Piggin Out On The Green

As a kid in the Atlanta area one of our Christmas traditions was to drive to see some extravagant lights.  One of my fondest memories of the Christmas season was making the drive from Norcross to Roswell.  Why is this relevant you may ask?  Well the answer is because it involved a now closed but always remembered barbecue restaurant The Georgia Pig.  To make a long story short you ate on picnic tables outside no matter what the season.  Well, there is still outside seating but the old dive has been replaced with something that brings back the same nostalgia.  The restaurant is Swallow at the Hollow and it has turned into a barbecue hot spot in Roswell.  I was hesitant to try Swallow even though I love Greenwoods (their sister restaurant).

            My hesitation is purely out of principal.  I feel that barbecue should be a cheap economical meal.  It is hard for me to bring myself to pay $9 for a sandwich with no sides included.  That being said my Dad was in town from Washington State and we were cruising around looking for a place to eat lunch.  I asked if he was in the mood for barbecue and he said “absolutely”.  So we pulled in the gravel parking lot.  We walked in the dining room which I instantly fell in love with.  It has an open kitchen which gives it that down home feel.  The interior looks like the inside of an old barbecue shack I grew up eating in on our trips to the beach.  

            After being seated I looked over the menu seeing all of the options.  There are a good many veggies as well as meat choices.  We opted to start off with the smoked wings.  They come out on a skewer dipped in the sweeter of the 3 sauces.  The wings had a rich smoky flavor and the sauce complemented them perfectly.  For our main course we both had the pulled pork sandwich and split some fries.  I always get fries my first visit to a barbecue restaurant to dip in their variety of sauces to truly explore them.  The sandwiches came out and upon first glance I knew why they were pricey. They were big enough to split.  The bread was fresh bread that the Swallow turns into texas toast my favorite thing to encase my barbecue.  The pork is moist without sauce, it is lightly smoked with a few pieces of bark.  My only complaint is my preference would be for more smoke.  However, this was some of the best pork I had tasted in quite a few years.  They have 3 sauces one is a sweet tomato based, one mustard base and one pure vinegar pepper sauce.  All are good and unique.  Being a sweet sauce guy I went for the tomato based but used the other two for my fries.  After eating half my sandwich I picked the pork out of the other half as it is that filling

            My experience at the Hollow is one I will not forget anytime soon.  My father was in town and the whole experience took me back to a simpler time of Christmas lights and my biggest concern being homework.  For that I thank you Swallow at the Hallow.  I will most surely be back.  

Tapped Out in Roswell

On Saturday my fiancé and I decided to try out one of Roswell’s newest restaurants.  We tried Roswell Tap off of Highway 9.  Pulling to the historic home we saw a pretty good size crowd which is always refreshing.  Upon entering the restaurant the hostess sat us down promptly.  After a few minutes the hostess came to take our drink order.  While waiting I noticed the menu looked extremely promising there were many sandwiches that looked enticing on their menu.  On that particular night though we were both in the mood for wings as another reviewer had pointed out they were the best in Atlanta.  She ordered the medium wings I opted for extra hot.

Wings should not be an extremely difficult menu item to execute as the entire entrée is fried.  After twenty minutes of waiting our food finally came out the wings were mostly small in size and were barely coated in sauce. This was disappointing as I was looking forward to tasting wings coated with hot sauce laced with Irish butter. What I did taste was very good.  The wings were crispy some were meaty and the hot sauce had a well flavored kick.  The blue cheese was good and homemade it wasn’t the best nor the worst.  The fries were incredibly salty. My honest opinion is that the place has potential there is a great creative atmosphere and if the food was well executed Roswell Tap could be a worthy addition to the Roswell area.  However, the service is slow and at one point no food was coming out of the kitchen.  

In conclusion I will probably return to the Roswell Tap to try one of the sandwiches especially the chicken sandwich containing rosemary bacon.  Upon my return I sincerely hope that the kinks are worked out and I can update this review to brag about the restaurants turnaround.

