Cafe Alsace

I've wanted to try Cafe Alsace, a little French bistro in Decatur, for a long time and never got around to it. It's not fancy inside, but it's charming and pleasant. There was a lot on the menu that looked good. We decided to split the quiche du jour (salmon, goat cheese, and chives) and the tartines au jambon (two slices of sourdough wheat bread baked with prosciutto ham, caramelized apples, and goat cheese. Lunch comes with soup or salad so we got a cup of the house french onion and of the soup du jour, a cold peach, rosemary, and cranberry soup.



I had mixed feelings about both soups. I haven't had very much french onion soup so I don't have much to compare this one to, but it tasted a whole lot like the gravy that I make. It was disappointing that the cheese was just some cheese on toast instead of being baked on the bowl, and it seems like the soup could have been skimmed of more fat. It still tasted good, but I think there is room for a bit of improvement. The cold peach, rosemary, and cranberry soup tasted like summer. After a bite or two though the rosemary was too powerful. I didn't actually taste the cranberry, which is too bad because the tartness of the cranberry could have cut through the dominating earthiness of the rosemary. This would have been a good palate cleanser if we were eating more. We didn't finish the little cup.



The entrees fared much better than the soups. The quiche had a nice crumbly, almost crispy bottom. I could have eaten a lot more of this, and no doubt at some point will go back and have more.







The tartines au jambon were simple and tasty.






We got two desserts. One was a dense chocolate cake that had a consistency very similar to a flourless cake. I don't if this one had flour or not. This dessert was chosen because it had hot chili in it. In our opinion anything that combines chocolate and hot chili is worth trying. Unfortunately we couldn't detect the chili, which left us with a decent cake and good homemade vanilla ice cream.






The other dessert was an apple and pear upside down pie with caramel ice cream. I preferred this one. It had a nice chewy, but still crunchy crust and the fruit was left fairly plain.





I almost forgot, the coffee was terrible. It tasted like it had been sitting on the burner for hours. Overall, even though there were some misses I enjoyed my meal and would recommend it. It's very inexpensive for French food and some of it was very good, so a few slight misses here and there don't matter so much (except the coffee). I probably won't rush back, but I'll be back at some point.

Katy:
I'd also come back here. It was a great lunch place, and not too expensive for the amount and quality of the food. Dessert was probably not necessary, but I could have eaten the quiche all day and the tartines du jambon had that perfect mix of salty and sweet. I liked the fruit soup, but as Jason said, the rosemary was a bit overpowering. Still and all, a nice tasty lunch and a nice atmosphere right there in downtown Decatur.

Bay Leaf Cafe

Jason:
Fusion, the mixing of disparate influences to get something new, also a restaurant fad. Bay Leaf Cafe, in Little 5 Points bills itself as a fusion restaurant. We wondered in anticipation at what kind of inspired fusion we would get to feast on. The we opened the menu. Fusion? More like confusion. There was bruschetta, caprese salad, pad thai, steak, ravioli, and various other slightly boring yet representative foods from various places, but no fusion. We dove in though, starting with an appetizer of Bay Leaf Volcano. It was a piece of pita bread with some chicken, tomatoes, spinach, basil, and chipotle sauce. It tasted homemade in the worst way possible. Not that it tasted bad, but that there was nothing special about it. Anybody could have thrown this together, and the chipotle sauce was nonexistent.

On to the main course. I got the special, which was an 8 oz New York Strip with asparagus and mashed potatoes. And just to reiterate what I said earlier this was not fusion at all. For $8.00 it was actually a pretty good deal though. The steak was tasty (and cooked how I ordered it), if not very special, and the asparagus was nicely done. The mashed potatoes weren't creamy enough, but at least they tasted and looked potatoey. That sauce that could possibly have given some interesting aspect of fusion was just A1.

Katy went for one of the Asian dishes, ginger chicken. This meat was the exact same meat that was on the volcano. If there was ginger we didn't find it. If there was taste we missed it. I won this round (I'm nice though so I let her eat some steak and asparagus).

