I went to Holeman & Finch with friends last night. Nothing to add that hasn’t been said before really; I’m not going to get poetic about every dish, but I took the photos, so screw it, here they are.

Cured meats were especially on point.

Radish salad, baby mustard greens, buttermilk dressing.

Smashed potatoes, ham broth, clabber cream, scallions.

Citrus glazed veal sweetbreads, eggplant, scallion hay.

Smoked andouille, skillet okra, aji dolce peppers. Least favorite sausage I’ve had at H&F, quite dry and crumbly.

Another go of the hot chicken. Brad wrote it up for Creative Loafing. Maybe hotter than last time I had it, a touch less sugary, but it still has the similar sweet crunch that you’d find in candied bacon, which I find off-putting in this application. I really want it to be good, but I may only have one more attempt in me.

Sweet wines, for hot chicken. ’05 Von Othegraven Kanzem Altenberg Riesling Auslese.

2006 Királyudvar Hárslevelu Tokaji Lapis

We had a few other nice wines as well. Staff was great, even going across the street to Eugene to get more stemware for us. Thanks to everyone for the accommodation.

To be candid, I’ve never had true Nashville hot chicken, mostly famously vended by Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. (Image below by Bruce Bilmes via RoadFood.com)

However, my friend Rowdy has created a Sichuan variation of fried chicken playing off the Nashville hot method, which includes an insane amount of cayenne. I’ve since attempted to replicate it in my own kitchen on multiple occasions, so I know a thing or two about chicken that tears apart one’s insides, in a good way. (One of my attempts photographed below)

After a wine/sports (they go together, right?) get-together last night, Rowdy decided on the way home that some research was in order. We called in four orders of hot chicken, each including one thigh, pickles, and white bread, for $8.

Unfortunately the person taking our order wasn’t aware they were out of all but one thigh, so they quickly got to work on some wings as a substitution. The thigh is clearly the best part on the bird, but the wings would still give us a chance to sample the burn. The photos below are the best I could do in my kitchen at 12:30AM.

Quick analysis:

Color: good, maybe go for a bit more orange-ish cayenne
Grease level: high; messy, but I rate that a positive
Heat: more heat than expected, I had persistent lip burn for thirty minutes; maybe not spicy enough for extreme hot heads, but hot enough to inspire a few dares with many I think
Chicken flavor: Tasted like chicken wings.
Seasoning: They used sugar in an attempt to balance the heat, and I think this was a big mistake. The chicken was way too sweet. In addition, the sugar added an unpleasant crunch to the otherwise spot-on texture of the chicken. 

This chicken isn’t about balance, you want an intense shot of heat, and if it’s unbalanced that’s OK. I hope the sugar is removed from the seasoning.

If they want a way to offer some balance, Rowdy likes pairings his crazy hot chicken with ice cream.

How cool would it be if they provided a single scoop of vanilla ice cream with each order and said, “you’re gonna need this”. That might make the $8 for a single chicken thigh easier to swallow.

Let me lay out the scene:

• Holeman & Finch hot dog bun, slathered with bacon fat and toasted
• Riverview Farms Braut, boiled, finished in and basted with rendered bacon fat
• Two large strips of Caw Caw bacon
• Chopped cherry tomatoes with sriracha mayo
• Hoisin sauce

So, gross, or not gross?

This past Monday at Holeman & Finch I had the pleasure of joining chef David Tanis of Chez Panisse for lunch, along with a few other bloggers and writers. The invite was courtesy of Judith Winfrey of Love is Love Farm and Restaurant Eugene, among other Atlanta culinary contributions. It sounded fun, and the $20 price tag was much easier for me to swing than the author series dinner they had later that evening at Eugene.

It was a fun community style meal, and David was a really interesting guy. You can read about the meal on Chow Down Atlanta, and check out my slideshow below. David was wrapping up the tail end of a cookbook tour before heading back to his home in Paris, where he splits time when not cooking in Berkeley. We received a copy of his new cookbook, which is called Heart of the Artichoke, and it’s right up my alley. Besides having that “looks good on the table” quality, I dig the seasonal and menu indexing of the recipes, David’s stories are interesting and add a personal touch, and I like the uncomplicated, comforting, and social qualities of the dishes.

