8° Fahrenheit Ice Cream brings the thai rolled ice cream concept to Atlanta with a locations in Duluth, Doraville, and one set to open in Marietta soon. As with many such trends that are attributed to other cultures, I raised my eyebrow and turned to the internet for more background information. Indeed, I am pleased to report that thai rolled ice cream is not the newest belgian waffle or french fry: it is a thing you see being sold by street vendors in Thailand. So, that’s a plus one for 8° Fahrenheit in my book, before I even step foot inside.

The BuHi location opened this spring (right by Bei Jing Kabobs), and it took me ’til September to give it a try, and only then because our former contributor Anish tipped me off.

Here’s how it works. First, the liquid ice cream and the mix items are put on a very cold (presumably 8°F surface and the mix ingredients are quickly cut in. Next, the mixture is spread out on the surfaces where it very quickly turns into ice cream. Finally, the ice cream is scraped up into seven rolls that are arranged in the paper cup and topped with your choice of up to three toppings.

The first time, I tried the Strawberry Shawty (I had to – I’m a lifelong fan of graham crackers) with blueberries, brownie, and Pocky. If you know me IRL, then you know that I don’t like to mix my fruity-type desserts with my chocolately-type desserts, but I wanted the Pocky for the photos I knew I would take, and at that point, why not get the brownie also? Besides, I totally ate those things first and just had my strawberry-graham cracker-blueberry concoction as a standalone. Win-win.

The Strawberry Shawty (strawberry ice cream mixed with graham crackers) topped with Pocky, brownie, blueberries.

The second time, I brought Adam along and I let him pick the flavors since I’d already been. He went with the vanilla, Nutella, ‘Nilla wafer mixture called Ferrero and topped it off with Pocky, KitKat, and brownie. This time we ate the Pocky and KitKat separately and the brownie was kind of mixed in as we shared. The serving size is surprisingly filling when you buy them one per person, and not so bad to share, especially if you’ve just come from a heavy meal (Bayou Boil).

The Ferrero (vanilla ice cream mixed with Nutella and vanilla wafers) topped with Pocky, brownie, KitKat.

You should know: this place is basically cash only due to a $10 minimum for credit card use. Secondly, the wait can sometime be a bit long, due to the steps involved in making the process. The atmosphere is fun, with murals and chalk paintings on the wall and the windows covered with Post-It notes with whatever weird things people have felt like writing.

As far as the ice cream and toppings go, they are pretty run of the mill in terms of quality but you do get some more interesting options like you would at Suno, such as lychee. So you come here for the novelty of it as opposed to artisanal, handcrafted what-have-you. And for that, 8° Fahrenheit delivers satisfactorily. 3.5 stars.

8° Fahrenheit Ice Cream
5090 Buford Highway, Suite 101
Doraville, GA 30340

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A lot has changed since our first jaunt up Buford Highway, and one up them is a little mini-explosion of seafood boil type places. The Bayou Boil had better reviews on Yelp, so that is where we started. Plus it’s in the old Little Szechuan spot and the restaurant was good before it moved, so maybe there’s good juju?

The inside is very nice, but not as nice as the staff who were all super nice. Sadly, this joint is coming up on a year without its liquor license, so the “and bar” part is stuck in bureaucratic limbo… boo. Also they had sold out of the crawfish beignets, so double-boo but of course neither could really be helped.

The menu was so excited that we ordered way too much food and I just couldn’t muscle through. The good news is that the Bayou Bucket made for amazing cold-out-of-the-fridge leftovers later on.

Calamari with house aioli

The calamari was solid, good crispy breading. I’m always happy when there are tails! The aioli is not for me, but it has a good flavor that I can still appreciate.

Crawfish etouffee

The etouffee is not shy. It has strong flavor and a strong kick. As a spicy-lover, you don’t often hear me complain about heat, but I felt like this dish had the kind of heat that interferes with one’s ability to enjoy flavors. Still yummy, even if it’s no Thibodeaux’s. Plus, you get the benefit of a nice crawfish (crayfish? crawdad? …the menu says crayfish so I’m sticking to that) dish that doesn’t involving picking them apart.

