- I'm going for a long weekend to Atlanta the first weekend of March. Somehow, I've managed to never visit the city before. Anything I should make sure to do, see, and/or eat while I'm down there? I know we have several folks in the Atlanta area.
- In the fall, I'm headed to northeastern Canada on a family trip, which will hit Quebec City, PEI, Halifax, Sydney, and Bar Harbor before ending in Boston. Any advance reading or viewing suggestions? (While I've never read Anne of Green Gables, I've seen the CBC series.)
Monday, February 21, 2011
ALOTT5MA TRAVEL AND LOGISTICS DIVISION: Two travel-related requests from me that I suspect you fine ThingThrowers will be able to help out with:
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Curse of the Narrows by Laura M MacDonald is an interesting non-fiction read about the Halifax Explosion. Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan is good as a fictional account.
ReplyDeleteOn a much (much) lighter side, Trailer Park Boys is a very funny tv series/movie about life in a trailer park in Dartmouth (Halifax).
(1) Read Anne of Green Gables. Free on kindle.
ReplyDelete(2) Atlanta -
Flip Burger (Richard Blais's restaurant). Don't get the foie gras milkshake, but everything else is great. Other excellent restaurants: 4th and Swift; Sotto Sotto; Watershed; Cakes and Ale (in Decatur).
Martin Luther King Jr. home/Ebenezer Baptist Church area is worth checking out. (There are a number of museum exhibits here, most free.)
Carter Library worth a trip, if you're interested. You can learn how to cure guinea worm!
The High Museum is nicely sized, in an attractive area, and has a decent wine bar attached. I also hear good things about the Center for Puppetry Arts, but haven't been.
World of Coca Cola not worth it - and I say that as someone who loves enthusiastic corporate museums.
Atlanta food suggestions:
ReplyDeletePura Vida - Hector Santiago from Top Chef Season 6
Flip Burger - I wasn't as wowed as I wanted to be, but the Krispy Kreme doughnut milkshake was awesome.
JCT Kitchen - The pimento cheese fry bread is out of this world.
Brick Store Pub - (Decatur) If you're a beer drinker, this is a must. And the pierogies starter - yum.
And if you head towards Athens, you definitely need to have fried chicken from Wilson's Soul Food. The end. Seriously, just go ahead and put that at the top of your list.
Margaret's Museum is a movie set in Cape Breton starring Helen Bonham Carter. I quite enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteFall on Your Knees is the Ann-Marie MacDonald (Oprah pick) book also set in Cape Breton. Many people lurve it, but I found it depressing.
Trailer Park Boys - hilarious!
Ooh, lobster on PEI. And if you don't want to read Anne of GG (but you should), try Blue Castle, which while not set on PEI, is another of LM's books.
Bone up on your Newfie jokes. I would recommend Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, except the only reason I would recommend it is that I had a college roommate from there. I don't actually know if it's any good. Sounds pretty, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you're near Athens, check out the Five & Ten and The National for excellent food.
ReplyDeleteThe deck of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City at sunset is glorious. And of course, maple pie at one of the old town eateries is the perfect way to top a meal of beer braised mussels and walleye.
ReplyDeleteFor Atlanta, I'm going to agree on seeing the MLK Jr./Ebenezer Baptist Church (well worth it), but disagree on not seeing the World of Coca-Cola...I'm almost 25 and I still find myself mesmerized by the magic Coke fountain.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it might be over-hyped, but you would definitely be missing out on the "Atlanta Experience" if you don't go to the Varsity for a chili dog and a chocolate shake.
To pregame for the QC, watch the Whole 9 Yards, which I think was largely filmed there. Also, while you're there, eat poutine.
ReplyDeleteHow are you getting to Bar Harbor- are you cruising from Boston, or are you driving up?
I only know this from google, but woodfire grill in atlanta is bearded kevin from top chef.
ReplyDeleteWe are cruising from Montreal down to Boston. As a young kid, we did Bar Harbor/Acadia, but it's been years
ReplyDeleteYukon Cornelius! You have to go!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the World of Coca-Cola, even if I spend much of my visits looking forward to the giant soda fountain at the end that has all their drinks from all over the world. It's also fun seeing the film footage of various Coke commericals through the years.