I’ve already made one dish, the mussels mariniere. This is an uncomplicated dish, and most recipes are basically the same, but after seeing the picture, I couldn’t stop the craving for the hot and buttery seafood broth. Butter, shallots, garlic paste, thyme, wine, and 1.5lbs of mussels all went into the pot while I prepared my potatoes. The mussels were $4/lb at Publix, and they were surprisingly plump and firm. With the fries, it was enough for two hungry people.

To get the potatoes super thin I shaved sheets of a peeled potato through a mandoline, then stacked the sheets and cut them into individual fries. I soaked them in water to remove the excess starch, then fried once at 300 for 3-4 minutes. When the mussels were ready, I fried again at 375 for 1 minute. I also deep fried some bacon and chopped it up and made a vinaigrette for a Bibb lettuce, endive, and scallion salad.

Today I ate the leftovers of the salad while knee driving down I-20 somewhere between Madison and Augusta at 8AM. I’m weird.

I met up for some post work drinks (which turned into dinner, which turned into drinks and snacks at Eugene). And nope, it is not passé. Great food and drinks is still what they do.

Above – playing with the new camera

marrow

fennel sausage

sweet, sweet Old Fashioned

mushrooms

beef cheek – could be more tender, but good flavor

My first taste of the famous hot dog. Whoa. It’s as good as everyone says. Possibly as crave-worthy as the burger.

Yes, I did just use the phrase “wiener spectrum”, and once your ribs are done healing from that side-splitting fun, you may also notice that I spelled it wiener, instead of how Nu-Way spells it – weiner.

I think I’m right because when I was in Austria, everything was wiener this, and wiener that…there was even a wienerfest!

It turns out we’re both right – the words are interchangeable, but my spell-check gets mad at the Nu-Way spelling. Why they gotta be so difficult?

Now that we’ve settled the wiener debate…this past Friday Tami passed along a great article by John T. Edge, featured in Garden and Gun Magazine of all places. The topic – 100 Southern Foods You Absolutely, Positively Must Try Before You Die. Quite the superlative title! How can you not peruse this list???

This is a great article to file away, especially if you’re like me and you frequently travel around the South by car. I was excited to see that on the very day I discovered this website I would have my first chance to knock off a destination on the way back to Atlanta from Savannah.

Mr. Edge’s description of the chili-slaw dog at Nu-Way Weiners is short, but crave-worthy enough to make me want to stop. A red chili slaw dog that induces thoughts of cumin and cinnamon laced Miracle Whip is too much of a curiosity for me to pass up.

There are a bunch of Nu-Way locations, and luckily there was one location less than one mile off my route on I-16. Nothing fancy, but the best places are often found in unassuming locations. Once inside I was almost side-tracked by the offer of the MegAburger, but I’m glad I stood strong and ordered two chili slaw dogs, a small fry, and a coke. What could be more American on a Memorial Day weekend?

You’re lucky that the photo below was taken in time, cause these dogs went down fast. The bright red dog was juicy, the bun was fresh (otherwise non-descript), but it’s the chili and slaw combo that is out of control on this dog. Mr. Edge’s cinnamon assessment is spot on, but there is no single overwhelming flavor.

The Varsity should be ashamed of their chili slaw dog. This Nu-Way dog is a savory chili, milky slaw, nitrite-filled grilled pork and beef concierto with each flavor complementing the next, though I will admit I did add some mustard, because that’s how I get down.

Visit Nu-Way Weiners at any of 11 locations.

Another Nu-Way review (and great resource, by the way) on HollyEats.com

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Hot on the heels of the best chili dog I’ve ever had, I scored a last minute invite to a Memorial Day BBQ, only to find out upon arriving that some more serious dogs were in my future. The generous host had picked up over 20lbs of hot dogs from Patak Meat Products, as well as fresh buns from H&F Bread Co.

