Whenever I hear about Mama’s Boy, comments are always accompanied by positive comments, rave reviews and dialogue along the lines of, “Ohmygosh you’ve never been there?! Well, we’re going to have to fix that.”

To celebrate Lizzie Azzolino’s first day at Jackson Spalding, our little crew decided to go to Mama’s Boy for lunch.

Before I document our saga, I’ll give a few details first:

Location: On Lexington Road; if you’re coming FROM downtown, it’s on your left about a mile after downtown.

Web site: www.eatatmamasboy.com

Price: Reasonable. Plan on paying $6-8 for lunch.

Best Meal: I don’t think I could give an unbiased opinion given our experience, so you tell me.

Open and Close: Very detailed, so check it here.

Group Friendly: I’d say you could have 10 people max.

I first want to say that everyone’s experience at every restaurant is different. Please do not think that every meal at Mama’s Boy will be this way, but I’m just going to say what happened.

There were eight of us in our group, and they sat us by the window. I love the inside of Mama’s Boy because of the colors. They’ve decorated in a robin’s egg blue and black wallpaper, and it feels very homey inside. We noticed the curtains are from IKEA, and that says something. Cool people shop at IKEA, and I think the owners of Mama’s Boy are just that.

People have asked me what kind of food they serve. I’d say it’s Southern with a little twist. It’s not the same type of Southern fusion that Five Star Day serves, but I don’t really know how to describe what “part” of Southern culture they grab from. The drinks are definitely served in mason jars. I love it.

I’ll let you know what some of us ordered.

• Fried Green Tomatoes for an appetizer for everyone: They weren’t too fried, and they had a nice crispy outside. I liked the blue cheese dressing that accompanied them, and it wasn’t too strong.
• Beth: Honeybaked Ham sandwich on sourdough with French fries. Honeybaked ham is definitely a Southern favorite, and I think she enjoyed it! Maybe she’ll comment on the post and give more details.
• Jessica: Mushroom Swiss burger with fries. I had a bite while I was waiting on my food, and it was good! She asked for it cooked medium, but it was DEFINITELY well done. I guess you can’t be too careful in restaurants, though.
• Brian: Pimento cheeseburger and fries. It definitely looked good!
• Bryan: Fried chicken sandwich. Their chicken is marinated in sweet tea! You KNOW it has to be good.
• Ashley: Poppyseed chicken salad sandwich (1/2) with deviled eggs and fries. One lunch special includes 1/2 a sandwich and two veggies. Ashley wanted me to specifically comment that she thought the deviled eggs needed more pickle.
• Lizzie: Mama’s Boy salad with grilled chicken. From across the table, the greens on her salad looked nice and fresh!
• Tamestrius: Honeybaked ham sandwich with fries. She thought the fries looked a little burnt, but we thought it might have been from the oil they use to fry them. They were very dark in color, so we were stumped! Overall, T. gives Mama’s boy 3.5 stars. Besides the wait, her food was good.
• Me: Black bean burger with steamed broccoli. I decided to go the vegetarian route and order their veggie burger. It was made with (what I think were) pinto beans, and it had a nice flavor. Everyone’s bun was huge, and sometimes it was too big for their sandwich (aka Bryan’s chicken patty). I thought my broccoli had a little wang to it, but maybe they marinated it in something.

I think we will all agree that our food was good, but we had to wait over 45 minutes for it. The owner, Cooper, was VERY apologetic, and she ended up giving us free biscuits (scone-shaped with poppyseed butter…yum!), a free appetizer (tomatoes) and two home made desserts to take with us.

So, we paid, loaded up in the car, and took our goodies back to the office. Cooper sent us with two tubs of vanilla ice cream, a huge box of blueberry cobbler and two molten chocolate cakes. Oh dear. They were unreasonably yummy.

We were more than a little disappointed when we left Mama’s Boy, but I’m definitely going to go back. I think they were just having an off day, and I am going to rely on the good experiences of my friends rather than my one time.

Have you been to Mama’s Boy?

There are many pizza places in town, but I am amazed at the genius behind the concept of Your Pie. In an increasingly competitive Athens food market, these guys found a niche that I think will take them to infinity and beyond.

Please let me tell you how amazing my little lunch was at Your Pie this past Thursday.