The Signature Bayou Bucket for 1 ($25).

Now the signature Bayou Bucket was next. The waitress put our bibs on, too funny! I won’t lie, being the crunchy-granola chick that I am, my first thought upon seeing the bucket was “I wonder if that plastic is BPA-free?!” The spice mix had good flavor and heat. I super-appreciated that there was only one potato and one corn on the cob – this bucket is not full of fillers. That’s a good thing. But then I tried the corn… and it was fantastic. I’m not sure what they did but it was super yummy and though I am typically a fan of fresh, plain corn on the al dente side, the texture of this corn was great, and the spice mix of course made it ever better.

Close up.

Overall, Adam and I had a good time at The Bayou Boil. In the grand scheme of the Atlanta food scene, Cajun isn’t highly represented, so it’s nice to have a convenient place to go get yummies like etouffee. The staff, as I said, were super nice and attentive, the decor is pleasant, and the prices are good, especially given the quantity and quality of ingredients. If you, dear reader, know who it is that they need to beg or bribe to get that liquor license pushed through, feel free to let me or Bayou Boil know… I feel like these good folks deserve it; and it would be a great accompaniment to the food. 4 stars.

The Bayou Boil Restaurant and Bar
5091 Buford Highway NE
Doraville, GA 30340

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There are a number of eateries called Hong Kong City across this city (and country for that matter), but this particular Hong Kong City’s website makes it look like a single-location operation with only the Buford Highway address listed. Tucked into a corner of the Crossroads Village shopping center, right next to Mariscos La Riviera Nayarit, Hong Kong City is fairly new and has a fancier-than-expected and entirely new-looking interior. It’s nice enough to stay and eat in, which surprised Adam and I when we dropped in on a Friday night recently.

The interior.

The menu is 100% stereotypical low-end americanized chinese food. We had planned to take out the food and we stuck to this plan despite the very friendly ladies behind the counter and the pleasant atmosphere. We took home some of the classics to see how they hold up to some of the other places we’ve had: hot and sour soup, egg rolls, szechuan beef, and hunan chicken.

The receipt made me chuckle a little because I feel like the inclusion of chinese characters (whether intentionally or unintentionally) serve to give this spot a little more cultural cachet than it would have otherwise. This is a little funny in light of the highly americanized menu.

Each of our dinner entree specials came with our choice of chicken- or pork-fried rice, and a shrimp or pork egg roll. Since we were getting two entrees, we were able to order such as to try all four items.

Our egg rolls were indistinguishable on the outside and inside alike. We didn’t see or taste either shrimp or pork – they seemed exactly like every other vegetable roll we’ve ever had. Okay, I’m not going to flip my lid over a couple of egg rolls, but it was just a “Hmmm” kind of moment. If the menu had just said vegetable egg rolls and offered no choices, then there would have been no disappointment.

Hot and sour soup (a pint, $1.50)

Moving on to the hot and sour soup. Despite my unappetizing photography, it tasted just fine. It didn’t blow my socks off with its depth of flavor or anything, but it was still the highlight of this meal for me.

LOOK FAST! Can you tell the difference between the szechuan beef goo and the hunan chicken goo?

Given a second or two you can make out that one dish has light meat and one has dark and therefore surmise which is which. It’s hard to tell otherwise, either visually or taste-wise. I mean, I can tell they’re different, but marginally. While we did get one chicken fried rice and one pork fried rice that were obviously distinct, the entrees were both your typical soy sauce and cornstarch, sticky-sweet affairs.

I didn’t notice any pepper – sichuan or otherwise – in the szechuan beef. The hunan chicken had about a dozen tiny black beans floating around in it (I know some hunan chicken comes with a black bean sauce, but this was just befuddling). I think it’s officially official: Buford Highway has forever ruined me on this kind of stuff. Even when I have a hankering for so-called slutty chinese food, I am swinging by Lee’s Golden Buddha on Clairmont for something more than a few shades less sticky and more flavorful.

