Buford Highway – tide & bloom

an authentic experience

I’ve been feeling a little bit of the imposter syndrome. You know, when you start getting closer to the life you always wanted – the doubt still lingers. The questions are echoing in your mind, asking yourself if this is real or.. you just feel like somewhat of a fraud. Blog posts have been so few and far between lately because I think it’s getting harder to reveal my true self and my true voice. I’m putting myself out there much more than ever, but it’s the edited version. And my blog posts have always been real. Or at least I’ve tried to make them so. It’s also been hard with all that’s going on in the real world, to feel like any of what I say is important. But here I am, and I’m just gonna do this.

Out of every five or six new places we try, we mayyybe only are going to return to one. That’s why we’ve found ourselves in an eating out rut especially when it comes to BuHi. Can’t help that we know what we like! But the other night we tried a new (new to us) spot that Ben has had his eyes on ever since we went to Hello Chicken. It’s right next door to Hello Chicken, also serves chicken, and we were willing to take the risk for the possibility of a new treasure. As it turned out, we struck gold. El Autentico Sinaloense Pollos Asados:

Sinaloan grilled chicken, pollos asados. Very similar to the Mexican food we’re all familiar with, but with a focus on the chicken. It ended up being one of the best finds we’ve discovered in quite a long time. It was all the things that we love and cherish about Buford Highway – chock full of flavor, affordable, friendly, and off the beaten path. We didn’t know what to get but they were having a special (as you can see by the sign in the window) – buy a full chicken and get half free. So we did. Perhaps they were trying to offload some chicken? We didn’t care.

When you get the chicken, you also get tortillas, delicious (and very spicy) salsas, hot dog pinto beans, and rice. In addition to the chips and green dip that were dropped on the table when we sat down. I was able to resist the tortillas, but I did have to shovel some rice into my mouth. The chicken was DUH-licious. Slightly on the dry side but I can definitely forgive them for grilling up loads of chicken like this. It was just really tasty, tasted like I was in my family’s backyard grill party. If my family were Sinaloan. Every flavor pronounced and bright.

I will warn you, there was no AC. So we were sweating it out, with spicy salsa and sweat coming down our foreheads for this chicken. The server was really gracious and welcoming. He recommended we try these lamb tacos and goddamn, they were good. Like real good. I’m not even a fan of lamb, but I ate this all up.

SO. This is now officially on our list of BuHi must-try spots. ALL this food cost like $25 and we had enough chicken left over to eat for another meal. It’s not the perfect experience, but for the value it’s insanely good. There was soccer on the TV and Ben got to have his favorite Jarrito soda. What more could we have asked for? It may be too hot to come here too often in the summer, but we’ll definitely be back very soon. I forgive them for no AC, and there are not many restaurants I’d say the same for.

hello chicken

Hello Chicken has been on our list for a little while – it’s on Buford Highway right across the street from some of our BuHi staples. We’ve been waiting for the right night to venture out of our comfort zone in hopes that we find a new gem. The windows are oddly completely covered so we were never able to tell if it was crowded or not, but you know, pictures of chicken wings are sometimes enough.

Note, Korean food is not something I’m an expert in. I’ve only recently become exposed to what it’s all about so I don’t think my palate is the best gauge. That being said, I just know what I like. The dish that made my night at Hello Chicken was ironically, not the chicken. It was this build-your-own hot plate bibimbap I ordered! It came out sizzling and I guess I just happened to pick all the right stuff… also, the ability to choose brown rice instead white was a revelation. It browned and crisped at the bottom just the way I like.

So the unfortunate news is that the chicken wings were not great and also kind of expensive. What up with that? We ordered two flavors, I honestly can’t even remember which ones. They came out with potato fingers too, doused in the respective chicken wing sauces. Also, the wings were not just wings – there were random pieces of chicken as well. Neither flavor we had was that good or crispy. With me trying to be at least somewhat disciplined in my calorie intake, these wings were just… not worth it.

Such a shame! The atmosphere was also sort of weird. They had two tracks of music going on at once – one was K-pop music videos and the other could be aptly described as the worst top 40 songs from the last 5 years. Too much. I would take the K-pop any day. Overall, I would say that it’s great that I know where to get a custom bimbimbap… but bad that I don’t know where to get good Korean chicken wings! Do you know a place?

Asian Supermarket… literally.

In a Buford Highway plaza named “Asian Square”, you’ll find the “Asian Supermarket”. Yes, that’s what it’s named (in English anyways). This is where I’ve found one of my favorite wonton noodle soups! And it’s also where Ben can find some seriously numbing Sichuan fried chicken.

This is the roasted duck that also goes into my wonton soup. Because wonton soup is not wonton soup without some roast duck! Ugh, I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it. This night in particular we went with our friends Molly and Andy and they went the custom route – choosing random ingredients for a Sichuan stir fry. I’m so glad they did it because I never would have tried it and now I know, this is a delicious option. Thank god for Buford Highway.

vivi bubble tea

I’ve made it my mission to expand my horizons on Buford Highway. Obviously I love Asian food and I love exploring new restaurants, but I can easily get into a rut where I visit the SAME places every time. I can’t help that I have specific cravings! Once I find something I like, it’s really hard to switch to something new.

