Whirlwind weekend in Atlanta

In August I took a trip to Atlanta for a work related trip. My fiance joined me Friday night and we spent the weekend touring the city. 

My most memorable and unique experience in Atlanta was dining at a pirate themed restaurant (of course it's food related!).  We stayed at the Intercontinental in the supposedly "upper crust" neighborhood of Buckhead and one of the top reviewed restaurants in the area was Dante's Down the Hatch. This is a fondue restaurant started by former Navy Seals and designed to resemble an old fashioned dock, complete with a pirate ship and an Alligator! (Unfortch, I could not see the alligator that night, so sad) We met up with a friend of mine and dined out on the "shore," but for an extra $5 per person one could dine on the pirate ship with a live band. 

The menu looks like a band of actual pirate wrote it (aka disorganized) and for some bizzaro reason included chinese style entrees. But we stuck with good ol' traditional oil fondue:

The boat meets the shore (left side greenish wood = ship):

The food was decent, not anything spectacular and not bad. The ambiance is really what sets this place apart. I think this is the ULTIMATE place for a first date. Food is not bad, and the conversation points are endless!

Oddly, the chocolate fondue dessert needs to be pre-ordered (how hard is it to heat up chocolate) so we didn't end up staying for dessert. Instead we went to Bistro Nikos, right across the street from our hotel. This is a french restaurant and boy does it get the fresh ambiance down!

The open kitchen is sooo cute! I stood there looking like a fool drooling over all the delicious looking bread loaves and cured meats. 

From the kitchen, you walk into the main dining area, which also totally reminds me of a brasserie in Paris.

The only thing that is out of place is the TV at the bar, showing a football game. This is such an American thing, I feel like the french would rather be people watching or having a great conversation with their neighbors than stare at men in tights tackling each other.

I got bored and took pics of my spoon for some reason.  So I'm posting it.

Our deserts:

This dessert is literally toast with some kind of chocolate spread.  Meh, not so great.

I ordered a Sabayon without knowing what a Sabayon is. So when the waitress handed me a creme brulee, I was afraid to question it even though I suspected it was a creme brulee and not a Sabayon. I ate it of course...and when I was almost done my Sabayon came:

I really didn't enjoy the Sabayon (I like saying the word though!). It was liquidy and a bit sour. If you are feeling even slightly nauseous or unwell, this dessert could very well tip you over the edge. But my friend really liked it and helped me finish it.


My only complaint about this restaurant is slow service, but apparently this is typical for Atlanta restaurants.

If you're planning a trip to Atlanta (business or otherwise), there are many more things to do in the city than just stuffing your face (though I regret not stuffing mine full of shrimp grits). We purchased a citypass for Atlanta and went to:

Georgia Aquarium

World of Coca Cola

CNN Center

These were the three main attractions (they're all within walking distance of each other) and if you use all three tickets you'll probably save around $5 than without a citypass. Other tickets includes a choice of the art museum, museum of natural history, Atlanta history museum, the zoo.  Out of these, I only really wanted to go to the Atlanta history museum, I heard the Swan House is a very nice tour. Unfortunately, the history museum was not very easily accessible by public transportation, and its hours were not very "weekend vacay" friendly.

En- Round 2

Guess where we went again? EN! We took advantage of the Google Offers "groupon" and had an early dinner at our fav Japanese restaurant.

I have to admit tho, this meal was pretty disappointing in terms of quality. Not quite what we expected from EN.  But I still have to commend them on a visually beautiful meal.

First, bring on the alcohol!

Sake Flight, Plantain Chips

Pineapple sake

I have to comment on this pineapple sake I had. I've ordered this drink every time I've been at EN (so 3 so far). Why? Because it is the most delicious thing you can drink and still be buzzed. Usually, you just taste the fresh sweet citrusy flavor of the pineapple and not really the alcohol, but you definitely feel it so they did not skimp on the liquor.  The past two times a handsome Japanese bartender was the one mixing drinks.  I saw him take out a fresh cut pineapple and actually juice it on the spot! This most recent trip, it was a female bartendar (asian as well), and the drink just came out bland. No strong alcohol flavor but also no pineapple taste either. SO disappointing.

Salt Grilled Edamame

Beautiful dish that has such a zen like presentation. But it is crazy salty! I know, it is rock salt grilled, what do you expect? How exactly are you supposed to eat this elegantly without going into a sodium induced coma?

Blue Crab Miso Soup

This soup was MEH. It wasn't bad per se, but I feel like the crab might not have been super fresh.  Plus, the crab meat was not really edible so I'm not sure what the point was of being in there.

Lobster

I think this lobster was covered with miso. This dish was also crazy SALTY. It overpowered the lobster meat.

Mussels

This dish was decent, still a bit on the salty side, but by this point I don't know if it was the salt from the previous dishes lingering on my tastebud or the actual dish.

Miso Black Cod

Another signature dish of EN's that we typically love. The execution on this was a bit disappointing too. Oye, so sad. The skin was not crispy and the meat was not flakey, but more mushy.

Not sure what happened to EN. We left around 7:30/8:00pm and the restaurant was still quite empty.  Our waiter seemed to be pretty new and not quite sure what he was doing, and it seemed like the entire kitchen staff was new too!

I hope to give EN another chance in the future to redeem itself, but another disappointing meal would mean it gets cross off the "faves" list.