NOMLANTA

Six Feet Under

Hey guys, Howell and Chels bringing you yet another guest review for Nomlanta! It was Chelsea’s birthday and she was craving seafood so we headed off to Six Feet Under. The drive to this restaurant is a bit of a sketchy one. Even though it is quite close to campus, I would definitely recommend driving or going with a group. Hidden down a back alley with only a billboard to point your way, you will find this seafood restaurant and pub. The restaurant looks just like it belongs on the ocean so its too bad that its in the middle of a warehouse district. There are two floors to this restaurant, the bottom is dimly lit, cozy, well air-conditioned, and has a large separate fully stocked bar. Up the slightly creaky stairs leads you up to the outdoors where you can eat and enjoy gazing upon the Atlanta skyline. It is obvious that they have tried to cover up the warehouses below because they have furnished this upper level with plenty of potted plants and canopy lights. Outside on the elevated patio furniture, Chels and I sat down to enjoy a lovely seafood dinner. Now for the moment you have all been waiting for….the FOOD!For an appetizer, we shared an order of Fried Alligator Bites. When they came to the table they looked like tiny shrimp poppers. They may be small but they do pack in a lot of flavor. The way I recommend eating the bites is by showering them with lemon juice and dipping them into restaurant’s own horseradish-dill sauce, which is a welcome upgrade to tartar sauce. The citrus tang of the lemon when combined with the tart sauce and salty alligator bites is definitely a great appetizer to start with. For the entrees I got the Blackened Catfish with Corn on the Cob and French Fries while Chels decided on something a little more interesting and ordered mussels bathed in a light vodka sauce with tomatoes and cilantro. Chels is an avid mussel lover and said that while the portion size was average, it more than made up for that in flavor. Plus she didn’t get food poisoning so we weren’t served bad shellfish. The corn was slightly cold but the fries were excellent. The catfish was very tasty but was a little on the greasy side which I didn’t like. I felt that for a seafood restaurant the fish would have been better prepared but I still feel that other entrees would have tasted better. I would definitely go back. I’d like to mention that the restaurant has the perfect atmosphere to relax and have a couple a drinks share some seafood and just kick back. Go do that and you won’t regret it.

Chels: Nice all-around good restaurant with good shellfish.

Howell: Not a fan of greasy fish but I’m sure that other dishes would taste much better.

Price: $$-$$$

Service: 3/5

Nomz: 4/5

Accessibility: Everyone but the paranoid or the comatose, just be sure to be careful.

Zesto!

Apparently Zesto has been around since the fifties as a great American hamburger joint, and Atlanta has a handful of these delicious establishments. Sadly, Margie and I knew not what we did not know until a week ago when we got the whim to actually go to the Dairy-Queen-meets-the-1950’s-chrome-future restaurant on Ponce. For all the shiny and neon exterior that Zesto has to offer, the inside surprisingly reminds me of a fancy boat, with dark exposed grain for all the countertops and chairs and tile on the floor. Also very much to my surprise, along side Zesto’s expected menu, there is a menu for ‘Burrito Brothers’ which looks pretty cheap. We were not there for Burrito Brothers though, we were there to sample the noms Zesto had to offer.

Zesto’s is everything the McDonald’s and The Varsity used to want to be, plus a taco restaurant. They have a pretty comprehensive hamburger and hotdog menu, including such classics as the Mushroom Swiss (which Margie substituted in Monterey Jack because of her dislike Swiss) and Zesto creations like the Chubby decker, which is the hamburger they advertise and are most proud of. The Chubby decker was like a Big Mac in that it has three buns, top, bottom, and middle; the main difference in the two is the quality and freshness of the meat and other toppings. I remember there being tomato and lettuce being on it, but really I was just enjoying the burger as a whole which was just plain good old fashioned American delicious. Then to top it all off, for sides you could choose between fries, tots, and onion rings. Margie got fries, and I got onion rings. The fries were a good reliable fry, simple and yummy. The onion rings were pretty sizable and had this homemade aura to them that just made you happy. For example, if one day I just happened to be having a rough day, I’d probably hop over to Zesto and get an order of onion rings and a hot fudge sunday. Which brings us to the last part: ice cream. Zesto decided to take the same route in ice cream as Dairy Queen: a simple but enjoyable soft serve, and build from there. And, it works! A cone of ice cream is cheap, and the sunday is everything you remembered from your childhood. 

Overall, Zesto did not have any one truly remarkable thing to it, what makes it really special is that what it lacks in creativity, it more than makes for with skill and quality in foods that everyone can agree on. The wait maybe more than at another fastfood restaurants, but everything is made to order just for you, so I have made to order a place in my heart just for Zesto.

