Omnivore Atlanta

POPEYES CRUSADER: No, really. I look exactly like that.

A few weeks back, Hardy Wallace (AKA Dirty South Wine) asked me to participate in his Popeyes challenge. The task? Find a wine to pair with Popeye’s spicy fried chicken. On November 18, around the country, folks will get together to try all five wines along with the chicken, and tweet, blog and smack-talk their way to deciding which wine chosen pairs best with the spicy bird.

This was NOT an easy pairing. The spice on Popeye’s spicy chicken is such that it decimates most wines, leaving nothing but alcohol or off-notes on the palate. But with the help of some friends, I burned through over 30 bottles to find the wine. (Special thanks to Aria’s Andres Loaiza who lent his palate and a bunch of bottles to the final tasting. Unfortunately Cliff doesn’t drink, so I couldn’t put his Popeyes expertize to use.) My pick?

Kiralyudvar Tokaji Sec 2005-  Dry Hungarian Furmint

Check out the other picks and rules to the game on Hardy’s blog, and join in on November 18!

(Photo courtesy of CapedWonder.com)

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Well, I couldn’t find a clip of Sophia Loren folding her pizza in “Houseboat.” But I did come across this bit of nostalgia from 1984’s “Supergirl,” a horrible movie, despite Helen Slater’s super power to mesmerize evil with her beauty. This does provide proof, as I’ve long argued, that Popeyes chicken is the dinner of champions.

Actually, it looks like Popeyes really could use a superhero. A 19-year-old manager was recently murdered in Houston. A Wichita Popeyes was robbed, as was one in Beaumont, Tx.

(Photo courtesy of CapedWonder.com)

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Have you driven all over Atlanta in a desperate attempt to find the raw foods you crave? Chef Jenya simplifies your search in the video above.

Do you cook? Then you’ll like this new website, Good Bite.

Do you love the recession? Perhaps you need to open a pizzeria.

Didn’t anyone tell Indigo Girl Emily Saliers that meat is murder? Check out her favorite Atlanta restaurant (after Watershed, of which she is part owner).

Popeyes’ sales are up (even though I haven’t eaten there in many months). But overall profits are down. Meanwhile, Arby’s and and Wendy’s are invading the Middle East.

Who’s (finally) taking over the Clubhouse location at Lenox Square?

La Tavola is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a prix fixe menu of all-time favorites. Hurry. It’s only available for a few more days.

Optimism is epidemic in Midtown!

Teens go wild in Johns Creek!

Do some yoga and eat something organic at the Go Green Expo this weekend.

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… it would be a lot like this.

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The AJC reported recently on developments at Popeyes, home of my favorite fast-food. The new CEO, Cheryl Bachelder, acknowledges that the restaurants’ fried chicken has been a lot better than their service.

Uh, yeah. It’s been months since I visited the Popeye’s on Boulevard at Ponce de Leon Ave. — the one where my car windows were smashed and where my orders were routinely screwed up. So, I’m not sure what the service is like these days, but it used to be literally the worst I’ve encountered anywhere in the world. It was even worse than the service by the waiter in Nice who tried to serve me olive oil in an ashtray.

Joe Guy Collier writes in the AJC:

When Cheryl Bachelder took over as AFC Enterprises CEO last fall, she quickly saw the major draw of the company’s Popeyes restaurants.

The stores spend hours marinating the chicken and stewing the red beans and rice to pack in flavor.

“The treasure of this brand is that slow-prepared food that only grandma herself would take the time to make today,” said Bachelder, a former KFC and Domino’s Pizza executive.

Unfortunately, the chain wasn’t known for delivering its chicken with the urgency required in the fast-food business, she said.

“The corresponding challenge is that we never put as much emphasis on running a great fast-food restaurant system,” Bachelder said. “We would like for our service, our guest experience, to be as sharp as our food.”

The chain has other challenges too. Read Collier’s entire article here.

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Popeyes is re-branding itself. Read about it here.

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You’re probably already familiar with Yelp.com. It’s a great source of Zagat-like foodie reviews of local restaurants. There are also occasional reviews of those of us who write about food.

I found this, by Laura W., on Yelp’s review page for Cakes and Ale:

I feel the need to do this one justice, because I’m 90% sure we were sitting next to Creative Loafing reviewer Cliff Bostock at Cakes and Ale on Saturday night. Either that or some other middle-aged guy with his middle-aged male partner taking pictures of every course. But I digress.

