In the midst of my posting madness this week, I almost forgot to write about my lunch on Saturday at Peppino’s with the Arch Society.

We had to work both graduation ceremonies on Saturday, and apparently it’s tradition to venture to Pepppino’s for lunch in between the two.

In case you don’t know about Peppino’s, here’s some info:

Location: Follow South Milledge all the way until it dead ends into Whitehall Road.  Peppino’s is directly on your left.

Phone Number: 706-613-1616

Best meal: Whenever you’re in the mood for Italian.

Open and Close: Not sure, but I’ll come back to it.

Group friendly: Yes.

T.W., our Arch advisor, went ahead and ordered a couple of pizzas for all of us to split.  I think the assortment included cheese, pepperoni, veggie, sausage and maybe one other.

I had 1 1/2 pieces of the veggie, and it was really good.  The pizza was mostly vegetables, onions, green peppers, and tomatoes, and there wasn’t that much cheese on top.  The plethora (yes, I said plethora) of vegetables made the crust a little soggy, but I was willing to make the sacrifice.

The pizzas came out in a timely manner, and, as far I I could tell, other people in the restaurant got their food pretty quickly, too.

I took a peek at the menu, and the prices were very reasonable.  Peppino’s has subs, pizza, calzones, pasta and salad, so there’s definitely something there for everyone.

You need to go to Peppino’s hungry because their pieces are HUGE!  I’m pretty sure we worked up an appetite after working the undergraduate ceremony, so it was well deserved.

All of us sat at two long tables they had set up for us, and it was perfect.  I also noticed they have a pasta and salad bar up front, so that might be a fun choice for next time.

Peppino’s definitely seems like a place where the locals go, and its location gets you out of the hustle-bustle that is downtown.  Try it!

I’m going to tell you something really exciting.

At the end of Milledge Avenue, almost to Prince Avenue, lies a little house on the right side of the road. “What’s so special about a little house?,” you ask. Let me tell you.

Have you ever heard of a restaurant that makes something different every single day? Not just the daily specials, but the entire menu is different.

If you have, you’re a rare one. Even if you’ve heard of a restaurant like that, do you know about a restaurant whose fixed menu is a different ethnicity? That is, every day the food is from a different country.

That’s what I thought.

Dondero’s Kitchen is that kind of place. Ana Dondero and her husband own Dondero’s kitchen on the end of North Milledge. There is a little space for dining, but most people come and buy the food for take-out.

Dondero’s also caters. We hired them to cater for 12 people for my formal. The day before our formal, their menu was Thanksgiving dinner! So, I asked them to order extra, and they made it for us on Friday. For $6.75 per person, we had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, the best green bean casserole EVER, homemade rolls and apple pie. For only $6.75 per person.

It was the best meal I had eaten in a long time.

I got so excited for our Thanksgiving meal on Friday that I went to eat lunch at Dondero’s on Thursday. I grabbed a roast beef sandwich out of the refrigerator, a bag of pita chips and a tub of their homemade hummus.

The sandwich was awesome. It was made on homemade white bread, the kind with the chewy crust, and it had herbal cream cheese on each slice.

Let’s skip to the hummus. I went to Paris this summer, and we ate homemade, legitimate hummus every day. Since I’ve been back in the U.S., I haven’t had good hummus. Their hummus was definitely Parisian quality. Needless to say, between me and my roommate, the 9 oz. tub was gone by the next day.

If you’re looking for a cheap but organic and free-range catering option, go to Dondero’s kitchen. If you want a yummy lunch, take a drive to the house.
If you want to browse around an international food market, pull up in the parking lot.
If you want 5% off of your meal, walk or ride your bike to Dondero’s kitchen.

I can’t tell you how awesome everything was. Imagine your Mom’s famous apple pie, and then imagine something 10 times better.

Do Dondero’s.

There’s no way I can start this post without saying, “Go dawgs!” What a great weekend for football…

If you are wondering what the, “note to self,” is for, this is what I thought as I was leaving Sons of Italy on Friday night, “Note to self: NEVER change your restaurant to family-friendly when your well-oiled-machine-of-a-business is in a college town.”

Before I start, here’s the usual information:

• Location: on South Milledge, almost to the loop- across the street from the Shell
• Phone Number: 706- 543-2516
• Web site: Don’t have one.
• Reservations: They don’t take them.
• Price: Reasonable- over $15 for a pizza and around $12 for drinks and a sub sandwich
  
• Best Meal: Dinner when you have a lot of time
  
• Open and Close: I’m not sure…going to check back on that.
• Group friendly: It depends. If it’s big and they’re busy, go somewhere else. Otherwise, I think you’ll be fine.

Here’s my review:
Ever since my Dad has come and graduated from Georgia, he’s told me about the famous Sons of Italy. In its former location on Lumpkin Street, it was a hub for college kids who wanted to go hang out, play beer pong on the side of the road and chat.

Now, it is nothing like that. Sons, as it is fondly called, closed its Lumpkin Street location to re-open on South Milledge Avenue. The once grungy, easy-going hang out has become a clean family type restaurant.

Let me explain something. I am all for family restaurants. There’s nothing better than the local pizza parlor or other joint to take your kids to play. This is the problem: they had wonderful business at their location, and college kids loved going there. This may sound selfish, but they took it away from us.

Now, I can’t help but go into the new restaurant being sad and cranky. At our meal on Friday night, there were seven of us at a table. We ordered two pizzas and a turkey and cheese sub. No joke, it took our food over one hour to arrive.

I know it was a busy night, but one hour is unacceptable. This time, I’m glad I didn’t bring my family to the restaurant. My kids (if I had them) would have been horribly bored and horribly hungry.

While the food took way too long to get there, the wait staff was apologetic, and they kept our water glasses filled. I think someone needed to light a fire under the booties of the cooks.

When we finally got our food, it was really good. My turkey and cheese sub was nice, toasty and warm, and, from what I could tell, the two pizzas were good, too. Usually, I would say food was worth the wait, but I don’t think I can say it for this one.

I was so depressed I didn’t even take pictures.

So, if you aren’t into beer pong or hanging out with your friends, don’t go to Sons. While conveniently close to the loop, I can’t see how any location was better than Five Points.

I’m glad I got my bad restaurant experience over with on Friday night. The rest of the weekend was fantastic!