An open letter to Atlanta chefs
Dear Atlanta chefs,
I write this letter with respect and admiration and, in some instances, love for all the hard work you do. But I have to deliver a tough message, and it is this: You need to up your game.
Four months ago I started dining out again as a restaurant critic for this newspaper after a five-year hiatus. I haven’t hit every major restaurant yet but have been to enough to witness a real change from my last go-round at this job. The standards aren’t what they used to be.
The economy hasn’t been nice to the restaurant community. In particular, the decimation of the top tier — the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Seeger’s, Joel — means fewer young chefs get the kind of exacting, old-school European training they need to run their own kitchens.
This May, thousands of visitors are going to descend on our city for the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and they will be eager to see the vibrant, exciting contemporary Southern cooking that we’re known for. Let’s show it to them. But first, consider these 10 requests — pleas, really — that will make Atlanta a better place to chow down.
1. Please work on your execution: Set high standards, train your cooks well, and if you don’t yet trust them to execute the food as well as you do, don’t leave the kitchen. I can’t tell you how many good restaurants have served me limp salad greens, pan-fried fish without crisp skin, steaks without sear and seasoning that is all over the place.
2. Dazzle us with your finesse: People go out to restaurants to eat the kinds of dishes they can’t make at home. We want to marvel at how you cut that amazingly tender braised short rib into such a perfect square or how you coaxed that infinitely velvety texture from a parsnip.
3. Think about our health: When I look to the stars, it appears the heavenly body that brought us this Age of Meat is in retrograde. People are starting — gingerly — to speak of vegetables and sensible eating again. But the “gluttony-is-good” ethos just won’t go away. Pork fat and bacon are delicious — even more so in moderation. I hate that feeling of going home clutching my stomach, even after leaving half the food on my plate.
4. Show some wit: Each dish should be a story well told, even if it’s one that has been told many times before. Maybe you are making a beet and goat cheese salad, or macaroni and cheese. Instead of cutting the beets into wedges, you might sliver them into carpaccio rounds. And with so many La Brea truffle oil pit versions of mac and cheese around town, wouldn’t it be fun to envision one that is surpassingly light and delicate?
5. Don’t be afraid of sauce: I don’t miss the days of sticky and overly salty reduction sauces with meat and wading pools of butter with fish. But I do long for dishes with a small pool of sauce bridging the flavors of protein and garnish — those bites of food that register on the palate as three-part harmony. These days I see many dishes that are damp and greasy with butter, but none have that one perfect spoonful of beurre blanc that clings to a perfectly warmed plate and resonates with the flavors of shallot and wine.
6. Be casual in the right way: I’ve eaten a lot of simple down-home food from gorgeous plates in design meccas of urban rusticity in this city. Now I’d like to eat an amazing plate of thoughtful food in a crappy little room with mismatched chairs and plates. Don’t set the stage for casual; just be casual and cook like there’s no tomorrow.
7. Work toward the new fusion: Atlanta is one of the country’s best cities for new immigrant cooking. Our mainstream restaurants need to better reflect the reality of today’s multiethnic South. Have you heard of the Indian vegetable called drumstick? It can be as delicious as artichokes. Have you tried mashing boniato sweet potatoes, which are as white as clouds? Have you ever tried a sprig of fresh fenugreek at the DeKalb Farmers Market? Might you consider trying local goat for a winter special? If you like to go to Korean joints on Buford Highway, do you ever think about how to incorporate those flavors (chile, garlic, sugar, fermented vegetables) to a smart, wine-friendly dining sensibility?
8. Make one thing really well: This whole food truck mania is not about the pleasures of diesel fumes and plastic forks. It’s about young cooks who make brilliant pizza, or serious ice cream, or bizarrely original tacos. Every chef needs a signature dish that is all hers or his, a lure to the restaurant, a mouthful of nothing-else-like-it that diners dream of days later.
9. Surprise us: I recently went to a restaurant I really like and have to say my heart sank a bit when the waitress said the soup special was butternut squash. What’s special about that? Everyone makes it. Is anyone trying a cream of turnip, or kohlrabi, or escarole, or carrot with cumin, or Sea Island red pea with country ham, or wild lamb’s quarters with black cardamom and ginger, or …
10. Finally, show us your unique POV: I know many of your customers want a burger, or a steak, or the same sorry dish you’ve been making for 10 years and, well, sure: The customer’s always right. But you went into this line of work to show us who you are as a chef. Show me something that you, personally, in your most uncompromising state of mind, want to eat. Try and advance the agenda. This city needs you more than ever.
