Restaurant experiment: Highland Bakery

Highland Bakery

655 Highland Avenue NE between Corley Street NE & Sampson Street NE

Atlanta, GA 30312

404-586-0772

http://highlandbakery.com/index.html

I was in change of deciding where Dave and I should dine for a Sunday brunch, and after extensive Yelp searching, I settled on Highland Bakery.  They have a couple of locations, but this one on Highland Avenue in Old Fourth Ward is the original one.  Highland Bakery has a microscopic lot; street parking wasn’t too much of a hassle though.

Don’t be confused like we were; go through the bakery entrance to put your name down.  A tween-aged girl was taking names.  At least the wait was short, though I wasn’t expecting a wait since it was near 3PM.  The place was still hoppin’ even though the closing time is 4PM.  The service staff was very diverse, and like at Leon’s, it was a waitress/waiter tattoo party for sure.  We were seated at some highboys against a wall and next to some lovely glass artwork.

As Dave and I were famished, we elected to have a few pastries to munch on while waiting for our mains.  I, naturally, had selected the eggs Benedict ($8.99) as my main, and Dave had followed suit.  There were two scone options ($2.99 each).  I forgot what the other one was (currant maybe?) and the one we ended up getting was pistachio and white chocolate.  I actually do not like white chocolate all that much, but I’d never had a pistachio scone before and wanted to try it.  Yum!  Divine.  Love the dusting of sugar on top.  Heated up too.  The chocolate croissant ($2.19) was fine though but I could have used a little more flakiness.  I love warmed pastries, especially when gooey chocolate is involved.

For my fellow Benedict lovers, there are some other varieties like the Country Fried Steak Benedict, the Fried Chicken Benedict, and the Cowboy Benedict, but I just got the Classic.  The eggs Benedict was too paprika-y for me.  See below.  Dave complained that the eggs Benedict wasn’t that hot, and I assured him that this seems to be an accepted practice, judging from the EBs I’ve consumed during other brunches.  Have I ever received piping hot EB?  I don’t think so.  I remembered liking the potatoes, though some chunks had more flavor that others.  I was actually getting really full and had to bring home the leftover spuds in a container.  If you don’t like tubers, never fear, as grits are also available.

Our server was polite, cheery, and helpful.  I’m not sure if Highland Bakery is the best brunch in all of Atlanta and I wouldn’t wait forever for a table, but it’s really good, and the scones are totally killer!

Restaurant experiment: Piassa

Piassa Restaurant

3096 North Decatur Road between Frances Street and East Ponce De Leon Avenue

Scottdale, GA 30079

404-717-4328

http://www.piassarestaurantmart.com

The Ethiopian tour of Atlanta continued, all thanks to our sponsor Scoutmob; I picked out Piassa from the other Ethiopian options on Scoutmob.  Piassa is in a strip mall on North Decatur that seems to cater to a Ethiopian clientele.  It’s actually both a restaurant and a small grocery store; you go through the mart to access the restaurant.  When Dave and I showed up, there were a couple of guys at another booth, but that was about it.  The heavy scent of incense washed over me, but thankfully it dissipated.

Our severs were sweethearts who made us feel welcome and were kind.  Piassa’s menu isn’t what you’d expect, as there isn’t an appetizer section, just entrees and drinks.  I guess that should have made it easier to select our dinner choices, but not really.  After much debate, Dave and I ordered the veggie combo ($11.99), yebeg tibs ($11.99), and kitfo normal ($11.99).

Below is the kitfo normal on the left, and the veggie combo on the right, with spices at 12 o’clock and 7 o’clock.  The menu states that the veggie combo has three options (yemisir wot, yekik alecha, and shero wot) but clearly, there are more than three items on the injera.  And salad in the middle.  Good deal.  Embarrassingly, I do not know what the names of the veggies are.  Thanks to Google, yemisir wot in a red lentil stew, which I’m guessing is the red spot on the picture.  Go, powers of deduction.  Yekik alecha is split peas, and shero wot looks to be a chickpea stew.  All you need to know is that all the veggies were awesome, and some were even a little spicy.

The kitfo normal is “fresh ground very lean beef sauteed with spiced butter and mitmita [red hot powder] served with cheese.”  Normally (haha), the kitfo is not well done, but the kitchen staff generously cooked it for us.  Meskerem had performed this favor for us as well though I actually prefer Piassa’s kitfo to Meskerem’s as Meskerem’s was too buttery.  Yes, there is such a thing as being too buttery.  Sorry Paula Deen.

Here’s the yebeg tibs.  The lamb is a smidgen on the overdone side, but the crispiness kind of adds to the whole deal.  So yeah, a tad chewy, but the taste is delightful.  Love these spices (not spicy).  See the table?  Reminds me of being in Mexico.

The servers kept the injera coming…no worries there about running out.  What happened was that we had ordered too much food, but we didn’t fret since Ethiopian keeps quite well.

So to sum up, Piassa is a homey, welcoming secret-like delight.  Yay.

Restaurant experiment: Yeah! Burger

Yeah! Burger

1017 North Highland Avenue at Virginia Avenue

Atlanta, GA 30306

404-437-7845

http://www.yeahburger.com

Soundtrack for this post: “Yeah! Oh Yeah!” by the Magnetic Fields

As we love burgers, it was time to try a new burger business.  Yeah! Burger seemed to fit the bill, though it sounded a lot like Farm Burger with the organic buzz but with more of an emphasis on gluten-free and with cuter cartoon graphics.

Firstly, it’s the Virginia-Highlands, so parking is always fun.  And by fun, I mean annoying.  As the baby lot right by the restaurant was full, we drove down Virginia and found a space.  Then we had to wait in line in order to place our orders.  The line moved and wasn’t as horrible as Shake Shack on a summer day.

So there was a couple in front of us who decided to go to the bar and place a to-go order.  Then they got their grub and sat down to eat it.  Seriously???

The cashier with the peppy hairdo didn’t ask me what kind of bun I wanted, and I ended up with a whole wheat one which luckily seemed to the the same cost as a white bun.  The buns are “locally made with organic flour by H&F Bread Co.”  My custom burger was a $6.49 beef patty (“6 oz. double stack of Georgia-raised, grass-fed White Oak Pastures beef”) with lettuce, tomato, sliced onions, pickles, cheddar cheese ($1), and avocado slices ($1).   There isn’t pork belly or bone marrow on the menu, but that’s fine by me.  I like my burgers basic.  Though the bacon jam sounds absolutely delightful…

The patio was full, so Dave and I grabbed a table right next to the patio, and I spent my time wishing I were on the patio, to some degree.

I was very impressed by the avocado.  Perfectly ripened, creamy amazingness.  The cheddar was robust but didn’t overpower the cheddar; that’s why I went with that instead of blue cheese.  Aw, you can’t see the avocado in the picture.  It’s hiding in the back.  The patty was juicy but not an oily mess.  The fries could have been crispier but were all right.

Cage match: Farm Burger vs. Yeah! Burger

Slight edge to Yeah! Burger.  Despite the irritating-to-type exclamation point, YB has better pickles though FB has more toppings to pick from, and a wider variety of cheeses.  I liked the cashier at YB more than the one at FB.  Plus I can bring my gluten-free pals here.  Both places cook beef medium or well done (why?).