Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hop City Beer & Wine: A Heavenly Beer Store

Oh Hop City, where have you been my whole life??  I stumbled into this gem of a store a few months back. A friend of mine had mentioned their incredible wine selection and reasonable prices.  And he also mentioned they sold beer.  Thankfully this place is not too far from work here in the Brickworks complex off Howell Mill Road on the West End.  So I ran over during my lunch break one day to see what all the “buzz” was about.

When I walked into the place, I swear I could hear angels singing in the background.  It was as if the clouds parted from above and the doors to Hop City opened.  The first thing you see is beer.  Lots of it.  LOTS OF IT.  And NOT that swill that is advertised at sporting events.  They have good beer.  No, they have great beer.  And they have beer you have never heard of, from breweries you have never heard of, in cities you have never heard of.  Hop City is a microbrew lover’s paradise. 

Hop City has a great staff of employees that are very helpful and more than willing to lend a helping hand.  Hop City also does a great job of organizing their offerings.  They break their beer down much like a wine shop does, by beer type:  IPA’s on one aisle, lagers on another, pilsners on yet another, stouts and porters together, and special type beers have their own aisle, etc..  Hop City also has a separate section where all of the high gravity beers are kept.  This makes shopping a breeze.  They also show grades and have profiles on many of the beers.  It makes for a great buying experience.  And the variety…..that is the real difference in this place versus your typical large liquor and beer store.  

For the home brewer, this is the place to come.  Hop City sells all kinds of brewing supplies.  I’ve only tried home brewing a few times with limited success.  But after seeing all of their great looking ingredients and hearing their employees help other patrons with their ingredients, the chef in me wants to give home brewing another shot. 

Of course I am totally ignoring the “& Wine” part of this store’s name.  They do have quite an extensive wine selection.  Unfortunately I’ve always been so distracted with their beer that I never venture over to check out the wines. I’ll make it a point to review the “& Wine” part of the store on my next visit and report on it in a different post.

For my beer needs, Hop City is my store.  Even though you are on my Banned List Blog, Hop City is definitely NOT banned.  Not even close.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Yeah Burger, yeah its a good burger

In the part of town where we work, a number of new restaurants have popped up over the past few years. Thankfully this provides our lunch crew with a great variety of new places to try. And of course, it also gives us good fodder to add new places onto the Banned List. Today's potential victim was Yeah! Burger.

I did not notice until I typed this that the "!" is part of their name. It just seems strange to have to type an exclamation point in the name of a business, particularly in the middle of the name. I am not even sure how to properly pronounce the name. Is it Yeah! like yaaaaaaaaaaaaayy I got an A on my Spanish Test or is it Yeah! like yeeeeeeeaaahhhh, man she is hot?? Either way, its kind of a strange name. But regardless, this place has not been opened too long so we gave it a shot today.

Before I delve into the food, I have to say I am not a huge fan of the traditional "burger". Pattied ground beef, cooked and placed on a bun with condiments just seems kind of boring. A number of burger joints have opened around the area over the past few years. It seems to be a trend catching on. And thankfully I think these restaurateurs have realized its possible to make a burger more interesting than the plain ones we remember from our childhood.  Mr. Blaise has done a fine job of this down the street at Flip.

Yeah! Burger (referred to as Y!B from here on out) can be described as urban minimalist chic. The inside is a combination of rustic lodge wood with high open ceilings in an old renovated warehouse. Their menu allows you to build your own burger: you choose your meat patty (beef, bison, turkey, veggie or chicken), type of bun (white, wheat, gluten free whatever), cheese, toppings of choice, and sauce. The topping selection can be intimidating. People with ADD need not bother coming here. They would never make it past the nitrate free bacon or cage-free fired egg before becoming distracted by the sauce selection.

They offer a number of different side items as well. Fries, onion rings, a 50/50 option (a combo of rings and fries), slaw, and a number bunch of other gluten free, free range selections. The also have hot dogs and salads. The seems criminal to me. Who goes to a burger joint and orders a salad? I hear Yeah! Salad might be opening soon next door and they will offer BBQ. Yet I digress, indeed Y!B has a menu that should satisfy most anyone.

Today, I ordered the turkey burger on whole wheat with swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and Yeah! sauce. I don't think anyone knows what Yeah! sauce is. It looks like a fancy version of the "secret sauce" from All-American Burger from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (For those of you younger folks out there who have never seen the movie, it was Ketchup and Mayo.) But it was indeed pretty tasty. I'm sure ketchup and mayo is somehow involved in the Yeah! Sauce. In addition to my burger I ordered a 50/50 fry/ring side.

Each order arrives on a small sized metal cookie sheet. Its just large enough to hold the food, but small enough that one table could hold all 4 trays at once. Don't try this at your local fast food joint, which can barely hold 2 bulky oversized plastic trays. I like the fact that their trays are made of metal. After all, we work in the metals business! Plus, the metal adds to the minimalist chic atmosphere.

The first thing I always try at places like this are the fries and rings. And unfortunately they came out a bit greasy. I suspect the temperature in their fryer was a tad low which caused the fries and rings to soak up some of the grease. The evidence was apparent after my meal as I had 4 grease-soaked napkins at my table. Don't get me wrong, these fried goodies were tasty and I ate every morsel.

