Mexican Chorripollo in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mexican Chorripollo in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One restaurant that my husband Laurent and I go back to several times when we visit Atlanta is The Border, located north of the city in Smyrna, Georgia. 

One of my new favorite dishes there is Texas guacamole, which arrives in a Texas-sized, 8-inch across the top mortar with crushed avocado, chopped tomato, chopped peppers, chopped onions, and cilantro. I love guacamole, and it is a dream to have that much good guacamole to eat. 

One of the dishes I like to eat at The Border is chorripollo. “Chorri” refers to the spicy chorizo sausage in the dish. “Pollo” in Spanish means “chicken.” 

The Border serves this dish with flattened and grilled breast meat. They take off the sausage skins and cook the sausage. The sausage goes on top of the chicken breast along with melted cheese. 

Chorripollo comes with rice, black beans, and flour tortillas. I cut the chorripollo into strips and place these in the tortillas along with the rice and beans to make tacos. That is yummy. 

This salty dish along with a frozen margarita is very satisfying in Atlanta’s torpid summer heat with thunderclouds billowing upwards in the sky. 

Chorripollo is not as well known as other Mexican dishes, but if you would like to try it, The Border’s version of it is delicious. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway SE 

Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Seafood $ Hack in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Seafood $ Hack in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

Georgia’s incomparable, briny, and plump shrimp can be pricey on most Atlanta menus, but if you expand your dining horizons to Mexico, you can find delicious shrimp at reasonable prices. 

On visits to The Border Restaurant in Smyrna (Georgia), my husband Laurent eats Camarones al mojo de ajo (shrimp in garlic sauce). The shrimp is mild flavored and arrives with Spanish rice and tortillas to be made into tacos. 

Shrimp is very good for you, if you do not eat it in excess. (If you are allergic to seafood, obviously do not eat it.) 

According to www.medlineplus.gov and www.healthline.com - shrimp has the following nutrients that support vital functions in the body: 

-iron: helps with muscle formation and oxygen use 

-phosphorous: helps with bone and teeth formation and maintenance and repair of cells 

-potassium: helps with nerve function and muscle contraction 

-magnesium: helps with nerve and muscle function, supports the immune system, and helps form strong bones 

Shrimp does have high sodium levels, but when in the southern US in the summer, I actually welcome salt in the diet. 

The Border Restaurant has great frozen margaritas to go with this delicious shrimp dish as well. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway 

Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Chinese Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Chinese Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

When my husband Laurent and I go to Atlanta (Georgia), we love searching out neighborhood Chinese restaurants for plump, briny shrimp dishes. 

One of the best meals we have eaten in Atlanta was at the The Peking Garden, which was built to look like a Chinese house with red doors in Smyrna, Georgia. 

The Peking Garden is unassuming outside, but has some nice artwork inside - a bubbling and spotlessly clean aquarium by the entryway is a 5-foot porcelain vase, a wall-size bas relief sculpture painting of diners at a garden tea pavilion, paintings of feather-rich birds turning their heads sitting on top of bushes with flowers, and curling dragon sculptures rippling across the walls. I like Chinese art, so the effect of all the art on me was to make me serene and happy. 

Many East Coast city people seek out high quality Chinese food. When we ate at Peking Garden, there were Latino families, Chinese families, African-American couples, policemen, and Laurent and me in the restaurant for a late Sunday lunch. I felt like a cross-section of Atlanta’s population was out for a delicious and pleasurable meal. 

The Chinese are experts at cooking seafood and do wonders with Georgia’s incomparable plump shrimp. We chose a simple dish that really lets the shrimp shine – kung pao shrimp. Laurent chose the mild sauce for his order, and I ordered a spicy sauce for mine. 

Kung pao shrimp’s main ingredients are shrimp, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and peanuts. The sauce is what really makes this dish delicious. It is made with dark and light soy sauces, fresh ginger, Sichuan peppers (numbing yet delicious), vinegar, water, and a little sugar. 

Kung pao shrimp fills you up when you eat it with an order of white rice for each person. It also clears your sinuses, so brink some tissue with you. 

The kung pao shrimp was about $13 for each order. I think that price is very fair for the delicious and healthy meal we ate. 

Peking Garden Restaurant 

2526 S. Cobb Drive SE 

Smyrna, Georgia 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Mexican Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mexican Food in Smyrna, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite reliable spots for Mexican food north of Atlanta, Georgia (off Cobb Parkway by Red Lobster) is The Border Mexican Restaurant. As a Californian, I eat Mexican food three times a month and Asian food once a month. When I travel, I seek out both of these foods. I would say that these foods in Atlanta are not as spicy as they are in California, but are still flavorful and healthy. 

