Grub Notes

Up and Down Lumpkin

originally published June 28, 2006

Life Lessons:The thing about this column is that it provides not just practical advice on where to eat or not, but also life lessons from time to time, and this particular one is “Don’t mock people for their spelling unless you really know what you’re talking about.” At some point, Calientitos became Cali N Tito’s. The pronunciation hasn’t changed, and neither has the product, but if you’re planning on spelling it out, be advised. Bruno Rubio’s new place, in the former K-Bob on Lumpkin Street (1427 S. Lumpkin St., 706-227-9979), is finally open, after the usual sorts of delays restaurants run into, and though the space is much smaller than that of either of his previous eateries, it has the same cockeyed charm. You can eat inside or out, surrounded by crazy colors and innovative/ improvisational decoration. On the patio in front, a wooden boat has been transformed into a fountain/ kiddie table. Inside, flip-flops hang on the walls and packaged food items cover the shelves. A word of warning: if you’re standing by the door, beware of falling cornmeal bags. You’ll recognize much on the menu. What is now “Ricky Saltado” is the traditional Peruvian mix of grilled steak or chicken mixed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, french fries and rice. For $1.75 more, you can get it topped with maduros (fried sweet plantains, big, starchy chunks of sweetness) and two fried eggs, which bind the whole thing together when the yolks are broken to run throughout. The fish taco is made with fried catfish and, while $3 might seem a little steep, it requires two hands and a considerable amount of manipulation to consume, stuffed as it is with lettuce, tomato, red onion, red cabbage, cilantro and sauce. The fish is, in fact, a bit difficult to locate. The taco’s tasty enough, but it’s a bit too crunchy with vegetable matter, and the version Taqueria del Sol (in Atlanta and Decatur) serves is still the gold standard.

The empanadas, on the other hand, are easily one of the best foods in Athens. Skip chicken and go for beef, mixed with onions and spices and encased in the most beautiful pastry shell around, browned just right and inspiring much in the way of worship. Here’s how to describe them: the minute you finish one, you feel the need to be eating another immediately, even if you’re completely full. I literally dreamed of these empanadas while there was nowhere to get them. I thought I might, in retrospect, have overvalued their status in my heart. But they remain absolutely transporting, even without the green sauce they used to come with. There is much else on the menu, including a selection of fruit smoothies in refreshing combinations (papaya-lime was on special recently), but even if there weren’t, there should be celebration that one can eat this food again. Cali N Tito's is open daily for lunch and dinner and charges $2.50 per person if you want to BYOB.

Intimidation? Nah: Athens’ official grad student bar, The Globe (199 N. Lumpkin St., 706-353-4721), has been serving food for a while, but its recent renovation of the upstairs room proved a good excuse for another visit. Painted blue and outfitted in style for World Cup watching action with leather couches and a really fancy plasma-screen TV in an old-fashioned frame, it’s got its own bar, which is intermittently manned. If there’s a soccer game going on and you’re not there to watch it, being an ignorant American, you may head back down the stairs and try to flag someone’s attention. The food is uniformly well done in my experience. The fish 'n' chips is nicely battered (those who work the fryer are unfairly unappreciated in many a kitchen, but I salute you). The Reuben manages not to fall apart despite being made with thin slices of marble rye, perhaps because of the cookstaff’s comprehension of the fact that flavor doesn’t have to equal copiousness in terms of piling ingredients on a sandwich. And the Twin Pines Diner Burger (one for $2.75, two for $4.75; approximately the size of a McDonald’s single hamburger), made with American cheese, mustard, pickle and freshly diced rather than pre-chopped and jarred onions, comes wrapped in tinfoil on a buttered bun. You really do want two. Brave what you think you might be scared of, but set aside a bit more time than the usual quick lunch downtown.

What Up?: The Yellow Kitchen Café (near Oglethorpe House on the UGA campus) now has a website for retailing its truffles at www.classiccitychocolates.com. A franchise of Larry’s Giant Subs has opened in the Home Depot shopping center on Epps Bridge Parkway. OK Coffee, in the little shack next to Wuxtry on College Avenue, is offering fruit smoothies for its decaffeinated customers. Vine Street Café is open on, you guessed it, Vine Street, just off of Peter Street, which itself is off of Oak Street, serving Southern cooking Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays. And Farm 255 downtown is renovating its patio, adding, among other things, an outdoor bar for the lazy, yours truly included.

Hillary Brown Eating and drinking is being merry. Email food@flagpole.com.

Hillary Brown

Eating and drinking is being merry. Email food@flagpole.com.