Douglasville Diner ~ Douglasville, GA

  We did not expecting anything too spectacular as we went to breakfast at the Douglasville Diner. I am not sure why we felt this way, but maybe it was the lingering unpleasant taste in our mouths from the previous inhabitants of the building.

Douglasville Diner has a vast menu with everything from breakfast food, Italian, Greek, American, Seafood, Salads, Appetizers, Wraps, Melts, and a Paul Bunyan(ish) dessert menu.  Large menus can be problematic. The execution of the menu by the kitchen staff is only half of the potential trouble. The second half is the service staff knowing said vast menu. However, I will regress and speak of that at another time.

 Open from 7:am until 12:00 Midnight is a grueling schedule to keep. I hope that they can pull it off in the long run. Douglasville has needed another decent breakfast spot for quite some time now. Do not under estimate the impact of pancakes on a culture. If run correctly, Douglasville Diner could potentially change Douglasville into a new center for higher learning. Who knows? If the omelets and hash browns are perfect day-in and day-out, Douglasvillites may invent a car that runs on smog. Lord knows they need that gadget soon living this close to Atlanta.

Lemon Mousse Cake

Yes, we ordered cakes at breakfast...again. I do not know why. What, it looked delicious OK?!

We ate cake only after devastating a "Douglasville Platter" (pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs) and an omelet stuffed full of spinach, Feta Cheese, and mushrooms. The hash browns were spectacularly and elegantly straightforward (that is a compliment). The pancakes were light with a hint (and a strong nod) of vanilla. A discussion of whether the pancakes originated from a mix or not ensued after a few sloppy bites. I stand by my "from a mix but modified" theory. My partner (who possibly has the best taste buds known to man) says that the pancakes are from scratch. She also smelled them. Her sniffing the pancakes gave her an unfair advantage (because she has the nose of a Bloodhound). Trust me on that one.

  Eating cake at breakfast requires extra cups of coffee. The coffee, by the way, was better than average. There is always time for additional coffee according to gf.

  Let's review the qualifications of a diner:

• Open early, check. 
• Open late, check. 
• Must serve breakfast, check. 
• Must brew great coffee and "coffee food" (e.g. cake), check. 
• Must serve hamburgers and kid food, check. 
• Must offer something different (e.g. Italian/Greek fare), check.

Tiramisu  Cake

Alpine Bakery in Atlanta is the source of all of this cake madness. I finished several bites of cake and boxed it up for the varmints at home, as I do not need to eat sugar. I admit that this breakfast was not the healthiest that I have had in recent history. However, I refused to smear the hydrogenated-butter-spread all over my pancakes, neither did I pour the high fructose corn syrup on them. Questions about the ingredients of the sausage, pancakes, and the dessert cakes were never asked. It is an American diner. I expect to be poisoned.

  Give Douglasville Diner a moment or two to settle in and get over their opening pains. I am sure that they will be fine as long as they deliver what they promise.


Update: Douglasville Diner is Closed.
Click here for details. gf

Thanks for reading,

gf

Lemon Mousse Cake

Tiramisu Cake

Cake Display

Outside dining / smoking section

Fogo de Chao Churrascaria ~ Atlanta, Georgia

  I fortunately reached a historic day, as I turned the ripened age of fifty.  I sound like a rotting piece of fruit, but this called for a celebration. My wife was perplexed over where we should celebrate until she started a search on Urbanspoon. She chose Fogo de Chao Churrascaria after reading several reviews. She hit a home run. We had a fantastic time and an excellent dinner. However, as usual, there is a story.


  While relaxing before dinner, I had done some research about Brazilian food. Many of my friends are world travelers. So naturally, I asked my Brazilian friend Judy about what to expect at a Brazilian restaurant. She jumped for joy (if you can do that on line) as I was about to dine at her favorite restaurant. She explained to me what foods would be available. She instructed me to ask for "maminha na manteiga" for dinner and "Mousse de Maracuja" for dessert.


  Judy seems like a sweet woman and has never been hostile to me. However, after translating maminha na mantegia, I wondered if this would be her version of a birthday prank. She had instructed me to ask for "titty butter" from the Gauchos. I was not sure if I would be able ask for this special cut of meat without getting slapped. After much ado, Judy assured me that "titty butter" was a literal translation. She also assured me that in no way was it meant to be a comment that would fall into that "grey area". Yeah, right. "Please pass the titty butter."


  We booked an early reservation on Saturday night. From the suburbs, with Braves baseball traffic jamming I-75/I-85, it only took forty five minutes to arrive at Fogo de Chao's free valet parking service. The bar swarmed with activity upon our arrival. Ladies wearing summer blouses with matching purses and four inch sandals garnished the bar the way that limes decorate a Brazilian cocktail. The entry had an energy of anticipation.  The mingling of the hosts and guests at the bar pleasantly distracted us upon entering. While the hostess seated us immediately, I noticed no Southern slang, such as Ya'll, honey, sugar, or any other derivative of Sir or Ma'am in her language. What a pleasure (although I enjoy a decent "sugar pie" every now and again.)! On the way to the table, the expansive and never-ending wine racks mesmerized me.


