Atlanta's Coffee Deficit

For me, a good coffee shop or sidewalk café is key to living happily: a comfortable spot to get caffeinated, to read, work, and meet people, preferably with good (by which I mean impressively bad) art-for-sale on the walls and enough traffic (inside and out) for good people watching. New Orleans’ Café du Monde is pretty much the ultimate example in my mind, though DC’s L’Enfant does pretty well. Atlanta’s café selection is, unfortunately, a study in disunity.

The coffee at San Francisco Coffee Roasting Co. in Virginia Highlands is really good - rich, hot, and not all burned like it’s been there too long or has been over-roasted to generic Starbucksness - but that thing on my plate was not a scone, by any definition. It was a biscuit which, in addition to overcooking it, someone has shoved a great deal of refined sugar and a small handful of sulfury currants. It’s mostly too dark in the large, otherwise comfortable shop to read happily, but the jazz standards, while uninspired and generic, are piped in at a volume which allows enjoyment but does not interfere with conversation. The patio out back is small and fine enough, except the view is of a parking lot. My large iced coffee was about $2.00.

Decatur’s Java Monkey has a few comfy chairs, some slightly awkward bar and counter seating, and lots of tables that could do with some de-wobblifying. It also has the nicest patio of anyplace I’ve been down here. The coffee’s pretty good - all fair-trade and often organic for those in to such things - and the food is on the better side, with tasty paninis and fair hummus and tapenade. They also have wine and beer, which helps. The people-watching is pretty good here, as is the eavesdropping. The downside, which keeps me from Java Monkey rather more than I’d like, is that every night seems to be open mic night.

I’m all for supporting local artists and such, but there is only so amateur slam poetry one’s mind can handle. The same would go, I suppose, for professional slam poetry, should such a horror exist. Plus, open mic night is LOUD: it’s not the cheering or the moderate extra crowd, but the bloody mic is turned up all the way and the performers (especially, but not exclusively, the slam poets) tend to shout. This makes working, reading, and often conversing rather impossible.

Outwrite has geography, and books. The coffee is atrocious, but the tea is pretty good and enough sugar makes the espresso passable, so it’s easy to maintain your buzz while watching the scenery strut down 10th street. Seating is limited inside, but enough of the patrons are sufficiently friendly that sharing tables is a norm, which is helpful not only in comfort but also in learning all about that hot blonde walking by on the arm of a much older (and…homelier…) gentle(?)man. Sadly, outdoor seating is a no-go: the ‘patio’ is a nine-by-four-foot deck occupied by dedicated smokers and those willing to shout over the too-loud music. Inside, the music isn’t too loud, but it is often crap.

Finally: the Majestic. Not a coffeeshop but a diner, with crap coffee and greasy food and all manner of sketchiness, it’s comfortable enough for late night reading or to take that cute boy who’s been chatting you up for the last four hours at Outwrite, after that’s closed and you’re not ready to say goodnight just yet. It’s open after midnight, as so few Atlanta institutions are.

Java Monkey’s great during times when it’s not a performance space, but Outwrite is my favorite for sitting and reading and for socializing (plus it’s a bookstore, which adds a certain something of its own), and San Francisco is just a walk-by for good coffee. If Atlanta wants to grow into a proper city, it’s going to need a few (or a few dozen) proper independent coffeeshops/cafés, or at least some better-appointed Caribou Coffees or (shudder to think) Starbuxae.

My demands: a large (but not sprawling, Atlanta has enough of that) place, preferably with a nice patio, better-than-Starbucks (or, ideall, actually good) coffee, good snacks/food, and free Wifi. Books and magazines would be nice too - and I mean books, not bestsellers, and magazines that are less than 25% ads, not just Cosmo. Oh, and it should be open well past midnight.

San Francisco Coffee Roasting Co.
1192 N Highland Ave
Atlanta, GA 30306

Java Monkey
205 E Ponce De Leon Ave # 5
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 378-5002

Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse
991 Piedmont Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel: 404-607-0082

The Majestic Diner
1031 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA
30306-4215
Phone: (404) 875-0276

Mediterranean Red Snapper

My grandmothers are all very picky eaters, but in very different ways. My mother's mother has a long list of allergies and other diet-limiting conditions, so no one can blame her. My paternal grandmother, who lives here in DC and eats dinner with my parents (and often me) most Sundays, on the other hand, simply does not like vegetables.