Price: $

Service: 3/5

Nomz: 4/5

Accessibility: get a car

PS: a three out of five for service means i was neither impressed nor disgusted: run of the mill

So we recently ate at the Highlander and it was great. We loved it and realized, even though it was our first time eating there, that we had been by it about a billion times since our freshman year as it is right next to our favorite Trader Joe’s in Midtown. The look of the place is geared to a pretty alternative crowd. Lots of the people there were pretty tatted up but, were the kind of alt crowd you want to hang out with. Really laidback. It’s a restaurant/ bar and was great to hang out at. They have an indoor dining area as well as a sizable outdoor seating area.

As soon as we sat down the waitress was there and chatting with us. Claire and I are usually pretty big on getting the server’s opinion and our waitress Devon did not let us down. While the list of recommendations was lengthy, she definitely helped us narrow down our own list of interests.

Before I move on to describing our meals and what made them rock and what was lacking, I’ll tell you the reason we decided to come try this place out.

Claire and I love tater tots and Creative Loafing informed us that they served their tater tots by the pitcher. THE PITCHER! This was, unfortunately, no longer the case. Our waitress informed us that they had not in fact done that for over six years! So we’d like to say: Creative Loafing, get on your shit. And while we were needless to say disappointed, Devon informed us it was because the ones at the bottom tended to get soggy and so it ended up being mostly a novelty and a bit of a waste, and no one should let a good tater tot go to waste.

Anyway, back to the nomz! Devon informed us during the food suggestion portion that she loved the veggie burgers. Now a cursory glance at the menu will show that there is no veggie burger, panned out what she meant was that you could get any of the numerous burgers with a veggie burger patty. But it gets better. She informed us that she frequently has to chuckle at the people who get the veggie burger in an attempt to be healthier because, what makes them so irresistible, and better than the regular patties, is that they deep fry the veggie patties. Yes, you heard, or rather read right. These patties are deep fried. I ended up choosing the patty melt, which I will usually do when trying a restaurant out for the first time. Now I’ll be honest, when people say veggie burgers I usually think of the meat substitute, overly synthetically flavored patty but, I was beyond surprised by what I actually got. The veggie patty was actually made of tofu, potato, carrots, and a myriad of other vegetables all of that put together and then fried. Pair that with homemade tasting rye bread and the requisite cheese and onions and I got one of the best patty melts I’ve ever had.

Claire got the Three Sides dish. This seems like a pretty good deal if you’re interested in various of their yummy sounding side dishes but, as we learned, you have to be really careful when you’re picking which three sides you want. Claire opted for the baked potato soup, tater tots with American cheese on top and sauteed spinach. We’ll start with the tater tots. They were great. Really it’s hard to mess up tater tots but, they not only didn’t mess them up, they made them better by adding a bit of seasoning to them. The baked potato soup was delicious as well. We had some difference of opinion as to how it was made but, it tastes as though they made a baked potato, added the bacon, butter, and various other fixings and then threw it in a food processor. The only problem with it was that it was over salted and so it was difficult to consume more than a couple spoonfuls at once. Overall, we would try the soup again as it was delicious but, with the hopes that the over salting was just a one time heavy hand on behalf of the chef that day. Now the sauteed spinach. We were extremely disappointed. It was bland, not strained, and just generally overcooked. What made this even more disappointing was that Claire asked for it under sauteed. So while the choices for the three sides were not all stellar, the plate is a great concept for $6.95.

Overall, a great place to grab some fairly priced food and you can’t go wrong with the burger or sandwich menu it seems. The only drawback, and it’s a big drawback for the younger college crowd, is that they won’t serve you unless you’re 21. That’s right, it sucks, they won’t even let you eat there if you’re not 21.

Price: $-$$

Service: 5/5

NOMZ:5/5

Accessibility: Car is preferable/ not bad for experienced bikers

Little Five Points

Hey folks, it’s Howell and Chels doing a guest review for Nomlanta! Cody, Dave and Proal also joined us for this venture out to L5P. We had just finished up at the gun range and we were in the mood for indian food. Dave’s droid decided to pick Planet Bombay in Little Five Points so we rolled out with high hopes and empty stomachs. As many of you know, L5P is not the classiest of areas in Atlanta being a mix of record, clothing and head shops with a not so subtle sprinkling of homeless people. The outside decor of Planet Bombay fit in quite well with the theme of the area but the inside was a stark contrast, having a good atmosphere along with being nicely furnished. As we walked in we were greeted by the very friendly staff who seated us at our booth. Since the restaurant served authentic food, we decided to have the waiter make some recommendations.  We ordered Naan in both Plain and Garlic forms, Lamb Bhuna, Chicken Tandoori, Chicken Rogon Josh, Goat Cylon, and Chicken Khurma. All the food tasted excellent. All the curries were well made and the Naan had a nice consistency and wasn’t burnt. Cody’s Khurma was the crowd favorite that night. It was rich and creamy with a nice blend of spices. We wouldn’t recommend it with any of the other meat as it might overpower the taste of the meat. The Bhuna would be a much better choice for Goat or Lamb. The food could be a spicy or as mild as you wanted. Even if you are the type of person that ingests lava on a daily basis, there will be food spicy enough for you. Ask the waiter what you are in the mood for and chances are that he’ll be able to pick something for you. Portions are smaller than we would have liked but still not bad. It’s a seriously good restaurant so if you are in the mood for indian food, we highly recommend it. 

