Searching for Pho

I was down with something last week - headache, runny nose, scratchy throat - and I had the idea that a big bowl of hot soup would make me better.  I then headed to Mary Mac's for dinner last Wednesday, hoping to get that big bowl of soup.  But the choices were limited, and I resorted to Pot Likker, which I have never tried before.  As it turns out, it is made from the stock of boiled turnip greens mixed in with some beef stock, then you put in some crackling bread (think salty muffin then there's a little sliver of pork chicharon inside) and spiced vinegar (!).  It seems like an acquired taste and I ended up not liking it. 

Still feeling sick, I decided I'd stay in on Thursday and just work from home.  I felt a little bad too, mainly because I missed a meeting that I was the chair!  I thought I'd console myself with a big bowl of soup, hoping that it would drive away my colds too.  I recall reading about this downtown place that served pho (or Vietnamese noodle soup) and have always wanted to check it out.  I decided I'd brave downtown, traffic, parking and all, to get my soup at Dua.

To my surprise, downtown is beautiful on a weekday!  Normally, when I pass by downtown (which is either late night or on weekends) it is deserted, gray and lifeless.  But apparently on weekdays, it's bright, alive, and non-threatening! (Sorry, just honest feelings about downtown.  I promise to explore it more.  I resolve to fall in love with downtown.)  It seemed a lot like Makati to me.  Or maybe I'm just starting to get a little homesick.  Think small streets, do not enter/one-way streets, on-street parking, small restos and cafes in office buildings where the office workers go to for lunch, small parks ... Maybe I am missing home.  And traffic wasn't terrible, neither was parking.  Trying to find parking in Salcedo Village is a lot more hellish than in downtown Atlanta.  My crazy GPS, however, suddenly decided to get lost and stop giving me directions.  After a few wrong turns and GPS still not working, I decided I'd just wing it.  I parked along Walton St and headed on foot towards Broad St. 

I soon found the resto.  It was small but looked much better than a number of restos I've been too recently.  But then again, pretty might not mean much if you're looking for tasty.  I got there a few minutes before 12 so it looked like I beat the lunch crowd.  Nevertheless, almost all the tables were taken.

The pho choices were limited and, might I say, "westernized".  You had choices of either beef, meatball, chicken, tofu, shrimp or the "house" pho.  I'm used to the "real" Vietnamese version where you get to choose various animal parts (that would have otherwise been thrown away) to mix in to your soup.  Where's the flank, the brisket, tripe or tendon?

I decided to go with the House pho, thinking it would contain the most number of ingredients and, hopefully, some tendon (my favorite ingredient).  It arrived fairly quickly but at first glance I knew it was not the traditional pho I was hoping it would be.

For starters, the beef was overcooked and a little tough, so were the meatballs.  Then my favorite bits of tendon were definitely missing.  Sadness.  The quest for pho in Atlanta will go on.

But what the heck, you have a bowl of steaming hot soup right in front of you, what do you do?  Of course you dig in!  Bring on the Sriracha!

It did satisfy my momentary craving for a hot bowl of soup.  It did make me feel better.  Or maybe it was just being out in downtown on a nice, sunny day that did the trick.

I did see some rice entrees so I might just come back.

Dua Vietnamese Noodle Soup
53 Broad Street NW
Atlanta 30303
404-589-8889

Need for speed? Go-karting at Andretti's @ Roswell!

So you've seen Fast Five and now have the desire to drive ala Vin Diesel.  But driving at break-neck speed down the highways of Georgia is not quite a good idea.  What to do?  Head on out to Andretti Indoor Karting over at Roswell!

Okay, so it's an amateur race track and you'll be driving go-karts.  But if you just want to feel like you're racing, practice your break-release-gas pedal skills on sharp curves, and crash without putting a blemish on your DMV record, then this is where you should go.

These go-karts can go as fast as 35mph.  You might find them a little difficult to maneuver at first, especially when you are so used to power steering, but you'll soon get the hang of it.

If I counted correctly, the track has 5 sharp curves, which was a little intimidating for me at the beginning.  I was so slow and careful  during my first lap.  But what the hell?  There's no police to give me a ticket if I crash onto the walls or even another kart.  However, I did have a nasty crash which left my back a little bruised and my neck a little sore because of the whiplash.

For young, fast-and-furious drivers, there is a kiddie track where they can start practicing their driving skills.  I can't wait to bring my kids here!  I'm sure they will have a blast.

A tip to the ladies:  come in sneakers or flats.  Driving in 4-inch wedges is difficult and puts a strain on your ankles.  Yes, I am speaking from experience so listen to me.

It's $25 per race, which lasts about 8 minutes.  There was a buy-one get-one promo over the weekend, so we had ourselves a pretty good deal.

