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

My latest trip allowed me to try Links Grill and their hot dogs. It's a small space but it still manages to fit in a sit-down counter, which is a welcome relief. I tried that highest expression of meat in tubular form, the Chicago dog. Do not adjust your screen---that bright orange is the official color for relish on a Chicago hot dog. This was a pretty good specimen that gave me a good mix of flavors. I have two small critiques. First, the tomato slice was a little small. Second, the bun was a little too big and bready, distracting from the dog. But this dog certainly made my arrival back at ATL more pleasant.

A conference (CVPR, the computer vision conference) brought me to Columbus, Ohio. The downtown area is quite nice and has a good assortment of interesting restaurants. I'm writing this review at Bareburger across from the convention center. It's a build-your-own-burger chain. They offer a wide range of ingredients that allow you to assemble pretty much any burger-like meal you want. I had a turkey burger on lettuce with Amish bleu cheese and mustard. Very tasty with an appropriately meaty flavor provided by the bleu cheese. The service has been very friendly and attentive without being overbearing.

Country Cooking is in East Atlanta. It's a very popular spot this morning with lots of people lined up for the steam table filled with good things: eggs, biscuits, grits, fried green tomatoes...A sign at the start of the line announces "NO TRANS FATS; REAL BUTTER" I limited myself to cheese eggs and biscuits. The biscuit was good, more of a batter base. The cheese eggs were soft, fluffy, and rich. High volumes ensure that everything is fresh. This is a very good neighborhood spot.

Grant and Marie organized a blogfest at Batavia, a wonderful little Indonesian restaurant tucked into a corner of Doraville. It's near the MARTA station, which means it's well off Buford Highway. The service was very friendly and helpful. As you can see from the pictures, we ordered a lot of food and enjoyed it all. Everyone agreed the sauces were uniformly excellent. The peanut sauce, the calling card of Indonesian food, was very peanutty but also included other flavors. The curry sauce used for the lamb stew was also wonderful: spicy but balanced with broth and milky flavors. My powers of description are inadequate but hopefully these photos will give you some idea of how much we enjoyed Batavia's food!

This will be a short blog post. Polaris's menu features nothing suitable for children. One would expect a revolving restaurant atop a large tourist hotel to host many children, and in fact I saw several groups with children. In a last ditch effort to salvage dinner, I asked whether we could order a burger from downstairs but the kitchen declined my request. That's why you don't see any pictures of food in this review. And here is one more note for the Polaris management: your disabled facilities are inadequate. The restaurant's rest room is located one flight up with no elevator access. The disabled are offered an elevator ride down to the third floor to use the restroom. This sort of treatment of the disabled may have been the norm in the 1960's but not in the 21st century.