Chels: Food was good, but my tea should have arrived before the check and not when we were leaving.

Cody: Good recommendations, Go as a big group and get a lot of different dishes to share.

Dave: The wait staff was better than your friend who thinks he’s funny but not as good as actual comedy.

Howell: Nice easygoing atmosphere. Waiter was nice but would have preferred that he just left us alone.

Proal: If you like extremely spicy food, you will certainly meet your match here.

Planet Bombay

Price: $$

Service: 5/5

NOMZ: 5/5

Accessibility: Buy a car/teleport

Hey guys! So Claire and I found a restaurant/ bar on 14th right off campus, that has all you can eat wings on Tuesday nights for $8.50. We’re so going there tonight and we encourage you to come with us! We forgot the name of the place but, it’s right next to Einstein’s Brother’s Bagels on 14th and W. Peachtree. It shares the parking lot right behind Einstein’s and we think the place is called Carolyn’s. Hope to see you there!

-M&C

Sublime Doughnuts is home to our favorite doughnuts. They have simply the best variety of freshly made doughnuts and they are all fricking amazing! Now, we might be exaggerating, since we haven’t exactly tried ALL of them. But, we have tried most. We decided that it was probably okay to write about Sublime since we’ve been there before and we had two for breakfast.

This morning, I got my usual fresh strawberries and cream doughnut. It’s one of the more popular doughnuts and for good reason. The doughnut is nice and fluffy and lacks the usual hole in the middle. It is butterflied and stuffed full of sliced strawberries and fresh, lightly whipped cream. This is all finished with a dusting of confectioners sugar on top of the doughnut.

Claire got her usual tangerine star, which is a cream filled star shaped doughnut with a tangerine glaze on top of the doughnut. It’s an interesting combination of sweet meets tart, which most find to be rather overwhelming but, Claire finds to be absolutely perfect.

We also shared one that we’ve never tried before. It was the raspberry doughnut. Same principal as the fresh strawberries and cream, except that instead of being sliced open, it had freshly pureed meets jelloid raspberries injected inside, seeds and everything. It too had a light sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar on top. It was awesome. The dough was light, just like with most of their doughnuts and the filling was expertly done. Highly recommended.

So, we seriously recommend it. We adore it and the most important thing to note: college students get 15% off with student ID and even if you don’t have student ID, you get 15% off if you buy a dozen or more. The only thing that is occasionally a downer is that since they are all freshly made, some days some doughnuts are not available. Although if you call 24 hours in advance, they’ll make the doughnut that you’re craving. We love it so much we’ll include a link so you can ogle all the different varieties of doughnuts.

-M&C

http://sublimedoughnuts.com/

Price: $

Service: 5/5

NOMZ: 5/5

P.S.- We’re going to enable picture responses, so if you have pictures of you and your friends at any of the places that we’ve reviewed, POST THEM!

Hey guys,

So we’re really, really excited that people are interested in our blog! What’s even more exciting is that some people have asked if they can tag along when we get around to eating at, and subsequently reviewing a restaurant. We’d love it if you joined us! In fact, we’re so excited about it that we plan on bringing our cameras with us and taking your picture! We think it would be great if some of the restaurant outings turned into big hangouts with our friends. So if you’re interested try and do one of the following, reply to one of our tweets, reply to this tumblr post, fb message us, or send us an email to claireandmargieblog@gmail.com

Also, if you’d like to suggest a restaurant that we should go to, send us an email!

Love,

M&C

email: claireandmargieblog@gmail.com

twitter: nomlanta

Rusan’s midtown

1529 Piedmont Avenue NortheastAtlanta, GA 30324-5000(404) 875-7042

(this is our favorite location) 

Ru San’s is our favorite restaurant in Atlanta to go to for a great time and even better food at the cheapest price ever. Ru San’s dollar menu includes all sorts of maki, negiri, and tempura, not to mention Miso soup and rice balls. Sure they have other stuff, but why bother when you can get 3 Rock and Roll maki for a buck-fifty? The Rock and Roll maki has barbecued eel and avocado wrapped in rice and seaweed, and is a must have for everyone; we have literally never met a single person who does not like Rock and Roll. Other honorable mentions from the dollar maki are the terriyaki sake, grilled ika, crispy calamari, and tamago; Margie also likes the spicy tuna, though Claire finds all the spicy maki too spicy. 

