Pittsburgh: Pamela's P & G Diner

Gabriela and I decided to kick off our day of meetings over a discussion at Pamela's. The design is friendly and efficient but not overdone. Service was just right for morning---responsive but unobtrusive.

I went with Pamela's Special Crepe Hotcakes topped with strawberries. The hotcakes were interesting and quite good: not as thick as a pancake but thicker than a French crepe. They were also just a little crispy, adding texture that you don't usually get with pancakes. The strawberries were fresh and good. The coffee was hot and plentiful. I was a little surprised that Forbes Avenue doesn't seem to have more breakfast places, but I consider Pamela's a find.

Decatur: Sun in My Belly

Sun in My Belly is a funky/hip location near the railroad tracks in Decatur. It grew out of a catering service and, impressively, serves three meals a day. Unfortunately, I found the service to be aloof and my waitress distracted---I had to give her my order twice.

I found everything on my salmon plate to be very well executed but without much striking flavor. The glaze on the salmon had both sweet and umami elements but neither was distinct. The kale had a nice texture but not a lot of flavor. The couscous was similarly uneventful.

If I had to guess, I would chalk up both of my concerns about this place to its roots in catering: the service from a lack of affinity for the hospitality aspects of restaurants and the shy flavors from a need to satisfy large numbers of people at once.

LGA: Crust

My last refueling stop on the way out of New York was Crust in LaGuardia's Delta terminal. This is one of those new-fangled airport restaurants run on iPads. Each table has an iPad that you use to order. You swipe your card on the card reader at your table. You can then play with the iPad while you wait for your order to arrive. I'm not totally crazy about this system: the screen gets very greasy; the ordering system makes you select your tip amount when you order, before you have seen the quality of service; when I tried to browse the featured Wall Street Journal site, I couldn't look at most of the articles without a subscription.

My dad designed equipment for those drive-in speaker ordering systems. He told me that the favorite pastime of customers was squeezing ketchup into the speaker. I wonder what the 21st century equivalent is?

The pizza, in airport terms, was quite good. The crust was crisp with a little bit of char, just as it should be. The sauce was nice and tomatoy. The basil leaves gave a nice flavor contrast. I wouldn't put this up against landside gourmet pizzas---the cheese was obviously grated, for example---but it certainly was a refreshing change from old fashioned airport food.

Brooklyn: Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

On my way out of New York, I managed to stop by Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory's second outpost in Greenpoint. I've looked forward to their ice cream for quite some time. This was also my chance to visit the neighborhood memorialized in Rocky and Bullwinkle.

The storefront is in an industrial section near but not on the waterfront. Everything was pleasantly quiet and relaxed over the weekend.

The staff let me sample vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. The strawberry zing really got my attention, so that is what I ordered. The ice cream is excellent because it relies on cream for its flavor. Too many ice creams depend on sugar to grab your attention. But let's face it, ice cream is about the cream.

New York: Bareburger

Bareburger on the Upper East Side is another member of the riot of build-your-own-burger joints that came out of the Great Recession. They offer a variety of standard burger configurations plus the opportunity to design your own. Their twist on the formula comes in the meats they offer, not just the usual beef/turkey/veggie patty but also buffalo and ostrich.

I went for the classic beef burger, whole wheat bun, fried onions, mushrooms, lettuce, and tomato. Some toppings are free, others like the fried onions and mushrooms, are extra. The burger was good, the mushrooms and onions were great. The whole wheat bun was a very good choice---extra flavorful. Service was friendly but a little scattered.

Woodside Queens NY: La Adelita

A trip to New York led me to stay in Woodside, Queens, a (relatively) quiet part of New York. I wandered into La Adelita, located at a subway stop on the 7 line. The atmosphere was very pleasant, the service very friendly, and the food quite good.

I went for one of my standard dishes, mole enchiladas. As you can see, the presentation was very attractive. The plate was sizzling hot. The test, of course, is the sauce. Mole is supposed to be a oomplex sauce with perhaps two dozen ingredients. A lot of retaurants take shortcuts and end up with a simple sauce. La Adelita's version was complex, with multiple tastes running through my mouth. A bite of sauce starts with the spices and ends up with the heat of the pepper. The cheese perfectly modulated the heat of the sauce. I'm glad I stopped in.

Chow Bing

Chow Bing is in the Pencil Factory lofts near the King Memorial MARTA station. I missed it the first time---it's right next to the turn into the retail parking area. Parking is free, by the way.

The menu combines two trends: build-your-own lunch and Asian/Mexican fusion. The lunches come in two styles: wrap and bowl. Their standard combinations typically mix traditionally Asian and Latin American ingredients. I started with a standard and modified it to make it lean more toward the Asian side, removing the cheeses but keeping the black beans with my brown rice.

The ingredients aren't cooked together in a wok. That's probably good for my diet but doesn't combine the flavors together as much as a quick stir fry would allow. The things on the top are my fried tofu. They not only look like fish sticks but the crust is very reminiscent of them, too. Quite frankly, if I were the CB people, I would shy away from reminding people of fish sticks.

Overall, I rank the food as fine but not memorable.