The people here were really nice, and I hope they do a tidy business with people who appreciate what they have to offer. I feel more than a tiny bit guilty at how snobbishly I disliked this meal… but it’s just not for me. 2.5 stars.

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Squisito Bakery and Cafe has three locations, two of which are in Plaza Fiesta (a major feature on the southern end of Buford Highway). One location is “frente a la fuente” and one is “frente Ross.” The third location is on Clayton St. in Lawrenceville. On our recent trip to Puras Tortas, we visited the Squisito frente Ross. There were a lot of good-looking things inside. Besides cakes, flans, pastries and fresh fruit dishes with chamoy, Squisito also seems to serve coffee and some simple cafe foods like sandwiches. I didn’t see anyone order those hot items while we were there.

My spanish is no great shakes, but I managed to inquire about the chocoflan I had noticed on my way in. Having never seen anything like it before, I ordered a slice. Adam opted for a pastry from the case.

There isn’t anywhere in Squisito to sit and eat, and since our gooey pastry was gooing all over the brown paper bag it was placed in, we made our way back to the food court to partake of our sweets.

The pastry ($1.50). My knowledge of latino pastries is still really weak, so if anyone can identify this please leave a note in the comments.

The pastry was good; it was made of the bread we typically see in panaderias with a heavy coating of sugar, sliced in half and filled with what I assume is a sugared butter spread. I am having a hard time researching these traditional items online, so any insight you may have, dear reader, would be very helpful.

Like a hot toasted bagel sandwich with cream cheese, the filling of this pastry has a tendency to squeeze out when you take a bite. We found it easier to eat the two halves separately.

Chocoflan ($4).

Now, I’m not sure how popular chocoflan may be in the latino community, but I’d certainly never seen it before my visit to Squisito. It’s basically a flan-cake combo with a firm traditional flan for the top half and a dense chocolate cake for a bottom half. This was rich and dense and we saved about half of it for a later time, so we got to enjoy it twice. The two parts complemented each other well, and we really enjoyed it.

Squisito has a smaller inventory than other panaderias we have visited on Buford Highway, they are also in a small suite in the mall, so that can certainly be forgiven. This smaller footprint probably breeds a certain level of excellence, as they can only afford to have their best and most popular items taking up space. This is by my count only the fourth panaderia I’ve been to (La Sultana and Pan Chapin), so I don’t feel that I can speak knowledgeably about Squisito’s place in the scene, as it were, but for mall food this is certainly a solid choice. If you find yourself in Plaza Fiesta with a sweet tooth, drop by. 3 stars.

Squisito Bakery & Cafe
Plaza Fiesta
4166 Buford Highway NE, 1023A & 1010A
Atlanta, GA 30345

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When we first started out on this whole Buford Highway Food Expedition, we knew we wanted to expand our horizons and learn about other cultures, but wanting and doing are two different things and we were young and inexperienced. The hustle and bustle, curious stares, and my lousy spanish were all a little intimidating, so we only ate from the anchor restaurants, Carnitas Michoacan and Asian Pearl before saying “this mall food doesn’t seem to be so good” and scampering up Buford Highway with our tails between our legs.

Well, if we’re going to say we’ve eaten at all the BuHi spots – and we have been because it’s largely true – we’ve got to make good on this gap in our repertoire. So we returned to Plaza Fiesta try something from the food court. We will continue return until we have covered the food court completely, but our first spot was Puras Tortas.

This place was by far the busiest in the food court while we were there, with a constant line to order and crowd of folks waiting to hear their order number called out over the microphone.

Salsa bar.

With very little trouble, we ordered three $.79 tacos; carne asada, pollo a la mexicana, y suadero, a $7.99 torta cubana, and a $3.29 32oz horchata. We had a little bit of a long wait, but we attribute that to the torta taking longer than tacos, which seems to be what many people were ordering.

