Goodbye, Good Food

Got lots to catch up on, folks. I'm going to give a semi-brief overview of most of the restaurants I've visited in May, which I have lovingly dubbed "The Month of the Food I Will Not Be Able to Afford For Years After Graduation." Some of these places aren't even expensive, but due to my 'I'd rather travel than eat real food' attitude, I'm planning that most of my meals this summer will consist of Kroger brand oatmeal. And since I'm living with Casey, it will obviously involve heavy amounts of chocolate.

So this lovely month commenced with my birthday meal at TAP in Midtown. Props to this place for being open at 3:45pm, which oddly enough, is the time that most restaurants close between lunch and dinner. I admit that was my primary motivation for taking my parents here when they arrived for this in-between meal (linner? dunch? hmm...) but it turned out to be a great place to go. Dad and I ordered the Steak Eggs Benedict, which was fantastic. It had a flavorful mustard bearnaise instead of hollandaise and came with some roasted potatoes. I don't remember what Mom got at this point, which means it was probably too healthy to be memorable. I feel obligated to recommend that you avoid sitting on their outdoor patio when windy - although it was fun for me to watch a table fly off the ground and into a busy sidewalk, I doubt the pedestrians found humor in the situation.

Next, for my birthday dinner with friends, a group of 10 met up at Apres Diem, right next to Midtown Arts Cinema. Pre-dinner was a bit of a comedy of errors, since originally our reservation was at Park Tavern at 7pm. When I got a call at 4pm from Park Tavern's manager saying they had to cancel the reservation, I had a minor freak out being that it was Cinco de Mayo and few restaurants had open reservations for such a big group. But the manager pulled through and made reservations for us at Apres Diem, including a round of drinks and appetizers for everyone. He's got it figured out - to all men discovering the subtleties of how to make up for your mistake(s), I suggest offering free food and drinks as your first reconcilatory move. Long story short, absolutely wonderful night with great food and friends.

Onto the graduation celebrations! Half of our grad meals took place in Daytona Beach for my brother's big day, but we had a couple great meals when we came back to Atlanta. The parents and I dropped in to Osteria 832 in the Highlands, and we all ordered pizzas. I remember that I loved the bread basket, but that might have been the bottle of wine talking. Pizza was nothing to rave about, but was good and definitely hit the spot.

Okay, I saved the best for last. The top meal of this honored month was easily my graduation dinner at Nava, a restaurant that brings some much-needed southwestern flavor to Buckhead. I knew that it was going to be a great meal when our peppy waiter brought out the jalapeno cornbread. I seriously cannot stop thinking about this bread. I want it always. Next, I ordered Sangria and shared a slew of tasty appetizers with the fam - favorites were the Grouper ceviche and Jumbo Lumb Crab fritters. For my entree, I got the Carolina Trout (with some cactus on the side, naturally) which was absolutely perfect. My only concern with this month of heavenly food is that I'm basically asking for Mercury poisoning with the amount of fish I've consumed. Whatever, everyone says to die happy. Anyway, we all loved our meals and like everything else, the dessert was phenomenal (see below).

Also, I'll be staying in Atlanta at least through August so I've gotten an extension on my excursions through the city! All suggestions welcome.