Ria's Bluebird Cafe (ATL)

Ria's Bluebird Cafe came highly recommended from a former news pal of mine, so LaShauna & I headed over on a sunny Sunday morning to the Grant Park section of Atlanta, expecting a bit of a wait.
Fun fact: Grant Park is one of Atlanta's oldest residential neighborhoods. If you do have to wait for a seat at Ria's, enjoy the bungalows and cottages and Victorian houses in the area, or walk after your brunch later!

We must have arrived at the perfect moment, because we only waited about 15 minutes for an indoor table. The friendly hostess and servers were welcoming and helpful, which was nice, considering I was totally expecting a bit of pretension and hipster attitude. Nope!

I ordered a café au lait to start-- I like a good, strong cup of coffee anytime (before 4pm).

Shrimp & grits 

LaShauna ordered the shrimp & grits, and graciously shared some. This Yankee is coming around to grits-- as long as they've got some cheese in them! What a delicious dish- and not too heavy or clunky.

I'd surveyed the menu the night before (as I often do) and knew exactly what I was getting: brisket with poached eggs.
Our friend and fellow newsie, Brooks, said Ria's pancakes were worth the trip alone. (Confession: we ate it before I took a picture. It was that good). While I need to start the day with something savory, I sure don't mind sharing a pancake with a good friend. These pancakes really were spectacular. Sweet, tangy, and I slathered them with the ruby-red raspberry jam they gave us at the table.

Poached eggs & brisket-- yum!

Rich, ruby, raspberry preserves!

Who needs syrup when you have a gorgeous, jewel-toned condiment like this?

Thanks, Brooks, for the excellent recommendation! Ria's was fantastic-- and it would have been worth waiting for, too.

Ria's Bluebird
421 Memorial Dr SE
Atlanta, GA 30312
(404) 521-3737

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Atlanta: The Flying Biscuit Cafe

Ahh, crowdsourcing-- often a great way to narrow down your options when visiting another city. Flying Biscuit Cafe came highly recommended--tying with Thumbs Up Diner for number of votes.

It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel, so LaShauna & I met up with a fellow bridesmaid for some serious breakfast time. That spot normally has a line out the door, but we got there early (does EVERYONE in Atlanta sleep late?) and sat immediately.

We started with drinks-- coffee for me (again, not great), and a Midtown rainbow for the other two ladies. A Midtown rainbow is champagne with watermelon juice and fresh fruit. And there was a LOT of fresh fruit in those drinks-- nice!

I caved later and had a mangomosa-- a spin on the mimosa, but with mango nectar instead of peach. Deeeeelicious! And huge! I am a pansy with carbonation, though-- I couldn't finish this.

The menu is a bit overwhelming-- so many options! I finally settled on the breakfast burrito, which came with scrambled eggs, onions,peppers, hot tomato salsa and sour cream over the whole delicious mess. A biscuit and their famous 'creamy, dreamy grits' came as well. I'm not a grits person (on account of the actual grittiness), but shut my MOUTH these were good grits. Probably made with heavy cream and other horribly delicious ingredients-- but I don't CARE. Those grits are GOOD. Damn good. They were almost like rice pudding, with a salty tang to them. More, please!

(Angela is a grits connoisseur and she did not care for them. LaShauna & I agreed to disagree with her ;)

I also got a half order of their French toast, as the menu promised raspberry sauce and creme anglais. Done. And it was sensational. Woo! I don't normally go for sweet for breakfast, but this was really, really, really good.

The biscuit at Flying Biscuit cafe was just okay to me. It felt more like a roll or a scone, even. They come with their signature apple butter, which was insanely good, but I prefer a nice slab of salted butter on my biscuits, not sweet stuff. I would, however, enjoy that apple butter on some toast, or as a fruit dip, or frankly, by the spoonful.

The ladies each got scrambled eggs-- regular for LaShauna, and salmon for Angela. The salmon pieces were not nearly as plentiful as Angela would have liked (and my salmon eggs later that week at Thumbs Up were chock FULL of fish!).

The Flying Biscuit ended up being one of my favorite meals that week. Great food, atmosphere and service, and I would come back just for a bowl of those grits. That's right-- this sworn Yankee would go back there FOR GRITS.

They have lots of locations in Atlanta (and one in FL)! Try the grits, and get back to me... are you in Camp Angela or Camp LKP & LaShauna??

The Flying Biscuit Cafe

1001 Piedmont Ave.

Atlanta, GA 30309

(404) 874-8887

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Atlanta: Highland Bakery

The Highland Bakery is just steps from the hotel where we stayed in Atlanta. I heard from some of my Facebook friends that I could get a decent cup of coffee here-- and days later, craving some quality caffeine, this trip was long overdue.

