Monterey - for Mexican food

There is a small Mexican restaurant close to where we live on Holcomb Bridge Road (off 7a on the GA 400). Our baby sitter has mentioned a few times that she frequents the place. I personally travel quite a bit to Mexico and I have become spoiled... my standards for Mexican food is extremely high.

Last week my wife (who loves guacamole) forced me to try this place. I have to say that I was positively surprised. The service was definitely authentic. They had a number of Mexican biers in stock and the menu was a bit broader than the usual quesadilla, taco and burrito. I am yet to find a restaurant in the states that would serve nopales (fried cactus... I love it!) or have a bit more variety in hot sauces than the usual salsa with chips and Tabasco.

I am flying to Mexico City on business next week again... Angus, Fishers, etc. Lovely! But if you ever get a craving for Mexican and you cannot wait to get the real deal then this is pretty close.

Ashville and Biltmore Estate

Between Christmas and New Years my wife and I toke a few days vacation and left the kids with my in laws. We drove almost five hours in the rain to Ashville to visit the Biltmore Estate. On the way we toke the scenic route and visited some of small towns on the way. The Steakhouse Cafe in Valhalla was a prime example of a nice home cooked meal... but there were no steaks on the menu. The town at Chimney Rock reminded me a bit of Helen. It was a tourist trap, but done in a nice rustic way. High rising cliffs on both sides and a river flowing through the gorge. It was too rainy to see anything from the rock itself so we did not go up.

Ashville itself is a small town on a hill in the center of a valley. During the civil war it was a gun battery that kept check on the whole valley. Since the war a number of billionaires, for some reason, decided to build huge mansions, hotels and shopping arcades in the town. We spent the following day just walking around the town. Beautiful and different from the usual affair. The tourist byro has mapped out a route to take when walking with small statues, horse shoes and architecture. The stuff worth seeing could be counted with the fingers in one hand, but still a very nice walk. The old Catholic church was probably the most interesting site for me personally.

Now to Biltmore! Wow, wow and wow! The Vanderbilt's had crazy money. At a time when most people did not have electrical lights, indoor plumbing or refrigerators, well the Vanderbilt's had lights in their swimming pool, 24 bathrooms for their maids and multiple refrigerated rooms. I can just imagine those people living like the Russian Tsars prior to their downfall. It is impossible to image how they could have lost such and immense wealth in such a relatively short time.

I wont go into explaining each room and all there was to see... you will just have to go and see it for yourself.

Kyma - a taste of Greece in Atlanta

Last week I dined at Kyma... it was my wife's birthday and she got to choose. Don't get me wrong, I love Greek food, but somehow the facade of the place had never really appealed to me. Shiny surfaces and expensive looking... not very welcoming.

Inside the decoration was more comfortable and most waiters, if not Greek, were Mediterranean. Three quarters of the menu was fish, which again is not a bad thing, but if you were looking for Moussaka, then you would have been out of luck.

We ordered a three course meal for two with spreads, four appetizers and a main dish. The presentation and the food was superb. At the end I was surprised when only one small main course dish was brought out to be shared. If you add up prices from the list $39 per person would have been a really sweet deal, but still.

If you are in Atlanta and looking for Greek food prepared to perfection, then I recommend Kyma. However, the overall experience wasn't memorable enough for me that I would go again any time soon.