March is Birthday Season in the Cawthon family. Our daughter Christian’s birthday is March 18; our son John Robert’s birthday is March 31, and our son Preston is dating Joy whose birthday is March 14 also known as “Pie Day”! Since John Robert and Christian live in Atlanta, we decided to make a weekend of celebrating this past weekend! And celebrating in our family means eating!
We started out the weekend of eating…. I mean celebrating… with Christian’s choice of Little Rey located at 1878 Piedmont Ave. NE in Atlanta. This casual dining restaurant has quickly become a favorite of young professionals in the area. Upon arriving at the restaurant, there was a line to order, and Cavin and I appeared to be the “older” ones in the crowd! Menus are available at the door so that orders can be placed at the counter. There’s a self-serve salsa station and beverage station. We’ve eaten at Little Rey’s before, so we are somewhat familiar with the menu. However, it’s always a good idea to listen to what the “regulars” are ordering.
Tacos are a favorite and they offer them “al carbon” or “tradicional”. We like “al carbon”. For you non-Spanish speakers that would be “on the grill”. I chose chicken al carbon and Cavin selected steak al carbon. We also ordered rice and guacamole as side items and of course chips and salsa. With the array of salsas offered on the salsa bar, there’s sure to be one for everyone’s taste and heat level! I love the creamy cilantro ranch on chips, tacos, and anything else that you might come in contact with!
We arrived around 6 pm on Friday night and I believe most of Atlanta’s under-30 population was eating there with us. Some of our kids’ friends joined us for dinner and I think between them, they knew everyone in the restaurant. If you like a fun atmosphere, with a little Mexican food on the side, El Rey is the place for you!
In between dinner and going out for ice cream, we had a unique experience of a hymn sing hosted by Christ Covenant Church. It was held at a school that had been a Methodist church. The architecture of the building was striking and the old sanctuary had great acoustics perfect for an old-fashioned hymn sing. Amazingly, the sanctuary was filled with young Christian adults who came out to sing praises to our Lord. What a great experience this was for two “older adults”!
Once, the hymn sing was over, we continued with our birthday celebration and headed on over to Jeni’s Ice Creams – the Buckhead location. If you are not good at making decisions, you may want to avoid this hip ice cream shop! A few of the alluring flavors are brambleberry crisp, coffee with cream and sugar, brown butter almond brittle, gooey butter cake, caramel pecan sticky buns, or wildberry lavender. I chose the gooey butter cake and coffee with cream and sugar in a waffle cup, and could not have been more satisfied. Since it was “birthday weekend”, I brought candles and we had an impromptu birthday party for Christian right there at Jeni’s!
The last meal of the birthday tour was Sunday brunch! John Robert chose Ria’s Bluebird. Sunday brunch is a favorite meal in Atlanta, and I believe that everyone chose Ria’s on this particular day. We arrived after church and were in for a very long wait. It was so long that one member of our party decided to order her’s to go since she had another commitment. By the time we were finally seated, it was nearing closing time and they were out of biscuits. This was a downer for us as several in our party were craving hot southern biscuits. In our group of 6, there were a variety of items ordered including eggs, skillet potatoes, sourdough bread, sausage, and pancakes. From the looks of the clean plates when we finished, it appeared that everyone was satisfied. Be prepared to wait outside here. In addition, the building is small with limited seating.
Even though I’m not counting Chick Fill A as one of our “official” restaurants on our SAMPLING ATLANTA tour, a trip to Atlanta is not complete without at least one visit. Before leaving on Monday, we swung by Chick Fill A on Howell Mill Road and ended it with a milkshake for John Robert – complete with birthday candles.
All in all, I would say the weekend SAMPLING ATLANTA was one to remember! I hope you enjoyed hearing about it. If you have any suggestions of places to visit, please let us know! We are always up for a road trip as we SAMPLE THE SOUTH… one restaurant at a time!