Our torta came with fries, which was a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. They were doused in some type of seasoning salt though, so this may not be a thing MSG-sensitives will want to go for. The torta was definitely good, though I don’t know how I could tell if it was pure, haha. It features pulled pork (spiced like chorizo in my opinion), hot dog, a slice of ham, avocado, and some other goodies. We both enjoyed it, but I do have to say it was no Tortas Locas or Taqueria Los Rayos.

Torta Cubana with fries ($7.99).

The tacos were as small as you’d expect for $.79, but that seems fair. Adam felt that the carne asada was greasy, but I liked it fine. The chicken was his favorite because it was juicy and flavorful, while I leaned more to the carne asada and the suadero. Suadero, or rose meat as you sometimes see it called, was a new one on me, but after some quick Googling in line I went for it. Unfortunately, it just seemed like regular ol’ meat to me, so I don’t have anything insightful to say about this cut.

Our trio of 79 cent tacos: pollo a la mexicana on the bottom right, suadero on the bottom left, and carnes asada in the back.

Overall, we thought Puras Tortas was fine enough mall food, and for the prices you certainly can’t go wrong. I’m not sure I’d try another torta, but I’d definitely have more tacos, and there are flautas, quesadillas, and other interesting things to try in the guisados section of the menu as well. The service was fast and efficient given the volume they were experiencing, and if you’re in Plaza Fiesta, I would definitely give them a try. 3 stars.

Puras Tortas
Plaza Fiesta Food Court
4166 Buford Highway NE, Suite 1033
Atlanta, GA 30345

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A couple of weeks back, Adam and I drove the length of Buford Highway that we’ve covered so far to take stock of various openings, closings, and spots we flat-out just missed. Approaching the northern end of our reach, we noticed that a new joint had moved into the empty space on the end of the shopping center that houses Woo Nam Jeong and Man Chun Hong. It’s called A-Priori Seafood, and a quick jaunt through Yelp revealed several reviews and a solid 5 star rating. Well alrighty, then. In we go!

We’d never been to the sushi joint that was here before, so the interior of this place really surprised us. It really doesn’t fit in with most of what you find on Buford Highway. That’s not a bad thing, nice things are nice, it was just surprising. Apparently, it looks much the same as it used to, with a some new light decorating.

Featuring a violent documentary about prison gangs.

The waitress (owner?) was wearing a uniform, also a surprise, and politely seated us along the windows that overlook Red and Green and Sushi House Hayakawa. In pretty short order she brought out a bowl of marinara sauce with ricotta and some breadsticks. These were really nothing special…

Breadsticks and marinara sauce.

I should probably stop here and tell you about Fried Chicken Lips. One of the funniest dang food blogs there ever was, centered right here in Atlanta. You see, he beat us to the punch with A-Priori and it’s really so hard to tell you about my experience from my own perspective, because he absolutely nailed it first. So, do check out his hilarious, profane, and spot-on post here. Now, as FCL points out, the bread is quite certainly pre-frozen and they gave us so much of it… and a giant bowl of marinara we hardly touched. Freebies are great and all, but these were incongruous and didn’t add to the experience.

Clam freebies.

We were also gifted with clam-based freebies (I missed the exact name of the thing), which seemed more appropriate and pleased me more. It seems they give them out to everyone, so that did make it seem less special, but hey that’s life. In the end I’m just another mark to the restauranteurs, and it’s all fair. Moving along.

We were given the run-down of the daily specials and we jumped on octopus chorizo, even though the thought briefly reminded me of the tuna sausage I had at Saint Cecelia which I was not overly fond of.

Grilled Mediterranean Octopus Chorizo.

Turns out, it was really more like grilled octopus and chorizo. Well, it was exactly that, which turned out to be yummy but just wasn’t what the title implies. The octopus was nicely-cooked, the little chorizo squares were succulent and the sauce tied the whole thing together. I enjoyed it a lot. Looking back, I think it was the best thing we had!

After perusing the menu an awful lot, I settled on the seafood risotto ($25) and Adam the fish and chips ($17).

Fish and chips ($17).