ReplyDeleteThe Georgia Aquarium also is outstanding, though I don't know if it still has the 3-D movie that included arguably the world's worst pun. Arthur Blank funded the construction of the aquarium, so the museum's mascot is an orange clownfish named Deepo, who bears a suspicious resemblance to the logo of Home Depot. When I watched the 3D movie during a visit to the aquarium a few years ago, one of the other fish asks, "Where's your home, Deepo?"
I agree on the Varsity plug... but I'd say instead of a chocolate shake, get a F.O. (frosted orange) with your chili dog!
ReplyDeleteI love Woodfire Grill, and that's not just a Top Chef thing. For nice restaurants in the midtown area, here are a few places that I've recommended to folks:
ReplyDelete<span><span>Woodfire Grill: </span>It's a really nice restaurant, focusing on local foods and American cuisine: www.woodfiregrill.com
Eno: I've really liked it every time that I went there, but it may have changed ownership. Mediterranean inspired: http://www.americascuisine.com/georgia/atlanta/enorestaurant.aspx
Table 1280: It leans a bit Spanish, but isn't really a Spanish restaurant. I've been there twice for dinner and a few times for lunch (it's connected to the High), and really enjoyed it both times: http://www.table1280.com/content/home.asp
<span>South City Kitchen: Nouveau Southern, very nicely done: http://www.southcitykitchen.com/midtown/
Rathbun's: A bit out of the way, but really, a treasure of a restaurant. American cuisine: http://www.rathbunsrestaurant.com/
Highland tap: Good steak place in Virginia Highlands: http://www.nnnwcorp.com/highlandtapmain.html
La Tavola: Probably my favorite Italian restaurant in Atlanta: http://www.latavolatrattoria.com/index.htm
Atmosphere: Very nice little French restaurant: http://www.atmospherebistro.com/</span></span>
Less expensive places: The Varsity (altho it is a grease-fest, so be warned) and Mary Mac's (for fried chicken). There are some other good fried chicken places (Colonnade comes to mind), but I recommend Mary Mac's, personally. I'm no barbecue expert, but I've heard tell of a good place near Turner Field.
Venues: The museums in Atlanta are generally nice but over-priced. A particularly Atlanta experience is the Center for Puppetry Arts. The High is pretty---great architecture---but its collection is a bit thin. The Aquarium is awesome---really, really well-done. The Fox is a great old theatre. If something is playing there that you might enjoy, try to go.
Re: Bar Harbor: The downtown is worth a walk (drinks at the Bar Harbor Inn on the waterfront are nice), but to really see some of Mt. Desert Island (excursion time permitting) - take the free Island Explorer shuttle bus over to the Jordan Pond House and have tea and popovers or lunch. The view is spectacular and the food yummy! Or take the explorer bus that does the Park Loop Road to really see Acadia National Park. http://www.exploreacadia.com/
ReplyDeleteIf you have enough time in Sydney, finding an excursion that does part of the Cabot Trail is totally worth it - New Scotland indeed!
Also: Atlanta - if you have a car and want to experience for real southen BBQ, my husband says you cannot miss Wallace BBQ in neigboring Austell. Buy a crate of the hot sauce to take home!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wallacebarbecue.com/index.html
Tacqueria Del Sol : Fried Chicken Tacos, Fried Fish Tacos, Carnitas Tacos, Great Salsas, Great Guacamole, Coke in Coke Bottles, Mexican Beer. Not authentic. Deliciously inauthentic. Before I died I never missed it on my two or three annual Hotlanta trips.
ReplyDeleteStar Provisions: Best Gourmet Market ever. Have Allen Brothers meat in the butcher shop that they then age even more. Funky metallic doesn't begin to describe a 45 day aged prime rib from there... Bought a black truffle there over christmas and it was better than some i bought in Italy. I nearly cried when I was eating it. Truffle tears yeah. Oh, and they make a ham in house that is really delicate and cured with black truffles that is so subtle and perfect and hammy and truffly and sexy sexy sexy. And, they have terrines of chicken liver mousse with so much butter and so much liver and I wish I could still eat it.