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251 comments Add your comment
Darin
January 17th, 2011
3:03 pm
At least half the suggestions you list here describe the great qualities I miss in Dynamic Dish. We really lost a special place of inventive cooking with that one. I remember your article about supporting Atlanta’s crazy food geniuses — we could use more of them. I know there have got to be some out there who are ready to break out of their shells.
soon to be gone
January 17th, 2011
3:04 pm
I am a chef who has worked all over the Southeast. My personal experience is that the Atlanta market rewards restaurants which know their customers. The busiest I have been (now, thank God), is running a kitchen that knows its customers, and embraces what they want, rather than being determined to teach them a lesson. For the record, NO single soup sells as well in the winter as butternut squash. So our ambition is to make the best butternut squash soup possible. Seems to be a winning formula. The real measure of the success of a restaurant is not what the critics think; it is how happy the customers are. I don’t work for a chain, but to dismiss them as irrelevant or sub-par is silly. Often their procedures are much tighter, and their ingredients are of a higher quality. They just base what they serve on what customers want to buy, rather than stroking a few critics and feeding their own egos. In my opinion, a smart restaurant operator looks to the successful chains for ideas! At least that’s what I do. I want to cook food on my terms, and still be packed every day. Nothing’s worse less than “integrity” at a failing business. As a 25-year veteran of professional kitchens who loves it more than ever, here’s my open letter to Atlanta chefs: find out what your customers want to buy, and make the best version of it in town. May sound simple, but it’s a mission that can be a very fulfilling life’s work.
eatoutatlanta
January 17th, 2011
3:17 pm
John Kessler has a great point….and Atlanta is NOT food town. It seems to be a “Be SEEN Town” how many restaurants do serve up the same boring dishes? What ever happen to “lets get dressed up and go to a nice restaurant” Atlanta loves jeans & baseball hats…and that’s what you get…
STEP up ATLANTA… If Atlanta wants to compare it self to food cities #1 New York, #2 Chicago, #3 San Francisco and #4 Philadelphia….We need to stop eating Steak & Cabernet……The best places in Atlanta are not the big names in town like Tom & Pano or Amik…. Or the farm to table B$… it is the small family international foods that are not serving the same food as every other restaurant…
John Kessler
January 17th, 2011
3:46 pm
Boy, some really well thought out, insightful commentary here….thanks, everyone…
Jim R.
January 17th, 2011
3:52 pm
Ten points all well and good worthy to be adopted by any chef wanting to impress. My question is where does that leave traditional restaurants such as The Colonade or Mary Mac’s? To many of us this is the heart and soul of Atlanta. They may be basic and not serve heart or sole, but they make us who we are. While they do set high standards and are casual in their own way they fail miserably in the other catagories. Good point about rather have good food in simple surroundings but leads me to believe that innovation and wit are as important as tradition and quality. It ain’t got to be flashy to be good, but these places and others like them should be treated as a culinary equal. That is why they have been around so long while today’s reality star chef may be here today and gone tomorrow.
Great food but boring headlines.
TopSteakHouses.com » Blog Archive
January 17th, 2011
4:00 pm
[...] letter to Atlanta chefs – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Wendy
January 17th, 2011
4:07 pm
John, glad to hear I’m not the only one with a disappointed palate at many restaurants lately. Your critique is spot on and welcomed. And it’s what you were hired for. Thank you for being honest. Your words may sting a little, but definately need to be said. I love eating out, love to try new tastes, love to be wowed, but have been eating at home more and more so that I can ensure freshness and quality at mealtimes.
While the economy has hurt restaurants, including restaurants in NYC and Paris, creativity and taste can still abound. Salt seems to be the go-to ingredient lately to mask lesser quality and freshness.
I love Atlanta and look forward to many fine meals ahead. I do humbly ask our local chefs to “step it up.” I’m a frequent customer and I will pay for creativity, taste and freshness.
Thanks for the open dialog!
g
January 17th, 2011
4:24 pm
mmmmmmmmmmmm…..I’m thinkin Arby’s……….
Kar
January 17th, 2011
4:34 pm
Kessler throws down the gauntlet.
Let’s see what happens. I agree that while I’m not always out for fine dining, I would at least expect some degree of professionalism and food expertise. Seriously, opening up a bag of limp/slimey wholesale lettuce and slapping it on a plate just shows you don’t care. I know that kitchens hate special orders but sometimes we have allergy or health issues behind them.
