This past Friday, I ventured to Harry Bissett’s with about 26 of my closest friends.

Yes, it was a large crowd, but I think our experience at Bissett’s was one of the best I’ve had.

Our reservations were for 8 p.m., but we didn’t get seated until around 8:30.  It didn’t really matter because all 8 million of us hung out in the front by the bar and chatted until it was time to follow the hostess into the dining area.

We had two tables: one that sat about 20 people and the other that sat around 12.  OK, so I guess there were around 30 of us, but that’s a minor detail.

All of us were dressed up for a formal that night, and we wanted to eat at fun, easy-going Harry Bissett’s before boogie-ing the night away at The Classic Center to the band Super T.

My date, Tommy, and I sat at the smaller table which actually worked out really well.  I liked being able to talk to everyone at the table without having to scream or pass a note.  Our waitress, Jennifer, was AWESOME.  She was in for a good time, and she treated us just like adults.  Sometimes I get annoyed when waiters and waitresses treat me like I’m a 13-year-old on an ice cream date, but I can understand the horror stories from bad clients.

Either way, Jennifer was awesome.  She came and got our drink orders and came back a little later to get our food order.  I had the blackened fresh catch, mahi-mahi, with green beans and collards.  Tommy ordered the trout with a side salad and…shoot…I can’t remember what his other side was.

I’m a nosy person, so I saw some other plates on our table: shrimp scampi, fried oysters, another pasta, the surf and turf, creole egg rolls, and cedar plank salmon.  Needless to say, it all looked REALLY good.

I also ordered a bottle of chardonnay to go with our fish, and it was very good.  We all had one of those “just over 21″ discussions about wine and how we really don’t know what we’re doing most of the time when we order.  I think it would be cool to go to some sort of wine tasting/school here with some friends so we can all learn together.

I guess we got out of there around 10:15 or so.  Our meal didn’t take too long to come out, and everything I had was good.  Warning!  The collards are spicy, so watch out!

To all my readers:

I truly apologize for the lack of posts in September.  My life has been unbelievably hectic, and I am finally getting back to my normal schedule. So, never fear! Dawg Food girl is back and ready to write.

Yesterday, I went to Five Star Day Cafe for brunch after church with my two friends Jaime and Marguerite.  I must admit.  I’ve never been to Five Star Day for Sunday brunch because it is usually unreasonably crowded and takes too long to get your food.

HOWEVER, yesterday was perfect.  We found a table for the three of us after placing our orders and were there for about an hour and a half.

Here’s what we got:

Kat (me): two scrambled eggs, wheatberry toast, fresh fruit and coffee

Jaime: the daily scrambler with fresh fruit and a DC

Marguerite: some sort of yummy egg concoction, fresh fruit and coffee

James and I were very excited to see all of us received a little chocolate chip muffin on our plates, too.  Marguerite doesn’t like chocolate (don’t ask me why), so she didn’t eat hers.

My meal was pretty good.  I was a little disappointed in my scrambled eggs because they were very much like McDonalds’ style.  That is, they were flat- like a patty.  I like my scrambled eggs chunky like they’ve been abused by an agressive spatula.  Don’t you?

The toast was nice and crunchy, but not too much.  We all loved our fruit: honeydew, apples, grapes, and cantaloupe.

I think Jaime and Marguerite liked their meals.  We all pretty much cleaned our plates.

It was pleasantly surprising to see the inside of the joint had gotten a minor facelift.  Some of the trim looked like it had been repainted, and the air conditioning was on!  I still came out of there smelling like greasy breakfast food, but I guess that was a sacrifice I had to make.

This also made me really happy: our waitresses and the cashier lady were SO friendly.  Like I said before, it’s difficult to find good, sincere, friendly service in Athens, despite the awesome food you find.  So, thanks, FSD workers!  You made my morning so much better.

So stay tuned, friends!  Never again will Dawg Food go so neglected.

This past weekend, my Dad came to Athens for the Father-Daughter Weekend with my sorority. I was actually in charge of planning it, and I wanted the whole weekend to be an optimal opportunity for Dads to visit with their daughters and their friends. So, everything we did tried to imitate something you “do” with your dad!

