We had good food and wine. I assisted with dinner, and for the morning-after I made the same Mexican breakfast casserole I’ve been making for years. My camera is a little better than my initial post on this dish, which is one of the most popular all-time on the old blog.

I didn’t know the origin of the recipe for years as it was emailed to me in plain text, but it turns out it’s an Emeril recipe. Bam!

Next time I do this I’m going to use two smaller casserole dishes instead of a single large one. The outside edge is cooked well before the center. If you cook the casserole until the center is no longer soggy, the outside edge of egg is a little burnt/crispy for my taste. I also like to cover mine for the first half of cooking, then remove the foil so the exposed top doesn’t overcook. This aluminum foil cover could mitigate moisture loss, which is perhaps why the casserole is still soggy in the center. Always tinkering…

Last night Katie and I tried the new Bell Street Burritos on the Westside. It’s near Flip in the old Social House space, where I once had a stunningly bad breakfast.

Willy’s has been our go-to place on Howell Mill for a quick meal for a long time; It’s close to our home, I think they use fresh ingredients, they’re consistent, and the burritos and beer are inexpensive. This particular location also has a full bar.

The throne is in jeopardy. Not since my last visit to Anna’s in Boston have I day-dreamed of a burrito.

What’s that? You’d like an iPhone photo of a partially eaten pork and green chile burrito? Well tip ‘o the cap to you sir, proceed!

The packed to the brim tortilla is appropriately steamed, dense, chewy and substantial. The shredded pork is tender and moist. Just a hint of heat from the chiles. But the beans! The tender yet firm pinto beans are astoundingly good. I rarely order pintos as they are so often mushy, but these were clearly prepared properly, which is to say, with a watchful eye. The rice was a tad overcooked but one could argue it assists in cohesion. The burrito is massive, by the way, not for the faint of appetite.

We tried the cheese dip and salsas too. They made a good chip selection, substantially thick but not heavy. The cheese dip…is cheese dip, and the green salsa is pleasant, but the thin style red salsa is really fantastic, so flavorful, it’s on point son!

I don’t know if a liquor license is in the works, but if they start offering beer, Bell Street will definitely be up there on my neighborhood rotation.

I recently learned via the Muss & Turner’s Facebook page that every Monday night is “Family Meal”, so named for the meal that chefs cook for each other before dinner service.

Usually the job of one chef, family meal is the calm before the storm in the restaurant business; a chance for everyone to get together, feed their bodies, and mentally prepare for the service ahead. And while the food is often an expression of the person preparing it, it’s generally uncomplicated – the meal needs to be something satisfying that will get the cooks through a long stretch of cooking, sweating, and swearing on their feet.

The family meals at Muss & Turner is just that; each Monday a chef decides that the family meal will be, only this time the meal is offered to the customers. When I went a couple of weeks ago, it was a mix of barbacoa tacos, beef empanada, and a few salsas and garnishes. Muss & Turner’s is a casual place to begin with, but I enjoy this change of pace and the chance for them to do something a little different and see what the chefs are going to come up with each week.

Tonight it’s Cochinia pibil – annato and citrus marinated pork prepared in banana leaf, jasmine rice, refried beans, and purple cabbage salad. Be sure to pair one of their great beers with it!

Just a few bites from here and there. Lately my favorite pizza at Varasano’s is the nucci. I’m usually not a big olive fan (what?) but I love them on this pizza. It’s just the right amount of salty to go with the awesome bread and spicy arugula.

On my last visit to Heirloom BBQ, there was a line out the door, so we took it to go and I made up a plate at my friend Matt’s house down the street. When I picked up the St. Louis style rib, the bone ripped through. The Texas sampler included ribs, brisket, and a Texas beef sausage (you can choose other sausages). A good portion of the brisket was so fatty I felt guilty looking at it, but the bites that were about 50/50 were mind bogglingly great. The fat isn’t chewy; you can use your tongue to press it against the roof of your mouth and it seems to disintegrate, probably directly into the love handle area. The pork heavy collards and thinly sliced Korean sweet potato sides were also notable.

Emile at Caw Caw Creek recommended I try this “shouler butt steak”, also known as a blade steak. I’ve actually had this cut on my to-find list since I read about a dish at the Purple Pig a few months ago. I quick brined it, seasoned it, seared on both sides on high heat, then dusted it with smoked paprika and a drizzle of honey. Shut your face good. This cut goes on the regular rotation.

Finally, this torta cubana from Rivera’s Foods in West Columbia is out of control. A few Mexican cheeses, country ham, regular ham, hot dog, chorizo, pineapple, milanesa, tomato, jalapeno, avocado…it was somewhat obscene. The first half was fantastic. My attempt at the second half just made me feel bad about myself.

I’m waaaay behind the curve on being hip to all the great spots on Buford Highway. I lived in the thick of it in 2005, but I was not the adventurous eater at that time. We ate at Little Szechuan a lot, and hit up dim sum every once in a while. Once I walked into La Kermex by myself on a Sunday afternoon, and it was one of those movie moments where the music stops and the DJ scratches the disc. I literally turned around and sort of acted like I had mistaken it for some other intended destination.