When you get tired of racing, you can hang out at Adrenaline Sky Bar and play some billiards.

They also have arcade games.  Eek!  Sorry, not a fan.  I get a little dizzy with all the neon blinking lights.

Overall, it was a fun experience.  Definitely a must-try.  Two thumbs up!

Andretti's Indoor Karting and Games

11000 Alpharetta Highway

Roswell, GA 30076

770-992-5688

Enough of the eatin'! Let's get movin'! Tennis at Piedmont Park

It's obvious that I haven't been doing much lately in my spare time except eating.  So in an effort to get movin', and with a recent re-discovery of my first love, tennis, I decided to search for nearby tennis courts.  And what did you know?  Piedmont Park, a mere five blocks from my place, is home to the Sharon Lester Tennis Center.  Operated by the Universal Tennis Academy, the center has 12 hard courts, open every day of the week.  And the best thing:  they have adult clinics!  

Just call their front desk at 404-853-3461 to reserve a spot.

Let's go!

Food Trippin': La Fonda Latina

We, Filipinos, are rice people.  Since coming to Atlanta, I have been on the lookout for restos that serve generous amounts of rice without beans.  Mexican restaurants offer entrees with rice but often they're in burritos or some other variation with beans.  The problem is I don't like beans very much.  It's a little frustrating when you dine out here, order a great entree, and rice is not offered as a side dish.  Think ribs, then you have several slices of white bread accompanying it.  Or fried chicken: eating it with buns or corn bread just doesn't do it for me.  No amount of mashed potatoes or mac 'n' cheese will ever compensate for white rice.  Only fellow Pinoys will understand my longing for rice.

I chanced upon La Fonda Latina while driving on Ponce de Leon several weeks ago.  Curious, I checked out their website and menu.  Aha!  They serve paella!  For those unfamiliar with Spanish cuisine, paella is a rice dish with meat or seafood, vegetables, and some magical spices.  Paella is something we have every now and then back home.  The Philippines was under Spanish rule for a couple of centuries and Spanish influence is still prevalent in our culture and cuisine (not to mention, religion).  I made a mental note to try it very, very soon.  I wanted to try it for dinner on Cinco de Mayo but parking was just terrible and I could see by the line that it was gonna be a long wait.  The opportunity finally came last week when I was able to swing by for lunch with the hubby.  The lunch crowd was modest, which was good because we got a table right away.

We were served some nachos and salsa while we studied the menu.  The salsa was very refreshing and it didn't seem like it was store-bought.  Their appetizers included Tostones (fried plantain chips), corn chips (which they called Platos Grandes), Ensaladas (salads), and Sopas (soup).  We decided on Grilled Pork and Mango Salad for starters.  I particularly wanted to order this dish because I missed 'manggang hilaw' and 'bagoong' (green mangoes with shrimp paste), a popular Filipino appetizer.  Westerners will probably cringe at this.  LOL

Our salad soon arrived, and it was nowhere near the Filipino equivalent I was hoping it to be.  For starters, the mangoes were ripe and sweet.  Then in lieu of 'bagoong', we got 'mango vinaigrette'.  I think it was wrong for me to expect that it would come close; this is, after all, a Spanish restaurant.  I set aside my disappointment and tried to enjoy the salad.  I was a little confused with the 'mango vinaigrette'; I think it was more mayo-based than anything else.  The pork was a little unseasoned for my taste, too.  The salad wasn't bad, but I found it forgettable.

Now on to 'paella'.  La Fonda has three types of paella:  Paella, Paella del Mar, and Paella con Verduras.  Loosely translated in  English:  Their basic paella, seafood paella, and vegetable paella, respectively.  We decided to go with the basic paella.  Their menu described it as 'yellow rice cooked with calamari, shrimps, baked chicken, chorizo, green peppers, onions, pimientos and clam juice'.  I don't know if clam juice is popular here in the States, but back home it's used as stock in a variety of dishes.

I was pleasantly surprised with La Fonda's paella.  I was expecting bits of baked chicken but instead got two whole thighs, nicely browned.  The calamari and shrimps were, surprisingly, not tough.  The green bell peppers were not mush either.  Things were looking up!  The rice wasn't sticky but instead, creamy.  It was lightly seasoned with some spice that I cannot quite put my finger on (could it be saffron, but that's very expensive? curry, then?).  The only downside:  for me, the chicken was not seasoned well enough.  I found it a little bland.  Nevertheless, we finished the dish in no time.  What do you expect from two hungry Pinoy rice lovers?

While La Fonda's paella is nowhere near Alba's or Casa Armas', this Midtown version will have to do.  At least I now know of a place where I can satisfy my rice cravings.  I think I'll try the seafood paella next time, or maybe even something from their grill.