Sigh. This is what life comes to, people. As your youth swims down the toilet, you’re just another “middle-aged guy” with a camera.

Actually, I do remember Laura and her boyfriend. They looked very young. In fact, still being hungry after the rather light meal, I wanted to bite their sweet, young necks.

I continue to get mainly good reports about Cakes and Ale, by the way. If you haven’t tried it, go soon….

This, by Kit F, was on Yelp’s review page for Apres Diem:

Cliff Bostock from the Loaf consistently says it’s the best looking wait staff…huh? Maybe for a blind person who has an Oompa Loompa fetish. But what does Cliffy know, he plays for the other team! ;)

A European Vacation this is not…but you’ll still find Clark Griswold sucking down a cold one or nibbling on a pee pee sammie. I have supported Andy’s Apres/Carpe Diem for years. From the DJ’s to the dishwashers. But throughout the years, this European cafe has trickled down to Euro Trash central. Who knew there were that many of them in Atlanta?! I think they’re coming here to steal our wimmen and me Lucky Charms!

Hey, I have played for both teams, which puts me ahead of you, experience-wise, Kit. (In another post, Kit alleges that the new MF Buckhead has the hottest staff in town.)…

Ivan S. has a very funny review of Popeyes Fried Chicken on Yelp. The Boulevard/Ponce location closed recently after a fire. Among Ivan’s notations:

Back in the olden days when I lived off of Ponce, I frequented the Ponce Popeye’s, surrounded as I was by crackheads, shemale prostitutes, and masochistic chicken addicts. I’d stop by for my weekly helping of spicy chicken served up with a generous side of abuse. But now that Ponce is no longer a daily journey for me (and the Ponce Popeye’s most likely set aflame by a deranged Cliff Bostock), I satisfy my craving at the Windy Hill location.

Hurrah! I’m a deranged, middle-aged, gay arsonist! Hurrah!

(Image of middle-aged vampire after dining at Cakes and Ale from Harbor Haunt.)

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Lisa Dreyer writes: “My husband and I are interested to know if you are aware of a restaurant in the Atlanta area that serves authentic lamb shwarma.” I referred her to Nicola’s. Other suggestions?

The man needs veggie wheels: Tom Maicon, who publishes Atlanta Cuisine newspaper and operates AtlantaCuisine.com, announced the following in this month’s newsletter.

With skyrocketing gas prices and food costs, it’s more difficult than ever to be a restaurant owner and patron. Costs are up and, let’s face it, salaries are not. In an effort to be even more earth friendly, as well as avoid hiking up our advertising rates, we have decided to tell the gasman to take a hike instead, and finally make the switch to vehicles that run on waste veggie oil for distribution of our papers as well as personal use. We already print on 100% recycled paper. We are currently in negotiations to buy a diesel Mercedes that can be converted to run on waste veggie oil. We haven’t had as much luck finding a diesel cargo van — we’ve been at it for six months already. If you happen to stumble across one please let me know.

Write Tom to sell him a van or subscribe to his newsletter at tom@atlantacuisine.com.

The ultimate bad review: This is from Robin Frazer Clark, concerning my love of a certain fast food: “I noticed your favorite Popeye’s on Boulevard is closed ‘due to fire.’ I know you thought the service was bad…but did you have to resort to arson? (just kidding, ya know).”

Open next week: Vita, the new Italian spot that occupies the old Mick’s building on Bennett Street, will open for lunch Monday, March 17, and will begin serving dinner soon afterward.

Dinner and the theater: Silk restaurant, 919 Peachtree Street, hosts its next Theatre Night on Sunday, April 6. Customers get a three-course dinner and an orchestra seat at the Alliance Theatre’Â’s production of Doubt, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for drama and four 2005 Tony Awards (including Best Play). Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m.; the play begins at 7:30 p.m. The event costs $56 per person (plus tax and tip), and Silk requires diners to make reservations with a credit card by calling the restaurant at 678-705-8888. To learn more, visit the restaurant’s website he  re.

I’m Mr. Wonderful: Here’s a nice email from Rhonda Moore: “I just read your review of The Depot. I was laughing out loud! You have a fabulous wit! For years, my husband and I have marveled at how “dead-on” your critiques are. Even more so, your reviews are thoroughly entertaining. I adore reading your column, either online or in CL. By the way, how is Wayne after his showdown with the display oyster shooter? I hope he’s fine and I hope you’re having a great day! Thanks for such a wonderful column. Be good!”