The Patak hot dogs were large, smoky, juicy, just an all around amazing flavor. The cook scored and grilled them to perfection. Such a premier product deserves a worthy vehicle, and the H&F Bread hot dog buns were up to the challenge. I loaded up a couple of dogs in lightly toasted (and heavily priced) buns, then topped them with a homemade smoked jalapeno and sun dried tomato puree, aged white cheddar, and pimiento cheese. Absolute handheld opulence.

What to drink with these dogs? How about an assortment of Cava, domestic sparkling rose, and Champagne? Thanks a million to Matt for the invite and the fantastic food and company.

Nu-Way and Patak/H&F hot dogs cover every dog desire, craving, and need you can imagine on a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. What could be better?

Again, an interlude from pizza. Check back for today’s pizza post around 7PM. 

I had a dish Monday night that is worth some mention, because it is by far the strangest thing I’ve eaten. It may not be the strangest thing you’ve eaten, but keep in mind, as a child I was so disgusted by the smell of seafood I had to hold my nose and run by the seafood counter at the grocery store, as I would start dry heaving upon initial smell/sight of the shrimp and other sea goodies. I wasn’t comfortable eating seafood until college. I have a problem with certain food textures. 

So when my roommate and I were at Holeman & Finch recently (more H&F posts from me here and here) and we inquired about the veal brains grenobloise, and the reply was, “it’s good, but be careful if textures are a problem for you”, I was a bit concerned. Relentless, and slightly buzzed, we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and pressed on with the order of brains. BRAINS!!!

I didn’t know what grenobloise indicated, so quick background: a style from the French city of Grenoble, the dish is often served with a sauce of browned butter, capers, parsley, and lemon. 

When our dish arrived, I wasn’t too scared just checking it out. It was presented in an individual sized cast iron skillet, a 4″ x 2″ lovely browned piece of brain, drenched in butter, topped with small croutons, and served over a small bed of lightly sautéed arugula. 

As I pressed the knife to the exterior, the firm looking meat instantly “squished” down and broke open, revealing a soft white flesh…a cross section that we’ve all seen before…it was clearly brain matter.  Oh man. 

I quickly took the first bite and began chewing….breathe through the nostrils Jimmy, breath through the nostrils! It melted instantly, softer than foie gras, with a slightly gamey flavor, and a greasy texture. I’m not a “fat” person, and this was a bit much for me from that perspective, but it wasn’t bad overall. Psychologically, it was kind of getting to me though. I could have used a little more arugula to help it along, as the vegetables really helped cut through the thick coat of brain fat that was coating my mouth and tongue. There’s quite a long finish on brain. 

A bit flushed and exhilarated, I ordered a glass of the Sektkellerei Szigeti Grüner Veltliner Brut. I’ve been digging on Grüner’s a lot lately. I like their dry, mineral complexion, and they’re often noted for being very food friendly and versatile. Also they are often well priced, many decent GV’s are in the $8-16 retail. My first sparkler of this varietal, the wine had medium yellow color, a notable amount of small bubbles, and a dry/stony nose. The nose was not deceiving; it was bone dry and the minerality was there. It could have used more fruit for sure, but it did have some light citrus. Most importantly, the wine did an excellent job of cutting through brain-fat that would not leave my mouth or my sensory memory.  

If you’re going to try some brains, H&F is the place to do it. Their commitment to quality and creativity is awesome…they know what they’re doing. Share the brains with a friend, it’s too much grease/fat for one person, and give the sparkling GV a shot. There a certain je ne sais quoi about eating brains while drinking from a champagne flute. 

(check out the article/picture of veal brains from the New York Serious Eats web page)

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Our friends over at Atlanta Dish brought some dining news that is quite cool to my attention. Dogwood will be offering all you can eat mussels served with a glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. I hope it’s the ’08, which came out a few months ago. It’s a return to form after a weak ’07 if you ask me. 

How is the ’08 already out? Well, silly, it’s because New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere so they harvest approximately half a year before we do here in the top side of the world. 

This Dogwood deal is all day Tuesday through Friday. 