I headed over there to pick up some breakfast sandwiches for ABF & me, as well as COFFEE. Hot, steaming, aromatic, best-part-of-waking-up coffee. Two larges, please. I was so excited, I forgot to take pictures. FORGOT!

It was good coffee, too.

The breakfast sandwiches, though? Mostly meh.

The bagels at this place tasted a bit tough and flat, stale, even. It could just be too different from a good NYC bagel. The 'sausage' is actually turkey sausage (I didn't tell ABF until after he ate it), and it was okay, but two patties was overkill for me.

I ended up taking mine out of the bagel and eating it with a knife and fork, not for lower carb count, but because I just didn't care for the texture.

I also surprised ABF with some mini cinnamon rolls that LOOKED awesome but did not taste awesome. The rolls were thick, clunky, and tasteless, and the icing was that greasy, bland type that, to me, tastes like unsalted butter and nothing else. I would have loved some tangy cream cheese icing on these-- I felt slightly misled!

While our takeout experience was sub-par, I saw a lot of really tempting, well-crafted dishes pass by me while I waited inside the store. I would go back again and try a sit-down experience and order one of their dishes.

Highland Bakery

1180 Peachtree Street NE, Ste-C

Atlanta, GA 30309

404-835-3130

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Atlanta: Thumb's Up Diner

Thumb's (!) Up restaurant came highly recommended by at least 4 people, including my fellow redhead/food blogger Sara (of NYCNOMNOM). Their main claim to fame? They serve breakfast alllll day. I'm in!
Note--The grammar geek in me decided this restaurant clearly means that ONE thumb is up, and I'll leave it at that.
We squeezed in an EARLY breakfast at this cash-only diner, and were able to walk right in and get a booth for the 5 of us.
Don't let the signs on the door scare you off (they warn that the diner is not responsible for anything that happens to your car/possessions while you're there)-- it's not in the fanciest part of town, but we were just fine.
We started with coffee for ABF & me, and a hot chocolate for my friend Angela. The coffee was not so great, which I found to be pretty consistent in Atlanta. My friend who lives in Georgia offered the theory that sweet tea reigns supreme in Hotlanta, so who cares about coffee? (HINT: ABF & I DO!!)

Angela didn't finish her hot chocolate-- I'm not sure if it was too sweet or not sweet enough. But people don't flock here for the cocoa....

Sara heaped her praise upon a dish aptly named The Heap: a skillet filled with eggs, assorted veggies, crispy potatoes, and cheese, cheese cheese. My friend Liz ordered that and it was pretty tasty. I bet the leftovers she took home were even better the next day!

I honestly couldn't make up my mind--there were so many delicious sounding options. After a good 20 min of menu madness, I opted for the Sassy Scramble: 3 scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, cream cheese, onions and 'fresh herbs.' I didn't ask which ones. Turns out they meant dill, and a LOT OF IT. Fresh dill is probably one of my least favorite herbs, but there was so much delicious salmon and tangy cream cheese that I didn't mind. And no way could I finish this, even with ABF's help. Also? Cream cheese in scrambled eggs? BRILLIANT!!!!!

My breakfast came with a choice of bagel, toast, or biscuit. Hello, BISCUIT! Theirs are multi-grain, and they are AWESOME. They taste almost exactly like the ones my very own muthah makes-- they are crunchy on top, fluffy inside, and just so, so, good. These biscuits were much better than the ones we had that same week at Flying Biscuit (review HERE)!

ABF went with the Greek scrambled eggs--black olives, feta cheese, tomatoes and a marvelous mess of scrambled eggs. A bright, tasty mix of flavors.

Angela (who ordered the cocoa) opted for the chicken and waffles (which she also got with scrambled eggs), but it wasn't quite what we all pictured. It's fried chicken strips with the waffle, not whole, bone-in, chicken pieces. She was hoping for a bit more chicken. This dish was tasty, the waffle looked fresh and tender, but she wanted more chicken-- so keep in mind you may not want to share this dish!

LaShauna ordered the omelette with cream cheese. Brilliance on a plate, I say. She very much enjoyed it, and I was so taken with the combo (also in my dish) that I now routinely add a light shmear of cream cheese to my breakfast eggs. SO. GOOD.

We also ordered a few pancakes to share with the table. The diner's pancakes are famous, and we found it's for good reason! They are sweet, fluffy, almost cake-like, and the diner serves real maple syrup. I'm honestly not a food snob 99 percent of the time, but I will not use fake syrup. I'd rather eat a dry pancake than 'flavored syrup.' This was the real deal, and it was fantastic. Yum! Thanks, ABF, for sharing!The food was great, service was very friendly, and we were in and out in no time. Remember, this place is CASH ONLY, but it is also extremely affordable. I'm going to officially file it under cheap eats. Which is great, because I would go back there in a flash (and I can't wait to visit Atlanta again!)

Thumbs Up Diner
826 Marietta Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 745-4233

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