Shrimp, Feta and Fresh Herb Mac n Cheese

I love Pinterest.  I go on every single day and look for new recipes to try.  I look for craft ideas, ideas to help make our house prettier/better/more useful.  Pinterest has everything.  I saw this recipe while pinning a few weeks ago and decided to give it a shot.  I mean come on, it's a twist on such a great Southern Comfort Food, with shrimp, how could it go wrong?!

Photo from Annie's Eats - author's photography

The original recipe is from Annie's Eats blog.  That's another great thing about Pinterest - I can find blogs I would have never found without the website.  The blog is wonderful and I plan to add it to my list of daily blogs to check out.  (The list keeps growing and growing and growing...)

I stayed with the recipe from start to finish.  The only thing I did add was some fresh, chopped up bacon that we had on hand. It was delicious.  The night I made the meal we had 4 other people at hour house for dinner, I needed something that could feed a crowd and wouldn't keep me in the kitchen all evening.  This was perfect.  The 6 of us, three men and three women, ate a little less than half of the dish.  Last night three of us had leftovers and we still have enough for two more servings.  This meal goes the distance!

The ingredient list isn't crazy either, which is nice.

Ingredients:
1 lb. pasta shapes
1 lb. raw shrimp (31-40 ct.), peeled and deveined, cut in half (if desired)
10 oz. feta cheese, crumbled and divided
Zest of 1 lemon, divided
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped, divided
5 tbsp. butter, divided
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped  (I used dried dill from the pantry)
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper


For the pasta, I used elbow macaroni because that was all I had on hand in the quantity that we needed.  Apparently it's time to do some pasta shopping.

The feedback from everyone, all SEVEN of us who have had some, has been very positive.  It was such an easy recipe, I'm so glad it was so delicious so I can add it to my mental cookbook.

Empire State South: Restaurant Review

I've heard a lot of good things about Empire State South and Executive Chef Ryan Smith.  So many good things that I tried to get it to be the restaurant for our wedding night with family before we headed over to the brewery for the reception.  (I was shot down faster than you can can say "no").  I'm glad we decided on Cypress, but I would have loved to share Empire State South with my family.

The restaurant is an urban take on souther dining.  The interior is comfortable and our large group of eight felt like we belonged right away.  The bar is enormous with plenty of seating for everyone.  We spent our first 30 minutes at the restaurant at the bar for cocktails before being seated for dinner.  Here is one of the three complaints that I'll have about the restaurant.  The beer menu, while interesting and unique, was too interesting and unique.  I'm a beer (wedding reception at brewery) fan, so are a few of the people in my dinner party.  Maybe one of the beers on the menu, it wasn't a short list, was something that I recognized as having tasted before.  It seemed pretty pretentious to me.  No beers on tap either.  I can get past that, I can get past not wanting to have Bud Light on your menu, but there are plenty of other microbrew beers that are more common than what was on their beer menu.  Also, our bartender was s.l.o.w.  We were the only ones at the bar and it was 6:00, so before the dinner rush, and it took quite a while for some of us to get our cocktails.  So much so that I ordered my second drink from the table, knowing it would take as long to get it, but I'd have water at my seat to hold me over until it was delivered.

The cocktails were also very unique and my Pimms Cup was perfect.  I really wish I could drink that cocktail like I drink water without getting drunk.  It's so good.

Once we were seated in the dining room that is deceivingly large, we ordered our round of drinks and then our appetizers.  We had two dozen of the oysters and an order of the In Jars.  Both were wonderful.  The oysters were a little fatty, so they weren't the hard, skinny ones you sometimes get and the homemade sauces were perfect.  The In Jars spreads couldn't have been more unique and wonderful at the same time.  I would recommend that Snackie to anyone in a large group.

The menu features local fare and really focuses on southern tastes.  I had the GA Trout and I'm so glad I did.  Our server even recommended it as one of her favorites, year round.  The Tomato Buttermilk Ravioli was also a huge hit at our table and I with I could have had a bite.  The other favorite at the table was the Smoked Duck Breast.  I don't think you could go wrong with any of those entree choices.  Click here to see their full dinner menu.    You will notice that there isn't a beef option on the menu, a disappointment to two of the gentlemen in our group.  If you have a steak eater in your group, you won't find that on the menu.  I was a little surprised, but I was fine with my trout.

Only one of our eight ordered dessert, the Chocolate and Cherries, but it was plenty to share among all of us.

There is outside seating for dining, some high top tables for mingling and even a bunch of adirondack chairs in the "grass" around the bocce court.  We tried to get a game in but as soon as we threw the jack the rain started.  Thanks Atlanta weather.

Overall the evening was fantastic.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere delightful.  Our server was attentive and quick with drinks and our water glasses were never empty.  The hostess team was beyond accommodating as well, a nice touch.  Now that I've dined at ESS do I still wish it was our restaurant for our wedding night dinner (or rehearsal dinner for a more traditional wedding), probably not.  The menu isn't cheap and the beer selection would have thrown off a few people looking for something a little familiar.  And I have steak fans in my family.  It was a wonderful dinner and I can't wait for a reason to head back.

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!