Trippin' with the RealTimShady

Mr. Plow and I call Atlanta home and Atlanta restaurants are the ones that we most often frequent. The following are our favorites from 2016 - a new discovery, a re-discovery, and our standard go-tos for whenever we need a nice meal and a respite from reality. New Discovery Staplehouse 541 Edgewood Ave SE Atlanta, GA 30312 We made our reservation (to celebrate Mr. Plow's birthday) just before the boom - the boom that catapulted Staplehouse to national acclaim: praise from the likes of GQ  and Vogue , a feature story on CBS Sunday Morning , and the honor of being named the Best New Restaurant of the Year by Bon Appétit . I'll be honest, the experience was perfection primarily because the elegant and eclectic dishes are paired with the welcoming warmth of the staff and the comfortable aura of the room. (The fact that all the after-expenses profits benefit The Giving Kitchen is a moving bonus.) We'd desperately like to return, but the they are seemingly always fully co...

Maude 212 S Beverly Dr Beverly Hills, CA 90212 With Mr. Plow away on a work trip, I packed my bags and flew out to the Left Coast to share a meal or two with one of my food soulmates, Le Professeur M. Much to our delight, we managed to book one of the seven tables at Maude, celebrity chef Curtis Stone's homage to his paternal grandmother. Maude seems like a gimmick - a ten-course tasting menu designed around a single featured ingredient. Last July, that seasonal ingredient was zucchini. Full confession: it was the gimmick and not the ingredient that drew us in. By the end of the evening, though, we had been totally wowed by not only the clever concept of featuring one ingredient throughout ten courses, but also by the creativity from the kitchen, the care and attention from the servers, and the undeniable versatility and tastiness of the zucchini. Maude is a tiny, beautiful restaurant. We enjoyed the warm energy and care of the space, as well as the vintage mismatched dishe...

Aamans Etablissement Øster Farimagsgade, 12 2100 København Ø, Denmark First, get yourself to Copenhagen! It's a glorious city full of beautiful sites, beautiful people, and beautiful food - and flights to Denmark are surprisingly affordable right now. The food scene in Copenhagen has been on fire for the past few years. Three of the World's 50 Best restaurants are located in the Danish capital - and disciples from each of those restaurants have ventured out on their own, opening a web of restaurants that make the city a rich and inviting city for all adventurous eaters. One of Denmark's primary culinary specialties is smørrebrød, a buttered slice of Danish rye piled high with toppings such as pickled herring or smoked salmon. In a small and elegantly decorated space near the Botanical Garden and Rosenborg Castle, Aamans Etablissement offers artistic, modern interpretations of these Danish classics. We took our server's advice and started with the most tradi...

The Granary 'Cue & Brew 602 Avenue A San Antonio, TX 78215 I love a surprise, especially the surprise of arriving in a city for the first time and discovering that it is so much more than expected. San Antonio is one of those cities. Famed for its Riverwalk - the colorful, well-publicized epicenter for tourists and conventioneers - San Antonio is also so much more than that one well-documented area. For example, Mr. Plow and I found perfect accommodations at the Devine Bungalows in the Southtown neighborhood, the perfect vantage point for exploring the city (almost always on foot). We also enjoyed strolling through the King William Historic District, marveling at architecture that ranges from Victorian to midcentury to contemporary. North of the Riverwalk, in a revitalized area known as The Pearl, lies The Granary 'Cue & Brew, a barbecue joint at once classic and progressive. I went for the classic BBQ board, enjoying brisket and pulled pork along with hearty ...

Pink Magnolia 642 W. Davis St. Dallas, TX 75208 I scour the internet for travel deals; Mr. Plow kindly obliges me. Last April, we found cheap flights to Texas ($89 round trip!) and spent a week exploring the Lone Star State. Our first stop after landing on a sunny Sunday morning was Pink Magnolia, an unassuming spot in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas. Helmed by chef Blythe Beck , Pink Magnolia aims for and delivers elegant yet casual Southern nostalgia. Weary from the flight, we decided to revive our spirits with a couple of Magnolia Marys (satisfyingly spicy house-made Bloody Marys) and a few pork-filled cheddar biscuits, savory stacks of Southern contentment. This gave us just the boost we needed to dive-in to our poached-egg-topped main courses: a quartet of lamb lollipops for Mr. Plow and a hearty bowl of corned beef hash for me. The Texas lamb pops, dripping with Hollandaise, were tender and juicy; the corned beef hash was a satisfying combination of salty, soft, cris...

The Bull and Beggar 37 Paynes Way #007 Asheville, NC 28801 Last February, my traveling companion, Mr. Plow, and I took advantage of an incredible offer ($99/night!) at the Grand Bohemian in the Biltmore Village of Asheville, a city that we love because it's only a short three-hour drive from home and it's filled with beautiful scenery, unique art and architecture, and great restaurants. On an icy Monday evening we accidentally found ourselves at The Bull and Beggar in the up-and-coming River Arts District after reservations at several other restaurants were canceled by the restaurants themselves. The Bull and Beggar bills itself as serving "European Inspired Appalachian Cuisine," but we had arrived on Burger Night we learned, so we followed the recommendation of our server, forewent the Appalachia-via-Europe standard menu, and opted for The Burger, a double-decker steal at only $9.99. What a burger! (And we know from burgers, having sampled many #trendy burg...