Actually, several other readers had written to inquire about Wayne’s health after gluttonously devouring an oyster shooter meant for display. He is no sicker or deranged than usual.

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I get teased a good bit about my fondness for the fried chicken (and biscuits) at Popeyes. After complaining a year about the service at the one at the corner of Boulevard and Ponce de Leon, things finally improved — only for the place to be closed by a fire.

Sunday morning, I was pleased to read the words of another Popeyes lover — Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. She begins a column about Barack Obama this way:

I was covered in barbecue sauce, somewhere over Texas, when Barack Obama loped down the aisle of the plane to chat with reporters.

I felt guilty, because I had been covering his speeches urging parents to make their kids give up chips and Popeyes. I hadn’t yet come to grips with the notion of giving up Popeyes when Obama — slender, chewing Nicorette and perfectly groomed in his crisp white shirt — came upon me. I was splattered with so much red sauce it could have been a scene from “Saw IV.” Not only on my face and hands but all over the candidate’s picture in the U.S. News & World Report I was reading.

Go, MoDo!

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The Associated Press reports that California-based El Pollo Loco has opened its first Atlanta-area restaurant in Hiram. The restaurant, whose name means “The Crazy Chicken,” sells Mexican-style grilled chicken and offers itself as a healthy alternative to the fried birds at Popeye’s and KFC. The company plans to open 50 restaurants in our area:

“We’re giving the South, which loves its chicken, a healthy, wholesome alternative to fried chicken,” said Steve Carley, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based El Pollo Loco Inc. (pronounced El Po-yo Lo-co).

The suburban Atlanta restaurant, which opened at the end of August, is the first Southern location for the chain, which is ranked 70th in the nation’s list of top restaurant chains based on sales according to Restaurants & Institutions magazine.

Last month, the privately held company of 340 restaurants reported a net income of $1.59 million for the 26 weeks ended June 30, a 26.4 percent increase over the $1.26 million in net income it reported for the same period a year ago. The company was purchased in November 2005 by affiliates of the New York-based equity investment firm Trimaran Capital L.L.C. and company management.

El Pollo Loco is under contract with a company led by a former Church’s Chicken executive to open 50 restaurants in the Atlanta area in the next six years. The chain also plans to open restaurants in the Orlando and Tampa, Fla., areas, in Charlotte, N.C., and in Norfolk, Va.

“We think the South is ready for El Pollo Loco,” Carley said. “We have a high level of confidence this is going to be a big winner.”

Read the whole story here.

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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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If you read Grazing, my regular dining column, you know I took regular potshots at the Popeyes on Boulevard at Ponce de Leon Avenue for more than a year. It wasn’t the food but the outrageously bad service that drove me nuts.

I should say that service there has improved enormously in the last few months. Not only do they get the orders right, but they serve you quickly and rarely say they’re out of something. Several of the employees, mostly women, are quite funny.

It’s only fair that I report that, but I’m also happy to print this letter from Hardy Wallace about the B terminal Popeyes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport:

As a fellow Popeyes fan, some days nothing hits the spot like some Spicy Strips with a side of red beans and rice. I don’t frequent your beloved Ponce location. Perhaps it’s in part due to a fear of getting stabbed in the neck or gut. And you just never know when the nearby Taco Bell may spontaneously burst into flames, But, time permitting, I always try and go out of my way at the airport to eat at the B terminal Popeyes. Judging by receipts for expense reports, I seem to eat there three or four times a month.

At the B terminal Popeyes, there is a middle-aged, bald employee who is the antithesis of the [former] Ponce location’s employees–or of almost any Atlanta fast food joint’s staff. He might be the manager, owner or just someone who loves working at Popeyes. This person is contagiously friendly, engages everyone in line and always has a smile or a laugh for his customers, many of whom may never connect through B terminal again.

If you get one of the high bar-type seats that face the Popeyes line, you can watch him work the crowd sushi-bar style. The guy is so good that watching him leads my mind to wander and wonder if perhaps he studied under the great service masters of the independent Chinese-owned office building food-court chicken joints. If he did learn an ancient technique of fast food service, he brought it back home. With down-South charm and respect, he applied it to a place that you’d never expect to find any sort of service–the airport.

I wish I had one particular story of what makes this guy great–like maybe he saved a baby from choking on a jalapeno or that he high-fives everyone in line while saying, “Hot-dang!” Just the next time you are at the airport, build in a couple of extra minutes to check out this particular Popeyes. He seems to be there most weekdays during the day. He is one of those people who make Atlanta home.

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