Adam found himself with a little bit of buyer’s remorse over his fish and chips, but I thought they were pretty good. It wasn’t overly greasy, and while it was fall-aparty that seemed forgivable. The chips were actual chips instead of the traditional fries – which is actually preferable to me and strikes me as somewhat delightful for it to literally be chips. They seemed like they were homemade, which is sort of weird when you think about the frozen breadsticks. Overall, the fish and chips were fine, though we probably would have been happier if they were more like $13.

Seafood Risotto ($25).

Now, this risotto. I’d like to note that the esteemed Fried Chicken Lips ordered the seafood paella and has stated that it was not really a paella. Two weeks previously, I ordered the seafood risotto and thought to myself, “This doesn’t really seem like a risotto.” Based on our photos, I feel confident we each got the same dish, and that that dish is seemingly neither a paella nor a risotto. I’m no gourmet chef, but it’s my understanding that risotto is a high starch rice cooked until it has a creamy consistency. This is not the same as putting cooked rice in a creamy sauce. It was an unobjectionable meal and I always enjoy seafood but for $25 I certainly got suckered, whether it be a paella or a risotto.

We didn’t order any dessert, but I was surprised that they had a separate dessert menu even at lunch. I also overheard from a neighboring table that there aren’t any kids’ items on the menu, so prepare to plunk down $17 for the fish and chips if you come in with hungry young-uns.

Overall, we found A-Priori to be a bit baffling. It was both nicer and not as nice as we expected. Everyone seemed very friendly and professional, to the point where I almost feel guilty for not liking it better. 2.5 stars.

A-Priori Seafood
5953 Buford Highway NE
Doraville, GA 30340

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Sometimes, being on a constant Buford Highway Food Expedition can be a burden. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely a first world problem type of thing, but still. Sometimes I really want to explore more of a place, or I just have a low-grade constant jonesin’ for something I had somewhere, without the time/budget to revisit when I should really be making more progress for the blog – for you, dear reader. And sometimes, that constant postponing of something I want to do really bites me in the butt. Like when Coco’s closed. Ever since we first visited, I have wanted to go back and devour that tasty shredded pork noodle dish again. And now I never can. *tear*

Anyway, nearly a year ago the place was rebranded as Golden BBQ, probably one of the least reassuring chinese restaurant names they could have picked, possibly second only to Golden/Lucky Buddha. So after repeatedly putting off Coco’s until it was lost to me forever, I now began in earnest to put off visiting Golden BBQ. Then I saw one of my favorite food bloggers, Fried Chicken Lips, visited the joint in December, and I knew it was just about time to cave in and go.

It was a little damp the day we visited, and I definitely don’t recommend visiting under those conditions. The floor is incredibly slick and both Adam and I found ourselves slipping and sliding multiple times in the short 20-foot journey to our table. Luckily neither of us flat-out fell, but it seemed a close thing at the time. Having recovered from that, we set to perusing the menu.

One of the first things I noticed was the prevalence of the vietnamese language on the menu. Obviously this place isn’t your run of the mill “Golden this, Lucky that” americanized chinese fast food joint. Thank goodness. Then I noticed the Ming’s BBQ-esque display of meat in the window and breathed another sigh of relief.

Initially, we were going to pick up a little plate dim sum just to say we tried it, but were were told they weren’t serving it at the time (a Sunday evening).

So, we enquired about the ambiguously but enticingly named “marinated meat combination” dish. After mentioning duck feet, duck legs, and duck wings, my waiter broke off and told me that I wouldn’t like the meal. His delivery of that judgement got both Adam and I instantly peeved, so without consulting each other we promptly fell all over ourselves to inform our young waiter that we would love to try the dish. Hmph.

The marinated meat combo, or at least what we were given ($5.95).

Despite having mentioned duck feet and legs, our dish only had duck wings. Based on the server’s uncomfortable manner when we inquired about the dish, it’s hard to tell if the plate typically comprises whatever they have on hand, or if they purposefully left out the feet and legs… We’ll never know.