  Servers dodged the Gaucho dudes wearing funny-looking boots, and wide black belts, toting hot skewers of cooked protein. Every worker scurried about in organized chaos. Amazingly the staff did not run into each other, the way mindless Atlantians do while driving in the rain on I-285. The hostess guided us to a comfortable white tablecloth two-top. The dimmed room gave out a cozy vibe. The server immediately came to the table and told us the routine. A blizzard of information attacked our frontal lobes. The quad-fold brochure-looking menu was even more dizzying than the waiter's interpretation of the same. Therefore, I put the "menu" down and ordered some Brazilian red wine. I figured out relatively quickly that this was a fancy-dance-all-you-can-eat. (I am sure someone will school me one day on the proper use of hyphens.) Where is Nell?


  Part of the routine is the red and green disks placed on the tables. Yes, green equals go, and red equals stop. The Gaucho dudes will not stop coming, until one flips the disk to red. Remember, I gave fair warning. The server gave us the green light to go to the salad bar. Now, take "THAT" image of a salad bar out of your mind. It was more like a salad hill than a salad bar. I did veer away from the giant marinated beans, but I found the choices unique and fresh. I especially enjoyed the Heart of Palm and the Tabouli salad. As I started to stock my plate, I heard "Don't fill up on the salad and pastas." It was Judy whispering in my ear.


  Shuddering hearing her voice in my head, I stopped filling my plate and settled down to enjoy my salad. Soon thereafter, my wife and I looked at the red disks, then looked at each other. This continued for several moments until we took the plunge and flipped the disks to green. A whirlwind of boots, belts, and skewered meat encircled the table. The Gauchos quickly delivered Sirloin, chicken, lamb, sausage, Ribeye, and Filet until stopped with the red disk. Every cut was excellent. 


  Then I just had to ask for it. I had long forgotten how to ask in Portuguese for the cut of meat that Judy had described as the best. I decided to cut to the chase, and I asked the waiter for "the meat that translates to 'titty butter' in Portuguese". He let us know that although it is a remarkable cut of sirloin, they were not serving the Tri-tip sirloin at this time. Rats.


  We did enjoy the Flan and the Passion Fruit desserts. The entire experience was delightful. I recommend Fogo de Chao for any special occasion.

On a scale of one to five meat skewers, Fogo de Chao Churrascaria, I give thee five meat skewers.

Thanks for reading!
gf

The Bargainers

 There is a growing collection of "entrepreneurs" in the dining world these days. I hereby will call them "The Bargainers".

 I am not sure where they all came from, or why they came, but they are possibly here to stay. Bargainers have dug in, and entrenched themselves into society during these last most unfortunate years of recession. These are a variety of diners that believe that restaurant managers and owners have unlimited resources to promote whatever, whenever. Somehow, we flat out owe them.

 Church groups and schools (looking for donations for a raffle, golf tournament, booster club, etc.) are the benign Bargainers. Some call them "beggars". There is at least a chance of a return on investment with those type donations. Unfortunately, managers are often, not in a position to hand out prizes and donations for everyone's financial crisis "bake sale".

 The true purebred Bargainer is a piece of work. In their mind, they are doing the establishment an extraordinary favor. They just want a discount for waking up in the morning. We recently had booked a party of thirty on a Friday night at seven thirty. Which, for your information, is when the entire planet wants to eat dinner. I felt that we had already given this group dedicated service, by providing a separate and private dining room, during a peak hour, while we were on a wait. This assessment was incorrect. The leader of the pack presented herself to the floor manager. She proceeded to tell him that she thought that we should not charge her group for their teas. She felt that since she was an "event planner", and since she had brought us her party's business, we should make this discount (about seventy five dollars worth of sales). My floor manager let her know that he was not in a position to approve such a concession. She huffed out a "Let me speak to YOUR boss." I reckon that was her error #44-3a (asking for the boss).

 "His boss" arrived and greeted the guest with a smile and a handshake. She delivered the same story, and she received the same answer. She then spewed her same response. "I need your corporate number then." OK, thanks, and come again... Bargainer. 
 How do these people conclude that managers can randomly discount meals with no errors on the restaurant's part? If one goes into Wal Mart and takes their entire bowling team, do they expect to get a discount? When taking your entire family to the dentist, is the result a discount? A pre-negotiated discount is one thing (still annoying), but at least there can be a pleasant discussion about what can or cannot be done. Trying to intimidate a floor manager with the whole "I will call your boss" routine just ticks me off.

 The wait staff certainly does not like the bargainers as a general rule. "Bargainer" and "generous tipper" usually are not found in the same paragraph or chapter. Waiting on these groups is a challenging task (especially if you want a fair tip). I will go ahead and put it out there. Serving a bargainer group is twice as difficult as a non-bargainer group. If the manager gave in to the "let me speak to your boss" routine, the server is their next course.

 Now let's not get carried away and start calling couponers bargainers. Hell, those who are not couponing these days are not cool, or even smart. The only concern I have is couponers discounting the service that they receive from the service staff. This of course brings to light the whole nasty subject of tipping. I will save that for another day. Please, when using a coupon, be sympathetic to the server. The good one's are hard to find, and harder to keep.


  Click here to view a clever gratuity chart.


Thanks for reading, 


gf