Laseter's Tavern at Vinings ( Atlanta, GA) - Bar

Laseter's Tavern at Vinings
Category: Restaurants
4355 Cobb Pkwy
Atlanta, GA 30339
(770) 850-8570
www.laseterstavern.com/


This was one of about six places that The Foodie and I visited as we embarked on our "Second Annual Once a Month One & Done One Drink Minimum Tour".

 Laseters's Tavern was one of those places that had that Neighborhood Friendly Bar atmosphere where all the customers seem to go regularly. The Foodie ordered a beer and I had my customary "Can you Concoct Me A Sweet Caribbean Drink". Of course the Foodie looked on in embarrassment like always and of course I sat there like I have never done that before. Anyway, that was one of the two exciting and funny things that happened at Laseter's. The other was this weird old guy who ordered a Crown Royale on the rocks, a water with a lemon and a Michelob Ultra. This guy had already kind of struck me as weird with his "slick back old guy hairdo" and his tone of voice and with the unique mixture of drinks, I was sure he was weird. He kind of reminded me of William Forsythe except he was not wearing glasses.

Anyhow, I probably won't ever go here again but not because it was bad or had bad service or anything. It was just one of many places I found on my drinking tour and the rules are we can not duplicate any bars on this Atlanta Wide Tour. lol!!!!

(B-) -  Neighbor Bar Feel With the William Forsythe Guy

Happy Eating,

Dario " The Average Man" Mobley

Vintage Tavern (Smyrna, GA) - American (Traditional), Bars

Vintage Tavern
Categories: American (Traditional), Bars
2860 Atlanta Rd SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
(770) 803-9793
http://www.vintagetavern.com/

Big Easy Grille (Atlanta,GA) - New Orleans Style

Big Easy Grille
Category: Restaurants
1193 Collier Rd NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 352-7144

Hey, I like the Big Easy Grille folks. Okay, it's not a great, magnificent, game changer like Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Elvis, Michael Jackson or a U2. However, it is a cozy, respectable, everyday grind it out, enjoyable place to eat some good New Orleans food and have some good New Orleans drinks. Like I said, it is not a game changer but it seems to just keep trucking like a  Mary J. Blige, Usher or a Dave Matthews Band.

I have been to the Big Easy Grille twice and the first time I  had a Shrimp Po-boy, Gumbo and a few specialty drinks and the second time, I just endulged myself on the alcohol!! I am a Food Critic as well as a Specialty Drink Critic. The Foodie can vouch for me on that claim. lol!!!  Anyhow, the layout is very cluttered and impersonal just like a local New Orleans establishment. Also, the place was decorated with all kinds of  paraphernalia of some local Louisiana items and sports teams that many people outside of Lousiana would not know off the top of their heads. I suspected that the owner was from New Orleans. Consequently, I made my way over to him and met him and he is a nice guy. As it turns out, he is from Slidell, Louisiana. For those of you who do not know where Slidell, Louisiana is in regards to New Orleans, see below:

So, as you can tell by the map, it is pretty close so let's just call it New Orleans. I had a brief but productive conversation with the owner and we had a lot of things in common..... Oh yes, finally, he was a bigger guy so that should tell that he can cook!!!  lol!!!! Anyhow, I give The Big Easy Grille the following Grade:

B - Good Food, Nice Owner and Laid Back New Orleans Atmosphere

Hemmingway's Bar & Grill (Marietta, GA) - American

Hemmingway's Bar & Grill
Category: American (Traditional)
29 West Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060
(770) 427-5445
www.hemingwaysmarietta.com/


One thing is evident and that is that Downtown Marietta is no downtown Chicago folks. Trust me on that one!!!!! From utter boredom because we have been under the impression that the only things we do is eat and drink, The Foodie and I took one Saturday and just went to every possible place we could go in 8 hours and we embarked on this new, exciting and great activity. We ate and drank. Man, we have some exciting lives!!!!!!!! Anyhow, if I am not mistaken, I think this was close to the last place we went that day. We actually came at a bad time as the bar was setting up for a wedding reception. Consequently, we had to move from where we originally sat to make room for the Wedding Party. That kind of sucked because at this point, we were like 8 drinks in and moving was not the easiest thing to do.