Hence, The Grill. When I think of my Dad, I think about pancakes. They were a tradition every Saturday morning of my childhood, and I thought many girls shared the same memory.

If you don’t know about The Grill, you should. It is a tradition for many Athens visitors to stop in, and Athens locals and students love it as well.

Here’s the basic info:

Location: On College Avenue, on the block between Broad Street and Clayton Street. You can’t miss it.

Phone Number: 706-543-4770

Web site: No

Reservations: No, but they’ll work with you if you want to have a pancake breakfast!

Price: Very cheap and reasonable. We paid $5 each for two humongo pancakes, a meat, coffee and OJ.

Best Meal: Any meal when you feel like eating greasy, wonderful food.

Open and close: Open 24-hours!

Group friendly: I’d say so.

When I called The Grill to initially set up the pancake breakfast, their manager, Jeff Wineberg, was really excited to plan it. No one has ever done something like this with them before, so it was comforting that we were both newbies.

To the food: after most of the Dads and daughters got to The Grill, our two servers took our orders. I sat at a booth with my Dad, my roommate Amber and her Dad. We gave our waitress three orders of blueberry pancakes (me, Dad and Mr. Davis), and Amber decided to go for the kill and ordered chocolate chip ones.

While we were waiting, we drank coffee and chatted about the weekend so far. The people at The Grill were so chill that it was nice to have them to bring in the day. After 10-to-12 minutes or so, our yummy breakfast came.

I have small hands, but my two pancakes were about as wide as one of them stretched out- maybe about eight inches in diameter. If this sentence meant nothing to you, here it is a little plainer. They were HUGE! The blueberries were nice and juicy, and the bacon was crispy.

In case you didn’t know The Grill makes their own fresh squeezed OJ. I didn’t have any, but Mr. Davis said it was great.

Until Saturday, I had never been to The Grill for breakfast. I think it’s going to become somewhat of a tradition. The pancakes were too good not to have again!

So friends, visitors, UGA-ers and other wonderful readers, go to The Grill for some super-awesome pancakes and bacon (or sausage). You won’t be disappointed!

To see more pictures, click here.

I hadn’t been back to Picante’s Mexican Grill since September, but it is definitely still great!

It stands apart from the other local Mexican restaurants because of the freshness of the food. When I went there last night with my girlfriends, all of us were impressed!

To start, we decided to order a pitcher of their homemade peach margaritas. I usually don’t write about alcohol in my posts, but I thought this was too good to skip.

I’ve never had a homemade margarita before, but you can definitely tell a difference. We ordered ours frozen and with sugar on the rim instead of salt. The peach taste was subtle but perfect! They weren’t too sugary, either. That’s my main issue with margaritas, and this proved me wrong.

As for price, they’re really cheap! For Jose Cuervo tequilla, the pitcher is $14. A total steal.

Now, on to the food.

I decided to go with the spinach and mushroom quesadilla. Oh man, I’ve never had FRESH spinach on a quesadilla, and it makes all the difference. I could feel the layers of spinach leaves as I bit into my tortilla. It was only $4.50, too! Cheap food that’s amazing.

Other girls at the table ordered taco salads, too. I ordered that the last time I was at Picante’s, and, like me, they were so excited when they found the black beans at the bottom! I thought that was really funny.

The only disclaimer I have about the restaurant is this: if you want to go to a Mexican restaurant where you’re served, this isn’t it. You order from the counter, and then you have to go pick up your food at the window. When it got busy in there, the employees tried to help distribute the food, but it was a little confusing. You don’t have a ticket number or anything, so it’s hard to match the food with the person.

Overall, I hope I’ve converted my friends to Picante’s. It’s so cheap and so good. It is open seven days a week, and it’s right downtown on Broad Street. I really don’t think you can go wrong.

Porterhouse Grill makes me want to boycott Chick-Fil-A.

Of course, I’m kidding, but if you’re looking for some high quality red meat in Athens, this is the place to go.

