, which was the NC equivalent of ordering “the brown.” Much better than the train wreck I had there last year. Ribs were fantastic.

Wines at dinner - 2002 Phelps Insignia, 2002 Kosta Browne Cohn, 2010 Cayuse The Lovers. Skipped a lot of the sauce on the meat in an attempt to preserve the palate :smiley:

Lunch at Le French Quarter Café today. Not a bad option if you’re looking for somewhere quick and cheap downtown that doesn’t look like it gets a lot of traffic. Sandwich was great, but no alcohol.

Off to Bocca Lupo tonight!

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You should really enjoy Bocca Lupo, Andrew. Make sure you try the octopus and smoked mortadella- its fantastic. There are too many great pasta dishes to name. If you are a cocktail guy there are a whole host of excellent ones. Two of my favorites right now are the Pirates of Dark Water and Oaxaca Flocka Flame.

37

BoccaLupo was fantastic! The great thing about going with a group of 7 is that you truly get to eat everything on the menu, and there was not a bad dish on it. I’m traditionally a carnivore (see the Steak Porn thread or my fbook at Redirecting... ), so pasta for every dish was a little outside of my comfort zone :smiley:

Started with cocktails and tried the Oaxaca Flocka Flame, which was just over the top. Holy smoky cocktail, it’s definitely a sipper. Sharknado was good, with a mix of sweet and herbs. Can’t remember the other two I had, but one of them looked like Gatorade and tasted terrible.

Food was ridiculously good. We got a full order of the octopus/mortadella, in addition the one that came with the tasting menu. Great stuff, and I like the beans almost as much as I liked the main attraction. Followed it with pimientos patron, the fried seafood plate and the Iowa prosciutto platter.

I got the black spaghetti with calabrese and the white lasagna as my two “mains.” Both were fantastic. I also finished off somebody else’s fettucini with black truffles :smiley: Pretty sure I’m going to explode, but I still found room for panna cotta. Only bad part of the night was having to wait 50 mins for 4 cabs to take everyone back downtown.

Will update as I hit more places :smiley: Thanks again for the reco.

38

Andrew,

You should use the Uber app when you are in ATL. Much better than cabs and you can call 4 cars if you need them. Glad you enjoyed BoccaLupo.

Next time you should try a couple of my favorites. The take off on Bucatini all’ Amatriciana. He uses our local mildly smoky bacon instead of guanciale. It is just as complex but I like the combo better. It is truly something to behold. Also for dessert they do a savory chocolate cake that is infused with squid ink to give it that sea salt and chocolate combo but with a real twist. It is absolutely incredible.

The place is on my A+ list.

39

I swear, I could have gone back there again last night. Instead, we went to White Oak Kitchen.

I’ve been two White Oak Kitchen several times previously and have always found there food to be good to very good, but never great. Last night reinforced that baseline. The fried pimento balls were cold in the center (they had clearly been frozen), the pork meatballs were good, but not outstanding and the pork belly tasted great, but really wasn’t all that crispy. I had a pork shank for dinner, that again, tasted great but didn’t wow me.

The biggest surprise, though, was the service. Absolutely terrible. The floor was short staffed, with quite a few empty tables on a Tuesday night, and our server was constantly in the weeds. Drink orders took 10-15 minutes, even for a beer. Was a complete and total fail.

King & Duke on the docket tonight, based on one of the recs here. One of my French leads is obsessed with hamburgers (go figure) and the Duke burger looked ridiculous.

40

Andrew, the food at K&D can be good. But the place can also be a mad house, and filled with lots of Buckhead douchebags. If you have any service issues just ask for the manager Rick. The wine list and cocktails are horrendous.