Park Pride

Cory and I have been writing about a few of our local Brookhaven parks (Briarwood & Lenox) in the past few weeks. I guess Spring is in the air, and with the warm weather we've been getting lately, we've been getting out of the house more with Jasper.

I wanted to share an organization that I've been getting more involved with: Park Pride. A non-profit organization that works with local in-town neighborhoods, communities, and park systems to support efforts to create more parks and greenspace in Atlanta. They can help your community association or neighborhood develop conceptual plans for pocket parks in your area, help with volunteer efforts in clean ups, local park funding, and also advocate for projects like the Beltline. They are a wonderful organization and also involved specifically with parks in the Brookhaven area. Check out their website on how you can get involved, donate, or volunteer.

Park Pride also hosts an annual conference every year- and this years in coming up in a few weeks on Monday, March 28th. I've registered to attend to represent my firm who works with local park systems on the design side. This conference seems like a great way to learn about local parks in the Atlanta area, meet a lot of the folks who are involved, and learn how to promote parks and greenspace in your community. A few of the conference topics/discussions are: A Future City Parks System, Bridging Community through Parks and Greenspaces, Connecting Children to Nature through Parks, and From Friends Raising to Fundraising: How to Build Support for Your Park. You can see the full schedule here.

They will also be having tours of both the Atlanta Botanical Garden and also Piedmont Park! If you cannot attend the conference- they are also having a cleanup day for Lynwood Park in Brookhaven on Saturday March 19th. RSVP to john@parkpride.org if you're interested in volunteering!

Kaleidoscope - The Review...

I guess you can say we have been pretty excited about Kaleidoscope coming to our neighborhood.  Chef Joey Riley has been a strong presence in great Atlanta restaurants for well over a decade and we have waited with great anticipation to see what he will serve up in his own spot.  After we first heard about it last summer, it seemed like it would never open - we were taunted while walking by, constantly peering in to see how construction was progressing.  Finally when it did open at the end of December, it was packed so full of people, we stayed away; envying those inside but not yet ready to brave the wait for the table (they don't take reservations).  But in the months that it has been open we have been inside a couple times (for quick burgers and beers), and the other night, finally had our first blog-able meal.  

On a Friday night at 7:00, to our surprise we were seated immediately.  I must say, the atmosphere inside is awesome.  Some might find it loud, but it is true of a pub environment and creates a wonderful buzz about the restaurant.  We started with drinks - their wine list is extensive, and they offered some specialty cocktails...but you gotta drink beer at a pub!  The draught beer list wasn't lengthy, but it contained some well selected brews that were easy to pick from.  After our drinks arrived, we each started with a "first impression" aka - appetizer.  Malory couldn't turn down the special: broccoli bisque with grated sharp cheddar - one of the highlights of the night- creamy, rich, and delicious.  I decided on the Thai Style Beef Jerky which was a tad bit salty, but still very flavorful jerky marinated in a Thai lime sauce (both above).

For my main course, I went with the dinner special (they just sounded so good!): fried local catfish, collards with bacon, slaw, and hushpuppies (above).  The catfish was fresh and perfectly cooked - light and flaky, and the collards were the perfect complement- crisp, sweet, and creamy.  This dish was our second favorite of the night.  Malory ordered the short ribs- the meat was tender and juicy and the pearl onions and fingerling potatoes were a nice addition to the "roast".  

I guess we were feeling particularly adventurous, or maybe just the waiter did a great job selling it (that never happens...), but we decided on a dessert.  We don't usually indulge ourselves, but after hearing about this S'more brownie (above), we couldn't turn it down.  Graham cracker crust, with a layer of chocolate brownie topped with melted marshmallow, this dish was a unique take on the campfire treat.  

