all about anderson

welcome to andersonville. come as I take you through a day filled with food, fun, and shopping!

first stop: brunch at big jones. my homegirl knew what she was ordering when we walked through the doors; however, indecisive me thought i had it all figured out from looking at the menu the nite before. there were plenty of surprises that didn't make the cut that were featured on the restaurant menu versus the menu online. decisions, decisions i say.

after finally choosing what i was going to brunch out on, we placed our orders. as we were awaiting our entrees, we were greeted with a plate of powdery, complimentary, beignets. yesssss, complimentary! who does that, right?! i'm here to tell you big jones does. it's their 'bread basket.' normally, they are all you can stand to eat, but we found out the hard way that you really are allotted 1 plate. specifically when they are slammed. blaaaaah

aaaaah...now enters the main course. j ordered her fave- eggs new orleans. boasting with poached eggs, crab cakes, popovers, bearnaise sauce, and green pepper hashbrowns. i was able to sample and i gotta say, what a nice balance of textures. i assumed that the egg would be too runny as they were poached which could cause eventual sogginess. not the case at all. it was just pure deliciousness!

oh behold, the fish and grits. now these are not just your typical fish and grits. what we have here is rushing water trout battered in a coat of golden brown cornmeal perfection, cheddar cheese grits, scrambled eggs, and a buttery cornbread biscuit filled with corn kernals. it was just a matter of time when we made our way down to what would be the clear visual of our clean plates.

after chatting for a while, and letting our food settle, we decided to walk it off a bit by perusing through town. we made our way into a thrift store:

there were treasures in every angle of this place. the owner shared with me that they had been open for 16 years. i'm not even sure what the name of this store is. i did pick up a very classic, can have forever, piece of outerwear. all that will have to be in explained in another post.

next up we made a stop at the middle eastern grocery store. look at all the fresh baklava spilling off the shelves! well, not exactly spilling, but there's just a ton to choose from here including chocolate covered baklava. they also had plenty of fresh kalamata olives, and pita bread on sale by the pound.

what's a saturday without having something sweet?! eventually, we made our way back into the city and we of course, had to make a pit stop at sweet mandy b's. have you ever been? if not, you need to stop reading this and head there. now. i mean as soon as you walk into this whimsical space of a bakery, you are hypnotized by what seems to be the smell of fresh sugar, caramel, and homemade cake batter. instead of buying the entire inventory of baked goods, j ended up with a few snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies. i ended up with a caramel apple piece of cake and a red velvet cupcake to save for later.

take 2: here it is up, close, and personal just in case you couldn't see how good this actually looked in the first place ;-)

are you still there or did you head to andersonville or to the bakery? i wouldn't blame you one bit. but as you can see, this area is perfect for dining and shopping. there's some outdoor benches you can take advantage of during the summer months if you just want to sip on your fave coffee drink and people watch. if you go to big jones, you'll have to let me know how you liked it. if you try another restaurant around, please do share your opinion in the comments. until next time, cheers.