Vivi Bubble Tea has all the makings of a good instagram, so I was skeptical about the quality of their bubble tea. Thankfully my new friend Helen (@atlanta_noms) got me to try it for our first IRL meeting and now I’m so happy we did! I’ve only been there twice now, but I was surprised by how much I liked their tea. I thought it was going to be too sweet for me, but it was on par with Kung Fu Tea.

I ordered this tiramisu bubble tea so I could get this cotton candy topping. Yes, for instagram. But again – to my delight – the bubble tea was delicious. I enjoyed the boba and also drank that little mason jar of extra tea. Probably not the healthiest thing for me to do, but you only live once right? I think my favorite bubble tea is still Tea House Formosa, but cheers to trying new things and making new friends!

chef liu’s

It’s been far far too long since I’ve written about food on here. My time is getting ever more precious to me so it’s been difficult for me to take the time to write about food experiences over using that time to paint or do a quick outfit post. So here I am to remedy that, with my thoughts on Chef Liu’s.

People come to me frequently for restaurant suggestions, but really.. I don’t have as many as you think. Yes, I’m adventurous and yes I love to experience new things and explore Atlanta. But I, much like you, have only a handful of tried and true go-to spots. It’s partly due to financial constraints and partly due to the comfort of convenience.

Asian food is quite obviously essential to my weekly dining. I’m no expert on cooking Asian food myself (apart from random stir frying), so what ends up happening is I have a few key restaurants on rotation to get my fix. Though I’m more partial to Vietnamese food by nature (and childhood upbringing), every now and then I just neeeeed Chinese. Like… better than stupid takeout Chinese. So I’m always on the hunt for a good Chinese restaurant that can cook correctly and leave me feeling satiated without feeling like a grease face. Chef Liu’s is one such place.

As you can see by these photos, we were hungry and ordered way more than we could finish. But of course that gives us the upside of leftovers, which is almost required when eating family style Asian. From what I can remember, we ordered pork intestines, jellyfish salad, cold spicy noodles, dumplings, beef stew, and some sort of chicken chow fun deal. Whatever, you can use your eyes.

chamblee’s antique row

Even if you’re not in love with all things retro, vintage, and antique, your curiosity is bound to be piqued at Chamblee’s antique row. Just off of Buford Highway, you’ll find a small street filled with shops that are full to the brim of random and not-so-random trinkets, furniture, and ephemera. Some spots look like a hoarder’s paradise and others look like movie prop warehouses.

Browsing all of these stalls, it’s easy to forget you’re in Atlanta.

co’m vietnamese grill

I could really eat Vietnamese food every. single. day. Perhaps that’s because I really did eat Viet everyday while I was growing up. I can’t say that hasn’t influenced my culinary palette, but you just can’t deny the beautiful rainbow of variety Vietnamese cuisine has to offer. The flavors are fresh yet full-bodied, and never leave you with the stomach pangs you associate with Chinese take-out. Sure you know about pho and bánh mì, but did you know about co’m? In other words… rice!

At most Vietnamese restaurants you’ll be able to find some simple co’m dishes, any various assortment of grilled meats with “fragrant” or “broken” rice. Since I’m not expert on cooking technique, I can’t tell you what makes this rice different than regular jasmine rice. All I can tell you is that it’s delicious.

bánh mì love: quốc hương

Sometimes I find it quite difficult to explain how or why I love certain places. After initiating a restaurant into your regular rotation, you rarely think about those things anymore. It just becomes a part of you, a part of the things you like, and a part of your regular experiences. Remarkable things turn into habit, almost like eating a bowl of cereal. Growing up on home-made Vietnamese food myself, I took for granted how great it is until I left home and couldn’t have access to it anymore. Luckily, I ended up moving to a city that is more than plentiful of places serving the exact things my inner child craves.

Quoc Huong has been my go-to place to knosh on the beloved Vietnamese treat known as the bánh mì sandwich. Its ingredients are so simple yet so satisfying; nothing really beats a warm crunchy french bread loaf paired with marinated meat and pickled vegetables inside, right? I mean, right.

lee’s sandwiches

No offense, but if you don’t know what bánh mì is by now then you’ve probably been living under a rock. Or maybe you just don’t like food in general. Whatever the case may be, I’m 100% sure that your taste buds need this in their life. Being half Vietnamese myself – although arguably one of the most American ones you could meet – there’s never been a time when I didn’t crave these. It might be partially due to the scarcity of Vietnamese food in South Florida as I was growing up (minus mom’s cooking), but I’m pretty sure it’s also because they’re so perfect. When made right, of course.

skewers

There is a place on Buford Highway that Ben and I so lovingly nicknamed “skewers”. It sits in one of those random Asian-dominated commercial plazas, so conveniently next door to Quickly (where I get my regular taro milk bubble tea). At Bei Jing Kabobs, you can get a variety of clear-your-nose-water-your-eyes spicy kebabs.

Unfortunately my spice level tolerance is pretty much zero so I can’t enjoy about half the menu, but it sure does look attractive. You can get a variety of spiced meats and seafood on kebabs or submerged in this steaming and delicious-looking stew. I mean, look at it! Has broccoli and asparagus ever looked so delectably lethal?