So forgive me for being so late to the game on the Crawfish Shack, the Vietnamese and Cajun inspired seafood restaurant, which isn’t really a shack at all, but appears to be the most popular destination in a fairly new strip mall on Buford Highway. I don’t have much to add to the pages that have already been written (including the NY Times), but I was quite pleased. The oysters (above) and the soft shell crab (below) were hot, crispy, and plentiful. The crinkle cut fries are certainly of the frozen variety, but I can’t complain when they are cooked to order. The bread was just shy of the more excellent samples I’ve tried in New Orleans. Maybe a bit too much sauce too. The spice was just right, but that didn’t stop me from applying a few lines of sriracha.

Despite being full, FB and I hit up the recently opened El Señor Taco. I managed a few bites of the steak quesadilla, which was good I guess? I mean, it was a quesadilla. Not sure what else I could say. If I wanted to bitch about the amount of filling in it, I guess I’d write up a post and put that on Yelp.

It’s the tacos pescados that have garnered this restaurant much attention. They are crispy Baja style, are damn tasty, and I haven’t had anything like them in Atlanta.

One observation, and I’m no expert as I only have one “true” Baja fish taco comparison to draw from, but I’m not the biggest fan of their style of batter. It seems a little thick and reminds me of the batter used at some fish and chip stands where the batter is more like a crispy fried exoskeleton than a coating on the fish. It all tastes good, especially with the generous portion of slaw, but I just don’t taste much fish.

There was hardly a seat left in the place on that Thursday afternoon, so I’m glad to see them doing so well. I’ll definitely hit them up again.

I mentioned in my recent  Susis Taco Grill post that their amazing carnitas inspired me to make my own. In fact, it incited a whole Mexican feast with my brother and his wife and a few friends. We’ve spent quite a few Sunday evenings cooking at each other’s homes recently, a fun topic BG just covered well.

Our multi-course feasts are generally lengthy affairs, with too much food, and just the right amount of booze. Thomas kicked off this recent bacchanal with some chorizo and cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped (claro), grilled jalapenos.

We then moved on to grilled corn, which we dipped in crema and rolled in queso fresco. Cotija would have been preferable for this application, but queso was all that was available, or so my brother claimed.

I made a few salsas for the dinner. The pico de gallo is a simple uncooked mix of chopped tomatoes (seeds/flesh removed), jalapeno, serrano, onion, cilantro, and a splash or two of red wine vinegar.

The darker sauce is a cooked sauce of boiled whole tomato, onion, and serrano peppers, all simmered in the same pot for ten minutes or so. Then I added a handful of cilantro, some salt, then hit it with my immersion blender.

Finally the salsa verde is a tomatillo salsa, as specified in Kenji’s Serious Eats carnitas recipe. After the carnitas cook for hours and hours at a low heat, the fat is drained off and the pork liquid that remains becomes the base for the salsa. I’ve never had a “meaty” salsa, and if you didn’t know it was coming, the reticent pork flavor and creamy texture could be a little surprising, but it was really awesome.

Finally, there are the carnitas. Submerged in canola oil with orange, garlic, onion, and cinnamon, the pork was cooked at 275F for about four hours, when the pork was falling apart tender. I stored it in the fridge until that evening, when the carnitas were finished in the broiler to crisp up slightly before serving.

Served simply with corn tortillas, queso fresco, and quick pickled red onion (thin sliced with vinegar, Mexican oregano, cumin). A great meal.

I’ve been doing a lot of bike riding out in this area cyclists refer to as “Silk Sheets”, which is a loop that cruises around Fairburn and Palmetto. Many of my spandex-clothed brethren begin the ride at a church that is fairly easy for me to access – I just drive 25 minutes out Bolton Rd, which eventually turns into Fulton-Industrial and go straight for what seems like a million stop lights.

After the ride, I’m ravenous, so I usually stop and get something to eat to quell my stomach’s screams. First it was Bojangles, but lately I’ve been hitting up Susis Taco Grill.

In a strip mall by the Bojangles, Susis is a small little place with maybe six tables, a large menu (tacos, tortas, enchiladas, whole chickens – you name it), and three friendly guys that serve up some damn fine food. So far I’ve only tried four of the tacos (carne asada, al pastor, carnitas, and lengua), as tacos are the best candidates for eating while driving. The lengua is pictured above because that’s the only one to make it all the way home. You can see that if you order them “all the way” they are loaded up with beans, tomatos, and cheese, which I don’t normally see on tacos of this style. Some may think it crowded, but I particularly like the addition of the beans.

I wish I had a picture of it, but the carnitas were the best I’ve ever had. Susis didn’t skimp on the large chunks of tender and crispy edged pork, which had an incredible aroma of cinnamon without an overpowering flavor the spice. Wonderful.

So good, in fact, I ended up making carnitas at home the next day….more on that later this week.

