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

The Wednesday farmers' market is back at Georgia Tech. The nice folks from Mercier Orchards are back as well, lugging their boxes of wonderful apples. I picked up a medium container of two different varieties, although I'm not entirely sure what varieties they are. These beauties were destined for my latest cooking project.

Momonoki is hidden on the I-75 access road at 8th street. It serves Japanese fast casual food: noodles and sandwiches. As you can see, they have a large outside eating area as well as inside seating. This dish serves a savory sauce alongside noodles, bean sprouts, hard boiled egg, and pork belly. I poured the sauce into my bowl and got busy. The sauce itself has a good dose of fish sauce. My favorite aspects of the dish were the pork belly and egg, which were very satisfying and homey. The noodles had a nice chewy texture.

When I pulled my Kitchenaid pasta rollers out of the box, I noticed that one roller wobbled as it turned. The wobble was a good quarter inch---totally unacceptable for any sort of rolling. I decided to take apart the rollers to see if I could fix them. I made a little progress but was unable to take off this plate; on the other end, the thickness knob had no set screw and seemed to be tightly fitted. Even if I had been able to take it apart, getting it back together would have been difficult---those tabs are the main supports of the roller box. I have owned these rollers for many years but have used them only infrequently, perhaps a dozen times over the past many years. I am disappointed that they haven't given me more use. I am not completely surprised that their demise came so soon. Just another reason to go back to hand methods.

A wandering tour of south Georgia led me to Forsyth and The Pickled Okra. It's located on the town square in a cozy spot that has clearly been a restaurant for awhile. The decor is fun and the staff was very courteous and helpful. I decided for a fried food orgy and ordered some onion rings and fried okra. The onion rings were good. The fried okra was fantastic, blending both a great crust and some real tender vegetable taste. I really enjoyed my stop here and can imagine stopping again on another meander.

A trip to Macon gave me a chance to visit Tookes. They are located between I-75 and I-675, an area that used to be country but is now slowly merging into the suburbs. The proprietor explained they had been open for 14 years. The place is simple and friendly; a football game played on a TV in the corner. I managed to try two different dishes. The chicken was fine, the sauce with a good dash of vinegar. The pork was very good: nicely cooked, nice piquant sauce, everything sopping into the bun.

A trip to Macon led me to the site of the original Nu Way Weiners. An empty lot and a sign "Future home of Nu Way Weiners" was all that was left. It seems that the building burned down in 2015. Although I know that Nu Way has other locations, the original spot was a little bit of history. Let's hope that red-and-white tiled Pantheon of Tubular Pork comes back soon.

Here is my lunch sandwich: roast beef from Patak, Cheddar cheese from Mountain Fresh Dairy, freshly ground whole wheat bread from my oven, and mustard from Publix. Hearty and delicious.