Park's Edge

913 bernina avenue ne - atlanta, ga 30307

Park's Edge has a slogan - Inman Park's Best Kept Secret. We had actually never even heard of this place until it came up on Groupon yesterday. The menu looked delicious, they have good ratings online, they serve brunch and the Groupon was pay $15 and get $35 worth of food so we figured 'what do we have to lose?!'

We got there at about 1pm (Saturday) and it was busy, but not crazy. We got seated on the deck in under 5 minutes. Sitting outside is DEFINITELY the way to go. They have big trees overhead, so even in the summer it's highly likely that it's still a nice atmosphere. Our server came to our table immediately. She was extremely friendly and even offered to make us drinks that weren't featured on the menu.

We decided to go with their $10 bottomless mimosas/bellinis. We started with a grapefruit juice/champagne combination (one of the off the menu drink choices). After we finished that carafe, we moved on to the bellinis. They were both good (and VERY strong...which is a plus in our book). The bellinis were definitely our favorite.


Less than 5 minutes after our server dropped off the first carafe she delivered a basket of fresh, melt in your mouth, buttermilk biscuits and strawberry preserves.

We are dying to figure out how they made these! Scrumptious.

The preserves were fresh and not over sugary. They had big chunks of strawberries mixed in. We then decided to order our food. Everything looked amazing so it was hard to choose just two plates. They have french toast, which is one of their signature items, but we were both in a more savory mood so we tried things more on the meaty/salty side.

This is what we finally settled on. You can see both of our plates and the presentation of their food is beautiful.

First up, this is their chilaquiles & fried egg dish. It's almost like a spanish breakfast lasagna layered with shredded chicken, corn tortillas, spicy tomato sauce, sour cream, scallions, and queso freso (this melty, creamy cheese). It was so filling that it could have been split between the two of us. We weren't sure about the corn tortillas (since we prefer flour), but we ended up giving it a try and are so glad that we did!

Second is the crab benedict with smoked salmon. We saw a bunch of people with this on their plate, so we asked them if it was any good. They all were in agreement that this was their favorite thing on the menu....and after eating it we agree. This was amazing. Neither of us enjoys smoked salmon for breakfast usually...like bagel and lox...just not for us. But this was executed perfectly. It's an open faced buttermilk biscuit layered with tender crab meat, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and smoked salmon. The salmon wasn't fishy and the overall combinations of all the flavors was delicious and not heavy at all.

When it came time to pay, we only owed $10 total...so that's an extremely affordable brunch considering we each had bottomless drinks and a full entree. We got back on Groupon and bought another certificate, and we plan to head back very soon.

Kahlua Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Cupcakes

So we love, love, love to bake...well actually, one of us likes to bake & the other one likes to live with someone obsessed with baking. Either way, we thought it might be fun to share some of the delicious recipes that come out of our apartment. You might be thinking that you misread the title of this post...Kahlua Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Cupcakes...how can a cupcake also contain cookie dough? Trust me, we found a way.

We'd been eyeing a cookie dough cupcake recipe we found on one of our favorite blogs, Kevin & Amanda. But there's really no fun in just copying a recipe so we decided to change it up a bit. Another thing to note is that we in no way desire to be 400 pounds any time soon, so we wanted to adapt a recipe to make a small quantity of cupcakes. Speaking of small quantities, we look for ways to do this all the time. One thing we do, in order to satisfy our sweets cravings, is to make up batches of our favorite cookie dough and then scoop them into 1 tbsp. sized balls and freeze them. You just scoop all the dough into the balls, place them on a cookie sheet or glass plate, put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then take them out and put them in a Ziploc quart sized bag. This lets us just pop 2 or 3 in our toaster oven (350 for about 8-10 minutes) whenever we are dying for some cookies...that or we just sneak into the freezer and eat the cookie dough raw...yummmm.