So the meal is over, we head out, and this is where lunch gets interesting. We go to Java Lords across the street because Katy needs some Mexican hot chocolate (which is really good here). I had a cup of coffee in my car so I wasn't going to get anything until I see today's brew:

Yes, today's brew is "Robert Mugabe is an Ass Clown." There's no way I can refuse that, so I get a cup. We decide that it doesn't really taste like ass, and the closest thing to a clown would be circus peanuts, but that's really an unfair comparison. I don't know what Robert Mugabe tastes like (I'm an adventurous eater, but I don't actually ever plan on finding that out), but it's probably a safe bet that it didn't taste like him either. So the marketing was deceptive, yet highly effective. That's okay because it was still good coffee. Anyway, I'm putting one of those heat protectors on my cup, when who should walk up but my ex-girlfriend Beth. I guess it makes sense that if I spend enough time a tenth of a mile from her house that I'll eventually run into her, but it was a shock nonetheless. We all talked for awhile, and it was actually nice to see her again.

Katy:
Java Lords was clearly the best part of this outing. I can't add much to the whole fusion/confusion comment (very nice wording, Jason). This restaurant clearly could not decide what it wanted to be. Maybe they're hoping to be the magical destination everyone goes to when no one in your group can agree on what kind of food they want (Jason forgot to mention the Cuban sandwiches and hummus also on the menu).

Albert, The

Jason: No, articles don't count in the name when choosing a restaurant. The Albert, on a residential street in Inman Park is the bar you wish you had in your neighborhood (unless you live around the corner from 5 Seasons, in which case you would be being very greedy to have both in your neighborhood when I don't have any good ones). Every table gets to dine with a famous Al, so we got to enjoy the company of a young Al Pacino. Al Gore was behind us. The place was nice dark wood with huge windows.

They say the food here is organic, though I don't know if that means everything. I think the menu said that the burgers are. Between that and the waitress telling me that they would be willing to cook a burger however I wanted I decided to go for it and asked for it medium rare. It's what I always ask for , but don't remember the last time I actually got one that came out less than medium or medium well. My side was grilled squash. Katy got the buffalo chicken wrap with jalepeno coleslaw. The food comes and my burger is actually medium rare! Our server told me that she told the kitchen to make it rare so they would get it right. It was a very good burger, but I think the grilled squash may have been better. I really don't think you could improve upon what they did. It was tender, but slightly crisp, and perfectly seasoned.



Katy's buffalo wrap was also quite good. The chicken was grilled instead of fried, which was a nice suprise, and the buffalo sauce had a nice kick that was considerably stronger than we would have guessed it would be. Far more than the jalepeno coleslaw, which while it was good coleslaw didn't seem to actually have any jalepenos in it.




Katy: What Jason forgets to mention is the excellent music playing during our whole lunch. Gotta love '80's power ballads. Jason didn't seem to appreciate it, but he's just a wee young thing.

Other than that, I'd pretty much second what he said. This was definitely the best buffalo chicken wrap I've had. Plenty of tasty sauce and the grilled chicken lets you pretend like it's healthy. It's a win win!

Operation Abecedarian Eateries 1.0

Here's the list from 2006. This is a true test of memory.

Ambra, Bundo's Market Italian, Ciao Bella, Duck's Cosmic Kitchen, Einstein's, Food 101, Gladys and Ron's Chicken and Waffles, Hong Li, Ibiza, Jeon Tong Noodle House, Kokeb, Little Malaysia, Machu Picchu, New Paradise, Oga's, Penang, Queen of Sheeba, Royal Orchid Thai, So Kong Dong, Tierra, Udipi, Voila, Wisteria, Xin Xin, Yami Sushi, Zuma Sushi

And here's what we remember:
Katy: (coming soon)
Jason:
Little Malaysia- This is where I met Katy for the first time. It's a Malaysian place in the big Asian Square shopping center on BuHi (the one with with Ming's BBQ). Bitter melon soup was interesting, beef rendang was dry. It would be an okay option for Malaysian if it weren't for the fact the Penang and Asam are so close.