La Fonda Latina
923 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE
404-607-0665

Good eats!

Food Trippin': Fat Matt's Rib Shack

Late last Thursday after the Hawks' game, the hubby and I were looking for a place that served good food minus the frou-frou.  We ended up in Fat Matt's Rib Shack at Piedmont.  I had tried their ribs several times before, and was very happy with them until I tried Daddy D'z.  And then I became a Daddy'z girl. :)

But it was the hubby's first, and we were hungry, and Daddy D'z closed at 10:30 PM.  So off we went to Fat Matt's.

It was 30 minutes 'til closing time, the band was packing up, but there were still some patrons coming in.  The atmosphere wasn't very inviting though:  it was dark, and whatever few lighting they had came from their neon lights calling for  'Bud Light' and 'Miller Time!'.

The staff, especially the lady cleaning the tables, looked like they've had a long day so we didn't fuss, placed our orders promptly, and waited for our food.  I wish we had arrived earlier; we might have caught the band playing.  I would've liked to know what the 'Chicken Shack featuring Eddie Tigner' sounded like.

The hubby and I shared a half slab of ribs, coleslaw and potato salad.  I also got a slice of pecan pie.

As always, the ribs were delicious--good flavor (tangy + a little spice + pinch of sweetness), meat falling off the bone, and the sauce was on the side!  The hubby liked the ribs very much.  The sides were in smaller portions compared to Daddy D'z, and that's not always a bad thing.  But if you want it big, you want it meatier, then you'll have to go to the other side of town.

The pecan pie was a little too sweet for my taste.  I am still on a quest for my favorite dessert here in Atlanta.

Fat Matt's also sells their barbecue sauce for about $4 per bottle.  You might want to get one to go.  I have one stored in my fridge and I use it like ketchup lol.  I think it goes well with scrambled eggs.  Weird, huh?

I'd say that Fat Matt's doesn't disappoint.  You will always have a filling, delicious meal here.  Plus, it's very near my place so I will definitely be coming back.

Fat Matt's Rib Shack

1811 Piedmont Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
404-607-1622

Good eats!

Game 6: Atlanta Hawks vs Chicago Bulls @ Philips Arena

Sharing some pictures from last Thursday's Game 6, Hawks vs Bulls.

You can tell by this shot that we were in the cheap seats.  

We were so high up that we actually got vertigo by looking down.  LOL

As you already know, the Hawks lost to the Bulls (93-73).  Better luck next time.

Food Trippin': Daddy D'z BBQ Joynt

Image taken from JigsawExplorer.com 

Ok, so the spelling annoys me to no end.  I cannot begin to fathom why 's' and 'i' had to be replaced with 'z' and 'y'.  But make no mistake, this is now my "favoryte" rib place in town.  Ok, I'm trying too hard. :)

Located along Memorial Drive, Daddy D'z BBQ Joynt is unpretentious, can be a little scary to foreigners like me, but it serves, by far, the tenderest, meatiest ribs I've had.

We drove to Daddy D'z on a Saturday night, straight from the outlet mall, right after a half-day grab-and-swipe workout with fellow shopaholics.  Having worked up an appetite, we were ready for some serious eating!

Image taken from SoulofAmerica.com

Upon reaching the place, we sort of had second thoughts.  Think 'carenderia' with graffiti and bits of memorabilia (old highway signs, vintage gas pumps)--that's what this rib shack looks like.  But who were we kidding?  We are from the third world!  We eat tripe, chicken feet, and 'balut' by the roadside!  So in we went ...

I don't know how Rose found this place, but I'm sure glad she did.  I tried the Rib Plate, which is 4 ribs of porky goodness and two sides.  I chose their potato salad (which I really wish was just a mound of fragrant, white rice) and green beans.  I got the veggies because I felt that these would atone for the extra calories.  Makes sense, right?  Lol.

Our food took awhile to get to us.  But when it arrived, I had nothing more to complain about.  The ribs were so meaty (at least compared to the two other rib places I've tried in the past month), flavorful, and tender.  Just the right balance of spice and sweetness.  I have to take a few points off from the ribs though for being smothered in barbecue sauce.  I prefer the sauce to be on the side.  The potato salad was chunky and I liked that it had bits of boiled egg.  Very tasty.

I tried some of the pulled pork from Rose's plate (which was the 'Sampler':  Composed of 6 que wraps, 2 pork spareribs, sliced beef, and pulled pork) but I didn't quite like it as much as the ribs.  I guess I'm a die-hard 'inihaw' fan, so the less that someone has to tamper with the barbecued meat, the better.

It took us forever to finish.  There was just so much food.  But I definitely enjoyed it and would go back real soon.

And I love their tagline:  "We Ain't Pretty, But We're Good".  Well said!  I promise to go back, take my own pictures and post just to make you jealous.

