8 Overall Rating - The Spence 8/7/12

75 5th Street Northwest
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
(404) 892-9111
http://www.thespenceatl.com/?landing

Dinner with Sabo - yea! It's been far too long, my friend!

The Spence is another hot spot from the Concentrics restaurant group. They've really expanded their portfolio of eateries in the ATL.

They offer a unique menu. You need to be willing to explore and venture outside your normal palate to enjoy their food. I tried, unsuccessfully, with one dish...but at least now I can say I've tried sweetbreads!

Ambiance: 8
Trendy restaurant located on the corner of 5th and Spring St. Of course, the concrete floors made it difficult to hear (as usual for me).

Food Quality: 8
Interesting coconut butter served with butter topped rolls.

The Porcini Noodles, Oxtail, Egg & Truffle dish was delicious!

The Corn Creme Brulee was fantastic too!

The Buffalo Fried Sweetbreads were tasty, but I couldn't get past my first one. I had too many visuals in my head from the texture which made it difficult to continue eating.

The Not So Simple Green Salad had a surprising kick with thinly sliced jalapenos, sliced carrots, radish, and light Greek goddess dressing.

The Corned Lamb Tostadas & Guajillo Salsa were light and balanced just right - the flavors worked great with one another.





For dessert, we had the Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Burnt Banana Ice Cream - it was Uh-Maze-ing (but much too small)! Those little brown specks that you see in the picture were not cocoa dusts either...they were part of the design on the plate!

Service: 9
No issues with service.

Value: 7
Small plates...dessert for $7 (check out the portion size).

9 Overall Rating - Red PrimeSteak in OKC 7/11/12

504 North Broadway
Oklahoma, OK 73103
http://redprimesteak.com/

Ambiance: 8
Very cool ambiance. Open floor plan with neon red accent lights throughout the restaurant.

Food Quality: 9
They offer one of the best prix fixe menus I've ever seen! For $39, you select from each of the following categories, but unlike most prix fixe menus you're offered a really good variety from the main menu.
- appetizer
- entree
- side dish
- dessert

The bread was served with velvety smooth, warm butter which was speckled with salt.

The Chop House Salad was deliciously unique. I would definitely recommend it.

I opted for one of their steaks. What's really amazing about this experience is you get to choose both a crust and a sauce. I decided on the Bleu Cheese Crust and the Brandy Mushroom Sauce. In addition to all of that, every steak is served with roasted garlic cloves (OMG)!!! The mushroom sauce was incredibly delicious! I have to admit that this was one of THE most enjoyable steaks I've ever had.

As my side dish, I chose the Flash Fried Baby Spinach, which I found to be mediocre and greasy.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy my dessert which was the Strawberry/Peach Meringue. I should have listened to our server and ordered the chocolate dessert instead.

Service: 10
Don and Karen are regulars at this restaurant, so the service was superb!

Value: 9
The prix fixe menu is absolutely the way to go. I would give this a 10 rating for value, but if you decided to order off the menu, you should plan to spend some money which is why I rated them a 9 on value instead of 10.

8.5 Overall Rating - Rathbuns 7/2/12

112 Krog Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
404.524.8280
http://www.rathbunsrestaurant.com/dinner-menu.html

Tonight was a very special occasion for us...we get to find out if we're having a girl or boy!

Ambiance: 10
Modern bulding (artsy), perfect warm lighting for enjoying a special dinner with friends or loved ones.

Food Quality: 9
I definitely need to come back when I don't have any food restrictions. So many things were appealing on the menu - smoked proscuitto flatbread with local chevre, caramelized onion, pink peppercorn honey - thin rare beef heart of ribeye smoked salt, truffle mustard aoili...they all sound so yummy!

I didn't care for the aniseed bread. When I saw the warm butter in the dish, I was anxious for the server to walk away so I could devour the bread and butter. But to my disappointment, the bread wasn't warm and I really could've done without the anise.

For starters, we had the french fries with blue cheese fondue. The fries were fine, but the fondue was dee-lishh-shus!! Greg also ordered the eggplant fries. It's probably one of the most unique dishes I've ever had....they were perfectly fried eggplant slices dusted with confectioner's sugar and served with a side of tobasco sauce mixed with confectioners (so they said)....it just tasted like a mouthful of "I bet you can't handle this heat!". The flavors were very interesting....I can't begin to imagine how they created this combo.

Entrees- my thai duck was average. The risotto was cooked fine and the duck was perfectly, but the flavors didn't appeal to me. There was a nice spice finish, but I didn't find this dish to be as good as Bluepoint's panang duck dish.

Charred corn and gouda was deliciously filling. It's definitely best when eaten with a spoon instead of a fork to get more gouda cream sauce with each bite.
The edamame potstickers were quite good. The soy sauce was exceptionally good. The potstickers were cooked just right to crisp the outside, yet leaving a little tenderness in the dumpling.
The salmon tostadas tasted just like bagel, lox and schmear.

Service: 7
I couldn't indulge in alcohol, but our server was quick to offer any non-alcohol mix from the bar. They whipped up a fruit cocktail for me and boy, was it yummy, sweet and refreshing!
Greg had a housemade lemonade - it was a bit too tart.
Service delivery was great, but clearing the table was poorly executed. Throughout the entire dinner service up through dessert, only one appetizer plate was cleared, leaving two empty bread and butter plates, two empty glasses, one empty side dish and half eaten fries on the table.

Value: 7
Desserts $3.95 great value!

5 Overall Rating - Rosebud 5/24/12

1397 N Highland Avenue Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30306
(404) 347-9747
http://www.rosebudatlanta.com/

Dinner with Michelle and Jim

Ambiance: 7

Food Quality: 5
We ate at 6PM on a Saturday night. It was disappointing to find that they were out of two appetizers, two desserts and I think one entree so early in the evening.

Michelle and Jim's Housemade Pimento Cheese appetizer was pretty good. It had a surprising kick, so get ready for it.

Greg and I started with the potato skins which were stuffed with mushrooms and cheese. While it was an interesting combination, I still prefer the standard skins.

For an entree, I had their signature fried chicken dish. The green beans were slightly overcooked, but they were seasoned well. My fried chicken was more like a country fried steak, covered with gravy served on top of mashed potatoes. I found the dish to be mediocre, at best. Greg didn't care much for his Coffee Braised Lamb Shank. He complained of the lamb tasting too gamey.

For dessert, we shared the Mexican Coca-Cola Cake. It was good, but again, nothing fantastic.

Service: 6
Our server had a little attitude when we teased about being out of so many items.

Value: 4
Both appetizers ended up on my bill. We were in a hurry, so I didn't raise the issue to our server. For the quality, the price wasn't worth it.