Atlanta chow, near Emory

I nearly just sent this straight to Steve Drucker, but of course it makes much more sense to post to the board.

I'm going to be in Atlanta Monday and Tuesday, staying and working right near this Doubletree, not far from Emory:

http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/hote ... eDesc=true

I've seen the thread about casual dining downtown...am I in even more dire straits out where I am, 10 minutes north?

I'll probably have dinner covered (poorly, I imagine, but thems the breaks).

I'm guessing I could do one weekday breakfast if it called me, I'll have one lunch heading in from the airport, and one other lunch for which I hope to take a little trip out to Tasty Sichuan, though I doubt that's in the cards.

Probably will need someplace closer and more business friendly.

Suggestions? And is Tasty Sichuan still around and firing on all cylinders?

Thanks,

Aaron

I've had several good seafood dinners at Spondivot's. Casual and fun atmosphere. Can be busy. I've only been to the one by the airport.

Aaron...

When I started that thread, it was early in my LTH days, so I made the mistake of reporting back on restaurants as individual threads. here's the thread that I'd urge you to check out. Watershed is a couple of miles away from Emory, and we really had a wonderful lunch there. The argument could be made that it's kind of sanitized Southern, but there's no denying that it's really, really good, and Peacock certainly learned from the best (Edna Lewis). Not to mention which, it's very business lunch friendly -- clean, comfortable, bright, well-appointed.

Though we weren't able to catch it, they do fried chicken one night a week and it's supposed to be amazing. Based on what we had and seeing his recipe, I've no doubt it's top notch.

Addendum
Looking back at my own thread, unless they've changed it, it looks like Tuesday night is fried chicken night! Might I recommend a fried chicken appetizer before whatever else you have planned for that evening?

Thanks for directing me to that, Dom.

I knew of Scott Peacock, but didn't realize he had a restaurant in Atlanta. This is a very plausible option. I saw your post when searching, but was misled by the "Decatur" in the title.

I saw your Krog Bar post too, and I may have some late-night opportunity, so that's worthwhile.

Spondivot's sounds like a decent option as well. Thanks.

FWIW, in reading back I worry that I might've oversold Krog Bar somewhat. I did enjoy it, and that liver/port concoction totally rocked my world. But it definitely isn't something you should feel like you need to get to.

Watershed, however, I'd really make an effort not to miss.

Aaron, I have no particular recommendations for that neighborhood except to tell you that, sans traffic, you're only 10-15 minutes from the VARSITY and it's incredibly greasy, enjoy the taste for days, chili dogs.

I have stayed in that hotel and I strongly encourage you to ask for a room on the opposite side of the hotel from the interstate. If you don't, you'll be listening to interstate traffic all night long as I did one night this past summer.

There is a little diner next to the hotel which serves a reasonable and decent breakfast. If the VARSITY doesn't kill you, there's a Krystal across the street from the hotel that certainly will.

I, too, found Watershed quite good, and recommend it (although I only had lunch there - but it was a very pleasant lunch).

Another place that I have heard about from friends (I lived right outside of Atlanta for seven years, leaving a decade ago) is

Floataway Cafe
1123 Zonolite Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
Phone: (404) 892-1414

When I checked it out, it appears that it receives a WIDE diversity of opinion, but some people love it - fairly causal, but with good food - others do not. It is quite close to Emory.

GAF wrote:I, too, found Watershed quite good, and recommend it (although I only had lunch there - but it was a very pleasant lunch).

Another place that I have heard about from friends (I lived right outside of Atlanta for seven years, leaving a decade ago) is

Floataway Cafe
1123 Zonolite Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
Phone: (404) 892-1414

When I checked it out, it appears that it receives a WIDE diversity of opinion, but some people love it - fairly causal, but with good food - others do not. It is quite close to Emory.

I dined at Floataway a couple years ago on business upon the recommendation of an Atlantan friend. I like it quite a lot. Even though it's billed as a cafe, it's more refined casual, than casual-casual. It was just listed in Gourmet as on of the top farm-to-table restaurants as well. Some Chicago equivalents might be West Town Tavern (although Floataway is quieter, more relaxed) or a less artsy/eclectic Lula Cafe.

Thanks, all.

Ended up with two lunches, at Watershed and Tasty China, which I posted about in the threads already dedicated to those restaurants.

I thought Watershed was okay, glad to have tried it for sure, and Tasty China was excellent.

I did get a room opposite the interstate, Will, thanks. Had breakfast in the hotel, which surprisingly wasn't too bad.

Also, the focus group facility ordered from a Thai place called Phuket for dinner (wow, nice name). Not the best circumstances on which to judge a place, but it wasn't very good. They brought in satay, nam sod, nam tok, laad nar, larb nar, vegetable fried rice, and a vegetable curry.

Was just reminded by a different thread that my favorite jerk chicken anywhere was in an Atlanta restaurant I'm surprised I don't see here: Eats. It's cheap enough for a poor college student, comes with a side of excellent black beans and is redolent with allspice and thyme (it isn't very hot-spicy, but is well-seasoned.) Like many places of its ilk, they're a bit low on ambience, but they more than make up for it with the chicken. They also have a fresh pasta bar, which is decent enough (and very good if you're bringing a vegetarian) I miss this place terribly, we ate there whenever we had enough money when I lived in Atlanta (about twelve years ago.) I'm glad that it's still around.

I originally found it in the "Cheap Eats" column in Creative Loafing, which turned out to be an excellent resource - I don't know if it still is, but they rarely steered us wrong...

Aaron Deacon wrote:Thanks, all.

Ended up with two lunches, at Watershed and Tasty China, which I posted about in the threads already dedicated to those restaurants.

I thought Watershed was okay, glad to have tried it for sure, and Tasty China was excellent.

I did get a room opposite the interstate, Will, thanks. Had breakfast in the hotel, which surprisingly wasn't too bad.

Also, the focus group facility ordered from a Thai place called Phuket for dinner (wow, nice name). Not the best circumstances on which to judge a place, but it wasn't very good. They brought in satay, nam sod, nam tok, laad nar, larb nar, vegetable fried rice, and a vegetable curry.

Watershed and Tasty China are two excellent and very different choices. You chose well! We haven't eaten at Phuket Thai in years. Thanks to AtlantaCuisine, and other message boards - we have found better and closer choices.

was going through hot lanta last week.
stppped at the varsity
had a chilli dog,chilli burger,fries coke all great items.
but liked the burger better