While we had some standout favorites, we really enjoyed all of the dishes.  We've been scared about the crowd for some time (nobody likes waiting an hour for a table then 20 minutes at the bar trying to get a drink!), but to be honest, they had ample seating (even more so when the weather turns nice... huge outside patio!)  The majority of crowd is hanging out at the bar, which is all you can really see from the street... so don't be deterred. We have also been a little weary that the price tag would possibly hinder us from making this a typical Friday night hang out, but the menu has a $20 ceiling that keeps you from running the bill too high.  We were greatly impressed with all that we experienced and cannot wait to go out and try it again.  Hope to see you there!

Pinkberry at Lenox

If you live under a rock, you might not have noticed that ice cream is slowly dying and frozen yogurt, or froyo as the cool kids say, is all the rage (see how many times I say it in this post).  More and more froyo chains are popping up all over Atlanta in replacement of the previous trendy "marble stone" ice cream spots.  To me, there's nothing better than a full-fat, creamy treat, but I can't deny that froyo is a tasty, healthy substitute on occasion. 

In Brookhaven, we've been frequenting Yoforia as our froyo spot in the Village Place Shopping Center - mainly because it's the closest one.  I haven't tried any other spots and am excited to welcome the new Pinkberry to the neighborhood.  Started in 2005 in California, Pinkberry now has over 100+ stores with 3 in the Atlanta area.  Their newest location is going in the Border's shopping center, north of Lenox Mall, at the intersection of Roxboro and Peachtree (old Marble Slab Creamery).  The store officially opens tomorrow, and we can't wait to see how it measures up to our already established Yoforia.  What's your favorite froyo place?  

Atlanta Underground Market - Review

After much anticipation and excitement, we received the "secret" email instructions on Friday, and headed out to the first annual Atlanta Underground Market with Stacy and Chris on Saturday evening at 6pm.

The secret location ended up being downtown at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market off of Edgewood Ave. near Grady Hospital. A beautiful, historic building that housed a curb market in the 1920s after WWI and has since been restored to host a daily market of food vendors and small restaurants.

We drove up to the event at right about 6pm, and there was already a line around the building.  I knew that over 1500 people had signed up for the event, and with such great weather outside, I'm sure right about 1500 people attended.  We quickly jumped in line and proceeded to wait over an hour and a half to get inside (see photo below).  It was torture every time we passed a window and saw people enjoying the delicious looking dishes inside while we were outside in line. Our only hope was that waiting in the slow moving, long line would mean no (or shorter) waits by the time we got inside... we were mistaken.

They had originally asked everyone to sign up, because they were going to check everyone in person by person (!), by the time we reached that checkpoint- they had obviously given up hope of checking everyone in. Once we reached the door to pay the $2 entry fee, we were once again greeted by dis-organization with one (yes, one person) counting out change to each attendee.

Finally we had arrived inside! A pretty small space considering the permanent vendor booths were still there, and each event vendor had to set up in front of those spaces.  We wandered around hungry and thirsty bumping into people, trying to peer over shoulders to figure out what people were selling, and getting very frustrated when vendors were quickly selling out of food.

After jumping in line in a random booth (we couldn't see what anyone was selling), we ordered some bready thing with cheese, chickpeas, and curry chicken.  We were too hungry to stay and converse about what he was serving so we just pointed to some dishes and quickly handed him our money so we could eat.  I also grabbed a 6oz water from another vendor for $1 and a 6oz kenari for $2 (!). We were finally starting to get less grumpy from hunger, and ventured around to a few other long-lined booths.  We ended up trying some pecan butter sammies (sandwiches), apple pie turnovers, spicy sweet potato soup with chocolate bacon bits (photo above-the best dish by far of the night), vegan enchiladas (photo below), and lastly a chocolate sea salt king of pops popsicle (soooo good!). Thanks Stacy for the pics! Check out her take of the event on her blog: StacyEats

The food overall was pretty good, but I think the biggest disappointment was the lack of information.  There were a number of vendors there, but we had no idea who was serving what - and our impatience hindered us from seeing what a lot of vendors had to offer. It was difficult to see past the throng of people surrounding each booth to see the small 5x7 picture frame on the tables with the dish choice. A few vendors had signs hanging up overhead, but for the most part you had to wait 5+ minutes to even see what they were cooking. For an event expecting 1500+ people, there seemed to be only about 30-40 vendors (and some were very hidden) who were unprepared for the crowd.  Some had only one small hot plate with one small pot cooking! Out of all those vendors, there seemed to be too many dessert options, hardly any drink options (no alcohol-sold out in the first 30 minutes), and not a lot of protein-inspired plates.