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AJC offered up some new information regarding Ann Quatrano and Clifford Harrison’s new venture – Abattoir.  Located in the White Provision building of the Westside Provision District, the article mentions that one culinary concept involved is “whole animal cuisine”; using all of the animal. I’m thinking there will be some different cuts of meat going on here. I’ve also been told it’s somewhat feminine, French, and all around “meat” oriented. It initially makes me think of Holeman & Finch. Of course, they could be totally different, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind. 

Oh yeah, and if you live under a rock, Ann/Cliff are the team behind Bacchanalia, Floataway Cafe, Quinones, and Star Provisions, so yeah… Abattoir might be pretty good. 

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Also, Creative Loafing just informed me (not personally informed me, they posted a web page, I’m not that popular) that Scott Serpas’ (of Two Urban Licks fame, among others) new restaurant, the eponymous “Serpas”, is opening this month in the Old Fourth Ward. More details here. 

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Chef Laurent Tourondel, of the many BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourondel) formats (BLT Steak, BLT Fish, BLT Burger) is opening his new restaurant, BLT Steak, in the W Atlanta Downtown Hotel on January 27th. Named the 2007 Restauranteur of the Year by Bon Appetit, Tourondel is sure to bring the heat, and I am quite excited about this opening. I mean, I love me some steak, and it’s kind of fun trying somewhere with a different concept than the old traditional steakhouse.

BLT Steak is billed as a “Modern American Steakhouse”, but with a “cozy French bistro” feel, we will see how his restaurant fares in the crowded pool that is the Atlanta steakhouse scene. I guess there’s always room for one more as long as it’s great, right?

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One last tidbit comes from The Blissful Glutton. H&F Bread Co. is offering a few take-out options especially for this year’s Super Bowl, everything from Hot Wings to Burger Kits. Go check out more details at her site, but I am gonna have to pick up something for the Super Bowl party I’m going to….now the question is…which one?!?!

This morning I woke up at about 3AM and never really got back to sleep, so I got up around 5:30 and started doing some work on the old laptop. My first thought was to head to the gym, but unfortunately the Buckhead YMCA doesn’t open until 8AM on Saturday’s. My next thought for an early morning jaunt… a bakery! But not just any bakery, one I have been wanting to try – I decided to hit up H&F Bread Co. for the first time. (note: their website is pretty much empty, but go check out H&F Bread Co. reviews on Yelp). 

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Before I continue, one other thing I wanted to mention. Last night after work some friends and I headed to  Atlanta Brewing Company to enjoy some beer and music, as every Friday from 6-8PM they have their beer tour (similar to Sweetwater’s setup). For $7 you get a glass and 4 beer cap tokens for “samples”. We also made reservations for JCT Kitchen at 8:30 so we could head directly from ABC to JCT. 

When we arrived at JCT it was jizammed to the max. We were happy to have a reservation, but the tables that could accomodate us were still seated, the parties being done with their meal, but just hanging out. We kept inquiring every 15 minutes or so, and finally some time around 9:30 we were seated. We didn’t cause much of a fuss, but we did mention how late it was, and they cooly and quickly brought us a complimentary bottle of prosecco, two orders of the parmesan truffle fries, and one order of the deviled eggs. Quite classy, and our mood changed instantly! What a way to handle this! They could have let us order and complimented a few appetizers after the meal, but our demeanor during the meal might not have been as much great. Or they could have done nothing at all. My halibut was pretty good, a little over seasoned, and the agnolotti were fantastic, but the style with which they handled this is what stands out, and the overall experience is why I keep going back. 

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OK, sorry about that. Back to H&F Bread Co. As you can see below, I was there during “o’dark hundred”, as my mom would say. 

In fact, I was there exactly at 7AM when they opened and they had to unlock the door for me.  I was greeted by the friendly smiles of three lovely ladies, who were bustling about, setting up for the day. 

I spent a few minutes looking around and finally decided to pickup a half dozen bagels, cream cheese, a coffee, and some specialty black sesame crackers I read about on the Blissful Glutton. There were plenty of other great looking breads, and I want to give their pizza dough and pimento cheese a shot, but there will be plenty of more visits in my future, so no need to rush things. 

