Omnivore Atlanta

Don’t forget: This is Downtown Atlanta Restaurant Week. All week, through July 27, you can have a three-course meal for $25 in some good restaurants (including Spoon, Cafe Circa and French American Brasserie).

The event coincides with the National Black Arts Festival, so you should definitely make reservations before heading out. For full details, go here….

Paging Miss Ann. You have competition! Best burger in town? As if….

Slate, the online magazine, is tracking the closing of 600 Starbucks stores. It’s issued an invitation to readers to participate in a memorial project:

We want to hear from you. If you frequented a Starbucks that’s soon to be closed, write a testimonial about it for the map. What’s the history of the place? Did it force a mom-and-pop joint out of business? Or was it the kaffeeklatsch of the community? Did the service suck? Was there a certain demographic (hipsters, old folk, caffeine-addled yuppies) who swarmed the premises? Pictures and video are all welcome, as well.

Get the whole story here. You can read some of the submissions here….

The Standard in Grant Park is toying with its Wednesday night specials. For weeks, it was Korean barbecue, which didn’t really rock my palate. Last week it was a Thai curry whose appearance on another table immediately convinced me not to order it. This week it was a very strange and quite tasty “South African curry” made of ground beef served like meat loaf over rice….

It’s a hassle to find a parking space in the booming Luckie Marietta District downtown, right? Stop your complaining and go whirlybird…..

Nathalie Dupree re-emerges….

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Let’s check the mail.

Michelle Botwinick writes: “Wanted to tell you about a dish I tasted at Alon’s last week - potatoes mashed with sauteed spinach and carmelized onions. When I voiced concerns about my husband Jay’s heart issues, they assured me it was made with vegetable stock and only the slightest bit of cream. My plans were to plate it next to a filet mignon off the grill, but I kept sneaking tastes of it cold, right out of the carton. Next time you’re in Alon’s, be sure to give it a try.”

Michelle also asks if I’ve been to Lamplighter Cafe. I did in fact review it here.

Jared Ripps writes: “What are your top Malaysian restaurants in town? I lived in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and I am looking for some food from these two places, as I miss it daily! If you have any favorites in the city, let me know. Thanks in advance!”

My favorite is Penang on Buford Highway. You can also find Malaysian dishes at Top Spice on Piedmont Avenue, across from Ansley Mall, and at its sister restaurant, Spice, in Toco Hills Shopping Center. There’s also Malaya on Collier Road.

This is from Sarah South: “My husband and I are chronic eat-outers. We have tried to get help, the 12-step programs, the-patches, but nothing seems to work. While you may be labeled an enabler, I just want to thank you for taking the time to search out really great places in Atlanta.

“My husband wants to thank you personally for Miss Ann’s Snack Shack. He was suspicious when I spoke about the Wall Street Journal review. Given your street cred, he was standing in line at 10 a.m. the next day, texting me pictures of the ‘Greatest Burger EVER!’ We read your column weekly, and while food is very subjective, we have had enough successful dining experiences from your articles to have a great degree of trust for your recommendations.

“I would like to ask for your help. My husband has asked for a difficult birthday present. He would like me to make him the cheesecake that we had at Abruzzi Ristorante about 6-7 years ago. Yes, I can cook. I just have no idea how to get a hold of Susan Petrucci, the pastry chef for the now closed restaurant. “

I’m happy I could make your life more compulsive, Sarah. Unfortunately, I don’t know what has become of Susan Petrucci. If someone out there knows where she is, let us know in the comments section.

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Little annoys a dining critic as much as being called a “food snob.” Usually, this appellation is compounded with adjectives like “pretentious” and “arrogant.” The usual employers of this terminology are the owners of restaurants that receive negative reviews.

A few years ago, I was introduced to someone who immediately blurted, “Oh, you’re the pretentious asshole who gave my restaurant a bad review.”

“As it happens,” I said, “I just filed a positive update on your restaurant.”

“Well, I’m glad you developed some taste,” he replied.

“And I’m glad you got a new chef,” I said.

Snobbery is not the only danger, in my opinion. A perhaps more insidious danger is reverse-snobbery, by which critics and foodies become excessively enamored of the mediocre, as if to prove that they are just regular folks with regular but somewhat adventurous palates. A recent example was the Wall Street Journal’s report that Ann’s Snack Bar serves the best burger in America. I love Ann’s myself and have given her our Best of Atlanta award several times. And I’m happy to see Miss Ann collect buckets of cash from customers waiting an hour to eat in her tiny, inexpensive cafe.

That the Journal gave the award to Miss Ann’s “ghetto burger” but actually described a different burger makes me think a bit of reverse snobbery was at play. Eating at Miss Ann’s is very much about the working-class experience as much as the burger itself. The phrase “quintessentially American” echoes inside the head with every bite.

I find myself similarly seduced — almost. I love the fried chicken at Popeyes, but I certainly wouldn’t call it the best in the city. Similarly, I love the Pot ‘n’ Pan (1865 Piedmont Ave., 404-874-0340) for breakfast on weekend mornings, but I wouldn’t call it the best breakfast in town.

I always get the same thing there: two eggs scrambled with feta cheese, bacon, grits and a biscuit. It’s yummy, but there’s no question that a large part of the appeal is the crowd. Midtown boys who have been out all night mingle with young marrieds, drag queens, professional types, blue-collar workers, ad infinitum. Indeed, the staff itself is largely Asian. It’s so, you know, democratic.

We pride ourselves on being a classless society, so many of us reflexively detest anything that smacks of elitism and we constantly look for something “real” or “authentic.” Forrest Gump, a dumbed-down philistine with banal tastes, would be the ideal chef in the culture of reverse-snobbery.

But the banal isn’t more “real” than the extraordinary. It’s just safer. Indeed, its vaunted preservation reinforces class differences rather than transgressing them.

I’m not taking a stand here for a particular perspective, but I do think it’s helpful for us to examine what animates taste. Reverse-snobbery is no more laudable, no less classist, than snobbery itself.

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