Jim And Nick's BBQ in Smyrna

Jim and Nick's is your standard chain restaurant. It's large, gives you tons of food, the food is average, and are reasonably priced.

First, let's talk about their best item: their cheese biscuits. They are sweet and delicious. I don't like to go to Jim and Nicks, especially when there's 2 other superior BBQ places in the same area, but if I had to go, I look forward to their cheese biscuits. The best part is that they're free. They're probably made with everything people deem unhealthy: cheese, corn, butter, and crack.

Cheese Biscuits laced with crack.

Their fried green tomatoes also get rave reviews. I'm not a big fan of fried green tomatoes to begin with so I didn't care for these. But everyone goes nuts about them. I guess they're good if you like fried green tomatoes. They just taste okay to me.

Fried Green Tomatoes

They sure give you a ton of food for their entrees.  My pulled pork didn't have much flavor. It was also tough and dry. My sides were also on the tasteless side. I wasn't too impressed with my pulled pork plate.

Pulled Pork Plate

Their ribs are the same story. They're drenched in sauce but it still felt tasteless. It also tasted Dry and tough.

Ribs

Even though those two entrees were mediocre, I would like to write about their Pig in the Potato Patch. It comes with a ginormous potato. It was the size of my head. It comes with a mutated, giant potato with tons of bacon, cheese, sour cream, pulled pork, butter, and whatever else you can think of that might give you a heart attack. I like this dish. It was much better than the pulled pork or rack of ribs platters.

Pig in the Potato Patch.

Jim and Nick's is pretty mediocre BBQ place, especially for this area. Like I wrote, you have other better options nearby. I guess you would come here if you crave the cheese biscuits. But that's the only reason to come here.

I would give this place 2 paws up, but I guess the cheese biscuits and the Potato Patch dish might make me want to raise more paws a bit. So Mr. Kitty gives it 2.5 paws up.

Jim 'n Nick's Bar-B-Q
4574 S Cobb Dr SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
www.jimnnicks.com

Bobby G's Chicago Eatery in Atlanta?

I have never been to Chicago, but I always wanted to try out some of the street food Chicago is known for.  I never had authentic Chicago style dogs in Chicago, but I have had them at other places. So I don't know if I'm a good judge on authentic Chicago style dogs. But I thought Bobby G's made them fairly well. 

One thing I don't like about most Chicago style hotdogs is that they're made with regular sized franks. The bun and the condiments overpower the meat. It feels like I'm not eating any meat at all. Even though Bobby G's offered a nice sized frank, I felt I was just eating the bun and pickles. Maybe I'm just not used to eating hot dogs. But I want more meat when eating a hotdog. 

Not bad, but I want more meat.

So I ordered their Polish Sausage Chicago style. Now that was more like it. The Polish Sausage tasted pretty good. Combined with the tomatoes, relish, pickles, sports peppers, and mustard; it makes a nice and tasty meal.

I forget what brand of Polish Sausage they used, but it tasted good. But the guy who worked at Bobby G's seemed proud of the brand of Polish Sausage they used.

That's more like it. Polish hotdog Chicago style. It even looks better. The better photo does help the look of it though.

I also tried their saurkraut dog. I found it so-so. The saurkraut didn't taste very good. I would just stick with the Polish Sasuage Chicago Style.

Pretty not tasty.

I also tried their authentic Italian Beef Sandwich. They give you a ton of toppings to choose from. I couldn't figure out what I wanted. So the guy at Bobby G's suggested grilled onions, sports peppers, sweet peppers, and their secret au jus sauce. He said those toppings were the most traditional.

Because of the au jus sauce, he warned me it would be hot. Whatever. I can eat Peter Chang's dishes without needing water. After taking a few bites, I must admit, the au jus sauce did taste hot. I'm surprised to say it made me sweat. Overall, I liked their Italian Beef Sandwich. Once again, I don't know if it's authentic, but it tasted good.

Italian Beef.

I liked Bobby G's. Most of the food tasted good, and it's also cheap. You and a date can eat for about $10. It's also set up as a small sports bar. So it's a nice, inexpensive place to come and watch a game.

If I wanted to go to a cheap, decent place to hang out and eat in the Buckhead area, I would go to Bobby G's. It sure beats Taco Mac. I give it 3.5 paws up. 

Bobby G's Chicago Eatery

574 Main Street ne

Atlanta, GA 30324

(404) 841-6670

http://www.bobbygs.com/BobbyGs

Joey D's Oak Room–A Huge Place

This is truly an American restaurant. You can tell by its name. Its name is not some fancy sounding French or Italian name. It's Joey D's Oak Room. That sounds pretty American to me. It certainly lives up to the American standard: bigger, badder, and better.

