Wanta Lottafrutta!

One of my favorite little sandwich shops, LottaFrutta, specializes in fresh cut fruit cups, which are commonly found in Central and South America and in other areas of the US as well. For some reason these have not been widely sold here in Atlanta, so this is a perfect addition in an accessible ITP location (Old Fourth Ward). I've tried both the Limonatta (my favorite so far) and the Cremolatta (pictured below). Both were very fresh and satisfying. The Limonatta is topped with fresh lime juice and spicy chile guajillo. If you haven't tried your fruit spiced like this, you really should put this place on your list. The sandwiches, all made on "soft, sweet Latin bread", are pressed to perfection, with gooey cheese oozing out. The Just Veggin' sandwich is heavenly - I think even meat lovers would be satisfied! The seating is limited here, although there are a few small tables. You can call ahead for easy pickup or eat out front if the weather's nice.

Outside of the store.



Just veggin' sandwich: havarti, grilled to perfection, then stuffed with avocado, tomato, cucumber & sprouts. Yum!



Cremolatta fruit cup, made with coconut milk cream.



Mora (Andean blackberry) and Lulo (South American kiwi) fruit pops. These were both made with milk but some are made with juice.

Dinner at Ecco

On Friday we dined at Ecco in Midtown. Overall I liked the space and vibe: trendy without being overly so and music that allowed for conversation. Our waiter was very attentive and he recommended a good red wine to go with our dishes. We also tried a lemonade cocktail, which was quite sweet (I liked it). It had a candied lemon slice on top - a nice touch.

Based on others' reviews I knew that the fried goat cheese with honey and cracked pepper was something to try. I did enjoy this unique appetizer, especially the way the large peppercorns played against the sweetness of the honey and gooey goat cheese. The baguette with butter offered to every table was nice - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. For our mains, we shared the chili-braised pork pasta and the duck confit pizza along with a side of brussels sprouts. The chili-braised pork was good, with tender, flavorful meat. I was a bit disappointed in the piquancy of the sauce, however, as it was not as spicy as I'd hoped and the noodles were not as fresh as I expected, sticking to each other like they had been sitting for awhile before going into this dish. The duck pizza was unique and tasty, but the squash puree as sauce was a bit too mild for my taste as well. The brussels sprouts were tasty, probably rendered extra tender and juicy by the duck fat they were cooked in. I ended up putting a generous amount of cracked pepper on everything, which helped, but I wish the kitchen could have put more spice in the dishes back in the kitchen.

Fried goat cheese with honey and pepper.

Chili-braised pork with garlic and homemade pappardelle.

Pizza with duck confit, roasted squash, sweet and sour onions, pecorino and brussels sprouts cooked in duck fat.

Office Standby: Roasters

Since our office is near the Roasters on Lenox Road, we often order take out when we feel like having some quick comfort food. Their chicken is flavorful and moist, served with a sweet red barbecue sauce. The corn muffins and rolls are also decent. For "fast-food", this is a good option and with four Atlanta area locations, you're bound to come across it at one time or another.

Rolls, corn muffins and rotisserie chicken.

Black beans & rice, Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole, Cucumber Salad (my personal fave).

Love Still in the Air

Despite the fact that it's just past St. Valentine's Day, I decided to bake some heart shaped cookies for various events I'm attending in the next couple of weeks. I ended up freezing half of the dough, so hopefully it will be easy to work with once I defrost it next week. The recipe I used (Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies) can be found here. The sour cream really gives these cookies a good moist flavor. I tried to underbake just a bit to retain chewiness. A couple of the thicker cookies broke easily - probably underbaked a little too much, but my are they tasty!

The dough, just before rolling.



Ready to go in the oven.



The finished product - yum!

Calvin Cooks!

For Valentine's Day my sweetie came over and cooked up a homemade dinner for me including pesto pasta, spinach salad and bread with balsamic vinegar/olive oil dipping sauce. It was a very sweet gesture and we had a nice evening at my place. I've never really liked the holiday, to be honest, so it was perfect to be at home rather than being out in the thick of things with everyone else trying to get a table. Thanks, Cal!