In case you haven’t heard of Athens’ new addition, Your Pie is a brand new Athens original franchise located in the Beechwood shopping center- over by the UPS Store and Larry’s Giant Subs.

Phone Number: 706-349-3179

Web site: www.whatsyourpie.com

Price: Plan on around $6 or $7 for a pizza and a Coke.

Best Meal: Whenever you like to eat pizza or a panini.

Open and close: Sunday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-2 a.m.

Group friendly: I’d say to a limit. There isn’t a huge space to eat inside, but you could take up a couple of booths.

The characteristic that sets Your Pie apart from other pizza places is all their pizzas are personal sized. That means you get your own- however you want it!

People have asked me about the size of the pizza, and I’d say they are mostly oval shaped about a foot long and eight inches wide- enough to eat for lunch and dinner!

It has white and wheat crusts, six different types of sauces and cheese, and countless toppings. They even have gelato and a wide assortment of wine and beer.

Here’s the link to the online menu if you want to take a look.

Let’s talk about my pie. I decided to go with

• whole wheat crust
• sun dried tomato basil sauce
• low-fat mozzarella cheese
• green peppers, sweet onions, spinach, baby portabella mushrooms, vidalia onions, roma tomatoes, cilantro and oregano

Yes, it’s a bit of a veggie pizza, but it was absolutely fabulous. I was standing in line, and one of the pizza maker women said, “What kinda crust you want, hun?” It caught me off guard, but I recovered quickly and told her wheat. She proceeded to toss it up in the air and then send it on its way down the assembly line!

Every single pizza is baked in the baller brick oven. There’s a designated employee that only moves the pizzas around. It’s an important job! If you want a panini, they just put all the toppings on one side of the crust and then fold it over when it’s done cooking. Easy as pie!

Erin decided to build a pie with white crust, pepperoni, many of the same veggies I got and regular pizza sauce. She went up there and said, “I want what’s on the Italian,” but she didn’t know the Italian was a panini. So, the pizza man just put everything that’s on an Italian panini on her pizza. Easy switch.

Since it was our first time there, we decided to go all out and get gelato. I must admit. It’s not the same as buying gelato from a street vendor in Paris, but it was alright. I got mango sorbet and coconut gelato, and Erin got the pistachio gelato. Just save some money and go for the pizza.

The inside of the restaurant is really cool. It’s airy with a lot of stone and cold surfaces, but it’s cozy, too. Erin and I sat at the little bar, and we could look right into the brick oven. Very cool.

Everyone was in there. From business people to college kids to old people, I mean, who doesn’t like pizza? If you’re feeling like a light lunch, they also have salads. But come on. If you’re going to go to Your Pie, get a pie.

Overall, I’d give this restaurant an A. It was a little short-staffed, but the staff’s bubbly and helpful personalities made up for it. Please go and experience the goodness that is Your Pie- an Athens original!

After pancakes on Saturday, Dad and I decided to go for brunch after church to the Bluebird Cafe.

I’ve posted about it before, and I think my favorite part is still their biscuits. I’ve never had anything like them! Huge, whole wheat, thick…you can’t get much better.

I wanted quiche on Sunday morning, but the chefs were in the process of making them when we came. I don’t know why they didn’t make them before 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t my decision.

So, I settled for a Greek egg white omelette. It was pretty good! I knew it had Feta cheese, but I wasn’t expecting it to have Feta and Monterrey Jack. It was a little too cheesy for me, so I picked some of it out. Otherwise, the black olives, tomatoes and pesto made a nice combo!

Dad decided to go with the veggie omelette (sans onions and garlic), and he ate all of his. He decided it needed a little ketchup, and I don’t blame him. I love ketchup with eggs.

Here’s one thing I don’t understand, though. The Bluebird Cafe is vegan and vegetarian friendly, yet they use Smucker’s jam and apple butter that contain high fructose corn syrup. One of my favorite parts of the Bluebird Cafe was their apple butter, but now that experience is bittersweet. I know that vegans and vegetarians don’t boycott high fructose corn syrup, but it seems to me that they would know how bad it is for you. I just thought that was interesting.

Again, the service was a little spotty, but I think it was better than the last time. They just don’t have their wits about them when it’s gameday.

