Employees at Cafe Bombay, 1622 Woodcliff Drive, Atlanta, were careless about washing their hands and keeping the sink clean, and that cost the Indian restaurant a passing health score.

A DeKalb County health inspector noted separate incidents of employees talking on a cell phone, adjusting clothing and preparing tandoori chicken, and none of them washed their hands before putting on clean gloves.

In addition, the hand sink wasn’t being kept clean and maintained, the inspector said. Raw meat pieces were on the faucet handles. The restaurant scored a 65/U.

A manager at Cafe Bombay said a lot of points were taken off for minor details, but other than that there were no major problems during the routine inspection.

Points were also deducted because some food items were stored uncovered and subject to contamination. Sliced tomatoes and tandoori chicken were uncovered in a cooler, and meatballs, a dessert and samosa were all uncovered in the freezer.

Other prepared foods were not …

Continue reading Restaurant inspections, Cafe Bombay »

This weekend, while Atlanta is chock-full of margarita-fueled Cinco De Mayo celebrations and mint julep-sipping Kentucky Derby parties, I won’t be thinking about tequila and tacos or bourbon and hot brown. I’ll be dreaming of crawfish pie, file gumbo, and an absinthe-swirled Sazerac.

I’m gonna miss Jazz Fest again this year. And that means I’m really gonna miss New Orleans.

Once upon a time, I never missed Jazz Fest. I started going every year with a group of college friends from Florida. We’d hit I-10, detouring to search out oyster shacks and barbecue joints on the way. In New Orleans, we’d take over a few rooms in a cheap motel, knowing we wouldn’t sleep much, anyway. And we’d let the good times roll.

At Jazz Fest, I discovered the joys of James Booker, Allen Toussaint, Eddie Bo, the Meters, the Wild Tchoupitoulas, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, Champion Jack Dupree, Ernie K-Doe, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Snooks Eaglin, Johnny Adams, Clifton Chenier, Boozoo …

Continue reading Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? »

Jenny Turknett is a member of the AJC's dining team

By Jenny Turknett

Both La Fourchette and Big Shanty Smokehouse received three stars by Atlanta Journal-Constitution restaurant reviewers; Table & Main and Burger Tap each earned two.

Ratings such as these reflect the ongoing national debate surrounding the issue of star ratings and restaurant reviews. Last month, when New York Times dining critic Pete Wells awarded one star to a burger joint, some scoffed at the notion that a casual spot could earn even a single star. Should stars be reserved for fine dining only?

Star ratings have been and likely always will be a contentious topic. Some critics advocate for the elimination of star ratings, finding it difficult to accurately represent their assessments graphically. In fact, the LA Times recently announced that star ratings will no longer be included with its reviews. Instead, it will offer a short summary box with each review for at-a-glance comparisons.

In 2005, the New York …

Continue reading Spring Dining Guide: About Our Star Ratings »

$$

“Life is about not waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

“Never get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life.”

“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

Review by John Kessler

These are but a few of the aphorisms printed on wooden plaques that fill the walls at Crawfish Shack Seafood on Buford Highway. Beneath them, on rows of communal wooden benches, sits a steam pot of Atlantans of seemingly every age, every race and every country of origin.

My family and I join the crowd, cracking crab legs and peeling shrimp. The young couple next to us speak Vietnamese and treat their iced raw oysters as a canvas for black pepper, lemon and sriracha sauce. On the other side, three women in matching biker T-shirts dig into overstuffed po-boys. A little girl at the next table – no older than 4, her cornrowed hair a riot of elastics with clanky pink balls – grows bored with her food-rapt parents and turns to observe us. Soon …

Continue reading Crawfish Shack Seafood restaurant review, Atlanta »

Credit: Wikimedia

The perfunctory FountainSide Cafe in Centennial Olympic Park will be replaced by a new 175-seat restaurant modeled after New York’s redoubtable Shake Shack in Madison Square Park and elsewhere, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports. If it’s anything like Shake Shack, expect lines. Serious lines.

In other news:

• John T. Edge steers his New York Times “United Tastes” cruiser to Atlanta to visit my favorite Crawfish Shack Seafood on Buford Highway. He tells the story of why and how Southeast Asian Americans carry on the traditions of preparing coastal Louisiana seafood. Check it.
• Speaking of the New York Times, its star food reporter Kim Severson will be in town Wednesday, May 5, to read from her new memoir “Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life” (Riverhead Books, $25.95). One of those eight cooks was Edna Lewis, and Severson devotes a chapter to her relationship with Lewis and former Watershed chef Scott Peacock. The reading, sponsored by the Georgia Center …

Continue reading Front Burner: Shake Shack clone headed downtown? »

Courtesy of foodiebuddha.com

Crawfish Shack Seafood –until now a tiny 15 seater — will expand into the space next door in its Buford Highway mini-mall.

I got this missive from owner Hieu Pham (edited for typos):

“This Coming Saturday the 30th the new dining room at Crawfish Shack Seafood will be open. It should be able to host about 70 guest. Yes! going from about 15 to 70 is a huge number! I do hope your be able to come and check out the new dining area. Alone with the new dining area I will be adding to the Menu “Beignets and Coffee” From the very Famous Cafe Du Monde.”

The menu is very simple, but it has that “just right” quality. This is one of the rare seafood restaurants that really deserves the word “impeccable.”

Though, if I could make a suggestion, I might skip the Cafe du Monde in favor of the fresh sugar cane juice that is so great with fried seafood.

Continue reading Crawfish Shack Seafood to expand »

I’m happy to report that the menu at Crawfish Shack Seafood has expanded in a most delicious way. Since early December owner Hieu Pham has been serving a full roster of po’ boy sandwiches at this tiny, spic-and-span seafood market and restaurant on Buford Highway. The list ranges from American cheese ($5.25) and french fry ($5.50) varieties, but most come filled with fried seafood. I was tempted by grouper ($8.99) and crawfish ($9.99) but decided to go with the classic shrimp ($8.99).

I don’t claim to be an expert on the intricacies of density, crunch and squish in a properly prepared po’ boy — I’ve probably eaten no more than a couple dozen in my life — but I will say this is a seriously kickin’ sandwich.

Why? Details, details:

• The shrimp: Sweet, tender, crunchy and so carefully shelled that the tapering wisps of meat once in the tail are intact and fried to a crunch.
• The bread: From Amoroso’s Baking in Philadelphia, these crackly rolls are sturdy in all the right ways.
• The …

Continue reading Dish: Shrimp po’ boy at Crawfish Shack Seafood »

My prediction?

In six months, Crawfish Shack Seafood will have gobbled up the empty retail space next door in its mini-mall, expanded it table seating five-fold and turned its small fresh seafood case into a full-service market.

This small Buford Highway restaurant, which has been quietly chugging along for over a year, is just about ready to break out of its shell.

Customers come early for lunch and dinner, line up patiently, and wait in prey for one of the four (count ‘em) tables inside and two outside. Carryout is an option, but with the fried and boiled seafood comes fresh from the kitchen, you want must eat it right away.

Owner Hieu Pham keeps things simple. The menu is that of a classic old-fashioned fish shack: a few common varieties of finfish and shellfish, plucked from an ice-filled display case and served raw to take home and cook yourself, or fried or steamed to go or to eat in house. Everyone, of course, wants fried fish to eat in house. This is basic human …

Continue reading 30 Restaurants in 30 Days: Crawfish Shack Seafood »