For Me, This New Atlanta Restaurant Tastes Like Home
Local ingredients + a partnership with Mexican farmers are part of what makes this restaurant so special... ALSO, what I've been watching (HINT: lots of food shows and the best new series on Netflix)
Happy mid-May and happy birthday month to me! I've been caught up with other things and am far behind my posting/sharing schedule so I’ve got stories about both new and 60+ years old LA hotels coming your way, plus (you guessed it) more Mexico. Just off of back-to-back travel and about to hit the skies again, I also recently recovered from laryngitis that lasted nearly a month.
How did I spend my sick/voiceless days, you ask? Binge watching some shows, of course. The new season of Indian Matchmaking, Beef (which is GENIUS—if you haven’t already seen this, please do) and I always gravitate back to travel shows that focus on the food and culture of the featured region. I watched Season 8, Episode 4 of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and bookmarked some Lisbon gems since I am headed there in just a few days… I also discovered this very helpful website that actually lists all(?) episodes of No Reservations, Parts Unknown, The Layover, etc. and catalogs all the places where Tony ate. I don’t know much about Valerie, the blog’s writer, but it seems she is a tour guide AND she sells digital walking food tour guides for multiple cities inspired by Bourdain (very cool and worth it).
Then I watched a few episodes of Eva Longoria’s Searching for Mexico. I felt like something was missing (no one does it like Bourdain did), but enjoyed the light, fun tone of the show and being able to see Mexico City, Oaxaca and the Yucatan through Eva’s eyes. Hate to admit I never really got into Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy, so will have to give that another try sometime.
Back to the original topic, I wanted to share a piece I wrote in March for Garden & Gun with you. If you are in the Atlanta area, you must visit Palo Santo (make a dinner res or arrive early). The restaurant is a mix of all the places/things I love and has made Atlanta feel so much more diverse and cosmopolitan in a very short time.
From the story:
Palo santo—the restaurant is named after the “holy wood” after all—burns throughout the space and its sweet, piney scent hits you as you check in. Light glows from massive fluffy agave-fiber chandeliers. Dinner here is a sensory experience; you can hear the music but also snippets of conversation from tables across the room. With seating for eighty-six people in the dining room and bar, it feels like you’re at a big, loud family reunion, one where everyone—at least when I visited—is actually getting along…
“I love that our Hispanic and Latino communities love Palo Santo, but I also love that people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures love it, too,” Gomez says. “We are serving ingredients, flavors, and food we all love and are familiar with from our upbringing, our families, and our culture.”
Read the rest here and let me know if you’ll be visiting Palo Santo anytime soon!