Another disappointment was the lack of unique dishes. Cory and I have attended a few tastings and similar events, and there are always crazy or different dishes that I would typically never try.  Maybe since this event was a "pay-per-plate",  the vendors weren't very adventurous in their dish selection. Or perhaps it was because there were not a whole lot of local restaurants as vendors- the booths seemed to be more caterers, personal chefs, or just foodies.  We ended up paying over $40 (entry + dishes) for a long wait and few dishes that really jumped out at us.

Maybe we went into the event with the wrong assumptions of what it was going to offer.  Regardless, I hope next year they can work out all of their kinks, as I think this has the potential to be really great, annual event (or even seasonal). For next time, please have it in a larger space, with more food options, better organization, and lots of drinks!!

Noche - Town Brookhaven

Noche will opening up in the new Town Brookhaven development on March 16th!  The Noche restaurant in Brookhaven will be the third location for them in Atlanta (already in Vinings and Va. Highlands) and is a part of Here To Serve's restaurant line-up including Twist, Shout, and Strip among others.  Noche serves up some great tapas, tacos and signature drinks - you can see their food menu here.  We've been to the Va. Highland location a number of times and it has become one of our staple stops when we are in the area.  

This will surely provide some great traffic to the Town Brookhaven development - only Slacks, Costco & Moe's are open right now.  They will be open late night and offer great drink specials so make sure you follow them on twitter @NocheBrookhaven.  Were very excited about the new addition to Brookhaven who is screaming for new, updated restaurants.  Hope to see you in there on March 16th!

DeKalb County Trash Schedule

The 2011 DeKalb County Sanitation Schedule (for single family residential) has been posted.

DeKalb County Sanitation will still be on a Monday/Thursday & Tuesday/Friday curbside collection service. Sanitation will continue service on Saturday as needed to get to any areas that were inaccessible on Thursday or Friday. Click here for information on special pick up procedures (appliances, tires, etc.). Yard Waste will now be collected on Mondays (previously Wednesdays).

For DeKalb County Recycling, collection will continue to occur on Wednesdays.

For more information and FAQs, please visit the DeKalb County Sanitation website. To download the 2011 holiday calendar, please click here.

The Pet Set

With all this great, warm weather lately- Jasper has been needing his spring hair cut. Two weeks ago, I made a trip to CityDog Market for supplies since his long fur has been getting dirty so quickly, and I've been giving him baths almost every week! Since CityDog doesn't offer grooming (only the do-it-yourself kind), I started searching for a great local spot to take him. After a few minutes on google, I stumbled upon The Pet Set. A local pet store located at Briarcliff and N. Druid (second location in Midtown) with grooming, doggie day care, boarding, and products (and a 4.5 star rating from 62 reviews!), I decided to give them a call. They were available to take Jasper the next day, and I was able to drop him off anytime between 7:30am and 11:00am for his bath and hair cut.

The Pet Set also offers a New Client Coupon for $7 off a full service grooming! The entire grooming included: full coat brush out,shampoo treatment, coat conditioner, hand drying, nail trimming, ear cleaning, hair cut on the body, and a bow/bandanna! For Jasper (Cocker Spaniel - 25lbs) it was $49 (without the coupon). That is $20 cheaper than what I used to spend at PetCo in Roswell!

 

Jasper was ready in about 4 hours, and looked as cute as ever with his bandana...well, maybe not as cute as he was before, but that's our fault for demanding he be shaved all over (not a typical cocker spaniel hair cut!). The staff at The Pet Set was very kind,  considerate, and knowledgeable. I will continue to use their grooming service, but I'll probably stick with CityDog for products.