So anyways, we did this about a week ago with some Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough. We decided we wanted THIS to be the inside of our cupcake. So then we tried to think up a good combo and happened to spot our Kahlua flavored coffee...and that is how these delightful cupcakes came to be. If you follow our directions to the tee, yours should come out just as perfect as ours. From start to finish it took under an hour to make them, and we did it all from scratch:

They came out perfect! In the future we will definitely take pictures, step by step, but we honestly didn't know if these would be a disaster, so we didn't think to take pictures. Now while these are beautiful cupcakes to look at, the part that makes these a winner are what is on the inside...

Oh.my.gosh. These had to have been the best cupcakes we have ever tasted. We can't even describe the intensity and perfection of the flavors mixing together in that first bite. What you see is a Kahlua cupcake, filled with Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk cookie dough, topped with a Kahlua frosting and mini chocolate chips. Seriously to die for.

You really should try these! Especially if you like the whole chocolatey, mocha flavor (:


For the cupcakes:
6 tbsp. butter (at room temperature, soft but not melted)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
a shake or two of salt
1/4 cup milk & coffee mixture
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract



For the cookie dough:
Ours actually came from brownies with an adaption on the side of the box for cookies. (Trader Joes) They also sell a similar cookie in a boxed mix from Pillsbury. Or even get creative and make yours from scratch! Make sure it's in 1 tbsp. scoops and that you freeze it at least one day before. The frozen aspect is what keeps it cookie dough while you bake the cupcakes! or else it would just turn into a cookie filled cupcake.

For the frosting:
6 tbsp. butter (at room temperature, soft but not melted)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup powdered sugar
a shake or two of salt1/2 tbsp. coffee
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract



Now for the directions!


Cupcakes
Set your oven to 350 degrees and let it preheat. Place 6-7 cupcake liners in a metal cupcake pan. In a bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until the batter is creamy and smooth and then add in the egg. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir it around a few times to mix it up. Then begin to add these dry ingredients to the sugar, butter and egg while the mixer is on low. Alternate between the dry ingredients and the coffee/milk. Make sure to start with and end with dry ingredients. We brewed the coffee in our keurig on the strongest setting. We then mixed 1/2 coffee, 1/2 milk to get the 1/4 cup. After the mixture is well blended add in the vanilla and mix for another minute or two. Place 3 tbsp. of batter into each liner. This is the perfect amount. Trust us, don't put anymore and don't be generous. The bare 3 tbsp. is PERFECT. Drop a frozen cookie dough ball on the top of each batter cup and press down very slightly. Bake for 16-18 minutes. (We tried 15 at first and it wasn't enough so we would recommend 17...but everyone's ovens are different) One they are finished, let them completely cool before you try and ice them!


Icing
In a bowl using the electric mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and continue to mix until smooth. Mix in the salt, vanilla and coffee and continue with the mixer until it looks well blended. We then take the icing and fill a Ziploc bag, press all the extra air out, and close it. Snip off the end and frost to your heart's delight! Sprinkle with chocolate chips and you're ready to head into Kahlua coma!

Cupcakes and Icing adapted from Kevin & Amanda.

Flying Biscuit

1001 piedmont avenue ne - atlanta, ga 30309

When it comes to breakfast or brunch, all we keep hearing about is Flying Biscuit. So this morning we decided to try it...actually it was about 1pm. The great thing about this restaurant is that they serve breakfast all day long. Now they serve lunch and dinner as well, and from what we could see it looked pretty darn tasty too, but our goal was breakfast, so we stuck to that. Parking is not good at this location. We actually parked over a block away in a public parking lot for $5. We got to the host stand out front and were told it would be a 45 minute wait.

There were 3 of us, and this is something we want to point out. This location of Flying Biscuit is made for couples or parties of 2. It's VERY small inside and quaint, and we loved that about it! But there were 3 or 4 tables of two, who got in, ate and got out before we even got seated...and those people arrived AFTER us. We want to go check out the other 2 locations and see how they are set up, but this is not a restaurant to bring a large party, that's for sure.

We also thought that at 1pm it would be fairly not busy...nope, slammed. We ended up waiting over an hour for a table - all we hoped was that the food made it worth our wait....boy, did it ever...