Somethings Smokin in Alpharetta

 

            After a morning on the golf course one of my buddies and I decided to go eat some barbecue.  We discussed a few days prior trying each of the top 10 barbecue restaurants on Urbanspoon.  We decided to stay local and go to Smokejack in downtown Alpharetta.  I have dined here on one prior occasion and was reasonably satisfied.  It had some positive qualities and some drawbacks.  After my first dining experience it was a solid barbecue choice when wanting to remain local.  We arrived and there were only a few tables which is normal at noon on a Saturday.  The waitress asked us if we wanted an appetizer we opted for the fried pickles.  They came out and were huge pieces of dill pickle well seasoned and fried.  They are served with a spicy mayonnaise which was decent.  It was a good appetizer.  We both ordered the pulled pork sandwich with the Kansas City barbecue sauce.        

The first time I ate here I had the meat trio which had burnt ends, pork and turkey on the plate it had a sweet sauce I wasn’t a fan of.  I didn’t know this was that sauce.  The sandwich was good but the pork didn’t have enough bark in it I love bark it is the best part of the barbecue.  For anyone that doesn’t know what bark is it’s the chard pieces of pork that are crisp and really let you appreciate the time and effort it takes to smoke pork.  This was disappointing because my first dining experience had plenty of it as well as the delicious burnt ends.  My side dish was the collard greens which I will admit were some of the better ones I have had at a restaurant.   Justin had the mac and cheese and he said it was disappointing it looked a little too brown on top which I thought I would never say.

After two visits to Smokejack I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  This restaurant has some potential I firmly believe with a better sauce it could easily be a 4 out of 5 their meat is solid and the service is spot on.  I was impressed with the collards and the pepper vinegar anyone who loves collards should try them.  

Urbanspoon rocks

A Night In Bombay

Often times when my fiancé wants to go eat Indian food I oppose.  Not that I do not like Indian food, because I love it being a lover of all things spicy and flavorful.  It is because of the cost of the food.  It is hard to justify many times paying $12-15 for an entrée consisting of chicken.  Also we can never agree on an entrée she is a Korma girl while Vindaloo is to me one of the most perfect dishes.  That being said we had the ever prevalent debate after going to the gym.  She wanted Indian I was trying to save my bank account.  Then it hit me that while driving on Mansell the other day I saw a sign near one of our favorite Indian restaurants Santoor.  The sign was for Bombay Xpress which to me meant affordable.  So we took a chance and drove over there to find out the older gentleman had retired and sold his restaurant to a chef named Sandeep Singh.  He was a nice gentleman who explained the transition and his new concept.  He explained he wanted to open a casual Indian restaurant with more affordable prices but the same high authentic quality.  This to me sounds like an outstanding idea one I have often dreamed about during our debates. 

            The restaurant has the same décor as the prior restaurant nothing special but I let the food do the talking.  There is a menu on the board for the lunch serving.  The menu is large but it hits all the essentials Korma, Vindaloo, Tandori, Tikka etc. Most entrees are under $10 which is a great price point.  The entrées come with rice, naan is extra but that is to be expected.   I had the Chicken Vindaloo she had the Chicken Korma and we split an order of garlic naan.  Whenever I order my sacred dish I ask for Indian hot which usually results in slight laughter and shock of course this was not different but he was happy to make it the way it is meant to be eaten.  He promptly went to the back and began preparation of our entrees.  After about 10 minutes he came back with our plates which were plastic including the silverware.  He said that some customers had complained about this.  To me it is not a problem if using the plastic saves money I am all for it.  Honestly, it may be more cost efficient to use the real stuff but I am sure the numbers were figured.  We each had our bowl of rice and our separate bowls of our entrees.  The smells were very tempting as we situated ourselves for the feast.  The naan gave off the delicious smells of garlic.

 I made my plate and took my first bite, it was spicy but not unbearable just the right amount of heat.  The flavors in the gravy were delicious and there was a hint of cilantro contrasting.  From first bite I was hooked especially when I noticed it was all breast meat and no dark meat which is common at other establishments.  After eating this I went in for my half of the garlic naan which honestly pretty good.  Caitlin loved her Korma as well she said everything was delicious.  Rarely do I have all positive things to say about a restaurant but this may be the best Indian food I have had beating out India Chef and The Palace in Norcross.  As a special surprise Chef Singh brought out some of his Kheer “rice pudding” as a complimentary desert it was the perfect ending to a perfect dining experience.  In conclusion I will say that if you are in the mood for great Indian food give Bombay Express a chance.  Chef Singh is an experienced chef and a pleasure to be around he is kind and polite.  My hope is that he will increase his business and become a fixture here in Alpharetta.  To me there is nothing better than a first time restaurant owner making it in a tough market.  His food is spot on which to me is all that matters.