Located in a huge space in Buckhead, Frank Ski’s restaurant has only been open several months. Frank Ski is well known for being a DJ on V-103 radio. But that personality isn’t just a facade. Mr. Ski is every bit a fun and gracious host as one would want. He welcomed us into his new restaurant for a media dinner on a recent Tuesday evening.

The space is stunning. A large dining room is to the left of the restaurant with a large bar area elevated and overlooking the dining room. There’s also a small private dinning room that looks like it would accommodate a group of about ten or so people.

Mr. Ski shared with us that there are several sofas around the restaurant for lounging because he wants people to feel they can come hang out for drinks and appetizers with their friends. And he wants to feed customers late into the night with the kitchen staying open until 2 am on weekends.

Our group started out meal with Calamari, Fish Tacos and Chicken Satay. The sauce for the calamari tasted house made – slightly sweet, slightly spicy it was so tasty, I would have slathered that all over the fish tacos if I could have. As it was the fish was crispy and tender.

For entrees, Short Ribs remained the most popular item at the table. They were prepared perfectly moist and tender. The salmon was another option along with chicken. Both were good portions and left us satisfied. However, I would be anxious to visit Frank Ski’s again and have the whole fried snapper.

Some Europeans visiting the restaurant, simply asked their server to “give us Atlanta” and Frank didn’t think twice about suggesting the Short Ribs. And to our group, he even served up one of his menu favorites: the sweet potato tots. So marvelous, we couldn’t get enough of them. If you visit Frank Ski’s promise me to order the tater tots.

2110 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309

Not that Ramsay doesn’t at times, get under the skin of staff. Love, sweet as could be, was so frustrated during the filming at one point, she walked out. I loved that I was able to get the background story from Chef Jorge and Owner Richard Wadlington as well. I probed them both the get to the truth of the whole Kitchen Nightmares experience. Curious to see how this compares to what makes the final cut.

Here’s what I found out:

ARB: Did you bump heads with GR or did you get a long?
PE: We did bump heads with Ramsay. He has an agenda to make the show look a certain way. For example, we had an entire box of lemons that were perfect and he riffled through to the bottom to find the one that wasn’t in good condition and said ‘You would serve this to your guests?’

ARB: What’s different about the show than what we see on TV?
PE: It is quite staged, at least in our experience. It was clear Kitchen Nightmares wanted to be in charge of the crowd. When word got out we’d be on KN, reservations filled up fast. When they got here they told us we had to cancel the reservations we’d had for the days when they’d be filming. They then proceeded to completely overbook the restaurant during dinner. Of course people aren’t going to happy when they’ve been waiting over an hour for a table. We would never let that happen.

ARB: What positives have you gained from the experience?
PE: Two things. We [Jorge and Richard] had to see ourselves the way the staff sees us and that has changed the relationship for the better. Also, there was some conflict with some things we’d said about the community in the past that may have slightly damaged our reputation. But GR had us appear and Fox 5 and apologize which has seemed to mend fences. Plus, we are really happy with the makeover Kitchen Nightmares has given our restaurant.

ARB: Would you do it again?
PE: Yes, absolutely, especially knowing how things are executed. For example, we would have liked to have known that during the day when they were filming no one was allowed to leave the restaurant ALL day. They wouldn’t even let someone leave to buy Jorge a birthday card. The entire staff waited until 11 pm that evening so they could sing Happy Birthday to Jorge.

ARB: So, will the new menu stay in place?
PE: Well, the Brunch menu has stayed the same as it is really a big draw for us. For the most part, the dinner menu will remain intact, but at the end of day we have to please our customers. We’ve had so many regulars that have been disappointed to find their favorite dishes have been eliminated from the menu. We’ll no doubt have to bring one or two back.

See the video with Chef Jorge below:

I was immediately impressed with their beer list. Whether you fancy pilsner, lager, wheat, they’ve got you covered. Beers come in the liter or half liter size. You can order some by the bottle, but trust me, with such a terrific beer list, you won’t need to look any further than the selections on draft. For the quality of beers and pours, they are a quite a deal at only $5-$6 for the half liter size.

Visiting with a group of four on a Saturday evening, we started things off with the giant Pretzel and the Wurstplate, featuring three different kinds of sausage and and house made mustards and sauces. The pretzel is indeed, on big ass pretzel.It was warm, gooey and probably what someone on a no-carb diet has wet dreams about. While it may have been a bit much for two people to share, it was perfect for our double date. The Wurstplate, made up of Bratwurst, Knackwurst, and Wiener Wurstchen (mixtures of pork, veal and beef) complimented the carby pretzel well.

