This past Saturday, I took another trip to The Green Market at Piedmont Park and the weather had definitely improved since my last visit! I arrived about an hour after they opened and it was rife with patrons and their puppies, all happily perusing the booths along with me. I hadn't seen it so packed quite yet, so it was nice to see everyone walking around to support their local vendors. I trekked down to the very edge of the market to visit the Southern Berkshire Farm booth. On my previous … [Read more...]
Taste the Umami at Nexto
A couple of weeks ago, February didn’t get the memo about being cold and left March to pick up the slack. Ringing in Soup Season 2.0, I decided to step out of my kitchen in search of something hot, savory, and familiar-- RAMEN. Not the ramens of yore once picked up at Kroger and eaten while crying into styrofoam 3 minutes later in your dorm room. I searched for genuinely crafted, immortalized in Japanese culture ramen. A trip to Buford Highway was too long for me to wait out hangry feelings, so … [Read more...]
Farmers’ Market Fridays: Kombucha and Kale
This past Saturday I went to check out the Green Market at Piedmont Park. As I mentioned last week, March 18th kicked off their 2017 season and I was itching to see what other vendors had in store. Or booth, rather! As I headed to what seemed like the front of the market, I bumped into my friend Wes, who was selling Golda Kombucha. Golda is Georgia's first kombucha tea company and is locally brewed. The two flavors they had that day were lavender lemonade and blackberry mint. I sampled both … [Read more...]
The Scoop on A Mano: A New Restaurant for Old 4th Ward
There’s a new restaurant coming to BeltLandia! Midtown resident George Demeglio is currently building a mano, an intimate eatery serving traditional Italian inspired dishes with locally sourced ingredients. Burke and I were lucky enough to grab lunch with him not too long ago to interview him and get the scoop on his new project! *************************** You had never been in the restaurant business before, right? I’m an engineer. I’ve been in manufacturing, telecommunications, … [Read more...]
Farmers’ Market Fridays: Pork Chops and Kholrabi
One of my most recent experiences at the Freedom Farmers' Market is a testament to getting there as early as possible. I had a few things to do that morning and I finally left the house by 11:30. I had only one hour left to look through the market. If you decide to go to the farmers' market around closing time, your produce options will be very limited. However, you may encounter a vendor looking to make a deal with you so he can unload some more product quickly. This past Saturday, I came … [Read more...]
Farmers’ Market Fridays: Rise ‘N Shine with Sweet Potatoes
The Freedom Farmers’ Market has often been an enjoyable and overwhelming experience for me. I love leisurely strolling through the booths, eyeing produce and flowers, petting friendly dogs and nibbling on samples of meats and cheeses. However, there comes a time at the market when I have to stop and assess what I came in for, what vegetables do I want to buy. And, of course, if I buy something unconventional, what am I going to do with it besides marvel at it in curiosity? This past Saturday, … [Read more...]
Edgewood Ave’s Cafe 458: eat eggs, do good
I just went to Yelp and looked for Sunday Brunch Atlanta. The #2 result with 4.5 stars was Cafe 458. Made me smile with delight, cause I Love Cafe 458. I mean where else can you go for brunch and be doing a good deed simply by eating eggs? Cafe 458 opened in June 1988 by the Community of Hospitality headed up by Rev AB Short. A few people who were dedicated to helping the homeless. Someone wondered if there wasn’t a better way to feed the homeless, something with more dignity than a … [Read more...]
Coffee, Crandwiches, and Croquet! Oh My!
Happy Autumn, Beltlandia! As the weather improves drastically from the endless heat of summer, my leisurely sojourns through the city have experienced an uptick. And what better way to celebrate Fall than to try out Cafe + Velo, Atlanta’s latest coffee shop off Edgewood Avenue! Cafe + Velo is geared towards cycle enthusiasts, a refreshingly new focus for Atlanta coffeehouses. A bike rack sits just outside the cafe, ready to accommodate about ten bikes comfortably. I mostly travel by car or … [Read more...]
Flavorful Coffee for Fall at Octane
Octane Coffee Bar is one of Atlanta's mostly highly celebrated coffee institutions. Starting on the West Side in 2003, they have steadily expanded their business to several locations around town. In 2011, they opened their Grant Park location across the street from Oakland Cemetery and a stone’s throw from the BeltLine. They've joined up with The Little Tart, an outstanding local bakery. I decided to go around 11am on a Wednesday and it was pleasantly bustling. Their tall ceilings and large … [Read more...]
Give the Atlanta Streetcar Wings
I’ve been for streetcars on the BeltLine from the get-go, but only because they will run in dedicated guideways. Remove them from that context and run them through our city streets and they’re just another bus stuck in traffic. That a number of the planned 50 miles of streetcar lines will be integrated into already crowded city streets prompts this, my third post in an “upgrade the streetcar” theme. In my last post on the subject, I proposed some upgrades to the hundred-year-old technology … [Read more...]