Fish Taco Friday

Here is a first for Meatetarian Eats: A post without a photo of the food. This, y'all, is why 99 percent of the time I have a camera with me.

Friday just happened to be one of those 1 percent days when I didn't, and oh, does it pain me now!

I was en route to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit my "baby" brother, Barret. He's about to graduate from the Medical University of South Carolina as a pharmacist, and will make approximately WAY MORE money than his older, wiser, shorter sister ever will. I had planned out exactly where I wanted to eat and to a certain extent, what I'd order when I got there.

But those plans went the route of epic fail as soon as I got on the road Friday. In case you live in a rock (or just don't live in Georgia), Labor Day weekend 2015 was the weekend that a million extra people decided to come into our state capital for Dragon Con, Georgia Tech football, Atlanta Falcons football, Georgia State football, Atlanta Black Pride Weekend, Vice President Joe Biden ... and that's just the ones I can remember. It was a shitshow and getting out of Atlanta was just as bad as getting in. After spending an extra hour on the road to Evans, I decided to take an evening pit stop and spend the night there instead of go another three hours.

Photo from BirdDog Grille

Long story short, this pit stop brought Aunt Robbie (you'll remember her from our visit to De Novo) and I to a relatively new place in town, BirdDog Grille. I'd heard mixed reviews about it, but it was someplace neither of us had been. We figured what the heck, at least we'll get a good beer out of it if nothing else. This was the point where I decided to leave my camera at her house. Such a bad decision.

I don't know what on Earth these people ate who didn't like it, but we had experiences 180 degrees separate from each other. This place is a great little gem for Columbia County!

After much laboring over the extensive menu (there are wraps, burgers, dogs, paninis, sandwiches), I narrowed it down to the Peanutbutter Bacon Burger and the Dirty Bird wrap. Then when the waiter arrived to take our order, I did the natural thing and absconded the regular menu for the fish taco special.

I wasn't expecting much. Fish tacos from affordable restaurants are notorious for being the smaller tortillas with three bites (or a tee-tiny fillet) of fried fish with like, three dashes of cheese, a massive handful of iceberg lettuce and a generally amazing salsa of some sort. So when it came to the table, BirdDog's fish tacos exceeded all expectations.

First off, I got not one ... but TWO massive tacos. These were the big kahuna eight-inch flour tortillas, crisped nice and folded over grilled fish fillets. I'm not sure what kind of fish it was, but there appeared to be a lot of mahi mahi on the menu, so I'll assume it was that (still working on eating enough fish to be able to tell the difference between them).

They had lettuce, yes, but not enough to overpower your bites. They had fresh tomatoes, sliced in half so you could clearly see how bright red and sweet they were. And oddly enough, shredded cheddar cheese that was melting on top of the grilled fish. I don't like cheddar - it tends to have almost a mealy quality when it's not melty enough - but the cooks fixed this one up right.

The best part about these fish tacos, aside from the sheer size of them, was the sauce. It was white, creamy and spicy, almost a riff on a tarter sauce. I know from other items on the menu that there's a special BirdDog Sauce, but I'm not sure that this was it. Clearly I should have called the restaurant to address these questions before writing. Hindsight, guys.

Anyway, the sauce was so good. It was the perfect amount, too: just enough to add flavor to every bite and still seep out of the back of the taco all over my fingers. Not to steal the thunder from a certain fast-food chain, but that was finger-lickin' good. Sauce remnants that I didn't lick off my phalanges landed on the plate, so I got to dip my homemade chips in there, too. The chips were great texture-wise, though I did have to add a sprinkle of salt on top. Aunt Robbie had the BLT with avocado added, which was good (although not quite up to par with the one I ate at Folk Art).

I was so surprised when I dashed inside that though the patio (did I mention that we have a place in Evans with a patio now?!) was full, there was hardly anyone inside. On a Friday night! I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with my home county that there's a 45-minute wait at the two Applebee's, but not even the hint of a line at this place that has good food, a freakin' patio and is owned by a guy who graduated from Lakeside High School. We don't get that opportunity very often to support a local kid (term used loosely) opening a good restaurant that's not part of a chain.