But regarding Susis, if you are anywhere close to that side of town, I highly recommend trying it out.

After attending a meeting in Forest Park yesterday, I swung by Taco Rancho, the new taqueria from Chef Jose Rego (formerly of Allegro). I first heard about this place in a write-up Bob Townsend did for the AJC. I had a very good meal at Allegro before their demise, so I had high expectations, which were almost completely diminished as I drove through the desolate State Farmer’s Market to find the place. Finally, the quaint and isolated restaurant appeared.

The interior is very vibrant and clean, most definitely not a dive taqueria joint. Unlike many small taquerias, the menu offers the full spectrum of Mexican food for lunch (not open for dinner) – tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, soups, whole chickens, and more. In addition, they serve breakfast, mostly a eggs, beans, chorizo, or a combination thereof in sandwich, plate, or burrito form.

As this was just a quick snack, I sauntered on over to the counter while I scanned the menu and ordered two tacos – one beef cheek (cachete), and one carnitas. (unrelated – what’s the difference between a saunter and a mosey? I think with a mosey, one would perhaps be wearing cowboy boots. Just a thought.)

The two tacos, served on amazingly thin and smooth white corn tortillas which had been quickly firmed up on the griddle, arrived quickly. The carnita taco was a pleasant mix of both shredded and large chunks of pork, neither one dry. I didn’t get too much spice flavoring on the carnitas, but perfectly juicy pork doesn’t really have to have much flavor added to be great.

The beef cheek, which was slathered in a tomato based sauce which made the whole dish very reminiscent of beef stew, was also excellent, due to the tenderness of the fork tender and gelatinous beef.

These were some damn fine tacos.

Also of note, in the brief couple of minutes before my tacos arrived, some chips hit my table and the waiter pointed me to the salsa bar, which features five to six good looking salsas. I tried the salsa roja with cacahuate (peanuts ya gringo), which was fiery and smooth and excellent.

I’m not sure if I’d drive 30 minutes to hit up Taco Ranch very often, but it’s definitely destination worthy if you are on the south side of town.

After my ’04 Spring semester of college, a few friends and I got all Horace Greeley and packed it into a couple of cars and drove out west for a week. I was in the Ford station wagon on the left (below), dubbed “The Red Baron”. The engine was so tired we had to turn off the AC to maintain speeds over 30 mph while driving up hills. Once we reached Memphis we decided to forgo all interstate highways and we drove 36 hours straight on scenic state highways, sleeping in shifts, until we reached Moab, Utah.

The sights were awesome. The picture at the top of this post is the famous “Delicate Arch” near Moab. Below is a picture from Needles in nearby Canyonlands National Park.

After a few days we headed South into New Mexico and checked out Santa Fe, eventually heading back to Georgia via the Texas panhandle. We ended up breaking down an hour outside of Amarillo (Shamrock, which happened to be a dry town), where we spent two days sampling the local combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell and waiting for the car to be repaired. It’s a trip I think of often.

One particular food memory from that trip is the green chiles. They were everywhere. Green chile sauce  is HUGE in Moab, it’s the speciality topping for everything from hamburgers to omelets. The condiment is somewhat like salsa, but it’s cooked with flour and chicken stock to create a unique sauce. Yes I realize salsa = sauce, but you know what I mean.

In New Mexico, where the chiles are even more popular, they are generally used to make a fiery salsa. Hatch in southern New Mexico is the city that made them famous (similar to what Vidalia did for sweet onions), though they are ubiquitous all over the state. We purchased some green chile salsa during the trip, and used it often in the breakfast burritos we made while camping. We also sampled some green chile salsa in Santa Fe, where we had some food that the waiter described as “a little bit hot”, which apparently is the Pueblo expression for “oh-my-Jesus-make-it-stop”.

Below are what they look like, similar to an Anaheim chile. The red chiles come from the same plant as the green chiles, the green ones are picked before they’re ripe, then they are generally roasted. The ripe red chiles are often dried and used in powders. Unlike many unripe/green peppers, the New Mexico variety can be quite hot. Chili fact – the interior rib of a chile is also referred to as the placenta!

Still here after all that? That brings me to the point of all this – Sol Del Rio Salsa, made in Georgia using New Mexico chiles, which I purchased at Whole Foods last weekend. The mild and medium were good, but if we’re talking about green chiles, I want some heat, and the “Hot” version brings it. Chock full of green chiles (the #1 listed ingredient), the salsa is light on acid and seasoning, but the slow burn begs for another scoop of salsa to cool things back down…only to bring the burn back. Finally, some jarred salsa with some character. Enjoy with caution.

Bonus – me looking like a douche in Santa Fe.

Included in the photo set: Taqueria Mi Pueblita II, Paul’s Philadelpha Eatery, Taqueria Jasmine, and Baan Sawan. Baan Sawan is the coolest Thai restaurant I’ve been to in a long time. The bartender and proprietor (and obvious wine geek), Sam, says he runs a “fine dining restaurant, that just happens to serve Thai food”. A comprehensive post on Baan Sawan can be found here.