The inside looks huge. It seems like a popular place for parties or any big group of people. They also have a huge collection of alcohol. It's so big, they need a ladder to reach certain bottles. 

That's a lot of alcohol. 

I thought the food tasted good overall. I did not realize how big the portions were. So I kind of overstepped my stomach's boundaries.

We ordered some Honey Butter Croissants. They had a buttery and sweet taste–like what its name implied. It was also very soft and tasted delicious thanks to its overabundance of butter and honey. It had so much honey on it, it was very sticky. It kind of tasted like a glazed doughnut. They were huge too. One could almost be a meal itself.

Ginormormous Honey Butter Croissants. Very good.

I also ordered the She Crab Soup. it came in a huge bowl. I guess at Joey D's, appetizer means it serves 4.

They definitely loaded the soup up with tons of cream, butter, crabs, and other stuff. It felt so heavy, I couldn't finish it. Which surprised me since I usually clean up all my dishes. I did like the taste. But I think they should shrink the size by half.

Giant Bowl of She Crab Soup.

The side salad Mrs. Kitty ordered tasted delicious. It also came with its own Honey Butter Croissant. Like the soup, it also came in a gigantic bowl. The Brooklyn French dressing tasted incredible. It had a strong horseradish taste and gave the salad a very nice flavor. If you get a salad here, try the Brooklyn French dressing.

The biggest and the baddest side salad you'll see. 

Unfortunately, my Low Carb Filet Mignon salad was the low point of my meal. It was pretty boring. The filet Mignon was too dry. The salad didn't have any dressing either. I think it was suppose to come with dressing, but it didn't. Epic Fail.  I should've gotten the house salad instead.

Filet Mignon Salad. Boooorrrrriiiinnnnng

Mrs. Kitty also got the Prime Rib. That tasted juicy, tender and delicious. It also didn't seem too fatty.  They cooked it to a perfect medium rare.

Prime Rib with Sauteed Spininch and Au jus.

Expect a lot of food at Joey D's. Unless you're sharing the appetizers with 4-5 people, don't order them. You won't be able to finish your main entree. But I guess you can take it to go and eat it as leftovers.

The price is steep, but I think you get the right quantity and quality of food you pay for. Mr. Kitty gives this place 4 paws up.

Joey D's Oak Room
1015 Crown Pointe Pkwy
Atlanta, GA 30338
http://www.centraarchy.com/joeyDs.php

Heirloom Market BBQ With Secret Korean Power!

Before I became like the 5 billionth Atlanta restaurant blogger, I went into Heirloom Market BBQ when they first opened. I noticed some Korean stuff in their place, and Chef Cody remarked that he used a couple of Korean ingredients as his secret ingredient.

Too bad I didn't have a blog at that time to break that story. But I guess the cat's out of the bag now on Heirloom's Korean influence. Chef Jiyeon is their Korean co-chef, and you can tell Chef Jiyeon brought her Korean flavor into Heirloom Market BBQ. 

Although, I don't know if I should consider Heirloom an American-Korean fusion place. You can definitely tell the Korean influence in there. But I still consider it a traditional, good old-fashioned, Southern BBQ place with a touch of Korean. 

Heirloom BBQ definitely cares about their food. You can tell they put a lot of thought into every piece of edible item the have. For example, they have Mexican Coke, which I consider to be superior to the corn syrup filled American Coke. They have sausages from Patak's, one of the more authentic European meat places in Georgia. They smoke the meat for many hours using one of their two huge smokers (each smoker has different types of wood in it). They make their sweet and un-sweet tea from good quality green and jasmin tea. And they have other examples of their attention to detail on their food quality, but it's too numerous to mention. 

Mexican Coke: me gusta.

Great homemade unsweet tea and lemonade. They have great homemade sweet tea too.

Even their  complementary tap water bottles are unique.

Sausages from Pataks.

I tried almost everything at Heirloom. And I'm confident to say all of their smoked meats such as pulled pork, brisket, chicken, turkey, ribs, etc., all taste very good. Their chicken and turkey seem underrated. Most people go for the fatty goodness of pork or brisket, and who can blame them? But their smoked birds taste equally as good.

They offer 3 types of American styled BBQ sauces: table, kitchen, and settler sauce. But I pick KB sauce–AKA Korean BBQ sauce–as my favorite. The KB sauce tastes sweet and spicy. Although I noticed some of my non-adventurous American friends think it tastes a bit weird. If you feel adventurous, however, you should try it.

