Andrew Zimmern on the Bizarre Foods Atlanta Episode: 'It's the New South and I'm Liking It'

by Sonia Chopra@soniachopra May 20, 2014, 5:45am EDT

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Andrew Zimmern.

| Photo: Bizarre Foods/Travel Channel

by Sonia Chopra@soniachopra May 20, 2014, 5:45am EDT

The Atlanta-focused episode of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods America aired Monday night on Travel Channel. About Atlanta, the television host says:

This is a city full of surprises. A proud capital of the Old South, celebrating regional traditions. It's multicultural and cosmopolitan. There's urban sophistication taking pride in its rural heritage. It's Atlanta, GA, where people are doing creative things with food you have to see to believe.Zimmern continues, "Atlanta's best-kept secret is its burgeoning diversity. That diversity is the reason the new Southern cooking in this part of the country is so vibrant and rich." Restaurateur/Top Chef judge Hugh Acheson joins him to pick out restaurants that "define the change in this part of Georgia." The show will re-air next Monday, May 26, at 8 p.m. See a full list of the featured local spots with quotes below, and do leave your thoughts on the episode or the chosen places in the comments.
· Atlanta: Monkfish Liver and Goat Heart [Travel Channel]
· All Eater Maps [-EATL-]
· All Andrew Zimmern Coverage [-EATL-]

Buford Highway Farmers Market

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"This is Buford Highway Farmers Market. It’s an airplane hangar; it is massive. In a space nearly the size of two football fields, there are both commonplace and obscure foods collected from over 35 countries." [Photo]

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5600 Buford Hwy NE, Atlanta, GA 30340

(770) 455-0770

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Octopus Bar

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"If Buford is the best place see the changes, Octopus Bar might be the best place to taste them. Octopus Bar is a gastropub in East Atlanta that opens when most places close. This place is serving up a personal cuisine that’s making Octopus Bar a favorite among local chefs, serving soulful, sophisticated, stoner pub-grub to the late night crowd."

560 Gresham Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316

(404) 627-9911

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Decimal Place Farm

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"This is the story of a small dairy farm, just eleven miles from downtown Atlanta." Also: "Foods of the modern south are rooted in their rural, agrarian traditions." [Photo]

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4314 Almach Ave, Conley, GA 30288

Heirloom Market BBQ

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"The Korean and the traditionally Southern are bonded in ways that are harder to see, more exciting to taste. Heirloom Market BBQ sells food that looks like it could be [from] a classic Southern roadhouse. [But] the pork butt is steeped in the taste of Korean barbecue. Owners Cody Taylor and Jiyeon Lee share an excitement about exploring and expanding the possibilities of food." [Photo]

2243 Akers Mill Rd SE, Atlanta, GA 30339

(770) 612-2502

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Sobban

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"If Heirloom is stealthily inserting Korean nuance into Southern barbecue, Sobban is more upfront about what they’re doing: a Korean-Southern diner. […] The Korean presence in Atlanta is enriching a cultural landscape that’s already plenty rich." [Photo]

1788 Clairmont Rd, Decatur, GA 30033

(678) 705-4233

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Highland Bakery

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"Comedienne Margaret Cho comes to Highland Bakery for their elegant take on sturdy, Southern breakfast favorites." About the French toast: “It doesn’t get more all-American than this.” Zimmern also visits sculptor/cake artist Karen Portaleo and pastry chef Taria Camerino, who "create caricatures out of confections that only look too good to eat," like the cake pictured above. [Photo]

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655 Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30312

(404) 586-0772

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JeJu Sauna & House of Well Being

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"Jeju Sauna is a Korean bathhouse serving Atlanta’s vibrant Korean community, the gathering place for the communal experience of a good scrub and a bowl of hot, fermented vegetable soup." [Photo]

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3555 Gwinnett Place Dr, Duluth, GA 30096

(678) 336-7414

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Restaurant Eugene

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“Amid Atlanta’s changing cultural landscape, there are local chefs keeping classic Southern cooking alive and well but always new using everything from brains to beets. Linton Hopkins is a James Beard Award-winning chef whose restaurants are located next to each other in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta.” Says Hopkins about Restaurant Eugene: “We can respect tradition and not lose it by creating something brand new.”

2277 Peachtree Rd, Atlanta, GA 30309

(404) 355-0321

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Holeman & Finch Public House

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"Every day, Linton gets to create both formal dining menus at Eugene and more egaltiarian food at Holeman & Finch Public House just across the alley. In many cultures, pubs are the focal point of the community. At Holeman & Finch, the dishes are simple and easy to share. They consist of items that are found in a pantry, like house-preserved ingredients." Zimmern also calls H&F Bread Co. "one of the best bakeries in America." [Photo]