She'll eat lettuce, carrots, cooked onions, asparagus and the occasional eggplant, but that's about it. This makes cooking a healthy and delicious meal rather a challenge on Sunday nights, and has inspired not only our creative efforts but also, in the case of this dish, our subversive humors.

You see, the vegetable that my paternal grandmother hates more than anything is squash. Yellow, green, pumpkin, or zucchini, she will at any restaurant return any dish served to her with squash anywhere on it. The thing is, my mom and I love the stuff. So, we sometimes find ways to sneak it in to dishes anyway.

Like this (adjust all proportions to taste):
4 lbs. fresh red snapper
3 large yellow onions
1.5 cups whole green olives, chopped in thirds
3 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes, drained (can use fresh as well)\
1 3.5 oz jar of capers
½ a yellow squash, chopped very fine (to hide)
1-2 tbs coarsely ground black pepper
1 tbs red pepper flakes
½ tsp. chopped garlic
Feta cheese
Olive oil

Chop and sautee onions in oil with the garlic and some salt.
Once the onions are soft, dump in the tomatoes, capers, squash, pepper and salt (to taste), cover and simmer 10-15 mins until the squash is done.
Salt and pepper the fish.
Ladle some of this sauce into a glass baking pan, lay the fish over it, and cover in the rest of the sauce. Top with about 8 oz. crumbled feta, and bake at 350 until done – 30-40 minutes.

Serve with a good, hearty bread or over rice.

Squishable.com Launch Party: Drink, Dance, Hug an Alligator

Where will you be Wednesday night? At the Squishable.com launch party.

What's a squishable, you ask? It's a huge, fuzzy, squishable stuffed animal.

Why are we telling you this? Because we're blatantly advertising them, that's why. Haven't you figured this out already?

Check out www.squishable.com to pick out your favorite squishable. (We'll even deliver it to you at the launch party!)

Then come out Wednesday night to celebrate to launch of the new site. Uber-cool DJs Natalya and Melissa (Hej Hej), Your Favourite Asian, DJ Yum Yum (Crap DC) will be on hand spinning really good tunes. So join us at Felix, at 2406 18th St NW, 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18th.

Of course, you don't have a buy a squishable to come to the launch party. In fact, we'll have a bunch of them on hand if you'd rather just come by and hug one. Otherwise, you're welcome to order one and we'll deliver it to you Wednesday!

More adorable Squishable pictures after the jump.

See everyone Wednesday night.

Mid-Atlantic Fusion Bourne of Atlanta Exile

It’s summer, and for natives of (and most transplants to) the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, that means one thing more than any other: crab season! Whether consumed in a violent orgy of mallets and shells or more demurely in delicious cake form, this is the season for the yummy little bastards. The thing is, I up and moved to Atlanta, where crabs are just a one-night stand’s lasting impression, and mentioning “Old Bay” will just get you asked if you don’t mean “Green.”

As is so often the case, my salvation came by pure providence. I had purchased some crab meat from the grocery - the crappy packaged kind that looks like it ought to be fake but isn’t - and was planning to do something vaguely fritter-ish. But, before dinner could be considered, I was headed to the gym, and needed a pre-workout snack. I pulled down a handful of crackers, and dipped one in a fresh tub of hummus.

Lesson one: don’t buy store-brand hummus in a Southern grocery.

Panic-stricken - for if my snack went this badly I’d never have the focus to exercise - I reached for the first thing I could see to overwhelm the sour horror of that hummus-product. My crab purchase had been inspired, of course, by coming upon a tin of Old Bay at the market. It was now sitting on the counter, just before my eyes.

That experiment worked, so I experimented more. Using good hummus this time, I mixed in about 1/2 tablespoon of Old Bay per cup, and spooned the mixture into a small bowl. I fried the crab bits in an Old Bay-flour mix as well. Then I let them cool, dried them, arranged them around the hummus mixture (with Triscuits), and an hors d’ouvres plate was born!

An Old Flame With a Great Rack

We've all been there. You have a relationship, that ends, for better or worse, and for some reason you still wind up back with your old flame every so often. It's hard to explain - you know it probably isn't right, and that you may end up regretting it later, but yet there you are, doing it anyway. So it went this week with me.

