RESTAURANT STORIES
Getting to know Buford Highway one restaurant inroad at a time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, March 30, 2009
“I don’t think I’d ever have gone into this restaurant on my own!” Rosemary says with a laugh, as we stand in a poorly graded Chamblee parking lot staring at an odd sight.
In the front exhibition window a chef tends to kabobs on a grill with a cigarette dangling from his lips. This storefront’s wooden facade sports a fresh coat of whitewash, and a hand-painted sign identifies it as Delicious Kabob Chinese Restaurant.
Where are we exactly? As many an Atlantan would guess, on the Buford Highway international dining corridor — that vector of mystery and deliciousness that shoots northward from the city. I am spending the afternoon with Rosemary, her husband and another couple, eating our way up and down the highway for the annual tour I donate to my kids’ school auction.
So far, it’s been a doozy. We started with Korean-style pumpkin breakfast pastries at Bakery Cafe Maum, then grilled slivers of smoked duck tableside at Nak Dong Gang, and took an hour to digest during a shopping expedition to the Buford Highway Farmers Market.
Now we stand here, contemplating the delicious kabobs and their smoking chef. Not that I don’t appreciate any reason to overeat, but this is the moment of the tour I live for. That look of “holy shiitake” that crosses people’s faces. That looks that says, “We’re going into this restaurant?”
Many Atlantans are fascinated by the possibilities and genuine allure of Buford Highway, yet loath to explore it on their own. Why? I think some remember the day in 1995 that Honto — a then-popular Chinese spot — got a score of 26 on its health rating. Others feel awkward as outsiders, worry about communication, fear they’ll order some unlikely animal’s nether regions without realizing it.
“How do you do it?” they ask.
“I walk in and ask lots of stupid questions,” I say.
The room is huge and dark, sparsely populated with tables and booths, less so with people. Dozens of decorative doodads hang on strings from the low ceiling tiles, making the whole place look a little like a down-on-its-luck wedding hall. A ceramic head of bok choy nestles in an alcove. To our amusement, “NO SMOKING” signs are displayed everywhere. An admirable health department rating hangs above the counter.
I had eaten at Delicious Kabob once before with a friend who discovered it, and so I knew a little about what to order from the odd menu, which combines Northern Chinese and Sichuan specialties.
The Sichuan beef brings thin slivers fried to a crisp in tingly spices, then tossed with whole dried chile pods and handfuls of cilantro. I order this because no one can stop eating it. The intriguing “tofu skin” looks like a tangle of flat pasta, and comes with a mild sauce flecked with bits of green pepper. It gets boring fast, but my new friends won’t find it elsewhere. They should try it.
The rest of the meal results from lengthy negotiations with the manager, who happens to be the chef’s sister and speaks English well. We do want to try a dish that “old-fashioned Chinese people like,” we’re not sure we want more spicy Sichuan food, we do want to sample one of the dumplings.
“What about a kabob?” the manager prods. “You should order a kabob.” Sure…
And we feast. Potsticker fiends at the table swoon over the juicy leek-and-pork dumplings. I revel in a platter of shredded pork, celery and smoked tofu. We all find enough appetite for the chicken kabob, crusted massively with cumin, red pepper and salt but no sign of cigarette ash.
I want to warn people not to eat too much, because we still have Vietnamese sandwiches, Chinese barbecue and Salvadorean pupusas on the itinerary. Alas, the food is so good that we polish it off.
“I can’t wait to go back,” Rosemary says on the way out. I’m happy to hear this: One inroad at a time, that’s the way to know Buford Highway.
• Delicious Kabob Chinese Restaurant, 3640 Shallowford Road, Chamblee. 770-457-4948