Also agree with the salt. No wonder we have diners with lazy palates if the chefs simply coat everything with salt rather than develop flavors.
Rebecca Abbott
January 17th, 2011
4:42 pm
You Go Girl
And while you’re at it, Chefs, get rid of your “sea salts” and any other salt you own.
I’m tired of waking up puffy the morning after a fine dining experience because of all the salt in the food.
Use some herbs instead
Sara
January 17th, 2011
4:49 pm
I would add that restaurants should make sure that their staff is WELL trained! So disappointing to go to a new or widely talked about restaurant and have the experience ruined by under-experienced and overly snooty staff.
K-Dawg
January 17th, 2011
4:51 pm
H-Cat, you seem worried that your husband’s restaurant is the next to be axed. As far your hubby having to work holidays, so do a heck of a lot of people like Airline pilots, firemen, police, doctors, nurses etc etc. You’re way out of line with your whimpering and assumptions of what 100k can pay for. For some 100k is a stupid amount of money although it probably wouldn’t bring you home at night.
An open letter to Atlanta chefs | Food and More with John Kessler | Food Critics
January 17th, 2011
4:58 pm
[...] Read the original here: An open letter to Atlanta chefs | Food and More with John Kessler [...]
Andy
January 17th, 2011
5:06 pm
NATIVE ATLANTAN
Andy
January 17th, 2011
5:07 pm
NATIVE ATLANTAN
HOW ABOUT SHARING 4 OR 5 OF THOSE GREAT OFF THE BEATEN PATH RESTAURANTS YOU REFER TO ABOVE.
Tim James
January 17th, 2011
5:12 pm
And just because it’s Atlanta doesn’t mean the ice tea taste good. So many times the tea is pure sugar water.
atlfunlvr
January 17th, 2011
5:13 pm
Yes!! No more designer grits and macaroni and cheese
juice sourcer
January 17th, 2011
5:15 pm
I want to see a place like this gem in Berleley, California.
http://www.gatherrestaurant.com
Big AHall
January 17th, 2011
5:15 pm
WOW….Paris, New York and San Fran??? And we dont compete with these cities dining options?? Well no crap!! It took an article in The Urinal Constipation for you to figure that out??…Typical northern come south to live/teach us rubes a thing or two attitude…so typical.
I am headed to New York for 5 days in May and California for a week in September…so I understand. I vacation in the cities you are all glorifying.
I live off of Buford Hwy and love all of our tasty options. For our population count, we have a fantastic dining scene. Of course we dont compare to the places you name…but if those places are so great, why arent you Einstens living there?? My god….do you have to eat at French Laundry, Daniel or Atelier at every meal?? This is the South…grits, greens and barbecue…..and before you start, Charlie Virgo’s in Memphis is my fave BBQ.
Where we rank in the pecking order of cities….we kill our competition foodwise. Rathbun, Ullio, Castelluci, Blaise, Doty, Hopkins, Seeger….tell me when to stop with the names.
For our size we are one of the best dining cities in the world. And if you got a problem with that…meet me at Antico Pizza Napoletana and I’ll buy a couple slices and we can debate some more.
Now get the hell out of my city!!…NOW… go back from whence you came!!!
bradley
January 17th, 2011
5:19 pm
Dave,
But you are.
Josh
January 17th, 2011
5:21 pm
I moved down here from the north east about a year and a half ago. The restaurant scene definitely can’t compete with the great cities mentioned in the article, but it’s better than I expected. It hasn’t been an easy adjustment, and I’ll probably move back north as soon as my career gives me an opportunity to do so.
But Atlanta is still a much better city than I expected, and at least the cost of living is much lower to offset not having as many quality dining and cultural options.
That said, I agree with most of the article. My one gripe with the restaurants here is things are just much too heavy and salty/greasy most places. But it’s the south and that’s characteristic of southern cuisine. It is what is. All one can do is find and support the places they like and learn to cook some of their favorite dishes they can’t find around here themselves.
Covers Dixie like the Dew
January 17th, 2011
5:30 pm
It’s a tough business.
Danny
January 17th, 2011
5:33 pm
Yes I totally agree. I have an issue with all these boutique restaurants that look fancy, feature high price items but then taste mediocre, example Shout, Twist and all these fancy smancy types. I find it if you go to a small family or individually owned restaurant you get so much better quality.
