Sweet Home Atlanta

Sign for a church near the stadium.  Fortunately they only rose up in the first quarter.

I love sports. Since my mom had the best idea ever to give me a Jerry Rice jersey in my youth, I've been a fan of the San Francisco 49ers. Even through the bad times and our first #1 draft pick. Things have turned around though and with several years of great drafting, we finally have the right coach. Knowing that the Niners would be playing the NFC Championship game against Atlanta, I quickly went on the ticket search. I was on ticketmaster when they went on sale. The tickets were unbelievable. 20 rows up on the twenty yard line.

I ended up having a sort of breakfast the morning of he game with one of my friends in the Atlanta area. We had Pho from Saigon Cafe Duluth (3675 Satellite Blvd). I love Vietnamese food and this Pho was particularly tasty and authentic. I chose the Pho Tai Nam. A medium bowl of not consisted of rare steak and well done flank steak in a tasty broth. The soup was extremely satisfying. Nothing to brag about here it was a pretty straightforward dish that screamed of authenticity. Tucked away in the strip mall the pho I had delivered on earthiness. The savoury beef combined elegantly with the noodles and garnishments of herbs. You also had the nice crunch and change of texture of the bean sprouts. The Thai Tea Boba drink was a tasty way to wash it all down.  I've got to say those little tapioca balls are awesome in a drink.  

View from my seat at the end of the game

I had to rush to make it to the game in time.  I took a 1 mile mix of jogging and walking from The Hilton (255 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, GA) through Centennial Olympic Park to the Georgia Dome (That's five football stadiums down for those keeping track of my attempt to go to every stadium in the league). but I still got there in well enough time to see the introduction of the best team in football be meet with overwhelming boos. It was by far the loudest game I've ever been to.   The Falcons introduction is pretty impressive.  I gotta say I liked it how can I hate Samuel L. Jackson being backed up by a choir.  I sat next to a kind lady that has been going to Falcons games since 1966 and had had season tickets since the 80's. Got to admire her dedication.

The game got off to an awful start as the the Falcons rattled off 17 points to a big goose egg for the Niners as I sat there with a face filled with both anger and disgust as to how Julio Jones seemed to be unrecoverable as far as the defense of San Francisco was concerned. This feeling was escalated a little by the people around me not being able to recognize the subtle nuances between the red jersey I was wearing representing Patrick Willis of the 49ers vice some ridiculous Falcons jersey. I can't count how many times I was tapped on the shoulder for high fives when the Falcons scored. The fans were nice they kept saying things like it's just a game and it's early to cheer me up. Luckily my team ended up doing most of the cheering me up by coming back to win that game.

Post game was tracking down a good burger at the Vortex (438 Moreland Ave NE). I can't remember what show I saw this place on some TV show.  Probably triple D... Anyway, this place is a biker bar turned hipster bar.  It still has a metal theme, and a unique quirky vibe that is prominently recognized as soon as you walk into the giant mouth with the swirling eyes.  The menu is also a pretty fun read which contains a lot of cool quips.  In doing my research before going I almost decided not to go because the website says the restaurant is smoking.  I don't mind smoking for the most part, but not when I'm eating.  It is one of those activities that I feel should be done outdoors.  Because of Georgia state law regarding smoking in restaurants, it is an 18+ establishment.  I didn't see any smoking going on on the inside of the restaurant, as though now I think it is common practice to step outside to smoke.  We ate upstairs in the nonsmoking section and weren't bothered by smoke.  This comes as an extra bonus for me having the intention of relaxing with a meal and good drinks.

The wait was short and they don't accept reservations (as expected).  All of the appetizers looked great but I decided to go with the Dixie Fries.  Whoever thought of this was a genius.  How do you take the classic Canadian dish of poutine to the next level?  You upgrade the regular gravy to sausage gravy and add bacon bits.   The french fries were crispy  except for the few that really soaked in the gravy.  The only improvement I would suggest, is burning the sausage a little bit.  I like sausage burnt for some reason, I guess it is just a matter of personal preference.   The gravy was perfectly balanced and how they didn't make the entire dish too salty is a major accomplishment.  It seems like a simple dish, but there are so many places for it to go wrong and then you're left with a salty greasy mess.

The burger list was vast.  I was intrigued by the Fat Elvis (peanut butter, bacon, and fried bananas) and the Coronary Bypass (Fried egg, 3 slices of cheese, 4 slices of bacon).  I eventually ended up wussing out of getting either of them and ended up with a burger that had their house made chorizo mix.  I had to try it, I love chorizo.  Plus the hunger was finally getting to me after not eating for several hours and I wanted something safe when I made my initial order. I will go back one day though.

This was my second time staying at the downtown Atlanta Hilton.  I went with it again because it was pretty cheap.  I could see much of the city from my room on the 26th floor.  The rooms are very bright and inviting.  I felt as though I had more than enough space and a pretty decent view of downtown Atlanta.  The elevators are absurdly fast.  The hotel has an array of 8 elevators, four of which are completely enclosed to accommodate the needs of the acrophobic.  For the more adventurous, there are two elevators open to view the vibrant Atlanta cityscape on your assent to your room as well as two others that are open to allow you to see the decor of the hotel.  If you're anything like me you press the button, get on whichever elevator shows up first, then once you're realize you're on a open elevator you scramble for your camera only to reach your floor before you're able to take a picture.  Epic fail.  All in all it was a great value and worth a four star rating from me.  I even scored free parking at check out.

I continued my trend of Asian themed breakfast around lunchtime at Honey Pig.  I've got to admit when it comes to Korean food, most of the time the main staple of kimchi makes me want to gag.  My experience usually ranges from somewhere in between edible and pretty tasty.  This was not sadly not exactly my cup of tea.   The sauces were good but the meat seemed a tad under seasoned for my taste.


At the suggestion of my friend there was another stop at a chain restaurant Bone Fish Grill.  There we had a couple of drinks and snaked on appetizers.  Everything landed in that nothing to write home about category.  The following location was McCray's Tavern.  It had a pretty decent beer list, though the food was again pretty pedestrian.