The sides used to be their weak point when they opened, but they have improved. Now their sides taste awesome. Some of the sides have that blatant Korean influence such as Korean sweet potatoes, tempura sweet potatoes, kimchi cole slaw, and others. 

I think Chef Jiyeon has a secret plan to convert all traditional, Southern Americans to eat Korean food. I think it's working.

Half a rack of ribs with kimchi cole slaw.

Pulled pork with tempura sweet potatoes.

Chopped brisket with tempura sweet potatoes. Tempura sweet potatoes seem quite popular.

Pulled pork, bratwurst, and Korean sweet potatoes.

One of the few weakness I find for this place is the small space. They have a moderate-sized comunal table in the middle and some bars to sit on. I think they can sit about 12-15 people. That's about it. Lunch time can be killer. You will not have a place to sit during lunch unless you come at 11 AM or come past 2 PM. They need to figure something out for the space issue. It may turn into another Antico with people eating standing up and the parking lot filling up. Heck, it's already like that. The good thing is, I don't think they'll get obnoxious as Antico since Chef Cody and Jiyeon (and Jackie) are very cool people. 

Another weakness is their burgers. They taste mediocre. I think they tried to be fancy with their burgers adding all sorts of flavorings to it. I like my burgers juicy, simple, and with a great meaty taste. Although I have talked to some customers there who think they have the best burgers in the world. I think they're smoking crack, but hey, it's their opinion. 

You can definitely tell the passion of Chef Cody and Chef Jiyeon for BBQ, cooking, and food. I feel the food is a great value too. One entree can definitely stuff you silly with protein. This is probably one of my favorite restaurants in Atlanta. Mr. Kitty gives this place 5 paws up.

Heirloom Market BBQ

2243 Akers Mill Rd Ste 110

Atlanta, GA 30339

http://www.heirloommarketbbq.com/

Bocado or Bocadon't?

I forgot to take pictures again, so I'm going use pictures from Foodspotting.

The Burger

I tried their famous burger they copied from Holeman and Finch. They even used the same Holeman and Finch bun and the cuts of meat. Holeman and Finch's burgers taste awesome, does Bocado's compare? Kinda. Bocado's version seemed like a poor man's version of Holeman and Finch's burger. 

First, the burger wasn't very juicy; it seemed a bit dry. Also, they didn't have the red onions. I think the onions are essential since they add a lot of texture and flavor to the burger. So I felt like the burger was missing something. Their ketchup wasn't homemade like H&F's either. The patties seemed smaller too, perhaps about 3 oz each instead of 4 oz.

I dunno, I didn't get the OMG WTF, THIS IS AWESOME!!!11! feeling as when I first bit into a H&F burger. Maybe since I had the H&F so much I became jaded. They meat did taste decent and they seasoned it well with salt. It's not a bad burger, but not H&F quality in my opinion.

I also didn't care much about the fries either. They just felt too greasy to eat. 

A poor man's version of H&F burger

The Famous Lobster Roll

I also tried the lobster roll. It came with a small bowl of tomato bisque. This dish seemed special since they only serve it on Saturdays. The lobster rolls didn't live up to expectations to me. It tasted good, but not mind-blowingly good.

I think my problem was the lemon zest that I wasn't expecting. I was expecting more of a buttery lobster instead of a cold, lemony lobster. I never had lobster roll, so I didn't know what to expect. A lot of people I know loved it though. So maybe I'm just weird.

I did like the tomato bisque that it came with. It didn't seem heavy like regular tomato bisques. It tasted very light and refreshing. I don't think Bocado used heavy cream in the tomato bisque. I heard they used wine instead.

Overrated Lobster roll, underrated tomato bisque

The Real Star of Bocado

The highlight of my meal wasn't the famous burger or the lobster roll, it was the roasted pablano, pimento cheese, fried green tomato, and bacon sandwich. The combination of those ingredients made this sandwich into pure, Southern style magic. I would go back to Bocado just for that sandwich.

Forget the burger, just get this.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with Bocado. I guess I got caught up with the hype of the burger and the lobster roll. I should come back and try their other stuff, maybe there's some hidden gem in their menu–like their pimento cheese sandwich.

I did learn that H&F makes good bread. The lobster rolls and the burgers used H&F bread. And the bread seemed high quality and had a good taste to it. I need to find some of these H&F breads for my own burgers and sandwiches. Mr. Kitty gives this place 3 paws up.

Bocado Atlanta
887 Howell Mill Road
Atlanta, GA 30318
http://www.bocadoatlanta.com/