Rusan’s is Japanese but it seems like anybody can be a sushi chef, if I want authentic I don’t want my japanese food cooked by a a non japanese, yes they can be trained but in my experience they just get by.
Quality always suffers for the masses. Focus on making good food all the time not every once in a while and I would go out more. I used eat out 3x a day but no longer find it worth it, I can get better food at home.
Big AHall
January 17th, 2011
5:34 pm
Josh nailed it people. Better than expected. Atlanta is great city…easy to get to the beach, all 4 major sports, the college football capital of the world and plenty of good places to eat. I had dinner at 4th and Swift the other night and thought it to be very good. I am realistic and do no expect sexual type gratification at every meal. If you cant find a good meal in Atlanta….you aint looking in the right places.
BTW there is a nice 4th and Swift offer on Half Off Depot.
jess
January 17th, 2011
5:42 pm
Atlantans have always been fickle restaurant patrons. One week we love you, next we hate you. If the quality was consistent we’d likely always love you or hate you.My pet peeve with all restaurants, chef owned or otherwise, is the obvious lack of concern for patrons health. Entering a $$$ or $$$$ restaurant I expect to see, prominently displayed, a health department score of 98-100. Any score below a 96 and you see me walking out immediately. Even the $ fast food restaurants can, and do, obtain a score of 100.
An open letter to Atlanta chefs | Food and More with John Kessler | Monterey Reviews
January 17th, 2011
5:47 pm
[...] Helen wrote an interesting post today Here’s a quick excerpt It’s about young cooks who make brilliant pizza, or serious ice cream, or bizarrely original tacos. Every chef needs a signature dish that is all hers or his, a lure to the restaurant, a mouthful of nothing-else-like-it that diners dream of days later. 9. Surprise us: I recently went to a restaurant I ….. About Food and More with John Kessler. Discuss Atlanta restaurant reviews and food news with John and the AJC’s dining team. Food and More with John Kessler RSS feed … [...]
An open letter to Atlanta chefs | Food and More with John Kessler | TOPCOOKINGREVIEW.COM
January 17th, 2011
5:48 pm
[...] the original here: An open letter to Atlanta chefs | Food and More with John Kessler Uncategorized better-reflect, career, new-fusion, paper, pocket, reality, the-country, [...]
P Deez
January 17th, 2011
5:51 pm
I agree with a lot of Mr. Kessler’s challenges. However, he is out of touch with what restaurants are trying to do as businesses. While purist chefs are truly interested in “art” and “craft” they still have payrolls to meet and rent to come up with. I’ve been dreaming of the day I hit the lottery to open the most creative, stylish, comfortable, delectable, fun, invigorating…….place I can. With over 25 years as a chef and manager (chef is not an elitist title) I know what all this means. Like art, music, literature, women, men, whatever, “taste” is realitive!
Scott
January 17th, 2011
5:53 pm
While there is an ocean of mediocrity in this and every town. This seems to be a glass is half empty article. Go to Hankook and try…..everything. Have the cracker-jack salad at JTC, or the pumpkin ravioli at Valenza, the crispy cream doughnut milkshake at Flip, the grilled pork sandwich at Lee’s bakery.The BBQ in this town is finally solid. There’s far too may treats to name.
I will miss The salmon sashimi with mustard ice cream at Joel but nothing at Seegars or The dining room.
Jeus H. Christ
January 17th, 2011
5:53 pm
It must be tough trying to impress these obese southerners with anything other than fried foods, oily vegetables, and over-sweetened desserts. And turn a profit! I feel sorry for these chefs who try and impress the “masses.”
George P Burdell
January 17th, 2011
5:55 pm
Ratatouille, the movie: Restaurant critic meets chef who does one thing well.
Quit being different for differences sake. Pay attention to detail. Train your staff. Listen to your customers. It’s a dining experience, not cooking school…make it happen.
Josh
January 17th, 2011
5:59 pm
In response to Scott’s comment, there is definitely a lot of good barbeque and other meats, fried food, southern style places like Mary Mac’s, JCT, South City Kitchen etc. in town.
What’s lacking here is a nice variety of upscale places (or whole in the wall joints) with tasty AND healthy food for those of us that love dining out but are also very health conscious.
Big AHall
January 17th, 2011
6:08 pm
Obese southerners???? HAHAHAHA….I laugh at how fine my obese southern wife is compared to what passes for good looking on Manhattan or in Chicago. Just go to a Yankee’s game Jesus H. and you will see the epitome of the fat/ugly combo in action. The most shocking thing to me about New York was not how good the food was but how freaking disgusting the natives are. Very suprising that the horrible attitudes and even worse looks were, as it was told me, the native New Yorkers. If they were either semi attractive or somewhat of a decent human type, they were from somewhere else.
