Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria - Kennesaw, Georgia

This past weekend we finally got around to checking out Big Pie in the Sky. Big Pie in the Sky is known for their extra large pizza slices and something called the Carnivore Challenge. Any fans of the Travel Channel show Man v Food might have heard of this place.

We headed over for an early dinner. The place was pretty deserted when we arrived but a crowd built up behind us as the evening wore on. I remember the episode of Man v Food when Adam Richman was there for the Carnivore Challenge. Sadly no one appeared to be taking the challenge while we were there.

We wanted to try a wide selection of the items on offer so we ordered three slices and a calzone. I knew the slices were supposed to be huge and they were. Each slice is like a small pizza. Just for perspective I placed a dollar bill along side the slices. A one dollar bill is about 6" long.

The Big Kahuna - Pineapple, Ham, Feta, and Bacon

Supreme - Sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, black olives and mushrooms

The Carnivore

Cheese Calzone

I'm not a big fan of thin crust or New York style  pizza but the crust here had a good crisp and held up nicely to all of the toppings. I didn't try the calzone but my dining companion said it was sadly nothing special. It looked good but that's where the appeal stopped.

I can understand why this place is so popular with the local university crowd. One of these giant slices will only set you back about $6. Not a bad deal.

The pizza at Big Pie in the Sky is good but it strikes me as more of a novelty than anything else. If you're in the mood for a slice of pizza as big as your head this is your place. Stop by, maybe you and a friend can take down The Carnivore.

Happy travels!

Pasta and Red Sauce with a side of Nostalgia

Walking into Buca di Beppo always transports me to another place and time. Sinatra crooning on the sound system, the aroma of garlic and basil wafting from the kitchen, it all takes me back to Sunday suppers and all of the checkered tablecloth, red sauce restaurants of my youth.


 I celebrated a milestone birthday at Buca one year, seated with my family at the Pope's table. For those not familiar, the Pope's table is a large, round dining table with a bust of the pope in the center. Seriously. It's awesome. All I wanted that year was to have my birthday dinner there. So many memories.

When I discovered that there was a Buca di Beppo just a few towns over I just had to go. My dining companion graciously agreed and off we went.

We hadn't been to a Buca in a long while but it was as I remembered. Buca has gone through some changes over the years. Menus have changed, individual dishes have changed and the way they serve their food has changed. Happily for me the experience of dining at Buca hasn't really changed. It's still a kitsch filled, Christmas light strung, family style Italian restaurant.

 

We were served some pretty good Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar while we looked over the menu. Stuffed mushrooms are a favorite of mine and the stuffed mushrooms with pesto sauce looked like a good place to start. The large mushrooms are stuffed with a blend of prosciutto and cheese, very tasty.

We decided on the Shrimp fra Diavolo for our main dish and the Italian Sausage and Peppers as a side. All of the food is served family style adding a touch of Sunday supper ambiance.

Shrimp fra Diavolo

Sausage and peppers

We ended this nostalgia-fest with a huge slice of Italian Cream Cake. Layers of rich lemon cake and mascarpone cheese filling served with a raspberry coulis. Cake and coffee, the perfect way to end the meal.

While we don't make the trip to Buca very often anymore I'm glad to know it's there waiting for me with it's sights and sounds and happy memories of dinners gone by.

A pleasantly unplanned weekend

There's a nice second run movie theater not too far from where we're staying. If you're like me the term second-run-theater conjures up images of musty old theaters with sticky floors and scared screens. Not so The Picture Show in Marietta, Georgia. The Picture Show is an older six screen movie house adjacent to a strip mall. Whoever runs the place does a great job of keeping it up. The theaters are clean, well maintained and a good option for seeing a show.

We've seen just about a movie a week these past few months but one, The Avengers, escaped our notice. Truth be told, I didn't have high hopes for it, but in keeping with the theme of this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a fun, entertaining movie and well worth the $1.75 price of admission. Did I not mention that? Two adult tickets for $3.50, such a deal.

We got to the theater a few minutes before the doors opened so we took a walk through the strip mall. Along the way we passed a menu board for a Thai/Chinese restaurant. We glanced at it briefly then headed back to see the movie.

After an entertaining 90 minutes or so it was lunch time. We decided to take a chance and headed back to the Thai place we saw earlier. Cue pleasant surprise of the weekend #2, Bamboo China Bistro. We were greeted and seated promptly and given menus. Bamboo China Bistro has daily lunch specials so we both took advantage of that. For $7 we each got a bowl of delicious coconut soup, nicely spiced, full of fresh mushrooms and lemongrass, a fried spring roll and an entrée. I ordered the Red Curry with chicken and my dining companion ordered the Masaman Curry with beef. I ordered mine spicy hot, which was spicy but not really hot. I asked and was told that there is a Thai spicy level beyond the one I ordered. I definitely get that next time.
The food at Bamboo was great and we'll be eating there again next time the craving for Thai food hits.