Anyhow, we did not stop there to take a break from drinking. We actually had drinks and a desert. I had the Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie served with whip cream and I had an Irish Coffee with Bailey's, Kahlua and Cream. The strange thing about it was the Coffee had more liquor in it than the Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie........ Damn, that was a corny ass joke. Anyhow, I believe The Foodie just had two beers. I forgot what kind but she was sobering up....Wink, Wink, (The Foodie thinks beer is sobering up). We were in and out and we were on to the next stop.

(B) Okay Place with No Bourbon in the Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie

Happy Eating,

Dario "The Average Man" Mobley

Copeland's (Atlanta,GA) - Cajun/Creole

Copeland's
Category: Cajun/Creole
3365 Piedmont Rd NE
#1350
Atlanta, GA 30305
Neighborhood: Buckhead
(404) 475-1000

3131 Cobb Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30339
(770) 612-3311
http://www.copelandsatlanta.com/

Goin' Coastal (Atlanta, GA) - Seafood

Goin' Coastal
Category: Seafood
Virginia Highlands
1021 Virginia Ave
Atlanta, Georgia 30306
404-941-9117
http://www.goincoastalseafood.com/

Have you ever encountered someone who on a certain day, they were craving some sort of food and they just had to have it? Well, that person was me, that day was yesterday and my drug of choice was seafood. For me, cravings usually happen when I see a commercial or I am at a restaurant and I see someone else getting ready to eat what I thought about ordering. It is one of the instances where you take a second, sneak a peek, enjoy the peek and then afterward you know you really shouldn't have did that.

Anyway, my craving or my peek as I call it stemmed from a sort of bad experience. I had some horrible peel and eat shrimp when I was in Ohio and my mind just could not accept the fact that the Shrimp were that bad. Consequently, my craving began and the hunt was on. On yesterday, we were in search of a good seafood place. We looked and looked via our smart phones until we stumbled to the point of falling into Goin' Coastal.

Apparently, Goin' Coastal has only been open for a month in the Highlands Neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Still, if you were there yesterday and you used the crowd as any indication, you would have thought it was open for much longer than that because it was pretty crowded.  We found out after a few minutes that there was this really cool special going on for a family dinner for $17.00. It included, two entrees, four sides, a salad and a desert. We ordered that and we also added some seared scallops to our meal as an appetizer.  The Foodie had the Rainbow Trout and I had the Peel and Eat Shrimp as an entree.

The food delivered and satified my craving. In addition to that, whatever kind of aggravation we would have experienced with the wait or the crowd disappeared totally because of our waitress was very personable and funny. On top of that, the price was a real steal. We ended up eating a boat load of stuff for about 70 bucks. We had a least 6 drinks to go with the $17.00 Family Dinner. The food to price ratio was so good (Did I just make that up?) that I spent all morning trying to calculate what we had and why it was so cheap. I felt like an accountant during tax time.

I would definitely recommend this place folks. Everything was great and I had a good time.

A- Good Food, Nice Staff, Great Price

Happy Eating,

Dario "The Average Man" Mobley

Panini's (Cleveland Hopkins INTL Airport)

Panini's
Category: Restaurants
5300 Riverside Drive
Cleveland, OH 44135
(216) 265-8465
http://www.paninisgrill.com/

Skyway Restaurant (Put-In-Bay, Ohio)

Skyway
Category: Restaurants
1248 Tri Motor Dr
Put In Bay, OH 43456
(419) 285-4331

Atmosphere (Atlanta, GA) - French, Event Planning & Services

Atmosphere
Categories: French, Event Planning & Services
1620 Piedmont Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
(678) 702-1620
http://www.atmospherebistro.com/

Marlow's Tavern (Kennesaw, GA) - American

Marlow's Tavern
Category: American (Traditional)
745 Chastain Rd NW
Kennesaw, GA 30144
(770) 425-8777
http://www.marlowstavern.com/

Dario "The Average Man" Writes:

What is a food critic? What human being has the perfect credentials to justify to every other single person in the world that they are absolutely sure what a flawless meal entails? Am I missing something? Is there a secret society with an ID card somewhere that says Prime Minister of Food instead of Prime Minister of Great Britain??