Betti Harrison
January 17th, 2011
6:29 pm
John, you and I know each other and I am sad to say your comments are puerile. This coming from a true eater.
Jim R.
January 17th, 2011
6:41 pm
John..
.I don’t know you but I’ll bet you can cross puerile off the list of things you have never been called..
@Betti..Just curious what part of JK’s homily did you find peurile?…Did you mean it in it’s childlike or in it’s trivial connotation? How can I tell if I am a true or a false eater? A fry detector test?
Just Damn…
Brad
January 17th, 2011
6:41 pm
It’s not hard to turn this article back at it’s author. Certainly Journalism has taken a nose dive too wouldn’t you say? That said I agree with most things here especially about more “hands on” chefs at the wheel of quality control.
Biggest problem is review websites that let people who have terrible taste and articulate writing dictate what owners think of chefs.
Beatriz
January 17th, 2011
6:48 pm
Well, someone had to say and I’m glad it’s said. I can’t believe that I was just talking about this very subject at my last dinner party. As a chef and food historian, I can’t seem to impress upon people how utterly boring the food has become here. Every day I’m reading about these phenomenal dishes that the chefs in New York and Europe are turning out and I’m wondering if any of the chefs in Atlanta are taking the time to read the same stuff. Myself, I’m trying to create something different everytime I cook partly out of boredom, partly out of sheer desire for something fresh and new. Thank you so much for this John Kessler. I hope Atlanta will come to its senses. I salute you!
Rockerbabe
January 17th, 2011
6:49 pm
I do hope this new food critic will spend a little more time in places other than Atlanta proper, Buckhead and points north. When one reads the restaurant critic listings, the impression is that the only restaurants worth visiting are in those places. There a lots of ethnic places in Dekalb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties. I hope you come to our locale for a visit. Also, it would be nice if the sanitation scores are also part of your critique. . .I only eat at places with a 90 or better and have quickly left any number of restaurants because their scores were low. If the kitchen isn’t clean, then the food isn’t worth eating.
FormerChef
January 17th, 2011
7:01 pm
Multiple Comments to share:
1) “eliminating all the ingredients with high-fructose corn syrup” Why? are you allergic to it? Either enjoy the food or don’t order it. Don’t criticize an ingredient that you really, truthfully know nothing about. (Don’t listen to the hype, find out for yourself, you are a big uhhhh… person….)
2) Salt usage. Agreed. But you have to have mass appeal or the dish will tank. It is expensive to produce a special that is not widely known or popular. If you know more than we do, then by all means open a restaurant and see how quickly you make money…. ( or rather go out of business).
3) In most cases, IT IS JUST A MEAL! Are you paying $35.00 a plate for dinner? $20.00 for lunch? No? Really? huh….. then please remember that you ate two other meals today and will eat 3 more tomorrow. and the next day and the next. Is it really that bad? Do you really need to rake a poorly paid server over the coals because it wasn’t what you expected? And if you complain and we take it off the bill, please remember that the server neither cooked it nor created it. Tip them for your free meal too. (Cause you always eat some of it and I am sure you didn’t leave hungry.)
4) Oh, yeah, did I mention that it is simply a meal. Didn’t like it? Then don’t order it. You all expect every meal to appeal to your particular palates. Get over yourselves….. It is a meal. Tomorrow you will have another. Or….. don’t……………… your choice……………….. sheeeesh
former native
January 17th, 2011
7:02 pm
Mr. Kessler–I thought I’d give you an example of what you were looking for. Once upon a time, in the East Point/College Park area, there was an interesting little restaurant called Kosmos. In its kitchen were trained chef and cooks from Jamaica, Mexico, Brasil, the U.S., and several different parts of Asia. The cuisine was fusion–totally fresh and seasonal, occasionally even making use of the leaves of the banana trees that grew on the beautiful back patio. In fact, the food included many of the ingredients you cite in your open letter above. Plates were gorgeous, and the staff were friendly, fun and a bit eccentric. The place was great–awsome food, great crowds, great cocktails, a staff that felt like family. Imagine my horror when I read the review/hatchet job by Meredith Ford. She made fun of the host for highlighting the local art in the restaurant, and criticized the food for not having “direction”. When the owners contacted her, they were told to find one direction and stick to it–not to try for this “global fusion thing” as it was just confusing. The restaurant closed shortly afterward. So I suggest you look to your own archives and assess the damage that you and your colleagues have done to the innovative, if not perfect, restaurants in the area.
