January 23, 2008

Plaza Theater hosts the monthly Silver Scream Spookshow, old sci-fi and monster movies introduced by Professor Morte, mad scientist extraordinaire, along with skits and burlesque. We rarely miss it. Beforehand, we usually hit The Righteous Room next door for dinner and drinks, sort of degenerate dinner-and-a-show.

The Righteous Room changed their menu a bit sometime in late 2007, knocking off my favorite item, their high plains chile relleno, a pepper stuffed with cheese then rolled in some flakey coating and fried. It was just spicy enough to get things going. Alas, it is no more.
However, they do still have one of EM's favorites, vegetarian black eyed pea chili. It's more a slightly spicy bean stew than a traditional chili with slightly crunchy carrots taking the place of meat. It's good enough that a carnivore like myself can really enjoy it.

My favorite, however, is the turkey sandwich. I'm not that big a fan of turkey sandwiches, but this is a near-perfect creation. They use a peppered or pastrami-spiced turkey, slathered in a horseradish sour cream with grilled onions wrapped in a pita with tomatoes and sprouts (removed by me) - a perfect combination. Their mashed taters are pretty good too.

This particular trip, EM opted for a grilled filet of salmon and a cup of black beans. The salmon was presented rather plainly, as you can see. "Not bad," EM said. Not a glowing review, but she ate most of it.

Degenerate CD went for a grilled chicken breast over rice, which he said was fine, and raved about the grilled spinach and peppers on the side.

Righteous Room has a fair selection of beer and booze at reasonable prices. The place gets overcrowded late, however, so if you want to eat in relative calm get there before 10PM. It doesn't seem to get too smoky, despite the number of smokers in the place, and there are plenty of places to sit where you are not distracted by TV. The staff could be a bit more attentive or they could use one more wait person - I've had to leave my table and go to the bar to order a drink on several visits - but they're friendly when they show up. Definitely worth a visit.

A few weeks later, we made a circuit of all the bars on the Poncey-Highlands block. We started off at Eclipse Di Sol, a restaurant in the space formerly known as Café Diem. It's a great space with one of Atlanta's best patios, but I've eaten here a couple of times and haven't been impressed. Everything seems overpriced and targeted at either tourists from the Highland Inn next door or chi-chi Highlanders who don't feel like they've eaten a real meal unless they've paid $20 a plate and $7 a drink. They have a few specialty drinks and a straightforward wine menu, but I doubt I'll be back.

Next door is a small shopping strip with a bike store that attracted local bikers, not the spandex and vitamin water type but the skinny jeans and PBR type, who sat in the parking lot chugging bears and playing with their dogs next to their super-lightweight, single-speed machines with high-tech plastic wheels. It made for an odd contrast to Eclipse Di Sol's clientele.

I'd seen The Highland Inn Ballroom & Lounge on a few Best Of Atlanta lists in the "secret/underground/unknown" categories, so my curiosity was peaked. They recently hosted some of the Atlanta Horror Fest and have DJ's some nights, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's in the basement under The Highland Inn and I've had bad luck with hotel bars. All the ones I've visited, in Atlanta and elsewhere, are sterile places for people on expense accounts or on vacation and too lazy to leave the hotel. The drinks are usually way overpriced, there are no regulars, the staff are usually apathetic - not my idea of fun.
 

The Highland Inn Ballroom & Lounge isn't a classic hotel bar in this way. A few regulars - some of the bike kids from the parking lot two doors up - wandered in. The staff talked amongst themselves about how the following Saturday night the DJ they would be hosting would likely sell the place out and there would be a line down the block. But you wouldn't believe it judging from the Friday night we were there.

A singer/songwriter covered some awful pop music in soulful tones in a big room to a handful of people while we drank poorly-mixed drinks at the bar with two or three other patrons. They have scant selection of booze or beer but mercifully only have one small TV, tuned to Turner Classic Movies while we were there.

The bar was smoke-free so EM slipped out into the "courtyard" via a convenient door to find more of an alley than courtyard, but dressed up with a couple of tables and chairs.
Frankly, it was a depressing experience. This may be "Atlanta's best kept secret", as they tout on their myspace page, but as far as I'm concerned nobody knows about it for good reason. But then again, according to more than one source, the place fills up for certain affairs. Were I interested in DJ's I might give it a second look during one of their more popular nights. Alas...

Next up the block, one of my father's regular haunts, Manuel's. I remember going there as a child, following my father through the back door to meet some of his theater friends. Manuel's has a long and storied history (you can read a lot about it on their web site) going back to 1956, making it one of Atlanta's oldest establishments (Atkins Park Bar up the block holds the "oldest" title, from 1922.) Atlanta's bar and restaurant scene is fickle at best, so any place that survives 50+ years must've done something right, even if they're just coasting on earlier success. I have given Manuel's a poor review after countless visits where I consistently received the worst service. The food is decent - not great, but edible - and fairly priced, but someone will have to drag me back before I go there for food again.

This particular night we were only looking for a drink or two so I figured we could sit at the bar and get someone's attention. We were served so quickly we hadn't even decided what we wanted yet. They have a wide variety of liquors and beer to choose from and no place in Atlanta feels more like a lived-in neighborhood pub.

So if you're in the neighborhood, hit Righteous Room for dinner and drinks, catch a movie at The Plaza, then head to Manuel's for a nightcap (you won't be able to get back into Righteous Room at that hour anyhow!)

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