Here’s the basic information before I detail the wonderful dinner I had with my family:
Location: On East Broad Street, almost to the edge of downtown.
Phone Number: (706) 369-0990
Web site: They don’t have an official one, but there are many other reviews.
Reservations: Yes.
Price: This is one of the most expensive restaurants in Athens, so plan on spending a good $30 for a decent meal. It is worth it!
Best Meal: Definitely dinner. It is dimly lit inside, and the atmosphere is swanky and sophisticated. Make it a date!
Group-friendly: Definitely. I’ve been there with a large group of students before, and they have been very accommodating

When I discovered my family was coming to town for Easter weekend, I immediately knew I wanted to take them to dinner at Porterhouse Grill. Earlier on Saturday, I went through a ropes course, and I was ready to eat some red meat!

Our reservations were at 6:30 p.m., and we were immediately seated. My family could automatically tell the “who’s who” of Athens come to Porterhouse. While we were there, we saw the women’s golf teams from FSU, LSU and South Carolina. We also had a bit of a celebrity appearance when UGA Athletic Director Damon Evans came in. Oh yeah.

To the food: we started off with some crab cakes, broccoli and cheddar soup, seared Tuna and a bleu cheese wedge. Mom had the crab cakes, and, in my opinion, she is a crab cake connoisseur. As she was eating them, she commented on how meaty and non-bready they were. They also had a good sauce that added some extra flavor.

For our entrees, I ordered the Bleu Cheese Filet; Dad got the NY Strip; Mom got the regular filet, and my sister got the cheese tortellini with shrimp and scallops.

Let me just begin by saying my filet was amazing. It was a 10 ounce piece of meat, cooked medium, with a bleu cheese and butter sauce on top. I usually don’t like bleu cheese, but I decided to go out on a limb with this one. I wasn’t disappointed. I scraped most of the sauce off the top, but the flavors that remained were just enough to satisfy.

Dad said his NY Strip was one of the best he has ever had. All of our meat was cooked exactly how we liked it, and it had a fantastic taste.

Claire’s pasta was good, but it was extremely rich. She likes shrimp more than scallops, and was disappointed only to find three shrimp in the midst of eight scallops. Yes, she counted.

For dessert, we decided to pass around the creme brulee, the apple cobbler with ice cream and the key lime pie. Oh man. I don’t think I need to say anything about the desserts, but I will say that they key lime pie is made in-house with Porterhouse’s famous recipe.

The wine menu was very extensive, and my Dad really enjoyed looking at the menu. The Strate family graduated from Wine School this summer while we were on vacation in France, so a lot of our dinner conversation was spent talking about the different wines and tastes. Our waitress was so excited because Dad asked for a decanter for his pick. You should ask for one the next time you order a bottle because it makes a definite difference in the taste!

If you want some good red meat, good service and good wine, head on over to Porterhouse. It is a famous hot-spot, and I was so glad my family got to experience dinner with me.

On Saturday night, I had the pleasure of going to a reception at East West Bistro.

The staff from Edelman and all the peeps from the Edelman Digital Bootcamp came to debrief and talk some more about the day. We were upstairs in a fun reception room that overlooked Broad Street. I hadn’t been to East West in a long time, but I enjoyed being back in the atmosphere.

Since it was a Saturday night, the regular dining areas were extremely crowded. The bar is to the right directly when you come in, and it was packed as well! I think the East West bar is known for its specialty martinis, including the Pink Lady (My Mom loves this one.).

Before I go into more detail, here’s some information:
Location: On Broad Street, almost on the corner of Jackson.
Phone number: 706-546-9378
Web site: www.eastwestbistro.com
Reservations: Yes
Price: This is one of the more upscale restaurants in town, so plan on spending a load.
Best meal: I’d go for dinner. The atmosphere is really cool, and they definitely don’t mind if you stay for a while.
Open and close: For a detailed description, click here.
Group friendly: Obviously. We had a huge party, and they were very accommodating in their upstairs room.

To the reception: I love the lighting in East West. The warm, cozy hues that were reflected off the maroon painted walls and the hardwood floors made our little room welcoming and fun.

Since it was a large party, the food was an assortment of choices. There were chicken fingers, bruschetta with artichoke and chevre (goat cheese), fruit, hummus and pita chips, and a green salad. There was also a cash bar.

One of my favorites was the pita chips and hummus. It also came with some sort of creamy dip, but I liked the hummus better. You could definitely tell the pita chips were homemade.

