wahoo - a decatur grill & joel brasserie

A short break from the Europe pictures. As soon as I got back, I made appointments to gorge before I leave again, this time for Korea. Next Wednesday, I'll be on yet another flight - this time for 13 hours - to Seoul for about a week and a half. Oh joy.

I stopped by Wahoo - a Decatur Grill on Thursday evening, after my best gay and I packed up 90% of my apartment. It was a well earned dinner of swordfish (for me) and salmon (for him). I felt it was an okay dinner, but the location really threw me off. I don't understand why a restaurant located near the Marta station would try and market itself as fine dining. But I love, love, love their outdoor seating area.








The swordfish. The sauce was excellent.


The tuna with a soy sauce based jus pocked with cream cheese.

On Friday night, I met up with Riri for a snobby French dinner at Joel Brasserie off Northside Parkway, near Westminster Schools. Over a bottle of Spanish red with bits of cork in the wine, we discussed the confusion we have over all these Atlanta French brasseries (Anis, FAB, Joel) making what is essentially French bar food into fine dining. We continued our puzzlement over the placement of osso bucco in the menu and the lack of confit du canard (my absolute favorite). But as we got good and drunk and filled our bellies with good cheese and then later a hanger steak, we changed the subject to the lone GA Tech diner who came to the restaurant wearing a T-shirt and GA Tech hat. Maybe he was confused by the "brasserie" part in Joel's name, too.








We loved the feta, machego, and a creamy French cheese.




Grilled hanger steak, rare, with onions & peppercorns.

Day 4-Florence

By day four, we hopped onto the lovely Italian train system to make our way to Florence. I just have to say that it's really strange seeing priests all over the place - train stations, trains, restaurants (sitting at the table next to you while you try to remember not to use any swear words), shopping centers, grocery stores, etc. In America, it's so easy to forget that priests are real people, but that fact seems to be really in your face in Italy.

Florence is really great for people who are into art. Or vampires/freaky creatures of the night. There's a street with stores that sell Halloween appropriate items, which made me squeal with delight. One can never have too many Scream masks or plastic fangs.






Posters of discontent? Reflection of the violence from the past year, possibly?


Vampire books, in Italian. Creepy ass cover.


At the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce. They have the various proposals submitted by artists for a famous cathedral in town.


This is famous. I think.
Baptism of John the Baptist.

Day 3- Rome

I started the day with a tour of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome, near the Spanish Piazza. They have a large library filled with a crazy number of first editions, as well as some really insane titles in the contemporary section. You can see a few of his letters, plus a letter dictated to Fanny Brawne. Oh, and they also his death casting - stemming from the practice of making a plaster face cast of a person right after their death - so you can see what he might have looked like. (Not that great of a looker, in my opinion.)

After a wander into the Miu Miu store, took a detour to look at more ancient buildings before stopping for gelato and enjoying the musical stylings of a Lilith Fair competitor who crooned everything from The Beatles to John Mellencamp. Last stop of the day was the fountain made famous by "La Dolce Vita." The sweet life, indeed.




The sitting room.


Back street of Rome.


All the buildings in Rome seem to have a tribute to Roman mythology.


Gelato at Tucci.


Seems like it's rising out of the sky.


And I thought I had successfully cropped out all the tourists.

Day 2- Rome

Day 2 was spent in Rome, a city with an extremely long history filled with romantics (think "Roman Holiday"), gore (refer to "Gladiator" and "Ben Hur"), and opulence (see Luisa Via Roma). Oh yeah, and don't forget the Vatican ("The Godfather III," also known as Sofia Coppola's tragic acting debut).


A colorful street in Rome...


Inside the museum, sweeping staircases make me swoon.


Mother running with children from the molten lava from Pompeii? Or maybe a reference to King Harrod killing all the newborn before the birth of Jesus? So many stories could stem from this.


TOURISTS! Near the Spanish piazza.


Display of children's shoes.


At the Vatican, where the Pope says mass.


Godzilla took a bite out of this.


Whoever said that The Yellow in Rome was a designer hostel was sorely mistaken. Three spray painted stencils of Gorbachev is not decor. Also, Che is dead. Get over it.

Day 1- Paris

And so begins the long haul of photos... I have enough material for the next two weeks. I'm going to be more meticulous and regular with these, updating everyday at 10am EST, mostly helped by Blogger's scheduled updates. I'm a bit late today, forgive me.

Day 1 began in Paris. Check out at the Hotel Saint Dominique, lunch at the Notre Dame, a quick photo or two, and then to Orly for the flight to Rome.




I lost these jeans shortly after this photo. RIP Uniqlo skinny fits.




The Gothic architecture in Paris never fails to stun me.


And a throwback to the '70s at Orly.

Two Week Hiatus!

I'll be getting email regularly, so shoot me one: ddalk2@gmail.com.

Otherwise, check my TWITTER for photos & locale updates.

Now that my Europe trip is looming near, I'm slightly concerned about this volcanic ash from Mt. Ejaksdf349dfk. A part of me is hoping that I get to skip the whole Italy part and can find a way to fly straight to Barcelona where I'll spend the days lounging in the sun, drinking sangrias, & oogling some beautiful men. But before that, there are so many things to do - mostly boring things like pay rent, pay electric bills, ask if my friends want to trash my apt. while I'm gone...

The other photos from the weekend... late night Wal-Mart runs used to my specialty in college. Where have those nights gone?








Outfit: Jessica McClintock dress with DIY chain strap, cropped tuxedo blazer, Freja boots, Gucci bag, various jewelry