I don't think so!!! Wait, I hope not because if so, that would be nerdy. Anyhow, the point is I could easily believe with all my heart that one restaurant completely sucks and Gordon Brown pictured above could believe the opposite. I will always argue with The Foodie that judging food is like trying to determine who is the better actor out of Robert DeNiro & Al Pacino.

It is almost a question without an answer. We, as food critics, just solemnly swear to give you some insight into our world, our taste buds and our overall view or what we expect out of a good restaurant and good food. I, for one, like to use my experience as the determining factor. I point to the fact that I have been to enough restaurants to have a good idea about what I prefer when I eat Steak, Duck, Beef Carpacio, Calamari, Chicken, Pork Chop, Ahi Tuna, Escargot and many other foods. With that said, you have to trust me when I say that Marlow's Tavern had really, really, really, really good food!!!  It was an unexpected surprise. It was one of those instances where I did not expect it and it hit me like a whirlwind similar to when Life said he would take my spot or my high school basketball team or when Allen Iverson did a crossover on Micheal Jordan.

Did the fact that it was unexpected make the food actually better than what it really was? Who Knows? I am just a food critic. I don't know shit!!!! lol!!! Anyhow, we had the FireCracker Shrimp, Ahi Tuna(a special) and The Grilled Chicken Stack. Everything was above the curve and I walked away with that "JJ Evans Dynamite Look":

A - Needless To Say, I give Marlow's Tavern an A Grade For the Food Quality

Happy Eating,

Dario "The Average Man" Mobley

Cafe Intermezzo (Atlanta, GA) - Coffee & Tea, Bars, Desserts

Cafe Intermezzo
Categories: Coffee & Tea, Bars, Desserts
1845 Peachtree Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
Neighborhood: Buckhead
(404) 355-0411
http://www.cafeintermezzo.com/


I have a friend of mine that pointed something very important to me when I was living in Kenner, Louisiana.  For those of you who don't know where Kenner is, Kenner is a city in Jefferson Parish and a suburb of New Orleans. The population is about 70-80K. It is about 15-20 miles west of New Orleans. Yeah, this friend of mine who is from Kenner by the way, walked into my apartment and had a drink from my bar. As he was having a drink, he looked at me with a straight face and said, "Dog, why do you have a bar with no bar stools?" (proper Kenner voice). I was amazed and shocked because when I looked down, I realize I did not have any bar stools. I did not know what to say so I said nothing because I wanted to avoid any further embarrassment because if he found out that my bar was actually an upside down dingy Wal-Mart TV stand that my roomate in Michigan had left on purpose, I would not have ever lived it down. So my response was just, "Come on." (Not my actual response...I actually get that from Party. Party is my friend's name by the way. Why is he party? Long story...............)

Anyhow, how does this relate to Cafe Intermizzo? When The Foodie and I went to Cafe Intermizzo, we could not find anywhere I liked to sit (I am a notorious unhappy seat area person) so we choose a spot in the corner with some "high ass" stools. Aside from the high stools, Cafe Intermizzo is actually a cool place. It is quiet and you can get every kind of desert you can imagine. We had our own little personal area, some desert and enough space and noise control to have a good conversation. I most definitely will go back. If you are looking for a quiet place that serves drinks and deserts, Cafe Intermizzo is the place. I would definitely recommend it as a "chill spot to hang out with friends.

(A) Nice Spot to Chill, Drink and Eat Some Dessert

Happy Eating,

Dario "The Average Man" Mobley

The Melting Pot (Atlanta, GA)- Fondue

The Melting Pot
Category: Fondue
754 Peachtree St NE
Ste 100
Atlanta, GA 30308
Neighborhood: Midtown
http://www.meltingpot.com/
(404) 389-0099

Hudson Grille (Atlanta, GA)- American (Traditional), Venues & Event Spaces, Nightlife

Hudson Grille
Categories: American (Traditional), Venues & Event Spaces, Nightlife
942 Peachtree St
Atlanta, GA 30309
Neighborhood: Midtown
(404) 892-0892
www.hudsongrille.com/