Machu Picchu- Peruvian. I think I recall an interesting soup, but the rest was lackluster. I wasn't tempted to return.

New Paradise- A great find on Buford Highway, just west of the Chamblee Tucker. An extensive menu (make sure to ask for the other menu) of very well prepared Cantonese food. I'm addicted to the salt and pepper pork chops, another friend of mine is addicted to the eggs with baby shrimp (a dish that John Kessler called paradigm shifting), and everything I have had has been very good. Lunch specials are $5.25 and Jackie is also the friendliest server in Atlanta.

Oga's- A grubby diner on Peachtree Industrial. I don't remember it too well.

Penang- Heaven. This is what Malaysian food should taste like. I've been back many times, and because the Malaysian food is so good I avoided the Thai part of the menu. I was there recently though and asked for a recommendation and was told to get the green curry. Now, green curry is the dish that I test new Thai places with, and I've probably had it in 20 different restaurants. It has ranged from good (Little Bangkok, Nahm) to unbelievably bland (too many to list, but disappointingly L'Thai is on the list). What they gave me at Penang was a revelation. How can a food be so complex and balanced and addictive? All of the flavors of green curry were just more present here, the earthiness of the galanga, the sour of the lemongrass, the richness of the coconut milk, and though I wanted it spicier (I forgot to mention that to the server) it had a good bite to it, much more than a lot of places where I actually request it very spicy. I mentioned to the waitress how much better their green curry is than everyone else's and she told me it's because they use as much of the expensive ingredients as you're actually supposed to, but most places try to save some money and scrimp. Other dishes to try are Penang Kari Mee, which is a rich coconut milk, lemongrass, chicken, tofu, and noodle soup, and Penang Char Kuey Teow, which is the house special stir fried flat rice noodles with fresh shrimp, squid, bean sprout, eggs, soy sauce and chili paste. Oh yeah, don't forget to get the Roti Canai. Roti is a flat bread, and it's served with a wonderful curry that has chunks of chicken and potatoes, for like $2.50. Penang is in the Orient Center shopping center on BuHi at Chamblee Tucker (just west of New Paradise).

Queen of Sheba- Ethiopian food on Briarcliff near North Druid Hills. Katy and I both got beef dishes. It tasted good, but the flavor got a little old after eating half of the pile of meat. The server was very helpful though and showed us how to eat the food with the enerja bread.

Royal Orchid Thai- Decent Thai food in the Midtown Promenade. I got green curry, which was fine, but nothing too special. The hot tea was awesome though. I've been meaning to go back just to figure out what kind of tea they use.

So Kong Dong- Good Korean food across BuHi from the Pinetree Plaza shopping center. Tofu soups are a little cheaper than 88 Tofu House and at least as good. Their Korean BBQ is good, though I'll admit I've only tried it in a few places (and it's always good). I always look forward to the banchan here (banchan is the assortment of small plates including kimchee and various other foods that comes with virtually all Koren meals) because they usually give you a whole fried fish.

Tierra- This would rank somewhere up in the top meals I've ever had. It's a Latin American bistro in Midtown on Piedmont. I unfortunately have more of a memory of really enjoying it than of specifically what I ate. I'll eventually go back (it is considerably more expensive than the little BuHi places I tend to wander into).

Udipi- South Indian vegetarian food on Scott Boulevard. They have a $7 lunch buffet which is very good.

Voila- a European Bistro on Ponce on the west side of downtown Decatur. It was pleasant, though my memory is vague.

Xin Xin- There aren't many Xs, so we ventured up to a strip mall Chinese place in Kennesaw. I got the beef with peppers, which was literally a plate of half beef and half chopped jalapenos.

Zuma Sushi- Sushi in the Old 4th Ward on Highland, across from the Highland Bakery. This is easily the best sushi I've ever had, including some sublime toro (fatty tuna belly). All of the fish that I have had here has been fresh, the right temperature, and well prepared. The rolls in general feature the fish instead of trying to hide it.