I think it kind of goes without saying that Der Biergarten is not for vegetarians. Besides the Wurstplate, which can also be ordered as an entree, choices also include a pork shank, trout, chicken and breaded veal or pork cutlets (ie schnitzel). Our friends chose the trout and chicken, but the Jagerschnitzel was calling my name – breaded pork topped with a sauce of mushroom, bacon and onions served along spatzle? Sign me up. The Jagerschnitzle comes with with two pork cutlets so with that and ordering two sides it was plenty enough food for me and Mr. ARB to share. The sauce perfectly complimented the dish – and we made short work of mopping it up.

300 Marietta Street
Atlanta, Ga 30313
Der Biergarten Website
Extra: During Octoberfest there’s no better place to be than Der Biergarten.

Earlier this year, I toured some place I’d never been – The Sweet Auburn Curb Market. For some place with such a variety of foods and vast cuisine, it was a wonder I had never been there before. It was all thanks to Atlanta Culinary Tours inviting me to attend. Beth and Dave of Atlanta Culinary Tours were kind enough to invite me to join them once again. This time it was for their inaugural restaurant tour of Downtown Norcross.

I’m not at all familiar with Norcross and having just driven on some of the main streets like Jimmy Carter Blvd. I wasn’t too impressed. So, I was excited to see what ACT had in store for us, as I know that they thoroughly research neighborhoods before putting them on their tours, being careful to select those destinations that have real gems.

Remembering from last time how much food we had to eat, I made the smart decision to skip breakfast even though the tour didn’t start until 2 pm. It was indeed wise, as this tour had nine stops instead of the normal six. Our tour started promptly at 2 and we were off for proper British tea at Taste of Britain. Proprietor Edna Berkshire has owned the store for most of its existence, carrying lots of British goodies, snacks and gifts. I just love the creamy tea they served us, and the scones were just lovely. They even had some Cadburry chocolates for us too. And if you’ve never had the ones from England, they are world of difference between the regular Cadburry’s we get here in the good ‘ol USA.

Next we visited Bleu House Market. Besides sandwiches and homemade side dishes like pasta and other vegetables, you can get lots of other prepared foods to go. We were treated to the Bleu House Special – a chicken salad croissant as well as their home made brownies. These homemade brownies are extra sweet – topped with a brown sugar crust.

The next two stops were rather quick as we had a schedule to maintain. After all this noshing, it was time to indulge in an adult beverage. And Mojito’s had us covered with their special Mojitos. So light and refreshing on this sunny day. Can’t wait to visit again and sample some Cuban cuisine. Then we strolled over to 45 South, a coffee shop that serves breakfast and lunch. Their coffee went well with the spicy chicken sausage we sampled.

Italian was next for us and Paizanos hooked us up with some potent Sangria and fresh and tasty Margerita pizza. Don’t fret if you are wondering where the meat-centric dishes are. Our next stop at Zapata afforded us plenty of meat. They don’t serve tacos or burritos as they say they are more authentic Mexican. We had a dish called Molcajetes which has chicken, beef, shrimp, cheese, peppers and onions in it. The dish is served up piping hot wit the strips of meat hanging off the side.

I think my most favorite of all the stops was the Norcross Station Cafe. While I did thoroughly enjoy the Portebello stuffed ravioli, it was the history of the building that really impressed me. The Norcross cafe used to be an old train station. The owner has some pictures on the walls of when it was still operated as a train station as well as other memorabilia from that era. In more recent history he shared with us that much of the restaurant seating is from church pews. And in 1993 when the restaurant opened there were people protesting as it would be one of the first restaurants in Norcross to serve alcohol. Really? Times certainly have changed.

Every town needs a good tavern and Norcross has got it in the Iron Horse Tavern. We sampled some delicious smoked salmon from the Tavern. Dog owners will be happy to know their patio is pooch friendly. Our last stop on the tour is Dominick’s Italian restaurant. They are pretty famous for their garlic bread and after having some, I can see why – apologies to those who had to hang around me later that evening. And their huge calamari and marinara sauce were the perfect end to our tour.

It was so much fun to explore a new part of town. These tours are terrific ways to sample several restaurants in an area. Even if the drive is lengthy, you can still make an afternoon of it. Priced extremely reasonably at only $39, you get so much value with these tours. Oh and what a fantastic idea for a date. Once again – huge thank you to Atlanta Culinary Tours for having me tag along on this Norcross tour. Want to book a tour with them? Here’s the link: Atlanta Culinary Tours.