I've lived in the D.C. area since 1999, and I had the fortune to leave the area for about a year and a half to complete culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu. You'd be surprised how much changes around here in that amount of time. It's like a weird acid trip - everything is different, yet so much the same. Many restaurants that used to be some of my favourite places now just irritate me, and many places that I never gave the time of day to before, like an illicit romance, give me those familiar butterflies.

This week, I marked the passage of yet another year of irritating the hell out of people. For such an occasion, I decided it was time to revisit an old flame – 1789 Restaurant, in Georgetown. Now this really was a strange occurrence. On one hand, it was a fairly risky endeavour, as this has always been, bar none, one of my absolute favourite places in town. If things had changed for the worse, I would be crushed. On the other hand, I must admit I was fairly excited for one very good reason: this would be the first time I’ve tasted the food of the new(ish) executive chef there, Nathan Beauchamp.

On one hand, I have been a big fan of the last executive chef, Ris Lacoste. I actually know her professionally, and I’ve admired her work at Kinkead’s, and 15 ria. 15 ria was her first “solo gig” in this area and those people who ate there before she left to go to 1789 in 1995 remember how good that fare was. 15 ria pretty much tanked after she left, and I was very nervous that 1789 might suffer a similar fate, so it was with much trepidation that I approached the restaurant again.

My usual ritual at 1789 is to look over the entire menu, and then order the rack of lamb. Seriously, only once have I ever ordered anything else there (a filet mignon entrée), and while it was superb, you just can’t get lamb like that anywhere else in the D.C. area (that I know of, at least). For the most part, this signature entrée hasn’t changed much over the years, and I suspect that Nathan Beauchamp is aware of how popular it is. However, just as any band that covers another band’s music will attest, you have to put your own twist on it. This new menu would certainly pose a challenge – there were a number of new, seasonal entrées, that while fairly simple in construction, seemed truly appetizing.

After a good ten minutes looking over the menu, I decided to order a first course of a risotto, served with roasted corn, basil, chanterelle mushrooms, and finished off with summer black truffles. My fiancée ordered a chopped salad, which consisted of seasonal vegetables, anchovies, and was topped with a coddled egg. My entrée was, of course, the lamb. The rack was wrapped (and thus encrusted) in pancetta, and served with a goat cheese potato mousseline, escarole, and an olive jus. As much as I loved Ris’s version, I must admit, this was nothing short of phenomenal. It certainly consisted of some bold flavours, but everything worked together, and worked well.

As is her practice, my fiancée made up her mind before she left the house, and ordered pan roasted scallops, which were served with edamame, mahogany clams, sun gold tomatoes, and miso. I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but again, Nathan did not disappoint. Everything flowed together, and the clams really added a very nice touch.

As usual, the service was impeccable. Our waiter not only knew it was my birthday, but had arranged for the menus of the day to say so on the bottom in 24 point bold type (not that anyone else in the restaurant had any idea who I was), and brought me a card signed by the staff (as in all of the staff), along with a Valhrona chocolate truffle for dessert. While I’m trying to forget exactly how old I am, I won’t soon forget the meal I had there. Excellent job, Mr. Beauchamp! I look forward to doing this again – just don’t tell Ris.

1789 Restaurant
1226 36th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
(202) 965-1789

In addition to the standard fare, 1789 has a coupon on their site which will get you a three course meal for $36 (lamb and filet carry a $10 surcharge).

Slurp's Up

Today's 7/11, which means it's the annual FREE SLURPEE DAY at your favorite neighborhood convenience store.

7-Elevens are pretty ubiquitous, but here's their store locator in case you're not sure where the closest one is.

This might be a good day to check out the Kwik-E-Mart inspired 7-Eleven in Bladensburg, one of just twelve in the country.

Here's the thing, though. Area 7-Elevens tend to be inconsistent on whether they're participating in the promotion or not. According to an LA-based food blog, if you show up and your 7-Eleven says it isn't participating, you can call 800-255-0711 and receive a free Slurpee Coupon. Suburban outfits tend to be more likely to participate than the DC ones, it seems.

Hej Hej: Norwegian Vodka and Swedish Bands

Where are you going tonight? To Hej Hej, of course.

Tonight is a very special Hej Hej with a performance by The Lovekevins from Malmo, Sweden. This is the band's only U.S. show outside New York.