On any given visit to Ru San’s: Miso, Quail egg tempura, rock and roll, 2 other various dollar maki, green tea ice cream. Total: $7 (Claire)

The best part isn’t even how cheap it is, it is how wonderful the atmosphere is. As we walk in, all the staff recognizes us and yells some indiscernible welcome at as. Once we sit down, one of the owners who doubles as a sushi chef, will ask us how we are with a smile in his eyes that reveals how excited he is to see us. Sometimes, if it is late enough, the owners or waiters will even bring us free sake and take sake bombs with us. We love sake bombs, and because the dining area is small and intimate we often get whole other parties to join us in a round. On a side note, Claire is the best sake bomber in the city; she even bests the waiters who do them all the time. This is a picture of her about to do one on her 21st. 

There aren’t enough adjectives that aren’t tired and overused for me to describe how awesome we think Ru San’s is.

If you have never been, follow this outline to have a good time:

1. Go with one or two friends on a friday or saturday night when it is hoppin’
2. sit at the bar and engage in conversation with everyone around you  
3. try to talk to the old asian men and make them laugh (they’re the owners)
4. take your waiter’s advice on what food to order
5. order the rock and roll
6. challenge your waiter, sushi chef, and the people around you to a sake bomb
7. yell really loud when anyone does a sake bomb
8.  gloat when you win (or if you go with Claire, gloat if you get 2nd place)
9. order the fried icecream

Or, just go with us. Ain’t nobody in the world who can’t have a good time with us.

-C&M

Price- $

Service-5/5

Nomz-5/5

Yesterday was our first new restaurant in a while. And it was about time that we made it to this place. We’d heard nothing but good things about it and boy, did it live up to the praise.

Antico- Pizza Napoletana

Initially walking in, you’re left wondering where the dining area was or if it was just takeout but, the smell was amazing. The cashier was rather unhelpful but, after much persistence, we were able to get a couple pizza recommendations out of her. We ended up picking the pizza Capricciosa. The pizza had mushroom, artichoke, prosciutto cotto, and bufala, aside from the normal pizza fare of tomato base pizza sauce. After placing our order, we followed some other customers through an archway and discovered that the dining area and the kitchen shared the back of the restaurant. The space was divided by some long industrial counters just infront of the dome shaped wood ovens. The dining area consisted of a handful of huge wood tables with benches on either side and while kind of unfinished looking the whole experience was great.

Now, to the pizza! It was absolutely delicious. The pizza sauce was so sweet which was a great counterbalance to the smokey wood taste that the dough had adopted from the ovens. While not the prettiest pizza per say, you could definitely tell and totally appreciate the fact that it was all obviously made from scratch. Not only could you watch the cooks prepare other pizzas as you ate, you could tell in the way the cheese wasn’t perfectly distributed, and in the little charred points on the crusts that this pizza was made by people who truly liked a good pizza and not by people working for a corporation. While you might be hard pressed to find a dish containing artichoke that Claire and I don’t like, the toppings were delicious and even I enjoyed it, which is quite surprising considering I don’t like ham (prosciutto cotto).

You really have to appreciate a business that is open so long as they have the dough to keep making pizzas and closes when they run out. So I guess, while at the higher end a college student’s price range for a single pizza ($17-$21 a pie) it was totally worth it and we totally recommend you try a pie from there at least once.

-M & C

P.S.- Claire would like to add that the cannoli was quite delicious, albeit a little more citrus-y that she would like. And also fairly priced.

Tastiness- 4/5

Service- N/A

Price- $$

Margie already so nicely explained what we’re writing about, so all that’s left is me!

I’m Claire, a Mechanical Engineering student at Tech. As soon as I was old enough, my parents started introducing me to a wide range of foods and food cultures. On top of that, my father is an amazing cook who liked to challenge my taste buds to differentiate between the spices in food. He’s actually the reason I came to college already knowing a fair bit about the nom-able food Atlanta has to offer; my dad is a cop in Atlanta and thus knows all the cheap, 24 hour, delicious, and most of all police friendly places are to eat. Since then, Margie and I have found tons of delicious food in Atlanta that is cheap enough for two starving college students. 

Currently my favorite places to eat are Ru San’s and Lee’s Vietnamese Bakery, because they combine delicious, cheap, AND good service.