Unfortunately I didn’t like the wings overly much, but I was still a bit pissed so we polished off the whole dish with relish just to spite the staff. Really, they weren’t bad at all. There was a mild marinade on the meat which was pleasant, but overall the meat-to-bone ratio was just low enough to be picky and annoying. I’m sure if the common american chicken wing wasn’t plucked from a specially bred bird pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, they’d be leaner that I’m used to, too.

I would also like to say that once we showed willingness to try the dish, things got a little better. At some point we were asked how we were doing. I asked him is we were eating it the right way and he said yes and told us that it’s a great chinese snack food that people like to eat while watching television. I felt like we had a good cultural moment, which totally made all the little pieces of duck wing stuck it between my teeth seem worth it.

Roast suckling pig ($8.75).

For an entree we ordered the Heo Quay – roast suckling pig. This dish hit the table at a lukewarm temperature, and we’re still not sure if it is intentional or negligent. It was still tasty and we ate it all. There was a thicker layer of fat in a gooey texture that I didn’t appreciate very much, but the meat itself was tasty as well as the quite crispy skin.

Ma La Tofu ($11.95).

We also ordered Dau Hu Truong Ot Kho To – also known as Ma La Tofu. On the menu, this dish read like a seafood version of Ma Po or MaPo tofu, a dish we first had in Hong Kong and enjoy a lot, so we went for it. The presentation of the dish bore out the comparison. It was milder and obviously fishier that MaPo and while we thoroughly enjoyed what Golden BBQ did with it, we prefer the Ma Po combination over the Ma La one in general.

We can honestly say that given the name of the place, Golden BBQ surprised us. Firstly, it’s just not straight chinese influence, and secondly there are real and interesting dishes offered beyond the americanzed General Tso’s and whatnot. Take a peak at that Fried Chicken Lips link for a better glance at the breadth of the menu. I wish I had remembered to order the fried capelin with roe. Maybe another time. Anyway, the joint is definitely interesting. 3 out of 5 stars.

Golden BBQ
4897 Buford Highway, Suite 104
Chamblee, GA 30341

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Las Palmeras is a honduran restaurant located a block off of Buford Highway on Shallowford Road, just north of Chamblee-Tucker Road. It opened in June of last year and is only one of four honduran restaurants in the metro Atlanta area that I am aware of (if there are more/great ones that I should know about, do let me know in the comments). Adam and I went to visit a couple of weeks ago.

The interior.

The first thing we noticed was the music playing at an incredibly high volume. The main door is mostly in the center of the long side of the restaurant and the music, emanating from the far left side of the building, was already on the edge of painful from that central location. At first, our greeter/server looked like she would lead us to a table towards the left, but I think she caught the terror in our eyes at being that close to the painfully loud stacks, so took us to the farthest booth on the right, much to our relief. From that farthest point we still had to speak a little loudly, but we could also enjoy the romantic songs.

Chips with sauce and cheese.

Nance.

From the menu we selected an agua fresca I’d never heard of before, nance ($3), the cena hondurena ($10.99), and the ejemplar hondureno ($8.99). We received the very obviously freshly made nance – a yellow cherry drink – right away, complete with a inch or more of chopped yellow cherries at the bottom. It managed to be both sour and sticky-sweet, but we were pleased that it tasted natural and not overly sweet or artificially sweetened. We sipped on this, ate every crumb from our free appetizer, and watched the steady stream of other patrons coming and going while we waited for our food.

When our food arrived all at once, we knew right away that it had been worth the wait.

Honduran Sampler: taco, enchilada, baleada y pastelito.

The ejemplar hondureno is a honduran sampler plate that helped us cover all the various unfamiliar honduran items on the menu without ordering a ton of food. The pastelito put me in mind of an empanada, while the taco was surprisingly both hard-shelled and open-faced like a tostada. The little enchiladas were like taquitos. I think it’s interesting that almost everything I had reminded me of something else that goes by a different name elsewhere. Clearly, I need to learn a bit more about honduran food and culture to understand the relationships of these items and cultures.

All of the sampler items were good, but the standout was the baleada – something that I don’t have a neat comparison for. A thick soft flour tortilla is folded over beans, cheese and crema. Oh man, freaking fantastic. Adam and I both agree that we could go back just to eat a large platter of these tasty things.