Coconut soup

Red Curry Chicken

Masaman Curry with beef

We had one more pleasant surprise this weekend. We had planned to have lunch at a local seafood place and made our way there Sunday afternoon. Sadly the place was not as advertised (that was our one unpleasant surprise!) so we were at odds and ends for lunch. We drove around a bit in the area and settled on Cinco, a modern Mexican restaurant billed as Mexican with Attitude. Hmmmm. We went in and they were serving brunch. Again, hmmmm. Well, brunch was terrific. The food was fresh, made to order guacamole was on offer and the rare spicy tuna was perfect. I didn't take one picture sadly but we'll probably try and get back there. If we do I'll post about it.

Round that all out with breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, The Red Eyed Mule, and it was a very nice weekend.

Miami Hangover

Plans don't always work out so be flexible. Some pleasant surprises of your own could be right around the corner.

Happy travels!

Ted's Montana Grill - Kennesaw, Georgia

We're always on the lookout for a good burger. With that in mind we headed to Ted's Montana Grill. The Ted in the name is Ted Turner and the restaurant features his Montana ranch's bison.

We were there for lunch and arrived to a not very busy dining room. Unfortunately we got off to a bit of a bumpy start and the good food, drinks and service never quite overcame that initial disappointing impression. We were seated and then ignored. There may have been some confusion over whose section we were in or some other service issue but the end result was that we sat and sat and sat. The manager must have noticed this about the same time I was getting up to find a server because our server finally appeared. She apologized for the delay and the service from that point forward was ok.

I ordered a white wine sangria with mango as we placed our order for lunch. My drink arrived in a short time and was delicious.

Soon after our burgers arrived. The Green and Hot burger I had was very good. A hand crafted bison patty served at exactly the temperature I requested, rare. It was topped with pepper jack cheese, fresh made guacamole, grilled jalapeños and chipotle ranch. The whole thing was rounded out with an order of just about perfect fries. Skin on, double fried, lightly salted and delicious.

My dining companion had the Montana Breakfast burger. A hand crafted bison patty topped with American cheese, grilled ham, spicy tomato jam and a fried over-easy egg. Another good burger also served with an order of those perfect fries.

House made pickles

 The food was good, the service, once it started, was ok and the sangria was great. But all that said I never could shake the initial disappointment. We're still undecided as to whether we will go back. Maybe we were all having an off day, it happens. If we do go back I'll update this post with those impressions too.

Figo Pasta - Vinings, GA (Atlanta)

Last week we had lunch at a pasta place in Vinings, GA. Figo Pasta is a fast casual restaurant that serves Italian food. Fresh pasta with several different sauces, along with soup, salads and paninis.  Figo Pasta is set up like a typical fast casual restaurant, you order at a counter and your food is brought out to your table by a server. The food however is on par with or better than many full service places we've dined at. Figo offers many different types of pasta and several different sauces. You chose whatever type of noodle you want (they also have ravioli with many tasty and inventive fillings) and then select a sauce. You can add meatballs too if you'd like.

After we ordered we were given a brightly colored pepper mill table marker and headed outside to take advantage of what was a truly beautiful day. Our server stopped by and took our drink orders. He returned a short time later with some bread and offered a nice pour of olive oil.

While we waited for our food we sat back to enjoy the day. Adding to the ambiance were the people a couple of tables away speaking Italian and enjoying their lunch of pasta and paninis.

Lunch started with a crostini appetizer: goat cheese, caramelized onions and apricots spread on toasted ciabatta bread.

For entrees we had the tagliatelle with ragu of lamb and kalamata olives and the pappardelle with the amatriciana sauce. Both entrees were excellent, perfectly al dente pasta with just the right amount of sauce. One of the better bowls of pasta I've had.

Pappardelle with Amatriciana sauce.

Tagliatelle with ragu of lamb and kalamata olives

 Figo Pasta is a low key, comfortable place that serves really good pasta. Lunch for two ran us about $25 for an app, two entrees and two beverages. Add in friendly, knowledgable staff, a nice location and Figo Pasta is a winner.

 After lunch we walked across the street to CamiCakes Cupcake shop. I'd noticed it on the way to Figo and decided to pop in for a dessert to take home with us. I'm a sucker for cupcakes and these looked amazing.  While the flavors of the cupcakes were delicious, the cake itself was a little dry. I put this down to being over baked just a tad. Next time I'm in the area I'll give CamiCakes another try. Hopefully they'll have the minor cake issues sorted out.

Chocolate Raspberry Almond Cream, Key Lime and Classic Vanilla & Chocolate (L-R)