SF Bayarea versus Atlanta Metro

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by Archan

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I currently live in Midtown. I do miss the Bay Area a lot. There are so many vastly different feels and landscapes that are day trips like Tahoe, Napa, and Monterey. There is just not that kind of variety here in Atlanta. I do like the Midtown and Buckhead area of Atlanta. I live in one of the new highrises in Midtown. I can walk to about 40 great bars and restaurants. We actually do have a great restaurant scene. I actually just ate at Richard Blaise's (Top Chef, Iron Chef) restaurant FLIP complete with liquid nitrogen milk shakes. It was very good and not very expensive. Three of this seasons Top Chef contestants are from Atlanta. I think that anyone from the Bay Area would be impressed by the bar and restaurant scene in Atlanta if they gave it a chance. Just don't expect a Bay View!

While I do miss the Bay Area, there is no way to live my current lifestyle in San Francisco. It would cost so much more. I found the people out here to be very nice also. On my way to Atlanta, I lived in Boston which was very different for a native Californian. I couldn't get out of there sooner (even though I lived there for five years).

What a nice, and accurate, post! Thanks for the positive feedback.

In defense of Atlanta's food scene, of course nothing approaches the Bay Area on this side of the Country (NY being the exception) - but we are consistantly ranked in the top ten foodie cities by the various usual suspects.

I can tell you folks that the farm-to-table craze has hit here, HARD! There are several locally owned places that do nothing but any longer. Talk about cult-like followings!

Probably the most prominent at the moment is Woodfire Grill (no doubt due in part to Top Chef Vegas). Woodfire Grill Atlanta - Local, Organic and Sustainable Cuisine

They fly their free-range chickens in from Petaluma daily.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by johnatl

What a nice, and accurate, post! Thanks for the positive feedback.

In defense of Atlanta's food scene, of course nothing approaches the Bay Area on this side of the Country (NY being the exception) - but we are consistantly ranked in the top ten foodie cities by the various usual suspects.

I can tell you folks that the farm-to-table craze has hit here, HARD! There are several locally owned places that do nothing but any longer. Talk about cult-like followings!

Probably the most prominent at the moment is Woodfire Grill (no doubt due in part to Top Chef Vegas). Woodfire Grill Atlanta - Local, Organic and Sustainable Cuisine

They fly their free-range chickens in from Petaluma daily.

haha nice...I would agree to that it is in the top 10... on Petaluma, are they the rocky chickens?
This does go to show where a lot of people are getting their goods though, I am right in the source obviously and most stores carry them pretty cheap.

Now all they need is some Diestel or Willie Bird Turkey

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by grapico

haha nice...I would agree to that it is in the top 10... on Petaluma, are they the rocky chickens?
This does go to show where a lot of people are getting their goods though, I am right in the source obviously and most stores carry them pretty cheap.

LOL! Yep, Rocky the Free Range chickens! Yummy.

They also like to feature dairy from Sweet Grass in Thomasville.

We have some excellent organic sources here, but nothing on your level. My whole point really was to show that your worship of organic food is spreading, and NorCal people are usually the ones that introduce things here.

Our first taste of this was from a guy named Michael Tuohy. He came here in the 80's, and is credited with starting the trend in Atlanta. Sadly, we just lost him back to NorCal!

His blog: frontburner

[grapico]

Originally Posted by johnatl

LOL! Yep, Rocky the Free Range chickens! Yummy.

They also like to feature dairy from Sweet Grass in Thomasville.

We have some excellent organic sources here, but nothing on your level. My whole point really was to show that your worship of organic food is spreading, and NorCal people are usually the ones that introduce things here.

Our first taste of this was from a guy named Michael Tuohy. He came here in the 80's, and is credited with starting the trend in Atlanta. Sadly, we just lost him back to NorCal!

His blog: frontburner

It is good to see lots of places in the southeast going organic, there is decent demand for it in some of the college towns. It certainly has the land resources, now just to get some of that slow food and organic spirit. I think a lot of the southeast already has that built into it though, as far as getting stuff local. Probably Athens/Atlanta has a lot to do with the push there.
There is definitely a taste difference in it, whether that is worth the price or not, not sure. Often organic though is just as cheap as the conventional... the added benefit of maybe more nutrients is pretty minor though to me, I always take a multi. Taste is worth it!
My stepdad owns about 90 acres of land outside of Elberton, GA not being used, I've tried to convince him to grow an organic farm on it :/

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

18Montclair, I hope the food tastes as good as it looks in the pictures. There are many photos and restaurants I can show of LA, NY, and Atlanta too.

Archan, the skiing isn't so bad but better on the west coast. The more North of Atlanta one goes the more mountainous it gets. I was so surprised when I was in Marietta and had a mountain view of the city. No GA doesn't have Napa but there is always Le Chateu Elan (hope I spelled that right). Virginia and the Carolinas now has vineyards as does Georgia. North Carolina beaches and the scenery is just so beautiful (different from CA yes, but has its own beautiful feel). A 2 hour drive to me is close enough since I hardly have time to enjoy the beach or the mountains here anyways.

I surmise that Atlanta has the mountain sports side of things relatively well covered (especially when contrasted with the Mid West and Western Gulf Coast). The one nagging thing is the distance from the ocean but as you note it's still doable for a day trip. For our money, we are actually looking, long, long term (e.g. eventual "retirement" relo) at Richmond, but are mindful of its issues especially in comparison with a seemingly less disfunctional place like Atlanta.

[bayarea-girl]

Richmond is good because there are plenty of jobs there and is close to DC. Just too slow and too cold for my taste. We also considered it.