DC 9 (1940 9th St. NW)
Doors: 9:00 PM / 21 + / $8

Drink specials: Vikingfjord vodka

Check out the Hej Hej site at www.hejhejmusic.com and come on out tonight.

And check out all the love they got from the Express today, too.

We'll see you all there!

Passin' round the basil

Groups of women sharing herbs. Sharing herbs is, in a cultural sense at least, what groups of women are *for*. Herbs for impressing a guy, herbs for bandaging up a kid, and herbs, historically at least, for when you don’t have the first and are in danger of the second. Women passing around herbs - it might as well be the definition of society.

My personal herb sharing network – ooh, that sounds so much more illicit than it actually is – says right now is the time to pass around some Basil. I know this because I got handed some this morning over the wall of my cube. Apparently the super hot weather we’ve been having has been perfect for Basil growin’, and now that it’s cooled down it’s time to munch before the plants start to do some crazy flowering.

But while gifting is all very well, what do you do with all that fresh Basil?

We asked Pee Jim, absurdly capable guide of Khmer ruins to high-ranking military officials in the Thailand university town of Burriram (it has its own market!) near the Cambodia border. And even tho as a devout Buddhist she often fasts after 12, she’s willing to do a bit of culinary creativity for the local monestary; feed the monks, get a blessing. But not the nuns – their major spiritual duty seems to be washing the dishes.

Pee Jim’s fried basil w/ chicken wings, adapted with a lot of internet help

Mix together:
1 tablespoon fish sauce
A bit of finely chopped lemongrass if you’ve got it.
10-15 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoons chopped fresh red chilis
quarter cup chopped cilantro
quarter cup rice whisky (or whatever sort you have around
2 tbsp olive oil (my addition)
2 tbsp of ketchup

Cut off the tips of a couple dozen wing, rinse and dry ‘em off, toss them into the marinade, and stick the whole thing in the fridge overnight. Grill or bake ‘em at 375 'till they're nice and crispy.

Holy basil is what you really want for this - but go for the smaller leaves of other varieties if you have to. Rinse off and dry your basil – lots and lots of it, and strip the leaves. I mean it about drying it well, squeeze it out between paper towels and lay it flat for a little while if you have to.

Get a nice big wok with a couple inches of peanut oil and heat it super hot, almost to smoking – a drop of water should spit all over the place. Then drop in handfuls of the leaves – they’ll only need a few seconds to get nice and crispy – and lift ‘em out with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel.

Gently mix together the leaves and wings to keep from crushing them. Toss in another handful of chopped red chilies – or you might want to saute the chilis up a bit first. A sprinkle of salt over the finished product…It’s a dish fit for a monk.

You ain't gonna believe this schizz

California Tortilla is giving out free Pop Tarts on July 18th. Just a little over two weeks from now, you can stroll into your neighborhood Cal-Tort and get a Pop-Tart.

Gotta give Pop-Tarts credit - they're just as unhealthy now as they were when we were kids. All the rage nowadays is with making organic versions of cereals and cookies with whole grain. Doing the Atkins/South Beach diet? Have a low carb Oreo. Not Pop-Tarts, though. Instead of jumping on the fickle bandwagon of diet food fads, they figured out consumers want actual comfort from their comfort foods. Now they're rolling out Apple Strudel, Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Strawberry Milkshake flavors, and there's not a whole grain or alternative sugar to be found.

Those geniuses even figured out how to make a prewrapped, portable and easily-heated treat more convenient - eliminate the need to heat it. Hence, the Go-Tart.

No word yet if Baja Fresh is going to have a free Toaster Strudel promotion, but we'll let you know.

Where to eat in DC When Nearly Broke: Friendship Heights

I've written seven articles about eating on the cheap in Arlington, and was looking for a happy hour with food specials Friday night in Friendship Heights. I tried Schnozbot, and Washingtonian Happy Hour Finder with no luck, and stumbled across one entry at Happy Hour City. So, a friend and I checked out Chadwick's 1/2 price appetizer (except shimp and squid) and $2-2.50 house wine and selected beer and drinks specials.

We had black bean chilli, potato skins, and wings, all at 1/2 price, and a couple of glasses of $2 house wine each. The food was decent, and certainly worth the bargain prices. My friend really liked the potato skins.

So, any suggestions for other Friendship Heights happy hours that feature specials on food?

Chadwick's
5247 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington, DC
(202) 362-8040