Chamblee: Union Hill Kitchen

Union Hill Kitchen is in old Chamblee, up the street from the Marta station. The atmosphere is upscale casual for dinner. The atmosphere is relaxed; jazz vocals play in the background. The service was excellent.

Deconstruction seems to be a theme here, at least for the meals I ordered. I started with the summer salad. Those aren't tomatoes on top of the greens. They are instead tomato sorbet presented as tomato-y snowballs. They were spectacularly good. The cold, oddly enough, enhances the saltiness and acidity of the tomatoes. The texture of the sorbet adds crunch to the salad without resorting to croutons.

My main dish was the fried chicken, served atop a mountain of wonderful mashed potatoes. The fried chicken had a generous crisp crust and meat that was cooked just the right amount to retain its juiciness. The chicken had been deconstructed---its bones had been removed, then it was reassembled to resemble the original breast.

Chef Alexis stopped by to chat. He explained that they opened for lunch in October, then expanded to dinner in December. Lunch has a more casual atmosphere. He also explained the secret of his fried chicken: a drizzle of locally-sourced honey and sriracha sauce. The combination is very subtle but effective. It doesn't ruin the crunchiness of the crust and neither the sweet nor heat are overpowering. But the combination takes this fried chicken out of the ordinary.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

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 b

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

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