Did I mention the patio yet? Having a patio also means that there's a chance to hear great music by Augusta-area talent. On Friday it was Bethany & the Southside Boys. I must say, there are few better ways to enjoy a fish taco than on a patio during a warm late summer night, drinking a cold beer and hearing the raspy, soulful sound of this crooning band reminiscent of Joss Stone and Janis Joplin.

Worth the pit stop.

Folk'n Good Food

Do you live near or in Atlanta, and have no dinner plans tonight?

Cool, because I've got somewhere for you to be. It's one of my new favorite places in Atlanta, and there's some dang good company who'd agree with me. Namely, Guy Fieri.

Yes, Guy Fieri of the first-ever Food Network Star winning, bleached tips, Triple D fame. He likes Folk Art, too. So much so, in fact, that if you show up at the restaurant tonight (that's July 31, to those of you who are coming late to our party) you get to see first-hand what he thinks of this joint. Folk Art is hosting a viewing party with half-price drinks and featured entrees so everyone who comes in can watch Guy eat on the big screen! You can also watch it from the comfort of your couch tonight and over the weekend, but if given the chance to enjoy it with a room full of strangers who love good food and the Inman Park neighborhood ... why wouldn't you come in person to support the restaurant?!

Let me give you a hint of what you'll be in store for.

First off, you walk up to this place and you're immediately accosted by charm. There are mid-century brand signs up all over the place, retro tiles, a drugstore counter-style bar and a patio. Good music. Good service. Even better food.

As you can gather from the headline of this food memoir, I am not the world's biggest fan of vegetables. I would much prefer to have a nice, juicy cheeseburger with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, etc. than be faced with a plate of steak salad. Thus, none was more surprised than I when I ordered the A.B.L.T. off the Folk Art menu at brunch last weekend.

The A.B.L.T. features applewood-smoked bacon, tomatoes, mixed greens and a mustard seed mayonnaise between two slices of buttered, toasted white bread. Addition of hashbrowns and pickles optional.

Yep. That beautiful sandwich is heaping with ripe, red slices of sweet tomatoes and a colorful mix of crunchy lettuces. It could be described as a salad served between two slices of bread. Oh, and how mouthwatering it was!

That "A" in front stands for applewood, as in applewood-smoked bacon. Four thick slices of bacon with a crisp edge and a subtle sweetness imparted from the wood chips they were smoked in. This was perfect bacon, the fatty edges a little bit chewy still, and the tad of grease that when mixed with the mustard seed mayonnaise spread on the bread ... y'all. This is how to make a BLT. And did I mention that this is served on good ol' white bread? There's just something about toasted, lightly buttered white bread that makes a sandwich full of vegetables so much more appetizing. On second thought, that's probably because even lettuce is good when it's dipped in butter.

To up the ante of a BLT (even though there ain't much more upping you could do to this one!), you can do what I did and completely misread the menu.

On the breakfast menu, at 8 a.m. on a Sunday when you're starving and you don't want bacon and eggs, you can occasionally read an item description and incorrectly infer that what is the side item is, in fact, served on the sandwich. I was pretty pumped about the thought of adding some crunch to a BLT with the addition of hashbrowns, so when I found out they were served on the side, I did what every other hungry 26-year-old meat-and-cheese-and-bread-loving food writer person does and forked the hashbrowns (and housemade pickles) on top of my lettuce sandwich.

Guy Fieri's face on the outside
placard invites Atlanta in

But don't despair if you're not weird and don't find BLTs topped with hashbrowns to be an appetizing breakfast. Folk Art has all the normal things, like bacon dipped in pancake batter and then deep fried. Yeah, y'all read that right.

I reckon you've read enough - it's time to shut down your computer and hop on over to this Inman Park place to watch this folk'n good food (it's their motto; I only wish I could've made it up!) get its 15 seconds of fame tonight, which I have no doubt will be the beginning of much more recognition in the Atlanta area. Party starts at 9!

P.S. I'll be the one in the back chowing down on whatever the heck collard green cole slaw is ... on top of a pork sandwich, of course.