The burger was stacked high and looked great. The patty outsized the bun just slightly, which is always delightful to see. And upon first bite, I was welcomed with a familiar but hard to recognize flavor from the turkey patty. Bite after bite, I struggled putting my finger on this flavor. Then when asking John about his side of slaw, he mentioned this missing flavor: tarragon. Apparently Y!B mixes tarragon into their ground turkey when making their patties. What a delight. It was like going on a jog and ending up running behind a super hot chick for 4 miles. It turns a seemingly boring tiring jog into a delightful run in the park. That is how I felt about this burger. I would have never thought to combine tarragon and turkey into a burger. But the combo worked well.

But as in all of life, not everything is perfect at Y!B. We arrived to see a line running out the door. This is not unusual around here as many places have this during the lunch rush. But once we finally get inside the building, I see the source of the problem: one cashier taking orders. It is definitely not the cashier's fault. In fact, she took orders with remarkable speed and efficiency. If she were not so efficient, I dare say the line would have spilled out into the parking lot. And once your order is placed, the kitchen does get the food out relatively quickly. But Y!B needs to really figure out how to deal with this inherent design flaw. I have a 50-minute rule with restaurants for lunch. You should be able to arrive, place your order, get your food and finish eating in 50 minutes or less. Anything more is too long. After all, we work for a living and have jobs to go back to!! Y!B exceeded this 50-minute rule.

But in spite of taking their game into overtime, Y!B still ended up winning this game. I enjoyed the experience and the food and look forward to my next visit. I can only hope they can address the order process. Restaurants do not live by food alone. Time is valuable. And they need to be mindful of this. For now, Y!B could be part of our regular rotation. But continue to waste your customer's time and you will end up on The Banned List!

Yeah! Burger Westside on Urbanspoon

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Hey Wal-Mart, Check Yourself Out

There has been a disturbing trend developing in retail establishments over the past few years:  the self check out line.  These seemed to start out at places like Kroger and other grocery stores.  But not long thereafter, they showed up at Home Depot, Lowes and Wal-Mart.

I have to admit.  I am not a fan.  I say leave the checkout to the professionals, to those young folks (and not so young folks) who do it every day for a living.  It just takes a lot longer for an individual to check themselves out.  I realize that self-checkout probably saves the retail store some money because they don’t have to employ as many cashiers.  But until they start giving me a discount to check out my own merchandise, I will make sure a professional cashier takes care of my purchases.

And don’t even think about trying to do self checkout with fruits and vegetables.  Good grief!!  You either have to look up the magic code to punch in or select from a bunch of pictures.  By the time you do all that, you could be home eating your salad and fruit medley. 

The one thing that really baffles me about the self checkout option is when the lanes are NOT open.  There is a relatively new Wal-Mart on Howell Mill Road near my office that must have 50 checkout lanes.  They must have built this place expecting all of Atlanta to show up and purchase their electronics, clothes, shoes and groceries at one time.  Anyway, this particular Wal-Mart has about 10 or more self checkout lines.  And they NEVER seem to be open.  Admittedly, when I go to purchase a single item, I will often use the self checkout option.  And for my trips to this particular Wal-Mart, it is usually just that…I usually go to purchase one single item.   So it is very frustrating to see they have these self checkout lanes available but not open.  I just don’t get it.   And to add to the frustration, they usually only have 5 of the 50 cashier lanes open.  So there’s ALWAYS a line. 

Attention Wal-Mart on Howell Mill Road:  If you plan on offering self-checkout as an option for your customers, then make sure these lanes stay OPEN.  

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

6 Feet Under...Or 6 Feet Blunder??

6 Feet Under is a restaurant with a location just off Howell Mill Road on 11th Street in Atlanta.  Their original location is in Grant Park near the Oakland Cemetery.  After yesterday's experience at 6 Feet Under on 11th Street, I feel like its time to publish a new post. I am putting them on the banned list....at least temporarily.

As you might expect, we had fallen into a bit of a rut eating lunch at the same 4 establishments on a regular basis. So we decided to shake it up yesterday and visit 6 Feet Under in Atlanta on 11th Street. We had eaten lunch there previously and it was OK, not great but not bad. But there are a few things about this place that really get under my skin.

Valet parking. Really?? REALLY?? This is basically a glorified fish house with good beer on tap. So why the valet parking? Its not like the friggin' Ritz Carlton. Thankfully I did not drive so it was a minor annoyance. But it is an inherent flaw in this place. I think we can park our own cars.

The other problem with this place is the service. SLOW. VERY SLOW. Yesterday, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd was our server. He was even sporting a Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt. He seemed like a nice enough guy and was fairly attentive. But maybe it was the bong hits between trips to the table that slowed him down. When he finally brought our bill and we paid him, it took forever for him to return with change and receipts. I'm pretty sure I heard "Wish You Were Here" on their soundsystem while we were waiting. And to top it all off, he screwed up the bill and charged me for Carl's lunch and charged Carl for my lunch. Not that it is the end of the world. Carl and I worked it out. But still, dude needs to get it right the first time.

The food is the only thing preventing this place from taking a spot on the permanent banned list. My catfish tacos were good. John had a salad that looked fresh and inviting. And Carl's Shrimp PoBoy looked delicious. At least they have this going for them.

I guess the rest of the world must have plenty of time for lunch. This place is always busy, both at lunch and at dinner. But when you only have an hour to spare for lunch, there's just no way they can get it done that quickly. Maybe we caught them on a bad day but I don't think so. Our previous trip here was also slow. Perhaps its something in the name. Or maybe the ghost of Syd Barret haunts the place. I am not sure. But at least for now, 6 Feet Under on 11th Street is BANNED.

Six Feet Under - Westside on Urbanspoon