Cena Hondureno: white rice, beans, cheese, egg, steak, sour cream, avocado, and a side of sweet plantains.

The cena hondurena, a traditional honduran dinner, reminded us a little of the bandeja paisa of colombian fare, but the resemblance stops after the steak, rice, beans, and avocado. This honduran dish features firmly-cooked eggs (which I surprisingly liked, as eggs are one of the few things I am extremely picky about), and a big dollop each of mayo and crema, not to mention an entire side dish of yummy plantains.

Sweet plantains from the cena hondurena.

Adam and I both thought the entire honduran dinner was delicious, and by the end we were both glad we had only split it and the appetizer platter, because we were both stuffed. The refried beans were very delicious and had a great, thick texture. I mixed mine in with the rice, because I found the rice to be a little plain.

Overall we had a great time dipping our toe into honduran cuisine, and we were impressed. The fare was hearty and delicious, and when compared with some other latin restaurants in the area, the prices are appropriate. The staff was very friendly, and made sure we knew what we were ordering. Really the only thing that knocks this place back from 4 stars for us was the deafening volume of the music that was a challenge to conversation – and this is a statement coming from two people who each play their music entirely too loud while commuting – if we think it’s loud…

3.5 stars. Definitely worth a visit for those curious about honduran cuisine.

Las Palmeras
3384 Shallowford Road NE
Chamblee, GA 30341

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Note the cool little statues on the sign. I don’t know the cultural significance, but I think they are neat.

This spot is a little tricky to locate – we only the potential of the shopping center it from the parking lot of Woo Nam. From Buford Highway, turn on to Oakcliff going east, then make a nearly immediate left into the shopping center. Then, keep heading down and around to the right until you’ve gone as far as you can, and you’ll be at Yet Tuh.

On our first visit back in October, we dined at Yet Tuh with Grant, Marie, and toddler, too. The food was fine, but our experience was a little off-putting and lackluster. When we arrived, the service was a little frosty ( though, insert my typical rant about service not needing to be fake-friendly). To be seated, we wended our way between tables and over newspaper sheets on the floor.

After requesting water, we watched the waitress mix the contents of a few half-full identical pitchers, and then were given a number of half-full glasses. They did not contain water, but rather cold roasted barley tea. I did not know that at the time, I just knew that what I had was not water, and that I did not like it. The mysterious shuffling of pitchers and glasses before serving did not inspire confidence, and the lack of fresh water during my meal freaked out my american sensibilities.

These glasses were not arranged or partially-drunk in preparation for this photo.

Upon further research and reflection, though, it occurred to me that I am fine with just getting hot tea at chinese restaurants, so I think in this case, I was just taken by surprise. Marie, in an effort to drink something familiar, ordered hot tea. She was provided with a plastic glass half-full of the same roasted barley tea, just hot. Without proper cultural context and hampered by communication difficulties, we were confused and felt doomed to a grain-flavored meal. At least the banchan we were provided was plentiful and good.

The food we ordered, however, was far less bewildering. We ordered ojingeo bokeum ($14.99) and haemulpajeon ($14.95), while Grant and Marie ordered an ojingeo bokeum of their own, a potato pancake, a sushi-esque roll, a soup, and a spaghetti-type dish. Some dishes they liked, others they did not.

As for us, we were totally satisfied with our selections. The ojingeo bokeum was as complex and spicy as we have come to expect, and the haemulpajeon has that great, fried comfort food taste/texture with lovely scallion and seafood flavors. The food warmed our souls, but the experience still left us a bit cold. At some point, the toddler tipped over one of the many beverages on the table, and the spill was draped with sheets of newspaper that were never picked back up.

Ojingeo bokeum and haemulpajeon

Ultimately, we left Yet Tuh not feeling very good about our experience. I practically sped over to a Steak ‘n’ Shake to get us compensational shakes – and to order myself a refreshing ice water. But, after thinking it over I think part of the problem was that we just felt a little more out of place on Buford Highway than we have in a while. And pushing our boundaries is what it’s really all about in the first place; maybe we’ve just been spoiled with our own level of comfort lately. So, I decided that I wanted to try Yet Tuh again from a different perspective and see how I felt before I wrote this piece. So, Adam and I went back for round two.