Chocolates Worth Ordering - John & Kira's

My mom came across these hand crafted chocolates made by John & Kira's, a small company run by food enthusiasts from Philadelphia who started their own chocolate company. They use ingredients from small farmers and growers who are committed to environmentalism and community support. In this "Every Flavor" collection, where each flavor is partially named after where the ganache flavor originates, you get to sample ten different chocolates, each with a Valrhona chocolate ganache center. My favorites are Drew Elementary Garden Mint, Just Us Bergamot and La Vigne Lemongrass. I was lucky enough to find this box waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday. Thanks, Mom!

Flowers and chocolates, what else is Valentine's Day for?

Close up of several flavors. Each flavor has its own unique marking so you can tell what you're getting. The flavors are so intense, though, that even if the chocolates were unmarked, you would know right away on that first bite!

My box as it stands now... a few already missing!

Random Stop - El Potro

Tonight we took the plunge and stopped at El Potro on Buford Highway without any research, rumor or recommendation. As one of the closer Mexican places to Atlanta, I wasn't too surprised to find a good mix of patrons. I was pleased to see it wasn't all gringos, however, but it was nice in a way to be able to read the whole menu (although I do enjoy some of the more authentic places where I'm never quite sure what I'm getting!) Overall it was a very good value (dinner for 2 with tip = $25) and the food was tasty. We tried the carnitas and shrimp fajitas and requested corn tortillas rather than flour. The carnitas were tasty, although there was a good amount of fat that had to be removed from the large chunks of pork. The shrimp fajitas were served steaming hot with lots of sauteed onions and peppers, which I like. I asked for hot sauce, thinking it would come in a little bottle (there were none on the tables) but the waiter brought out small pots: one with a red salsa different from what the chips are served with, a green salsa and an onion/cilantro mix. While these were all interesting and I enjoyed experimenting with them on the tacos that I made, I was looking for a bit more heat. The lime served with the carnitas was quite dry, so it was difficult to get enough juice out of it. Overall I would come back another time if I didn't feel like going further out & I would insist on some real hot sauce (or maybe bring my own) and see if they could slice up a fresh lime!

Carnitas

Shrimp fajitas - served with a side of beans, lettuce, sour cream & thin guacamole.

We're Going to Pharr!

When others in my office decide on this place for lunch, I can never resist! By far my favorite office lunch standby is Cafe at Pharr, a cute cafe with multiple locations that serves some of the best chicken salad around. I always split the curry chicken salad and the walnut chicken salad with one of my co-workers and the combination is killer. I also adore the yogurt rolls served on the side of each salad. Jennifer Zyman, AKA The Blissful Glutton, recently reviewed this place in Creative Loafing - read about it here.

Cafe at Pharr
316 Pharr Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305

(404) 238-9288‎

Cool Photo - not food related!

Driving to meet a some friends for dinner tonight, the sky looked photo-worthy with clouds, sun, sky & trees all meshing to form this beautiful image.

Roasted Corn and Spinach Soup - with a kick!

I've had a bag of Trader Joe's fire roasted corn sitting in my freezer for awhile, so I decided to put it to use in a soup. It turned out really well, although the green color may be off-putting to some. I really only added the spinach to increase the nutrient factor and it would probably be just as tasty (albeit not as healthy) without it! I did not measure the spices so try a small amount and then add more. I ended up making it spicier than I realized with the cayenne pepper, but I love spicy food so it was all good. I also wanted to add a few cloves of garlic, but I didn't have any on hand. I will certainly add in the fresh garlic next time I make this.

