Tag Archives: Bread Pudding

Hal’s

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Hal’s, Buckhead

I had the best time at Hal’s recently, knowing it is a Buckhead staple I was fervent to have the pleasure of dining here to celebrate my 24th anniversary on earth. I went with great group, all who love food. To start we ordered the Beef Carpaccio and the Grilled Oysters. The carpaccio was tissue paper-thin fillet mignon and melted in your mouth. While the fillet is one of the more popular cuts on the menu I choose to go with the 22 oz Prime Bone-in Ribeye, also known as The Cowboy, and it was no mistake. It was cooked medium rare and drizzled with melted butter; keeping a steak simple is in the only way to go! We shared a few sides as a table and picked the famed Truffle Mac & Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, and Sautéed Mushrooms. I would definitely order the first two again but probably not the mushrooms, they were okay but just not comparable to Rathbun’s. My favorite desserts that we decided on were the Chocolate Cake and the Bourbon Bread Pudding, one word of warning though one must like bourbon to appreciate the bread pudding because the bourbon glaze was no joke. I have a love for steak along with a passion for quality steak and it was clear that the meat here is a cut above. And oh I almost forgot to mention the wine, their list is long and noteworthy. We joyously picked a magnum bottle of Belle Glos Pinot Noir,  which to my knowledge went well with all cuts present at the table! The service was old-fashioned with the waiters being polite and knowledgeable. The atmosphere was welcoming and comfortable. After looking into Hal’s more I found out that most of the staff has been together for 17 years, which was clear considering the place ran with an air of ease. While I won’t be able to make this restaurant a weekly habit I will make a promise to come back and over indulge again.

Atlanta Fish Market

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Atlanta Fish Market, Buckhead

Went out again last night for another friends birthday and he chose Atlanta Fish Market, I am very lucky that my friends like trying new places as much as I do! The menu is large and can be overwhelming if you don’t make decisions well, but seeing as I do not have that problem I was ready to order quickly. However, others were not so I wasted no time ordering a dirty dry Hendrix Martini straight up to get the evening going. For starters we all split the Oyster Sampler Plate and Oysters Rockefeller. The raw oysters were nice and clean, I know it’s a matter of opinion but I would rather not swallow the sea when eating an oyster. I have never had oysters Rockefeller before but it won’t take me a long time to try them again, these had an awesome essence of bacon, I’m thinking they used bacon fat and we all know that makes dishes much better! I love seafood but always lean toward shellfish rather than fish; I ordered 1 Crab Cake, which is 95% crab meat, and Mussels “Gilbert”. I wish I saw how big the bowl of mussels was going to be because I would not have ordered the crab cake. Not that I was disappointed in trying both… it was just a lot of food! The mussels came in a traditional white wine sauce and our server kept bringing the bread so the broth was put to good use. And finally came the only tradition I like for birthdays, DESSERT! There were five of us so it was only natural to get four desserts when we were all so full already. We got the Creme Brulee, the Bread Pudding, the Chocolate Praline Explosion, and the birthday special Strawberry Shortcake.  We all shared and in an orderly fashion too, each passing the plates clockwise until we had tried all. The bread pudding was extremely sweet and topped with a vanilla cream anglaise, a good dessert to share! The strawberry shortcake was topped with fresh strawberry ice cream that was incredible. I appreciated how brightly lit the restaurant was, that sounds like a stupid thing to notice but it’s nice to see what you are reading on the menu and eating when your food comes. The last thing that I thought was cool, while no one in our party did this, is that one can go up to the fish tank and choose which fish they want and how they would like it prepared, talk about a fresh catch! I’d say Joel’s birthday dinner was a success and I’ll be coming back if for nothing else the oysters Rockefeller.