Tag: Chinese Buddha (Atlanta Restaurant)

Weekend with The Folks (Hers): Aquarium, Antiques & Buddha! + Derby

First off, hooray for Chinese Buddha reopening. A favorite of ours, this Chinese restaurant had been closed for months, after forced to relocate to a new venue. Time went by, with its opening continually pushed back. Questions arose, would we ever have the good food we craved, how much tackiness would remain, would this picture be hanging in the foyer like in the original?


The answer are yes, not much and no.

Yes, the food is back, they reopened on Sunday. We got dishes that we had before the restaurant’s closing, and there was no difference. You can tell new waitstaff is finding their pace. One thing new thing… white people as waiters. One person missing, our favorite cranky waiter.

Tacky, no. The restaurant is beautiful, a bit too much so for my taste. We heard other patrons commenting about the nice digs, and wondering if the Mick “Ick” Jagger picture would return. I doubt he and friends will be appearing in public again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our first visit to Buddha was just us, our second (of the week) was with my in-laws. They liked it very much as well. While there, a hellacious rain storm swept away the blues skies. Before Buddha, we took the ‘rents to the Dekalb Farmers Market. It took awhile for them to overcome being overwhelmed, but then the shopping commenced.

Dinner was followed by a trip to the Aquarium. Special late-night hours made the visit great. Fewer people, much fewer kids and adult drinks. Again, in-laws were pleased.

Next day, we hit the Scott Antiques Market. The 2 massive complexes house loads of dealers, but few bargains, and we left spending money only on some cheap hot dogs and ice cream. A trip to Trader Joe’s was made and dinner at 6 Feet Under made everyone fat and happy.

And now that they have left, I will be doing derby tonight, the Denim Demons vs. Sake Tuyas.

LA's Got Nothing on ATL: Except for Hollywood…

This post has the added bonus of my sweet wife ghost-writing. In other words, I couldn’t remember all the things we did so she added what I forgot…

Last week, some of my wife’s friends from LA came to town and left impressed with Atlanta. Even though we don’t have the movie glamor of Hollywood, think about it. That would just mean Lindsay Lohan snorting coke at the Earl and running people off the road on Ponce.

We started with the “Maltese Falcon” at the Fox, following a tasty-as-always dinner at Chinese Buddha. A double-feature with “Key Largo,” we left after the first movie and headed to Cafe Intermezzo, fulfilling our guests’ desire for an excellent hot chocolate. Unfortunately I had to work during their second day in the city, but my wife showed them around Midtown and Decatur, introducing Dawn to the wonders of the Radial Cafe and Victory Vintage, and ending the day with true Southern hospitality (and blue hair) at The Colonnade.

Their last day was spent cruising the city: breakfast at the Silver Skillet, followed by Atlantic Station, Castleberry Hill, Little Five Points, East Atlanta, and Piedmont Park (and even a brief detour through Buckhead, just to show them why it’s so wrong). After a little break it was dinner at the always-unique Dante’s Down The Hatch. Boiling in oil your own dinner in a pirate-ship. They don’t have anything like that in Los Angeles. At least not that they knew of. They’d also never heard of feta-cheese-and-pine-nut ice cream, until a post-dinner dessert run to Muriel & Sebastian’s Ice Cream (Dan and the wife swear it’s much better than it sounds, but Dawn and I are chocolate purists and refuse to believe them).

While Dan wasn’t able to get the absinthe I was itching for, he did get me a related gift. Yet to try it, will report if I go crazy.

Sunday, me and the missus hit the Tabernacle to see Muse. Fantastic show, with a great sound mix that had everything sounding pretty much like the album. Since the album is pretty well produced, it was nice to see a performance that sounded as good as it looked. I wish I had a better view, but seeing that it was a packed show I’m not complaining. City Savvy Girl posted a review on Confessions of a Music Addict, complete with horrible pun in title.

And prior to all this, I had an interview at the High Museum of Art for on-call art installation work. It would be working with pieces from the Louvre as part of an exclusive loan agreement. I’m hoping that my work with the Guggenheim and its similar arrangement with the Hermitage will work to my advantage.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Somewhat related links:

The “Fabulous Fox Theatre” in Atlanta, Georgia, a tribute web site

Louvre Museum going American

The Porn that Lives in the Hallway & Yadda Yadda

With my wife’s mom getting married for the third time, I have the apartment to myself until she returns. This mean reverting back to bachelor ways like eating Chinese takeout from Chinese Buddha and peanut-butter and potato-chip sandwiches (healthy and crunchy!)

But what does it really mean to be alone in the apartment?… watching porn. I see it every day, just waiting for me when I come home from work. But then I go inside my apartment and it stays outside. You see, my apartment building’s hallways have been a strange repository of things. The coffee maker and fondue set have disappeared, leaving the bread-maker and coffee table to keep each other company. The newest addition was a DVD that appeared a few days ago under an endtable next to our door. Now living next to us, “Suga Bush vol. 5” When ever I come home, miniature pornstars peek at me underneath that little table.

*********************************************************

With my sweetie being away, I’ve got a list of tasks to work on in her absence. $20 in quarters are ready for laundry, which has been neglected because of a busy work schedule on our part. Fortunately, it’s calming down for the both. G-Tech’s spring break is coming up this week and we hope to do a roadtrip at the end of the week. We had hoped to do the trip earlier in the week, but a jury-duty summons ruined those plans. The court system has decided that both of us need to do our duty and I got a summons for April, which had been shaping up to be one of my busiest months work-wise. Now that is all up in the air as well.

*********************************************************

Random link: “Cénotaphe de Newton” a never-built memorial to Newton. A huge,round sphere with holes pierced throughout forming stars and constellations.

Found on BLDGBLOG, a new favorite site.

Parental Fun and Jon Stewart

Tonight ends a 3-day visit with the folks.

Tuesday night: Chinese food at Golden Buddha, yum.
Wednesday: the aquarium = excellent!
Thursday: their visit to the High Museum, they loved it. And our dinner at Dante’s, Dante (the owner) stopped by our table and is even more chatty then my dad.

******************************************

And now for something completely different…

“…I will not rest until every year families gather to spend December 25 together at Osama’s home-abortion commie/pot jizzporium.”

– Dec 7th, 2005. Jon Stewart responding to Bill O”Reilly’s featuring of a 2004 Daily Show clip as proof of the show’s anti-Christmas crusade. Jon returned the favor by offering up himself to Bill as his personal enemy, starting with the Osama quote.

Happy Holidays.