Saturday, July 16, 2011

Athens Food Tour

While my mom was visiting me in Augusta, GA we ended up driving up to Athens,GA to embark on our very first food tour. I thought while she was here we could go and see something besides Augusta. There is only so much shopping you can do, till you are finally burnt out. I thought about heading up to Hilton Head but that would require staying overnight at least once. I decided to search for activities and found Athens Food Tour rated as the #1 thing to do while in Athens on TripAdvisor. It was less then 2 hour drive from Augusta to Athens. I was sold. I told my mom about it and she thought it sounded like a good time.

I wrote Mary Charles, she is the owner of Athens Food Tour. She was a SUPER nice lady, very helpful on advice and answered questions very quickly via email. I felt more then confident signing up for a food tour. We ended up doing the Downtown tour where the UGA campus is located. It was a 3 hour tour and $45 a person. We were able to go to 6 places and sampled anywhere from 2-3 courses at each place. We also were able to taste wine at one of them!

I’m so glad I decided to go to Athens, instead of the beach. Mary Charles was like a book and knew everything about Downtown Athens. We learned how historical the area is, how it has changed over the years and sampled some of the best local foods they had to offer. My mom and I both agreed that she felt as if she was a really close friend and it didn’t feel like you were on a tour following a “tour guide.” I really hope I am able to make it down to Athens again and try another food tour. I love learning about history where food is involved. ;)

We visited a really fun clothing store that sold local chocolates, one was a peanut butter cookie dipped in dark chocolate and the other was a peanut butter pretzel in dark chocolate. Somehow I didn’t have any photos and I can’t remember the name of the boutique at all. :( The chocolate was fabulous and the peanut butter pretzel… gave me ideas for the holidays!

La Dolce Vita

Tour1
Inside the restaurant

Tour3

Tour2
Carpacci with shaved leaks and goat cheese

Tour4
Homemade buffalo mozzarella with
roasted peppers and fresh basil

Tour5
Rigatoni alla Buttera (Italian sausage,
mushrooms, tomato and cream)

Athens Bulldogs

Tour6
These were throughout the Athens area but this was the only
one we saw. The painted statues became permanent because of
all the positive feedback they received.

Tour7
Sorry mom ;)

Tour8

Jittery Joes

Tour9
We had iced coffees to cool us off BUT I forgot a picture of them!

Tour10
Organic coffee.. I approve!

Tour11
The coffee is roasted in these machines at around 400 degrees.
The place was exceptionally hot because of this.

Tour12
Just like a nut, they toast up nice and brown. Once cooled the oils
are released.

King of Pops

Tour13
The original location is in Atlanta, GA but a popsicle
stand is the highlight near The Georgia Theater.

Tour14
Enjoying a Grapefruit Mint pop, perfect on that warm day!

The National

Tour15
Cucumber Gazpacho (My favorite)

Tour16
Mixed green salad with fresh mozzarella and fresh local
fruits in season.

Tour18

Tour17
Umm yeah.. their bar was pretty awesome!

Tour19
Toasted crostini, with local mushrooms and greens, topped with
a sherry vinaigrette.

Tour20
Teddy Bear Sunflowers, we loved these!

     Tour21
We liked The National!

Clocked

Tour23
Check out their decorations!

Tour24
We started with a chocolate milkshake…

Tour26                                  A unique diner with great burgers and milkshakes.

Tour25If you could guess.. she ordered us the Peanut Butter and Bacon
burger. They call it the Elvis burger. Let’s just say peanut butter
on a burger is my new favorite condiment! It wasn’t powerful of
nutty flavor but it just tasted right. Plus their beef is all local and
it was extremely moist and juicy. Great burger!

The burger came with their homemade tator tots which were
very spicy but went well with the feta ranch dipping sauce.

The tour was amazing. Each dish we tried was delicious. I probably should of mentioned some food dislikes and we had to send back some items to be remade. Now I’ll know for next time whenever I get to embark on another food tour. Thanks again to Athens Food Tour. This review was done on my own terms and I’m not being compensated for it.

Always,
Fallon

   

 

1 comment:

Robin said...

Looks like you had a great time together! I love those teddy bear sunflowers, had never seen them before.