Ohmygod I forgot to tell you about the cheese shop at Star Provisions. Go there. Wheels of cheese from all over the world,some from places that don't make very many wheels ya know. Milky goodness from our four legged bovine friends as well as goats and sheep and anything else you can milk, but not DeNiro.
ReplyDeleteSomething to watch before your Canada trip: Thom Fitzgerald's 1997 movie "The Hanging Garden". I don't think I've ever seen a movie truer to Cape Breton dialect than that one. (And it's a terrific movie, too.) Also, Matt: I'm originally from PEI, and lived a number of years in Halifax, and I'd happily provide some specific see/do recommendations as your trip approaches.
ReplyDeleteA few Atlanta things that haven't yet been mentioned:
ReplyDelete1.) Watershed in Decatur and Zocalo in Midtown are the two restaurants I always try to hit when we visit. Watershed is still very good even though Scott Peacock has moved on. Both are reasonably accessible by train. Manuel's Tavern in Virginia Highlands is a local institution and a reasonably good bar, but if you're into Belgian/high-gravity beer definitely stop by Brick Store Pub (mentioned above) in Decatur.
2.) I have a real soft spot for the Shakespeare Tavern on Peachtree, especially if they're running a comedy.
Wallace is good, but if you are in the city I'd say for BBQ go for Fatt Matts. Great location and people watching on Piedmont.
ReplyDeleteSecond Tacqueria del Sol. For in-town barbeque, I like Fox Bros. Varsity isn't exactly "good" but is definitely an Atlanta experience. My most favorite fine dining restaurant is Iberian Pig in Decatur: http://www.iberianpigatl.com/index.php. If you go, have the bacon Old Fashioned. It is to die for. So is the food, and the wait staff is always extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
ReplyDeleteMLK, Jr. and the Carter Library. Agreed that the High is a good size- you can do all or most of it in an afternoon and there's a nice variety of exhibits. I like the aquarium too, as StvMg recommended.
I hope you update- I'd be interested to hear what you end up doing.
The Varsity, Flip Burger, World of Coke, Carter and MLK sites were already on the "likely" list for Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteFor the Canada trip, I have basically an 8-5 day in each of those locales, and will be travelling with multigenerational folks, so we'll figure that out.
My comment got eaten, and it was very detailed. Le sigh. I will try to recreate it later....
ReplyDeleteAtlanta:
ReplyDeleteI'd vote for the Georgia Aquarium. I've been to many an aquarium, but the scale--of the tanks and some of the fish--is impressive. A drive through the Virginia-Highlands area is also nice, especially if things are in bloom there (and they might be, considering the warm weather we've been having the past couple of weeks).
I love Tacqueria del Sol so so so much. Fish tacos and shrimp corn chowder.
ReplyDeleteAdlai, Agreed!
ReplyDeleteFor me, The High really depends on the temporary exhibitions. I'm not in love with most of the permanent collection.
ReplyDeleteHOWever, the building itself is, like you said, interesting architecturally. When I was at the Getty in Los Angeles I had such a feeling of deja vu until I looked up that it has the same architect as the High.
ALSO, pop culture note: In Manhunter, when William Petersen is running away from one of his interviews with Hannibal Lecter, he runs down and down and down that long ramp inside The High and then falls to his knees on the lawn outside. I recognized it when I watched the movie (only a few years ago) and sure enough, the credits confirmed it.
It's been many years but I have wonderful memories of Everybody's Pizza near the Emory campus......
ReplyDeleteAgree on the Aquarium - pretty impressive. If you have a car, Stone Mountain is cool. I know it might be a little cheesy, but it is the largest hunk of granite sticking out of the ground. Hiking up is a good workout - and you get to see all of Atlanta (assuming it's not cloudy). Plus it has Jackson, Davis, and Lee carved on the face. How much more southern can you get?
ReplyDeleteAnd then my comment reappeared. I may not understand this whole comment system thing, but I guess I won't be bitter?
ReplyDelete