I saw my friend, Victoria, there with her mom, and she told me today she wasn’t very impressed with her meal. “Well, I only got granola and fruit, but it still wasn’t that good. My mom and my friend got the French toast pancakes, and they loved them. I guess I’ll just have to get something different next time.”

This goes to show, ladies and gentlemen, that you can go back to a restaurant another time and order something different. If you think the restaurant has potential, try it again! It seems to be that way with me with Bluebird.

One of my readers asked if there was any place in Athens that served vegan carrot cake.  Immediately, my mind went to The Grit.

So, I called them right up (706-543-6592) and asked if they had any.

“Um, yeah.  In fact, we have some right now!”–straight from the horse’s mouth.

I also asked if they had it every week or intermittently, and he said he usually sees it in the case at least once a week.  So there you go!  You can eat yummy vegan carrot cake at The Grit.  Its location is extremely convenient, and the atmosphere is chill.  At night, it’s even candlelit!

Other restaurants that offer vegan options are the Bluebird Cafe, Mellow Mushroom, Barberito’s, Farm 255, The Globe, Transmetropolitan, Bombay Cafe and even the UGA Dining Halls!

I got a lot of this information from GoVeg.com, so you can check it out, too.

Hope this helps, readers.  As always, e-mail me at katherine@dawg-food.com, or post a comment with a question or suggestion.  Thanks for the input!

The Grit, a local vegetarian hot spot, has been one of my favorite Athens restaurants since I came to school.

I think the word “vegetarian” scares a lot of people away, but I think the negative connotation will go away once you try their mac and cheese.

Here’s what you need to know before you go:
Location: On Prince Avenue, right after downtown on the left
Digits: (706) 543-6592
Web site: www.thegrit.com
Reservations: No
Price: You couldn’t go there every day on a college budget, but I think it’s reasonable. Plan on anywhere from $8-15 per meal
Best meal: I think dinner is the best. The menu is the same, but it’s more fun at night.
Open and close: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. brunch and 5 p.m.-10 p.m. dinner
Group friendly: Kind of. They won’t be very nice to accommodate you, but I would go when they aren’t busy.
NOTE: THEY DO NOT SEPARATE CHECKS. I don’t know why, but just know that before you go.

I was really excited to re-visit The Grit. It had been a long time since my last visit. I met my friend, Jaime, for dinner, and we enjoyed our candlelit dinner thoroughly.

I decided to go with Kelly’s suggestion from my other post, and I ordered the Tabouli salad. It was definitely one of the biggest green salads I’ve ever eaten, but it was light and tasty.

The bulgur mixed with cilantro and some other fresh-tasting herbs was placed right on top of a huge bed of lettuce. It came with lemon tahini dressing on the side, and it was the perfect complement. I ate the whole thing guiltlessly.

Jaime ordered the noodle bowl of the day. If I can remember, I think it had tofu, squash, red onion, zucchini, peppers, noodles and some very spicy seasonings. If I’ve forgotten something in the bowl, maybe she can post what I left out.

I think Jaime was satisfied on her end, too! The noodle bowl was very spicy, so the waiter had to keep coming back to refill our drinks. Nonetheless, she ate everything.

In previous trips to The Grit, I’ve ordered pita pizza, grilled cheese smelt, veggie plate and a noodle bowl. ALL were original (honey mustard with the grilled cheese), fresh, well-portioned and filling. I would suggest trying something there you’ve never eaten before. Their vegetables of the day are wonderful, and each one has a zing to it that might make you lick your plate.

I have also been to The Grit for brunch. Please eat as many biscuits as they’ll give you. No disappointment there.

In addition to the main meal, they have a FANTASTIC looking dessert case. Vegan cakes are also made, but the light and bright colors from the cakes can be mesmerizing. You need to try one.

One last thing: I’ve come to a point where I think vegetarian restaurants are not known for their customer service. The staff wasn’t overly friendly, but I’m at a place in my life where I accept it. Different people have different ways of communicating, and my expectations are different than others.

No worries, though. The last time I checked, I wasn’t going to a restaurant to chit-chat with the waiter. It’s all about the friends and the food, and The Grit is a great place to go to make that combo even better.

P.S. Sorry there aren’t any pictures. They wouldn’t let me take any.