This was a special of the day...it would be a shame if we went and couldn't get this on a daily basis. We forgot to ask, but this one is definitely a keeper. That's 2 of their famous biscuits, open faced, with two scrambled eggs layered on top. They then smother them with probably the best sausage gravy we have ever had at a breakfast joint. Those potatoes are basically seasoned to perfection - and crispy, not mushy. They are called moon dusted rosemary potatoes. um, yum.

Here we have the piedmont omelet. Three eggs, chicken sausage, crisp turkey bacon, sautéed onions, and cheddar cheese are what's inside. It was juicy and you could definitely taste each distinct flavor. They also give you one of their flying biscuits and their famous homemade cranberry apple butter. The winner in this picture are those grits. 2 of the 3 people at our table did not like grits...until they had these...their official name is creamy, dreamy grits. They are all of those things. Never ever have we experienced grits like this. Mind blowingly rich, with no clumps or lumps and with outstanding flavor. These are the one thing you must always order at Flying Biscuit.

Last we had a hollywood omelet. It's made from egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, and white cheddar cheese and served with a warm tomato coulis, or salsa. The most expensive of the three, at about $10.50 for everything you see here, but by far the healthiest of the meals. The fruit was very fresh and the omelet was light and not greasy.


You definitely get your money's worth, both in quality and quantity. We left feeling satisfied, not nauseated, which can happen when you eat large breakfasts. The other awesome thing we want to quickly mention is that all of their offerings are fresh and they have a lot of organic options and menu items for special dietary needs, like vegan and vegetarian. All in all, this was a great place for breakfast and we recommend it to anyone, especially if you're going in a group of 2. We think this last picture pretty sums it up.

Fox Brothers BBQ

1238 dekalb avenue ne - atlanta, ga 30307

We hope you are ready to be seduced by photographs...no, not like that...but these pictures will probably make you want to drop what you are doing and head over to Fox Brothers BBQ.

We are obsessed with bbq. One of the main things we've been focusing on lately was trying to track down the best bbq in atlanta. We've had a lot of suggestions and mixed reviews, but everyone seemed to be in agreement when they would talk about Fox Brothers.

We finally decided that we should give it a try and see if it lived up to all of the hype. We've tried an enormous amount of bbq, in many different states, and this is the best we've had, hands down. Now, we're still up for trying more bbq joints around town to see if someone can impress us more than Fox Brothers, but up to this point in both of our lifetimes, we've never had better than this.

So we headed to the little restaurant last Saturday night around 6:30pm. It was storming and nasty out and we couldn't get decent pictures, so the posted pictures are actually from yesterday, 5 days later, because it was so good that we had to go back for more.

We waited about 45 minutes to get seated. We spent that time drinking two cocktails from their full service bar and chatting in the bar area. They have a generous offering of beers, both on tap and bottled, wine and liquor. Another thing we want to point out: if it's bad weather outside plan for a long wait. One third of their seating is on the patio, so if that area isn't being used it takes a lot longer.

When we finally got seated we asked for a full order of their fried pickle chips and sweet tea. The service is great and the appetizer and drinks came out almost immediately. We'll get into more detail about the food in the pictures below, but we ended up ordering both the pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, brunswick stew and macaroni and cheese and just split all of it.

We tried to find something wrong with the food, but neither of us had any complaints. We were in complete agreement that every single thing we ate was amazing. Some places, especially southern or bbq food, boast delicious meats and main dishes, but fall short when it comes to the sides - not Fox Brothers. The sides were just as phenomenal as the sandwiches. It's not too expensive, about $8 for a sandwich and side, and they give you a ton of food. We took half of it home because we were so full. So that was pretty much our first experience.

...and then we decided to go back. As you can see from the pictures, it's a quaint little free standing building. They have great, random decorating inside and a nice patio area outside. It's definitely casual. We sat on the patio for the second go around. We also wanted to order the most outstanding items a second time so we could get some photos, but we tried some new things as well.

We couldn't pass up the fried pickles. Best. Fried. Pickles. Ever. They serve them with a buttermilk ranch dressing and they've been piping hot both times we ordered them. This is a half order. We ordered the full order the first time and it was A LOT of food. The half order can easily work as an appetizer for three people. We heard about these before we came to visit, and the word on the street was definitely true: these are a must when you come to Fox Brothers.