For those of you who have moved to the South and continue to criticize southerners, I have only one thing to say: Va t’en!!!
Ted Striker
January 17th, 2011
7:05 pm
This article claims to be an “open letter” written to the restaurant owners/managers/chefs but it’s published in the AJC.
Low rent, low class move, food critic. Very unimpressed with this. Cannot emphasize this enough.
Ted Striker
January 17th, 2011
7:07 pm
p.s. Have been unimpressed with the level of professionalism of AJC food critics since M. Ford discussed her theft of menus from restaurants she reviewed. Hopefully you don’t do that like she did.
Josh H
January 17th, 2011
7:13 pm
Such a joke considering 1) 75% of your reviews have been of ethnic restaurants where these rules don’t apply, and 2) the new emphasis on reviewing restaurants that aren’t in Atlanta. I support the sentiments in your ‘open letter’, but it gives you even less credibility considering your hypocritical actions.
Josh
January 17th, 2011
7:19 pm
I’m surprised so many people are upset over this. At the end of the day it’s just one critic’s opinion. It’s not like he’s suggesting that every restaurant should try all those things, just that he’d like to see more take some of those chances.
And to some of the other comments, yes there’s a lot of good food on Buford Highway, Decatur and other places outside the city.
But I took this as more about Atlanta restaurants, not the whole metro area. The great thing about cities like NY, Chicago etc. is that you don’t have to venture out of the city to find all the great food options you could ever want. Which is great for us city dwellers who don’t like venturing out into the burbs or beyond any more often that we have to–especially in a metro area like Atlanta with a pretty limited public transit system.
Chef Angelique
January 17th, 2011
7:28 pm
This article is WELL over-due and I am glad someone is calling out to all these chefs / restaurants in Atlanta. I am AMAZED at the lack of taste, quality and presentation of the food been served in these restaurants, more so, I am surprised at the price and the LACK of taste to back it up, SHAME!!! Yes Atlanta, you guys REALLY need to BRING IT all the way up!!! Way to go Johns Kessler for telling them like it NEED to be told!
Mel
January 17th, 2011
7:35 pm
The most wonderful restaurant I’ve eaten at in Atlanta was Houstons. Everything complemented the palate, not too much food but out of this world flavor. Well worth the price.
regular business guy
January 17th, 2011
7:50 pm
eating out a lot i have noticed that many of the new restaurants are more fascinated with creating the newest hip atmosphere and decent kitchy trendy food, but totally missing the noise and comfort of the interior- loud concrete lofts with concrete walls and floors may be less expensive to decorate but food is meant to be enjoyed in a comfortable relaxing environment! even if i love your food if i cant hear my companion or guest (music is cool unless i want to hear myself think) i am not coming to your – no matter how popular- restaurant! and speaking of interior features why do i have to keep a small key fob light in my car to take in when i go to dinner? because the lighting is so dark i cant read the menu. now i know i am getting to middle age and surprise those people still spend money in restaurants so why do many of the restaurants miss this entirely? cute menus on grey and brown paper matched with cute font of similar colors are annoying- what 25 year old graphic artist is designing your menus and lighting consultant?
Jason
January 17th, 2011
7:51 pm
HAHAHA The atl food scene (all of ga for that matter) is mediocre because THAT IS WHAT SELLS IN THIS MARKET!!!!!!!
Artless bland protestant heritage gets you a long and fine tradition of…what? cuisine? nope, art? no, one museum in the state.
I’ve been here for 20 yrs and until all of the native atlantans die out or leave this city will always be a weak pretender with bad traffic. Dam, how nice would it be to have a great cuisine and cultural hertitage like New Orleans?
PS all you “native atlantans” get out of MY city and go back to the woods from wence YOU came!!
guy
January 17th, 2011
7:54 pm
gluten free sux
Jim R.
January 17th, 2011
8:06 pm
Hold yer horses there Jason..20 yrs doth not a native make..As they say Delta is ready when you are…how can a comment on a fine article by JK turn into a wish you were dead litany of nonsense?
Dam (as you spell it), how nice it would be for us both to get our wish and you end up in N.O….
Not that they would want you.
Jim…52 yrs ITP..Look it up Jason