After choosing my bounty, I spent a few minutes talking with the staff, who really were so friendly. Though quite a small space, I found the environment to be much more welcoming than the bakery at Star Provisions. It’s true that so often people make the difference! Finally, I headed home to enjoy my breakfast. 

The coffee was pretty good, no complaints. The bagels, while not exactly what I had in mind that morning (I was thinking of a thick, dense Goldberg’s bagel), the bagels with cream cheese were lovely. The bagels are large, light and pillowy with great bubbly structure, chewy, and obviously so fresh. Regarding this style of bagel…it made me think of what a Panera bagel would be like if it didn’t suck. 

I tried a few of the sesame crackers and they were quite good too – thin and crunchy with loads of fresh flavor, but I probably won’t try to make this a regular purchase at $5+ a bag. 

H&F Bread Co. is definitely a winner and I can’t wait to go back for lunch. It’s obvious that the cast over at the H&F/Eugene family know what they are doing – they’ve created a high standard for themselves, and with each endeavor they continue to live up to those expectations. 

At roughly 4 miles from my house, it does take 10 minutes to get there (probably 20 during normal traffic hours), but it’s not that bad and I will more likely try to hit it up when I am in that area for other errands.

What else did I eat with my bagel? If you aren’t bored already, you can continue to see my homemade corned beef hash (kind of, I didn’t make my own corned beef). 

I love corned beef hash. I’ll shamefully eat a whole can of that pre-made stuff in one sitting. Yeah, it looks like dog food, but get off my case. Though, the real deal is so much better. Here I have steamed some potatoes (yesterday) then this morning I diced them up, with some chopped parsley for garnish later. 

I still had a 1/4 lb hunk of corned beef in the freezer from a purchase at the deli counter of Whole Foods. I took it out of the freezer this morning around 4AM, then later trimmed the fat and chopped them into cubes as best I could. 

First I let the potatoes fry for a few, then added the corned beef, hit it with some black pepper and salt, then added some chopped onion and garlic. After another 2-3 minutes I took it off the heat, plated, garnished, and got down with some coffee/bagel/early morning ESPN. Good day so far…now off to my first group run with the Peachtree Triathlon Club!

pictured above: awesomeness

There’s already plenty of content of Holeman & Finch on the interwebs, including my previous post, and even though I’m behind the curve on this place I had to mention it again.

We had to wait about an hour to an hour and a half to get a table, so we hung out at the uber-crowded bar. I had a chance to talk to mixologist Andy Minchow (very friendly by the way), the creator of the Johnny Ryall, my favorite H-F original cocktail. He told me it’s a play on the Brass Monkey, hence the Beastie Boys reference. You can see what’s left of it below.

Once seated (and really hungry!) we ordered the salumi/charcuterie plate, the chopped steak (tartare topped with quail egg), the pork belly, and the fried oysters (below).

They were all awesome, though the salumi was a little thin in quantity compared to the last time I went. The chopped steak was plentiful, and quite powerful/tangy. I’m not a huge tartare fan but I liked it. The pork belly was nice and crispy and the chow chow it was served with added the perfect flavor/texture to cut through each bite of the pork fat. The remoulade underneath the fried oysters was killer.

I’d heard the H&F burgers were the shizz, but what I wasn’t hip to is that you can only order them after 10PM and there is a limited quantity; I think they said 26 of them or so, but I’m not 100% sure on that. Anyways, that sounded intriguing and it was 10PM right around the time we were finishing our food and our waiter knew I was interested so he suggested we put an order in for 2 burgers ASAP!

For the love of all that is burger-greasy-fantasticness-holy, please go try one of these. My pictures suck, but I have two below….

A perfect bun, with two patties cooked medium-rare (or less even!), gooey cheese, crunchy pickles, homemade mustard and ketchup, and awesome french fries. Our table of 4 meat-eaters could have devoured 4 of these, even after all our other food. The two burgers disappeared in amount 3 minutes flat.

I was told that the burger is also on the lunch menu during the weekend, but the supply is still limited, so you need to get there kind of early. I plan on going back asap. I definitely want to try the carbonara next time, it looks bomb.

Better pictures of the chopped steak and burgers here and here and here.