Inman Park Festival

Inman Park is a small neighborhood very near downtown Atlanta (or is it actually part of downtown?).  Over the years, it has gone through periods of popularity, decline, and a rebirth which is celebrated through the Inman Park Festival.  This year, it was held from April 29th to May 1st.  With not much to do that weekend, we poor Pinoy expats and a few ATL visitors trooped to Inman Park to check out its friendly neighborhood festival.

Finding a parking spot was just terrible.  It didn't help that we started out late (blame a minor cutover issue that suddenly cropped up!), but we parked more than a mile away from the festival grounds.  We also missed the parade!  Walking through the neighborhood was a treat though.  You could tell it was a good neighborhood; majority of the houses were well-cared for, and actually quite beautiful.

Bungalow style house on Lake Dr

Victorian house (I think)

A number were Victorian style houses, some but some were a little bit more eclectic than others:

Purple!

Did you know that there was a period when many of its houses were neglected and the community was far from genteel?  The festival is the residents' way of celebrating the restoration of the community and its homes.

I must have been confused that day because I was expecting to see carousels, cotton candy, and a freak show.  I thought I was going to a fair!  The festival actually had a number of events:  a parade (which we missed), local band performances, dance performances, and even a foot race.

The festival also had a very big market that showcased  handcrafted pieces from artists:

There were also some flea market stalls with vintage stuff:

And in one of these stalls I found a 'sungkaan'!  This Pinoy toy made it to the A!

Of course, Southern cuisine was strong and present!

fried everything

butterfly fries with cheese and bacon, aka 'heart attack waiting to happen'

fudge!

There were a lot of people, and everyone seemed to be having a good time, often with a beer or margarita in tow.  Not a bad idea with the temperature in the 80s that day.

Oh, and the Inman Festival also had an event called 'Tour of Homes' where you get to visit featured houses in Inman Park.  The cheapskates that we are, we opted to skip this.  Tickets were $20 apiece.

Kudos to the organizers.  I'm already looking forward to the next festival!

Boo! Savannah Ghost Walk Tour

Being the scaredy-cat that I am, it’s kinda odd that I dig supernatural stuff.  But Ghost Hunters is one of the very few TV shows I follow, and I really miss the Twilight Zone series.  Wow.  This really says so much about me.  Geek.  Haha.  Anyway, we signed up for a ghost tour on our recent trip to Savannah.  None of us really knew what to expect but we were all game and pretty open-minded.

The tour started at Reynolds Square, by the statue of John Wesley, at 9 PM.  Surprisingly, there was a good turnout, with about 40 people.  The group eventually split up into two, and us Pinoys went with Jan.  Calling herself “Wimpy Jan”, our tour guide said she’d been doing the tours a long time and had unwillingly experienced a number of things paranormal.  With a short introduction of the tour, some guidelines, we were off.

Our first stop was another square (which name I don’t recall) that was apparently built atop an old cemetery.  It’s been reported that a number of people have felt odd or peculiar at this bench/bus stop.  Maybe they were just waiting with some creepy guy.

Next stop was Juliette Gordon Low’s house.  You, former girl scouts, should know her.  The house was old, smelled old, but didn’t really give me the creeps.  Unlike the Winchester House in San Jose, CA, the Low house in Savannah seemed pretty tame.  The Winchester House was just bad, something was wrong with it, and I felt nauseous all throughout that tour. But the Low House was just … fine.  Sure it was an old house with lots of paintings, had kind of a funny of smell—a little like my house at midtown, haha.  The other Pinoys here like to kid me that my house is haunted.  I beg to differ.  There’s no creepy vibe here okay!  Anyway, we soon left the house like chirpy girl scouts and trooped to the next stop.

A doctor supposedly lived in Twelve West Oglethorpe at some point, and during the time when Savannah was plagued with the Black Death (am I remembering this correctly?) he took in sick people to care for them, unknowingly exposing his family to the disease.  Known only as ‘Doc James’, his children and wife fell sick and died soon after taking in the sick.  Out of remorse, the doctor took his life and is supposed to be haunting the premises still.  He has been reported to appear by the windows and in one of the tours, he supposedly appeared in one of the photographs.

Look into its windows.

See him?

We then headed to the lot behind Doc James’ house, where our tour guide pointed out the presence of ‘orbs’.  It’s been contested that the presence of orbs indicates high levels of paranormal activity.  Could just have been high levels of dust captured by our cameras, right?

The tour circled back to Reynold’s Square, where we saw some more supposed paranormal orbs, and for one last picture with our tour guide.

More than anything, I thought that the ghost tour was a good excuse to walk around the historic city at night.  Oh, and a cool spot for a late night treat:  Leopold’s.

Yum!

More back posts coming up!