He's back! Well, kind of (Part 1)

Instead of coming directly home to AZ from work this time, Jay headed to Atlanta for a month's worth of training. Luckily, I was able to come out to visit him for two weeks since I finished up with work about a month ago. I'll try & break the visit up into a few posts so as to not bore you all in one sitting!

I flew in Thursday the 12th and after less than an hour visit (including picking up the milkshake I was craving at the time), he had to get back to training for the night. I walked to the local Ruby Tuesday for dinner that night being glad that Jay called as I was on my walk over to be my phone escort - our hotel is not in the nicest area of town being near the airport & all... The food wasn't that great, but I made "friends" with one of the waitresses (pregnant also) while I sat there & ate my salad.

Friday Jay didn't have to get to work until about 12:30, so we spent some time at Target & the grocery store picking up some supplies for the week (sunscreen & groceries), and getting lunch (philly cheesesteak & buffalo wings) before he went in. Jay is here training with another guy, so the three of us grabbed some pizza for dinner & I spent the rest of the night in the hotel setting up the room, unpacking & taking a nice nap.

Saturday we slept in & then searched for a coffee shop we could go to (in a nicer area of town) & study a bit. I spotted this place called Drip & thought it sounded cute. The reviews were good, so that's where we headed! Just a short drive from our hotel (north), we found ourselves in a very cute neighborhood called Glenwood Park. The staff at the coffee shop was great & I decided apple pie and an iced latte was the perfect breakfast to get the weekend started. Jay was boring took the healthy route & got quiche & an interesting locally made yogurt with hot pepper in it. Yum.

In between studying & fantasizing about how cool it would be to live in a neighborhood similar to where we were, Jay mentioned that the place looked like the coffee shop from the movie "Hall Pass" that we watched in the theatre together last time he was home. I kind of brushed it off at the moment, but as we were heading out, Jay asked one of the workers there about it & he said that it in fact was where those scenes were filmed! I'm looking forward to watching the movie again to see the guy we talked to in the background "behind the hot chick"!

Side note: Jay is amazing. How does he do that???

Happily satiated & going on a walk in Glenwood Park.

We decided Saturday night was date night. I had asked friends on Facebook to give us some suggestions of places to eat in Atlanta & one of my old high school friends suggested the Woodfire Grill. After doing our homework & reading the reviews, we called to make a reservation. The only time available was 9:30pm! Seeing as we'd been up late the nights before (Jay worked until late & I was still adjusting to the 3-hour time change), we figured why not?

Just a few points about this restaurant. It is in an interesting neighborhood speckled with cute restaurants, strip clubs (big fancy looking ones with valet - they could easily fit in in Vegas I'm telling ya), and home dec stores. Very strange. But the good part? The chef/owner is Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef Season 6 (Las Vegas). He came in third & cooks amazing food. He was there the whole time & I could see him working his magic (checking each & every plate before it went out) from my seat. This is the best picture I could snap before heading inside.

We had a great table & opted to order ala carte instead of going with the tasting menu and were glad we did. For our appetizers, we had the sweet corn soup which was topped with chili oil and crab meat & the fried green tomatoes with shrimp. Both Jay and I thought the corn soup was the best course of the night. It was so good our eyes rolled back into our heads each time we took a bite. For our second courses, we had the green garlic & leek risotto and the salmon croquettes. The risotto was delicious & Jay said the salmon was pretty good (though he felt it necessary to tell our server JR that they looked like "balls"- nice). For our main course, Jay had the duck breast with some sort of yummy butter on greens & I had a filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Of course we had to get dessert. Jay had a hazelnut semifreddo (hazelnut sponge cake, orange caramel, cognac milk chocolate ganache) & said it was ok. I think the texture threw him off. I had the banana pain perdu which was banana bread (nut free!) topped with ice cream, salted caramel sauce and candied bacon. It was delicious!!

We even had great entertainment - a young couple at a nearby table had eaten their meal & realized they didn't have a way to pay for it. The maitre d' was at their table for a while & they were working out a plan. We felt so bad for them because they were clearly on a date, but the staff was very forgiving & they got something worked out. Kids. 

Overall it was a wonderful experience & I'm so glad we got the recommendation. I was very impressed with their service. When I called to make the reservation, they asked if there were any allergies & I told them about mine. They made sure they didn't serve our table one of the breads they make with nuts and even used fresh knives to cut the bread they did serve us. I was equally impressed (and excited!) that the banana bread used in my dessert did not have nuts! At many nice restaurants we've gone to, I have found that 80% or more of their desserts are "tainted" with nuts & I'm left with a sorbet & maybe a chocolate cake to choose from. Not at Woodfire & I love them for that! 

I was upset that we (I) forgot to get a photo of us at dinner, so we took one ourselves when we got home at 1am!

And we decided to include baby Edward in this pic:

On Sunday, we woke up around 11am and were starving, so we looked up directions to Cafe Intermezzo (again, recommended to us via Facebook - this time by my sister's sister-n-law Amy) for brunch. Amy recommended cake & tea for dinner there, so let's just say the cake was something I had to scout out before we ordered. They had a huge Cheesecake Factory sized case of cakes to choose from and even a special "tour guide" to describe them all when we were ready to order. But first we had to have brunch. They have a gigantic menu of drinks to choose from & Jay decided on the Turkish coffee. This coffee was crazy. It came in a special little copper pot with a handle on it...

...and is made by boiling finely powdered beans. As you can imagine it's quite strong...

...and creates quite a sludge. Jay liked it. Me, not so much.

I had this delicious little creation - a Caffe Bach - decaf espresso with butterscotch syrup & homemade (unsweetened) whipped cream. Delicious & very fancy.

For brunch, I had a panini made with chicken sausage & egg and Jay had the Intermezzo omelette with bacon. For dessert we decided to share a slice of ginger cake with lemon cream cheese frosting which hit the spot. I would love to go back to Intermezzo some day to try some other coffees & cakes!

After brunch, we drove around for a little while to explore the city. On our way to the Little Five Points area to find Jay his own pair of Five Fingers, we came upon a motorcycle accident only seconds after it happened. The poor guy was lying on the ground spread out with his motorcycle on top of him. We stopped & Jay helped some other guys move the bike to the side of the road. Luckily the guy was responsive & other bystanders were in contact with his girlfriend. We stayed until the police arrived & then went on our way. 

Little Five Points is an alternative area of town lined with vintage clothing stores, coffee shops, and hookah lounges. We spent a good hour or so in the shoe store & left with a new pair of shoes for Jay! I must say I think it's a record - usually he takes MONTHS to purchase a pair of shoes, so this was a very successful trip! 

I'll leave you off there for now because Jay's laptop is about to die! More to come soon...