Atlanta - Hyatt Regency

[davidbdesilva]

Will be coming from Philly to Atlanta and staying at the Hyatt Regency for about 4 days and need some good recommendations for inexpensive to moderate places for dinner (nothing too pricey). Can be ethnic or not and walking distance or short drive from hotel. Btw, how is the restaurant in the Hyatt? Read about Havana Cafe in other post here, any good? Near the Hyatt? Thanks for any and all recommendations!

[Gifted Gourmet]

I rather think you will find the answers to your question right here in this recent thread on eGullet ...

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=34369

Please look it over and then, should you have some specific questions with which we Atlantans can assist you, please feel free to ask! We are a very friendly bunch!!

(care to translate your signature line? it looks tantalizingly delicious!)

Edited March 11, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[davidbdesilva]

Thank you for your help! I greatly appreciate it and look forward to seeing some of your beautiful city! My signature line is taken from Wanda Tornabene's "La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio" which is recipes from Gangivecchio's (a restaurant in Sicily) Sicilian kitchen, a wonderful Sicilian cookbook I recommend and translates as "To nourish ourselves with delicious food turns necessity into ecstasy", how true that is! Thanks again!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thank you for your help! I greatly appreciate it and look forward to seeing some of your beautiful city!

The pleasure will be entirely ours when you post a "review" of your Atlanta experience in the Southeastern section of eG .....

and the sig line is lovely! Thank you for translating it for us!!

[BobL]

Stayed at the Haytt a couple of weeks ago and found a couple of things that you should know if you haven't left yet.

First of all, stay off the streets in the Hotel area. All I ran into were a bunch of panhandlers that wern't happy with a buck. Told me that I insulted them.

Good eats in the Virginia Highland area. Had a friend pick me up and take me there so I don't know what a cab would cost but I ate in two resturants in the area. The first was Manuels Tavern. They had excellent pub style food and a great beer called 606. I hasd a lamb sandwich that was great. the second was an upscale place called Wisteria. I had a crab bisque and aa salad.

Also dined at Mid City Cuisine. Very good but pricey. Our table had A duck breast, rabbit & one of the largest porkchops that I have ever seen.

Nest was a very pricey diner at a southwest style place called Nava in buckland. It was exteremly costly but the bartender made me one of the best Margarita's east of Santa Fe. I had to describe what I wanted but he did it very well. The most remarkable dish that I had was a lobster stuffed soft taco with a chipolte sauce, that was to die for.

Way out was the 5 Seasons Brewing Co. About 7 inhouse brews and a fantastic menu. I had a buffalo quail on a bed of carrots & something else that I don't remember. The cab ride was $35.00 one way. Luckly I was meeting some people and got a ride back to the hotel.

Except for the food court in the Peachtree Center ....NOTHING was cheap.

If interested, though, On International Drive, just across the street the was a very nice Martini & Cigar bar called Dailey's. Very nicew people and good bar snacks. There is a resturant upstairs that I didn't try but is supposed to ver good, but again $$$.

Good luck and stay out of the Parasol Bar unless you want to spend lots.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I'm headed for a week in Atlanta and am wondering what resturant the folks here would recommend, if $ are not an issue

BobL,

Perhaps the people you ate out with took you at your word here in your initial question ...

but I realize that most of your restaurant choices were not inexpensive ... if you are from the D.C. area, the same must hold true as well ... and the restaurant at Dailey's is quite fulfilling mealwise even though you didn't go upstairs to try it ... and not terribly expensive on the occasions I ate there.

Edited March 13, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[BobL]

Very true. I'm used to meals of the not inexpensive variety whe traveling but I did a bit of menu surfing in the area and found most of the pricing around the hotels to be fairly pricey for what the food was. MY friends were probably trying to show off. I did notice an ESPN Zone around the corner but I don't usually frequent those type of places. BTW, I really did enjoy each dining experience. I thought about going upstairs at Daileys but one of the people wanted to take me to Wisteria. Well worth the trip.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here's to hoping that davidbdesilva will read this and make his own, informed choices ... and the way I see it, BobL? the primary thing he will take away from your lengthy comment is more about how expensive Atlanta has become ... what hasn't??

I, for one, hope he has a marvelous experience and returns as a result ... hoping he will avail himself of our information, read the suggestions, and form his own opinion ...

Enjoy Atlanta, David!

[BobL]

David, I hope that the point that I was trying to make, before I got carried away , is that the area around the hotels is very expensive and better deals can be had elsewhere.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Not exactly untrue of many downtown areas, especially if they cater to the conventions which fill them ... Atlanta is just such a case ... we do have a large number of conventions here and the large hotels downtown house them ...

and, if one opts to explore the plethora of our dining opportunities in the outlying areas not too far from downtown, the prices are not always so exorbitant ...

[therese]

Atlanta has lots of excellent food, and lots of educated diners. So why is the food downtown so bad?

Well, because Atlantans don't eat downtown. The only people who eat downtown are the sad out of town captives of downtown's soul-suckingly ugly hotels, too tired and disoriented after a day of seminars and posters and exhibits to make their way to the neighborhoods that surround the immediate downtown, the neighborhoods where people live and eat.

And the quality of the food has nothing to do with the prices. Again, the downtown hotels charge as much as they can get away with.

As for the restaurants BobL got to try, Wisteria and MidCity Cuisine are both very good, upmarket casual. Nava's part of Buckhead Life, very much an expense account (or more money than sense if you're a civilian) sort of place.

Ethnic is where the real bargains are here, but most of it's too far out for visitors to sample. Next time tell your friends you want to eat cheap but good.

[BobL]

Exactly - I really enjoyed mid-town & the Virginia Highlands, though I don't know if these areas are considered as near-by.

What really got me was the panhandlers around the hotels. I've never seen anything like it. The minimum seemed to be $5. Less than that I was insulting the "fellow".

Also, so that I don't sound like too much of a food snob, I also ate at Chec-fil-a (man, I love 'em), Orange Julius, some unknown pizza place in the Peachtree Center (not too bad) and some Cajun fast food place. I love good fast food.

I did try the chicken wings in the downstairs cigar bar whilst puffing on an Anejo. They were very good.

[BobL]

Ooops, that was downstairs at Dailey's.

[therese]

Midtown and Virginia-Highland (no "s" on the end---it's named for the intersection of Virginia and Highland Avenues, nothing to do with hilly terrain) are considered in-town neighborhoods, just outside of the downtown. MidCity Cuisine, despite its name, is a bit far north to be considered Midtown. Other in-town neighborhoods with good restaurants are Inman Park, Grant Park, East Atlanta, Candler Park, Poncey-Highland (Wisteria is officially in Poncey-Highland, as it's south of Ponce de Leon instead of north), Little Five Points.

Oh, and I meant to tell you in my earlier post that your problem with panhandlers is that you gave them anything at all. Give them nothing, refuse to interact in any way (not even a scowl or a glance), and keep walking. Panhandlers are another thing that Atlanta provides especially for our business visitors---they're essentially unknown outside the immediate downtown area, and obviously target out of towners.