STONE SOUP KITCHEN

He says:
What is it about Grant Park and awesome brunch spots? Chances are if you threw a rock from Oakland Cemetery you’d probably hit one. Just three blocks from my favorite brunch spot in Atlanta – Ria’s Bluebird – is another darn good one, Stone Soup Kitchen. Its breakfast dishes aren’t quite as innovative or delicious, but it’s also more relaxed and its outdoor patio is as good as any place in Atlanta to enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning.

She says:
Stone Soup Kitchen is a very welcoming place. Its brightly-painted interior literally glows with yellows and oranges and greens. Sunlight streams through the windows of the greenhouse-like patio. This past Sunday it never got too crowded and the background noise was perfectly muted. After all the rain and snow of the past winter, it was the perfect place to spend the first truly beautiful morning of the spring. The menu is dominated by savory dishes, leaving those with a morning sweet tooth unfulfilled, but the variety of egg dishes will appease most. I went with one of the special egg scrambles of the day – the Gringo – and thoroughly enjoyed the mix of salsa fresca, chicken, cheddar, and avocado.

He says:
I went for the special of the day, the arugula and prosciutto frittata. The prosciutto was rubbery and bland, almost like cheap ham, and the clear notes of arugula I was expecting were lost among the tomatoes and eggs. Overall, I wasn’t impressed. Fortunately the dish was saved by its sides, a dense, chewy biscuit and a cup of cheese grits, that, while not as fluffy as the ones found at Flying Biscuit, were almost as tasty.

We say:
The food at Stone Soup Kitchen isn’t as good as Atlanta’s other best brunch spots, but thanks to its patio and slow pace, it’s just as pleasant … if not more so.




Stone Soup Kitchen
584 Woodward Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA 30312
www.stonesoupkitchen.net

LEON'S FULL SERVICE

She says:
Poultry is boring.

This is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way over and over again, and yet it never seems to stick. My mistake is usually born out of boredom with the single uninspired vegetarian option on a menu, and so I begin eyeing the poultry dishes, fantasizing about crispy skin, succulent meat, some new and bold sauce it will be paired with. Somehow this is never the case. The poultry is inevitably safe and boring, the option for people who’d rather be at Applebees. You’d think I’d have learned this by now.

Nope, I did it again.

Leon’s turkey sandwich is the exactly what you’d slap together at home – slices of turkey, cheddar, lettuce, mayo. The bread is better than your typical sandwich bread, but otherwise, there is absolutely NOTHING interesting about this sandwich. What was I expecting? Maybe something warm?

Perhaps my expectations of Leon’s were too high. The first time I went, I had the most creative and delicious cocktail of my life (the specialty cocktail that day) and an incredible bowl of roasted red pepper soup, showstoppers that made their cold roasted-veggie sandwich a pleasant distant memory. My last visit boasted a good, but far less zany, cocktail, some decent Pub Frites with a dipping sauce (the goat cheese fondue) that couldn’t be tasted over the salt of the fries, and the aforementioned turkey sandwich. Perhaps the “mains” are more amazing, but for a gastropub, the cheaper options are underwhelming.

He says:
Underwhelming, indeed. Leon’s is a latecomer to Atlanta’s burgeoning gastropub scene, and it falls short of the standard set by the Porter and Bookhouse Pub. On our waiter’s recommendation I ordered the “excellent” grass-fed burger with Tillamook cheddar, and found it less than stellar. The patty was mushy and tasteless.

More surprising was the soup of the day: a potato-leek soup with crumbled bacon bits. The soup I received was bright orange and tasted strongly of curry. It was only after I inquired that the waiter realized the soup of the day was, in fact, a carrot curry soup. Thanks for the heads up, dude.

She says:
Despite the mediocre food and service, Leon’s does succeed as an inviting, attractive bar with a killer location and fantastic patio. This restaurant serves central Decatur much better than the former antique shop it replaced. Now if they only got into the spirit of things and served their food on hubcap plates and poured their drinks from gas cans.

We say:
Better than it once was and not as good as it should be.




Leon's Full Service
131 East Ponce De Leon Avenue, Decatur, 30030
http://www.leonsfullservice.com/