Amy's Roasted Corn and Spinach Soup

olive oil to coat the bottom of a soup pot or dutch oven

1 medium white or yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 bag Trader Joe's fire roasted corn (frozen)

10 baby carrots

1 bag fresh spinach (mine was also Trader Joe's brand)

1/2 cup milk

water

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne pepper to taste

few shakes of garlic powder

2 tablespoons honey

Cook the onion in the olive oil until tender. Add the corn and stir until corn is no longer frozen. Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add the milk and enough water to cover the vegetables. I did not measure the water but I used very little. You can always add more water so don't overdo it. You can use all milk or no milk if you'd like to make it vegan. Add the spinach and stir until it cooks down into the mixture. Add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, honey and other spices to taste. Here I would have added whole garlic cloves, peeled and ends chopped off if I'd had any around. Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool. If desired, put in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

CO&S Retreat

All of the attorneys and staff from my office headed to Highlands, NC over the weekend for a relaxing and productive retreat. We shared some good food and even had a cookie decorating seminar! We all hope this retreat will be an annual event from now on!

Will, Ruth, Amy, Toni, Jim, Marcia & Lori at the firm retreat.



View from the deck.



Marcia's wonderful cookies!



Gingerbread cookies.



Decorating the cookies.



Dinner: Salad, ribeye steak, salmon with teriyaki marinade, roasted potatoes, broccoli & a biscuit!



The finished gingerbread cookies!



Breakfast casserole, fruit & Kringle.

Another Blogger Goes to Flip

My office visited Flip today for Marcia's special birthday lunch. Luckily we had no problem scoring a table and I was glad to finally check this place out. Overall I would describe it as a fun place to go, with some creative ideas for burgers, sides and shakes. I was not blown away by the beef burger I tried (the Butcher Cut, pictured below), but it was definitely tasty. The burger was overcooked for my taste, despite our server telling us that everything came medium rare unless you requested otherwise. I really liked the Po Boygur, which I was fortunately able to taste. The size of the burgers is small, but one along with a side is probably just the right amount. With such a large group, we tried all of the milkshakes offered and I, loyal blogger that I am, tasted them all. My favorite was the Nutella, followed by the pistachio. The Krispy Kreme was not as good as I'd hoped and the foie gras was too meaty (surprise) for my taste.

Our office crew at Flip




Flip's bar area.



Assortment of sides. I liked the fries and the smoked Caesar salad (not pictured) best.



Corn and shrimp chowder.



The Po Boygur - delicious with a slice of fried lemon on top.



Lamburger (left) and Butcher Cut with caramelized onion, blue cheese and red wine jam.



Nutella milkshake with toasted marshmallows.



Do you think we had enough to drink?!

Persian Feast

While my dad was here we dined at Rumi's Kitchen, an Iranian restaurant I've been wanting to try for quite some time. We really enjoyed our meal, especially the appetizer dips that we ordered as well as the succulent meats - my favorite was the ground chuck kabob. The entrees are HUGE, especially considering they bring you lots of fresh flat bread and a plate of cheese, butter, mint & walnuts to start. The desserts were also tasty, especially the creme brulee, which had a tea flavor and the traditional Iranian ice cream, which I didn't manage to photograph. This palce is definitely worth a trip OTP - and for me that takes a lot!

Front: Shirazi Salad; Back left: Mast mousir (yogurt garlic dip); Back right: Borani spinach (spinach onion dip).



Delicious, fresh flatbread.



Left: Soltani Kabob (seasoned ground chuck kabob and beef tenderloin kabob) with saffron rice; Right: Rack of lamb with seasoned raisin rice.

Baklava cheesecake and a wonderful creme brulee

Rumi's Kitchen
6152 Roswell Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30328
(404) 477-2100

All American Splurge

For the football game I decided to go all out with the junk food, making hot dogs and fries! The fries turned out well, even if some were not as crisp as I'd like (they were baked, after all) and I made some spicy garlic ketchup to accompany them. Calvin was in charge of the hot dogs, which he likes with slaw and chili. I prefer onion, mustard and ketchup (yeah I know real hot dog lovers despise ketchup - I grew up on it, what can I say?)

Homemade oven fries with garlic powder, salt & pepper and doctored-up ketchup. The plate says, "The cook is not responsible for cat hair in the food." That would be Quincy's responsibility!



The all American hot dog with chili, onions and slaw.