One of The Border’s big treats is Texas Guacamole. This guacamole is a flavorful blend of tomato, onion, cilantro, and lots of avocado. Our guacamole arrived in a basalt mortar that was 8 inches across the top and full of guacamole. My husband Laurent and I spent half an hour eating this silky appetizer.

Frankly, I think the Texas guacamole alone is worth a visit to The Border Restaurant, but we did order meals to go with it. 

I tried one of my favorite Mexican restaurant dishes: enchiladas verdes. This dish is shredded chicken rolled up in soft wheat tortillas and covered in mild, green tomatillo tomato sauce. Black beans and Spanish rice come with this meal and tasted very Californian with the hot sauce I added to them. 

Laurent tried steak tacos with cilantro and onion. He added dollops of guacamole to them and thought that was a great combination. 

The Border Restaurant has delicious, unpretentious food. It is moderately priced as well, which you cannot beat in pricey Atlanta. 

The Border Restaurant 

2569 Cobb Parkway SE Smyrna, Georgia 30080 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Green Pepper and Onion Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

Green Pepper and Onion Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

You need a rice cooker to make this recipe. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-3/4 cup brown rice or enriched white rice 

-2 cups water 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-1 teaspoon adobo seasoning 

-2 cored, seeded, and chopped green peppers 

-1 chopped onion 

Steps: 

1-Place brown rice and water in a rice cooker and cook. 

2-Heat olive oil in a frying pan till bubbling. Add adobo seasoning. 

3-Add chopped onions and peppers to the frying pan and stir for 10 minutes. 

4-Add the cooked rice to the frying pan and stir for 10 minutes or until steam rises from the frying pan. 

If you do not like adobo seasoning, you can also use Creole Seasoning or Old Bay Seasoning to make this dish. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Shrimp Adobo Rice Recipe by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Adobo Rice Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

You need a rice cooker to make this recipe. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-3/4 cup brown rice or enriched white rice 

-2 cups water 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-1 teaspoon adobo seasoning 

-1 cup cooked, shelled, and roughly chopped shrimp 

Steps: 

1-Prepare rice in a rice cooker. 

2-Heat olive oil in a frying pan. When the olive oil bubbles, add the adobo seasoning and the shrimp. Stir for rice and shrimp for 5 minutes to heat and season the shrimp. 

3-Add cooked rice to the shrimp in the frying pan. Turn the rice and shrimp until steam rises – about 10 minutes. 

If you don’t like adobo seasoning, you can also use Creole Seasoning or Old Bay Seasoning for this dish. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Greek Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Greek Food in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

When my husband Laurent and I visit Atlanta (Georgia), we always make at least one trip to Marietta Diner, located north of Atlanta by Kennesaw State University and Dobbins Air Force Base. Marietta Diner has an extensive all-American menu, which is popular with Atlanta Braves fans, military personnel, and students alike. 

However when I go to Marietta Diner, I study their menu and specials to look for Greek food, which hearkens back to my student days in Detroit and Chicago. 

I have been able to order delicious Greek meals like the following with the specials menu: 

For me – 

Greek pasta, which came with soup. The soup I ordered was naturally Greek, avgolemono, lemon-egg soup. Avgolemono soup is made with onions, rice, chicken stock, shredded chicken breast, eggs, and lemon juice. It is a sour cold fighter, which I like warm or room temperature. 

The Greek pasta was made with al dente penne pasta, melted feta cheese, sliced sun-dried tomatoes, small black olives, and bite-sized grilled chicken. The Greek pasta was salty and sour and perfect in Atlanta’s sweltering summer heat. 

For Laurent – 

A gyro (pronounced ‘yeer-o’) platter, which came with spanakopita (feta and spinach pie squares in buttered phyllo dough) and garlic fries. A gyro is shaved and roasted beef and pork served in pocket pita bread along with tomato, onion, and cucumber-yogurt (tzatziki) spread. The gyro disappeared. Laurent let Ruth, who likes vegetarian food, have the spanakopita. 

For dessert – 

A yummy baklava with rich lemon custard in the center of nutty layers of butter rich phyllo dough that were doused in honey. 

We ate this delicious meal for $44 and had leftovers to take home. We made 4 meals out of what we ordered, which averaged $11 each. I thought that was a pretty great price for Greek Isles food.

Marietta Diner 306 Cobb Parkway SE South 

Marietta, Georgia 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books