Now this is the pulled pork sandwich...the kids size. Yes, the second time we ordered kid's meals, which includes huge sandwiches and half a side. Half a side is plenty for most people. We were still stuffed after our meal. There's a picture below of one whole meal so you can get an idea of how much food they give you in just the kid's meal. The pulled pork was so tender and had amazing flavor all on it's own. They have their special bbq sauce on all of the tables, so you can slather it on to your personal liking.

This is the macaroni and cheese. We are so picky when it comes to mac and cheese. Most places just don't do it right. It's mushy or bland and just kinda blah. Not this one. There must be a sinful amount of cheese and cream in this recipe. It is so gooey and flavorful - it almost melts in your mouth. We are determined to learn how to make this on our own. Definitely a winner in the sides category.

These are their tater tots. Crispy, not mushy and they have this secret seasoning on them that's almost addictive.

Now this was the winner. We were told the chopped brisket was better than the sliced..and boy are we glad that we listened. This brisket blew our minds. It is by far the moistest, juiciest brisket we have ever eaten. The burnt ends mixed in give it this deep smokey flavor and we honestly felt no need to even put bbq sauce on it. Of all the items we tried, the brisket was outstanding.

These beans are delightful. Not runny and not too sweet. They have a kick to them, a little spiciness...actually, we noticed all of their food does. But it's not overbearing.

Here is a full kid's meal. It was plenty of food, especially with our sweet teas and fried pickles.

We have nothing but positive things to say about Fox Brothers. I mean, we did go twice in 6 days so that says something. We'll definitely be back, probably to try their frito pie or fried ribs, two other items they are known for. So if you have a hankering for some delicious, authentic, Texas style bbq, Fox Brothers will definitely hit the spot.

Shoe Land

3267 buford hwy ne #740 - atlanta, ga 30329

The combination of freezing weather and almost constant rain this past month really set us back on our Atlanta adventuring. We're officially back on track though, so get ready for some pretty amazing posts in the next few weeks.

So this post is on a place called Shoe Land. I know when we say that people think we are talking about a destination...a magical land of abundant shoes...and well, we are. Now it's not the classiest looking place, but as you can see above, their shoes are crazy cheap.

They have about 6-8 aisles that look like the picture above - shoes basically stacked from the floor to the ceiling. The sign out front is not lying to you. We have purchased shoes for as little as $4 and the most expensive was about $27. Now they have an entire aisle for boots. The boots are the only shoes we have ever seen over $20. These include everything from thigh highs to winter boots to sexy booties for going out.

They have evening wear shoes, open and closed toed heels, flats, sandals, men's, children's, you name it...and we kid you not, they are all less than $30. Now, we have a serious complex about spending money on shoes. We have too often been out at a bar and some sloppy girl decides to pour her ungodly, red, sex on the beach all over our feet. We can't be having that happen on $250 heels...and so we have Shoe Land. This place has allowed us to purchase massive amounts of affordable shoes that we're ok with wearing out, even if a shoe disaster happens to strike. Now most of you are thinking that these shoes must be ugly as hell...we have received more compliments on our shoes from Shoe Land than any other shoes we own. Still skeptical? Allow us to show you.

Um, pretty obsessed with these...the most expensive pair we have purchased: $23.99.

Gray platform pumps. Simple. Versatile. $14.99. Yep.

What you are about to see is what makes us obsessed with this store. These blue heels first caught our eye.

They are perfect and a completely impractical color, but at $17.99, who cares?

And then we decided, why stop at one pair? Did we really buy these in 4 colors? Why, yes we did.

Champagne perfection.

The lighting makes it hard to tell, but these are actually gray. In persona, the champagne ones have almost a pinkish blush tone to them and these are straight gray.

And it was only natural to buy black ones as well.

So the bottom line is, if you want amazing shoes at extremely low prices, you should probably head over to Shoe Land. We aren't saying that every pair will be as amazing as our top picks above, but if you stop in every so often, you're bound to find some awesome steals.