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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tales of Tails? My Top Five Weirdest Things to Eat In Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HE SMOKES, HE DRINKS, HE EATS WEIRD THINGS. DO YOU EAT LIKE ANTHONY BOURDAIN?
Photo: Louie Favorite/AJC
The gooey responses from the blog on Monday about finding horrific things in your food really brought out the Tony Bourdain in me.
Mr. Bourdain spends a lot time carousing and drinking while finding some of the weirdest, uckiest thing to eat on the planet on his Travel Channel show, No Reservations. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to eat the fried grasshoppers (called chapulines, they taste a little like crunchy, hairy peanuts and show up every now and then at Tierra).
Bizarre foods in Atlanta? Here’s my list:
1) Sea cucumber at Nam Chun Hong: Is it a plant? No. Prized by the Chinese as a delicacy, this weird little creature that basically does nothing but slurp up scum from the bottom of the ocean takes some getting used to. Sliced and swimming in a salty sauce, the texture and flavor give you the feeling that Mr. Sea Cuke might actually still be alive.
2) Jellyfish at Hong Kong Gourmet: Perhaps more of a treat for the Japanese in the form of sunomono (pickles), this little goodie is served up at this Chinese restaurant in a mound of glory with what tastes like rice wine vinegar, soy and a bit of vinegar. The look? A little like flat rice noodles. The taste? Salted air. The texture? Rubber band, man.
3) Hong Kong offers frog six ways to Sunday, but if you want just the meatier portion of legs, you’re not going to get them, even if the menu says you are. Here, they serve the whole frog —- chopped up —- which means you’ll be picking through a lot of cartilage in your stir fry flavored with bean sprouts. The dish is a mellow blend of garlic and leek flavor, with shreds of fresh ginger (and yes, frog does taste pretty much like chicken).
4) Happy Valley has the best chicken feet of most of the Chinese spots that offer dim sum in the area. The feet have more meat and lack the characteristically sinewy texture of most. They’re braised and gooed up with a black bean sauce that tastes like a crazy cross of hoisin, black bean and barbecue.
5) The souse at Holeman & Finch Public House, even tho it’s not always available. This isn’t the gelatinous, head-cheesy mess pig’s head usually ends up as —- this is tender meat boiled with a seasoned broth, then mixed with capers and house-made mustard and a bit of hard boiled egg and topped with bread crumbs from the house-made hamburger buns.
So get your Bourdain on: what/where’s your favorite bizarre food experience?
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