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

Tucker is blossoming. Tuckerites have a lot of town spirit. One result is the steady stream of new restaurants. Freakin Incan opened on main street and features a fun, casual atmosphere. The menu has both small items and main dishes, as you can see. I don't get shrimp very often so I ordered the shrimp saltado. I guess that braised is the best way to describe the technique. The vegetables were tasty. The shrimp was very flavorful and cooked just the right amount. The sauce was savory and interesting but not obviously spicy. Overall, a very satisfying meal.

Grant and Marie introduced me to Aji in Chattanooga. It's a family run restaurant and the service was appropriately warm and welcoming, even on a day when they were very busy. And the food was delightful. I had these vegetarian tamales. The masa was a little lighter and fluffier than I am used to, which I really enjoyed. The spinach and cheese filling was very flavorful. Debbie showed me her chicken dish, which she said was excellent.

Salsa con Sabor is part of the old new Chamblee. It's located in an ex-chain restaurant on Peachtree. I've been there twice and the food has been the best of home cooking---the home cooking of a long-lost relative since I can't say that I'm an expert on Perivuan cuisine. The firt time, I had a Cuban sandwich that really made my day. On my second visit, I had pork with plantains. The presentation was very different than what I had expected. I assumed, based on my limited experience with plantains, that they would be sauteed. As you can see, they came in a large round ball---somewhat like mashed potatoes but with a crispy crust. The pork was very savory and juicy. This style of preparing the plantations is the right method for this dish---if the plantains had been fried in butter the dish would have been much too greasy. The rice is Puerto Rican style, with mushrooms and what appear to be capers.