Alma Cocina - Restaurant Review

Dining in Downtown Atlanta hasn't always been an easy thing to do.  Typically when we someone at work who wants to take us out to lunch we end up driving to the Highlands or into Midtown where we have more options and, honestly, better food.  (We do have our favorite 2 or 3 places we can pick from within walking distance of the office, but they get old if those are your only options.)

This is starting to change and in just my two years working smack in the middle of Downtown Atlanta I've seen new dining options come in and take over some of the vacant spaces that dot the streets.  I'm 100% supportive of new restaurants opening downtown.  I'm supportive of anything new coming into our downtown area with the hopes that it becomes much more of a destination.

Logo from Alma Cocina website

A Fifth Group restaurant (love me some South City Kitchen) and my new favorite Mexican restaurant, Alma Cocina, opened earlier in 2012 in the One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, right on Peachtree Street.  It's just a few blocks from the office and the Peachtree Center MARTA station and food court, a great location for foot traffic.  There are also about 5 giant hotels in a 3 block radius so that should help them, too.

We had lunch at Alma Cocina yesterday right in the middle of lunch hour.  It wasn't super packed and our table of 7 didn't have trouble getting seated.  We were also out of there in exactly one hour, a huge bonus, with time spent chatting after the check came.  For those two reasons alone, this will be added to my short list of Downtown Atlanta lunch restaurants.

The staff was very friendly and helped us with a few odd requests on the menu.  There website says they are introducing "Atlanta to a refreshing new approach to contemporary Mexican cuisine" and I couldn't agree more.  The atmosphere isn't your typical Mexican restaurant and you shouldn't expect the menu to have numbered combo meals for $6.  Those restaurants server their purpose, but I always seem to head home with a tummy ache.

Alma Cocina is definitely different - check out the menu.  We started with two orders of the Salsas & Chips Samplers and devoured them.  The salsas were obviously not from a can and the plantain chips with the tortillas were delicious.  For lunch I ordered the Fried Avocado Taquitos which came with two taquitos and black beans and poblano chile rice.  I may have finished my meal before anyone else at the table.  The tortillas was thick and light so they didn't overpower the flavors inside.  I could have eaten the crispy cotija cheese that was between the fried avocado and the tortilla without anything else on the plate.  Everything worked so well together, I've been thinking about the taquitos for about 24 hours now.  I wish I had taken a picture to share, but that's not really appropriate at a business lunch.

Overall, all 7 of us enjoyed our meal, which is a difficult thing to do, especially at a fancy Mexican place, without margaritas (you know, we had to go back to the office and be productive...)

I've stopped in for a cocktail after work a few months back, but never had their food.  I'm sad I waited this long to make it there.

*Alma Cocina did not provide any compensation for this review.  

Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint: Restaurant Review

Working downtown Atlanta has its benefits.  The office close to all of the sporting events in the city and we have tons of places to walk for lunch.  Most of the lunch places are fast food type restaurants, but as busy as our days are, that's what we need most of the time.  The downside is that downtown Atlanta has some pretty rough areas and a lot of nice restaurants have closed.  They city is going through a revitalization, but change doesn't happen over night.

Two blocks away a new restaurant opened two weeks ago, Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint.  I was a little skeptical because it is across the street from Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe and I didn't want another large chain.  Boy, was I pleased!

My boss and I went to lunch with two magazine reps, two of the best ladies to lunch with, by far, and met at SWJJ.  The food is labeled as "deep south" cuisine,  indeed it is.  On the menu you'll find a lot of pimento cheese, fried foods, catfish and crawfish.  We started with the house-made pimento cheese spread and black-eyed pea hummus along with the southern starter (fried green tomatoes with goat cheese) for appetizers.  Both were delicious.  Plenty to share between four people.  The starter went much faster than the spreads, but I think that was because we didn't get enough flatbread to go along with the spreads, but the

My Big Ol' BLT was just that, huge and full of bacon, lettuce and tomatoes.  And this isn't your Denny's bacon, it was thick-cut, perfectly crisp bacon in every bite.  My side item was their aged white cheddar macaroni.  I think you can tell a lot about a restaurant by their southern mac n cheese.  It was very tasty, but probably wouldn't rank in my top 5.  Looking at the other sides around the table, the servings are small, but probably the correct portion size for southern food.  The other entrees were all given great reviews as well.

The most interesting thing about the restaurant has to be the atmosphere.  The far back wall is set up for a live band with the full drum set and key board still set up.  While we dined, at lunch remember, there was a sax player playing live music for us.  A very nice touch for a lunch.  You can tell the space transforms at night for a dance crowd.  There is a 2nd floor DJ booth and there is a shelf around the entire dining area that must be used to hold drinks once the tables are gone.  It will be interesting to see the crowd Sweet Georgia draws at night.

I will be adding the Juke Joint to our list of options for lunch.  I'm thankful for a sit-down restaurant within walking distance to the office!