Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft

Hyesoon and I kicked off the workaday part of the new year with a lunch at Tuk Tuk. It's on Peachtree in the shopping center that formerly housed Borders. The third floor location has a great view of midtown that Hyesoon tells me is spectacular at night.

I chose the lunch box special but substituted tofu for beef in the curry. It also came with a chicken dish and a soup. The soup was very subtly flavorful, the highlight of the meal. The curry was also enjoyable. Getting the tofu substituted took a bit of negotiating; they have very few tofu dishes on the menu to my surprise. Service was a little spotty given the aspirations and prices of the restaurant. Overall, I expected to be wowed a little more, but the food was certainly well above par.

Heirloom Market BBQ

Heirloom Market BBQ's location certainly pays homage to BBQ tradition but it's heck to find, particularly if you are driving in from the west. You are looking for this building on Akers Mill Road. The "food mart" next door seems to specialize in liquid foods of the fermented and distilled varieties, just like so many BBQ places, but it serves truly outstanding and original food. The entire place is tiny. The order stand could fit in a shoebox, there are only a couple of small tables and counters, and the kitchen staff isn't any better off for space. I was there in mid-afternoon and didn't have any problems finding a place to sit but I understand that the wait in line at lunch can be very long.

I went for the North Carolina pork sandwich with Korean sweet potatoes. The pork was tender while retaining its texture. It was served on a great egg bun; I consider white bread to be my sole complaint with BBQ culture. I'm not sure what was Korean about the sweet potatoes, which were extremely fresh potato chips, but they were so good that I had to restrain myself. One of the standards sauces is Korean, which I used on my sandwich. The place definitely has a Korean bent, as evidenced by their home-canned cucumber kimchi.

Alpharetta: La Casa Italian Grill

La Casa is in a house in what I think of as old downtown Alpharetta. The atmosphere is definitely elegant without being showy. The service is of the excellent, friendly, attentive, yet unassuming style that I have come to expect from Italian family restaurants.

I staretd with a salad, which was very fresh and light. My main course was a Margherita-style pizza. The crust was excellent, chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The sauce was rich with tomato flavor. The cheeses were fresh and excellent. Overall, I had a wondeful meal.

Sandy Springs: Hearth Pizza

Jennifer and I had lunch at Hearth Pizza. It's in the Whole Foods shopping center on always-crowded Roswell Road. The atmosphere is upscale casual. The decor is rich, dark woods. The bar is central to the space and it has its share of TV screens but they aren't too obtrusive. The walls sport photos of some of the most famous New York pizza venues.

We started with salads and some meatballs. The meatballs were rich and moist and the tomato sauce was of the fresh variety, populated by small chunks of tomato. We then followed with a pizza. Beware, their pizzas are fairly small. Their larger size was just enough for both of us. The pizza was OK but not, in my humble view, entirely worthy of the surroundings. The crust didn't have the chewy/crusty combination that is the essence of New York pizza. We also found the service to be a little spotty; we generally had to ask for help rather than being checked on. Overall, come here for the atmosphere, not the food.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful.

Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate.

While I was in the business of dipping candies, I also decided to make a batch of caramel. I ended up making two: the first one was just a little too hard and the second one was very soft. The temperature I cooked the second batch was only 3-4 degrees below the first batch but the result was very different. The candies were soft enough that gravity would flatten them out just a little. But that is a perfect consistency for chocolate dipping.

Here is the final result, thanks to my newfound chocolate skills. I dipped the ginger in small clusters which makes a very nice visual presentation. Dark chocolate is the perfect complement to the subtleness of the pressure cooker ginger. And the caramels are just luscious.

Marietta: Red Elephant Thai Cuisine

A business lunch took me to Red Elephant, located near the intersection of the Perimeter and I-75 in the business park district. The atmosphere is bright and modern.

I started with Tom Kha Kai, the chicken coconut soup and followed with mixed vegetables and tofu. Everything was pleasant but the spices, one of my favorite parts of Thai food, barely raise their heads. This is a fine place for someone who is new to Thai food or not a big spice person but I wouldn't call it adventuresome.

Gnaw Bone IN: Gnaw Mart

Yes, Gnaw Bone is the name of the town, to the extent that this wide spot in the road qualifies as a town. To cap my meaty tour of the Midwest, Jennifer and Steve took me to Gnaw Mart to sample the specialty, the tenderloin sandwich.

They don't start to serve these beauties until 11 AM. We made sure that we got the first ones by ordering 20 minutes early. The tenderloin is broasted---fried in a pressure cooker. The result is very flavorful and tender. The potato chips were also handmade and just right. This isn't a light meal---I felt it for several hours. But the company and the food were both well worth the trip.