[Sca-cooks] OOP What I ate in Atlanta ...

[Christiane]

When I was down at BIO 2009 in Atlanta last week, a friend and I took the chance to jump in a cab and make a run over to Gladys Knight's restaurant by Emory Hospital to have chicken and waffles. Four giant fried chicken wings and a big waffle. We both got collard greens on the side. The verdict: Yum! Yes, the combo was unusual, but it worked. And the quality was great.

It was also a pleasure to have real collard greens with hot sauce and cornbread.

The next day, before leaving for the airport, I had lunch at Terraces, the restaurant in the Georgia World Congress Center. I avoided the Asian stuff and headed straight to the pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, fried green tomatoes, and potato salad. Thumbs up on the quality, if a little pricey. But they did have amazingly gooey decadent chocolate bread pudding on the dessert buffet. And the mac and cheese was wonderful, made with lots of sharp cheddar. I was actually surprised at how good the food was, because the stuff for the keynote luncheons was not that great. Of course, the food had to withstand being set out on hundreds of tables and sitting there for awhile.

I do have to wonder why just about everything served at the Monday reception buffet, which was sponsored by Georgia biotech and featured a performance by the B-52s, was Southwestern. I ladled on what I thought was a chili verde sauce onto my rice and beans and was shocked that it had no bite at all. 

For all those who offered to meet up with me, I'm sorry I didn't follow up! Every evening turned out to be booked and after a day of interviews and walking around the convention center, I was in no shape for much more than a quiet dinner and then soaking my feet.

Gianotta