i recently had d.b.a. barbecue for the first time, albeit take-out, and was quite impressed. i went with the dry spare ribs and they were amazing, easily up there with community q.

i really liked d.b.a.’s ordering options. you could go with spare ribs, baby back ribs, or rib tips and order them dry or wet. all of your bbq preferences were covered, which is nice for a change. i may have found my new favorite in-town rib shack!

– ryan

d.b.a. barbecue

1190 north highland avenue, suite b
atlanta, ga 30306
404-249-5000

i just read that woody’s famous philadelphia cheesesteaks is now serving sweetwater 420 on tap! eating a cheesesteak or super sub with a 420 draft on woody’s huge wrap-around porch sounds like the perfect spring afternoon!

be sure to check out our previous post on woody’s.

– ryan

woody’s famous philadelphia cheesesteaks

981 monroe drive northeast
atlanta, ga 30308
404-876-1939

the third annual collard greens cook-off was a blast! it was $10 to participate and you were given a piece of cornbread and a spork and were off and tasting. after trying all of the various greens, there were 15 participants in all, you voted by throwing your spork in the bucket of your favorite booth. we had a beautiful cool spring day, so it was perfect for such a cook-off!

participants included farm burger, no246, bone lick bbq (the bbq guy from p’cheen), home grown, ray’s in the city, the pullman, whole foods, as well as various neighborhood participants, including momma margaret ‘the collard green lady.’

there were lots of tasty greens and some interesting styles we didn’t expect to like. home grown’s was a little sweet and had sun dried tomatoes in it. although i didn’t like it much, gub was a big fan of this one. another booth had cold greens with a basalmic base. it wasn’t our favorite, but it was quite interesting to try. momma margaret’s were hot and spicy and quite good as well.

when all was said and done, we put our spork in bone lick bbq’s bucket. their greens were tasty with a nice kick, mainly from the home-cured jalapeño bacon added. we also tried pulled pork sandwiches from them, which were awesome! these guys have been doing bbq at p’cheen on monday nights for a couple of years and are opening up a restaurant on the west side in june.

we also caught a tomato growing workshop at the market. gub found it quite informative.

one quick note, the east lake farmers market has moved from the concrete parking lot at 2nd and hosea williams to the nice shaded area right next door. the natural environment is much more fitting for the farmer’s market, and is also a heck of a lot cooler from the shade.

we can’t wait for peachapalooza this summer!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

today is the first day of the east lake farmers market, which runs on saturdays from 9am to 1pm. it’s open through october and can be found at the corner of 2nd avenue and hosea williams drive in the east lake/kirkwood area. the market features lots of local farmers selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, salsas and all sorts of other stuff.

to kick off the season, today is the third annual collard greens cook-off! you can sample great collards from both top local chefs and amateur neighborhood cooks.

see you there!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

have you ever been to henri’s bakery? it’s a deli & bakery in buckhead that’s been open since 1929. my sandwich didn’t knock my socks off, but the deserts looked very tasty and i loved the neon sign. i would definitely go again if i was in the area, especially to try some sweets!

– ryan

henri’s bakery

61 irby avenue northwest
atlanta, ga 30305
404-237-0202

community q bbq now offers their amazing mac n’ cheese in a large take-away dish you can bake at home! it’s perfect if you plan on serving this tasty side at a later time. we are big fans of community q’s mac n’ cheese, so we are excited about this discovery.

– ryan & gub

check out the rest of their menu.

community q bbq

1361 clairmont road
decatur, ga 30033
404-633-2080

my brother and i went on a great scoutmob tour of the batdorf & bronson roastery. i learned quite a bit about brewing & roasting coffee, its history, and by the end of the tour i could actually taste the difference between a sumatra and a costa rican cup of coffee. talk about a fun tour!

i’m a big fan of dancing goats, which is batdorf & bronson’s coffee shop in decatur, so i enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at atlanta’s best roaster. it was definitely a smaller production than i pictured. they only have three people who do the roasting and they still bag and label all of their coffee by hand.

the tour also included a mug, freshly roasted coffee, and a slice of mocha pie from the pie shop. the pie was made with cacao atlanta chocolate & batdorf coffee and was pretty much the best thing ever!

a cool side note, batdorf takes donations for their used burlap coffee bags. the money goes directly to the coffee farmers and the bags, which have great designs, can be re-used for all sorts of fun projects. it’s a win-win for everyone involved! i picked up an el indio bag, see the photo below.

– ryan

dancing goats coffee bar

419 west ponce de leon ave
decatur, ga 30030
404-687-1100

our friend mike made some tasty luther burgers for the super bowl! for those who never made it to mulligan’s when it was around, a luther burger is a bacon-cheeseburger on a grilled krispy kreme doughnut. it’s an amazing experience to say the least!

– ryan & gub

i tried out the recipe for country apple dumplings that i posted a few months ago. my results didn’t look nearly the same as the one i had at r&a orchards, but they were still super tasty!

– ryan

r&a orchards

5505 highway 52 east
ellijay, ga 30536
706-273-3821

country apple dumplings recipe:

ingredients:
2 large granny smith apples (peeled and cored)
2 x 10 oz cans crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 x 12 oz can mountain dew

directions:
– preheat oven to 350 and grease 9″ x 13″ baking dish
– cut apples into 8 wedges each and cover with cinnamon & sugar, set aside
– separate crescent roll dough, and roll each apple wedge up in the dough
– pinch the edges to seal and place in dish
– melt butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining sugar and cinnamon
– pour syrup mixture over apple dumplings and then pour mountain dew on top
– bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown
– serve with vanilla ice cream

we bought a food chopper and started making some baby food for clementine. we have this great book called super baby food, which has been a big help in preparing and storing the food, as well as when everything is age appropriate. so far we’ve made apples, bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots!

– ryan & gub