We were served hot roasted barley tea this time and, most importantly, we were informed of what we were receiving. I enjoyed it so much more hot than cold. The cold version has a mouthfeel that I just wasn’t able to get acclimated to the first time around.

Different banchan this time around.

We enjoyed a slightly different lineup of banchan this time. I especially enjoyed the kimchi and the mushrooms. The kimchi was a little more fermented than average; what I often describe as being extra “sparkly” for lack of a more intuitive term. After obliterating our banchan, we were offered a second round, which we turned down, due to the volume of food that had arrived at our table. The server, who was 100% nice to us the entire time, couldn’t prevent a slight scoff from escaping her mouth. I can only assume she thought we were freaked out by the “strange” foods and had only cleaned out our ramekins out of a sense of duty or politeness. Oh well.

Being totally hooked on jeon/pajeon, we opted to get another pancake this go-around, a kimchi pancake: kimchijeon ($12.99). We also ordered the dolsot bibimbap, which is one of the dishes we tried at Woo Nam.

Kimchi pancake

The kimchi pancake was so good. Also, we’d forgotten how huge these things are! I really enjoyed the way the kimchi juice crisped up and took on an altered taste. Between the pancake and the dolsot bibimbap, the banchan items, and the decently-sized bowl of soup we were each served, we had more food than we could deal with and we took 50% of the kimchi pancake home for leftovers. Delicious, delicious leftovers. That day. Mmmmm.

The dolsot bibimbap was good, but just didn’t really seem to rank high on the list of bibimbaps I’ve had. Still, it was tasty, large, and satisfying. Especially on a chilly day.

Dolsot bibimbap.

Our second trip to Yet Tuh was an entirely different experience. And both times the food was totally satisfactory. I’d say Yet Tuh’s prices are a little higher than we’ve seen on average, but not to the point of highway robbery. Overall, it seems like a solid choice on the korean food front, especially if you enjoy the out of the way spots and barley tea. 3 stars.

Yet Tuh
3042 Oakcliff Road.
Atlanta, GA 30340

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Calcutta Palate is an indian buffet that just opened this month in a free-standing building in the same parking lot as the BuHi Farmers Market. Warning: wild speculation ahead. There has been a Calcutta Palate sign up in the Buford Highway Farmers Market shopping center for a long time. Perhaps there used to be a restaurant of that name here and it was simply easier to reopen without paying for new signage?

At any rate, we met Grant and his foodie friends Helen and Vincent to give this place a shot. The place is pretty cavernous inside, but the buffet itself was small. Like Panahar, there was a table of dessert, salad, and sauces, and a hot table. Unlike Panahar, there wasn’t any soup (or gulab jamun, my favorite dessert).

The small size of the buffet, combined with an advertised price of $5.99 wasn’t inspiring a lot of hope in our hearts for a top notch meal. This didn’t stop us from loading our plates up, however. And the food did not disappoint! The dahl and sag paneer received the most praise at our table, with the tandoori chicken wings/drums and chili chicken getting some mentions as well.

My personal favorites were the dahl, sag paneer, and the rice pudding. The pudding was thicker than your often see and I really liked the level of spices (not to be confused with spiciness). It’s probably my favorite rice pudding in the city. I didn’t try the salad bar or the chili chicken, and the biryani didn’t knock my socks of, but was probably what you’d expect on a buffet. Overall, the meal was a great value for the price tag.

Everyone had a good time, and I think we would all visit again. The small size of the buffet is counterbalanced by the tastiness of what is provided, and the very thrifty price tag pushes Calcutta Palate into above average territory. You get a tasty, all-you-can-eat bang for your buck in a simple and clean environment with friendly staff for $6. 3.5 stars.

Calcutta Palate
5600 Buford Highway NE
Atlanta, GA 30340

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