This may seem elementary, but I LOVED the honey mustard they had with the chicken fingers. Sometimes honey mustard quality is hit-and-miss, but they hit the bullseye with this one.

The food wasn’t that extensive, but I know a lot of you have been there and ordered something off of the real menu. Tell us what you got and how it was!

So thanks again, East West and Edelman, for a great reception. There were some serious conversations going on, and I know the restaurant ambiance helped facilitate that.

]]> http://dawg-food.com/2008/03/east-west-bistro-loves-edb-ers/feed/ 4 http://dawg-food.com/2008/02/loves-it/ http://dawg-food.com/2008/02/loves-it/#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:10:00 +0000 KStrate http://dawgfood.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/loves-it/

I’ve already talked about Five Star Day Cafe on the East side, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to brag about their downtown location.

Five Star Day has continually been a favorite of visitors, locals, students, hippies, preps, old people, families– I could keep going.

It seems like their food is the perfect combination of originality and tradition. Let me explain.

On Wednesday, I ordered the veggie plate with collard greens, a fruit cup and spiced cabbage. It seems pretty basic, but you don’t usually have spiced cabbage. Seasoned with salt and pepper, Texas Pete and a good amount of TLC, it did the trick. I felt bad for the waitress who kept refilling my drink.

The PRSSA officers went there before our meeting this past Wednesday with our speaker, Chuck Reece, of Chuck Reece Communications. The dinner choices were as follows:

• Ashleigh and Alicia- the Picnic Chicken Salad
• Lizzie- House Salad with Chicken (I think)
• Chuck- the Barbeque Sandwich with heavenly-looking mashers
• Ginny- the all-too-famous pot roast
• Sydney- the special of the day: Chicken Tacos

I’m telling you, we all left with our stomachs full and happy.

This is one of my favorite parts of Athens. Places where different kinds of people can come, eat, socialize, debate, laugh, look, think, study and, most importantly, LIVE are the kinds of melting pots for which I am continually searching.

So thanks, Five Star Day, for letting life happen.

Yesterday, I finally made it to the new Which Wich downtown.

Many friends kept asking me if I had been there yet, so I fulfilled their wish.

If you want a fun sub, this is the place to go. I decided the taste of the sandwiches are average, but the process of ordering and the speed of the order is what makes going to Which Wich an experience.

I talked about how to order your sandwich in my other post, but it was still fun to pick the bag and decorate it with check marks and my name.

I ended up ordering the tomato and avocado veggie sub on wheat with cucumbers, mustard and lettuce.

My friend, Jaime, ordered the hummus veggie sub on wheat, and we both finished our meals. There was a generous amount of hummus on her Wich, so they don’t cheat you out of your $4.75.

The best thing about all their sandwiches is the speed. The owner, Caleb Soong, promised me every person gets their Wich in four minutes or less. Impressive!

I’m a sucker for toasted ones, and every Wich you order takes a ride in their fun, assembly line-looking toaster.

The inside of Which Wich is bright, yellow and clean. The stainless steel furniture gives it a retro look, and the generous presence of two-person tables suggests great seating for lunch dates.

One of the most exciting discoveries was the crushed ice. I am a firm believer that soft drinks taste best from the fountain with crushed ice, and my Diet Coke was oh so good.

Moral of the story: go to Which Wich for a sandwich, but mostly go there for the atmosphere and the crushed ice. It’s a great place to drop in if you have a break between classes!

I’ve been busy.

Ever since I got my recorder (or blabber-corder as they call it in the Grinch), I’ve been obsessed.

On my way to class today, I stopped by the new location of Five Guys’ (famous) Burgers and Fries on the corner of College Avenue and Broad Street. I didn’t have time to eat, but I almost bought a burger anyway. It smelled so freakin’ good!

I grabbed Mark Segall, the general manager, to ask him a couple of questions.

Here it is!

I also got a picture with him, too, so you know who he is!

While I was snooping at everything, I decided to take some more pictures. The staff was really excited I took their picture, and they seemed like they were having fun behind the grill.

The location downtown has only been open one week, but they’re doing really well. They are open seven days a week, and they’re open until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

If you listen to the podcast, Mark tells a lot about the quality of food they provide. Go there, and then tell us how you like it! I’m dying to know.