Fudo Food Drinks Sushi

The area that once was known as Chambodia has become so gentrified in the most textbook case of the word. Chamblee is growing rapidly and becoming the target of big name developers with their cookie cutter mixed-use build plan for every shithole nook and cranny around Atlanta. Let's face it, Atlanta is so over built and congested that there is nowhere else to build except out towards OTP where all the minorities live. Eventually, they, too, will be priced out of their own neighborhoods by righteous hipsters who pretend to crusade for the very people that they kick out. In the not so distant future, the acronym OTP will not be taboo anymore because all the ethic grub and mom & pop shops will have no choice but to move further out due to the huge spike in rents that comes with these mixed-use developments... Most small business owners don't have the luxury of unlimited capital from an ultra rich investor like Ford Fry does to back any project at will which is kinda sad. What's even sadder is that the super affordable working man's Mexi-grub found up and down Buford Highway is 100 times better than any overpriced item found on Superica's Mexican't menu.
So, this new mixed-use development in Chamblee is really nothing special, it looks like every other "live work play" layout... But it does have a few dining options in it already and more to come. They got Bad Daddy Burger, Poke Bar, Chronic Tacos, The Alden and now, Fudo... They carefully avoid using the word "fusion" on their website but "wide variety of mixed Asian food" ain't fooling anyone, either. So, what does Fudo mean anyways? Well... "Fudo means food with no limits." No limits is right... There are 72 fucking sushi rolls on the menu! Seven-T-fucking-two rolls and a lot of them have cream cheese. Sounds like just a fancypants Ru San's to me.
I'm not a big fan of sushi rolls because we all know rolls aren't real sushi... But the self proclaimed sushi connoisseurs who don't eat raw fish will gobble that shit up like there's no tomorrow. But they also do have a sushi and sashimi menu which isn't very exciting and seems a bit overpriced for unproven source of product... It's printed on half a sheet of paper that could be easily over-looked. But they did have sweet shrimp which I'm a sucka for every time just like the goddamn spider roll. Jesus, why am I so obese and low rent... No wonder why I can't get a date... I can't even get a date with my hand after sitting on it for an hour to pretend it's a stranger.
Ok, enough of flapping my flabby jowls and fingering the keyboard with my greasy sausage fingaz... Let's take a first look and see if they are just another Ru San's in a Hanbok... But wait, 90% of the menu are rolls! Eh, fuck it, just eat it Pouch, you ain't getting any skinnier. When in Rome, eat as the Coreans eat...

Tori Karaage. Y'all know I can't resist fwied cheekan in any form... I fucking love karaage. But these sad little white meat nuggets were over salted and had a flat wet batter with no texture. Good karaage should always be dark meat and have a light crispy flaky crust with texture so it can grab on to the sauce when you dip it... But with good karaage you really don't need a sauce. I didn't even finish them... How blasphemous! Trust me, skip them, yo.

Assorted Tempura, shrimp, sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini. The presentation looked kinda chintzy compared to the giant bowl of dashi shoyu sauce but once you separate all the pieces, it was a respectable portion with 2 pieces each. The shrimp tempura was hand battered unlike most places with the frozen premade stuff. Not too shabby.

Sweet Shrimp. As with the karaage and spider roll, I just can't resist sweet shrimp, either. You get 3 shrimp sashimi for $12 which is not too bad... But they were kinda small and one biters. It was fine but it really didn't have that sweetness you would expect from a quality sweet shrimp. The presentation was fancy looking but looks don't always mean it's craveworthy. Let's get to the best part of a sweet shrimp...

Fried heads! Easily, the best part of sweet shrimp... Especially, if the heads are filled with mustard or tomalley or whatever the fuck you wanna call them, wait, how about just brains! And I can stare lovingly into their black beady little eyeballs for minutes on end. Oh, my, I'm getting a blood flow just thinking about licking those black little pearls. The spot-on fried heads were better than the shrimp itself. Would I get them again? Nah, save the money for a spider roll... Speaking of which...

Spider Roll. It looked ok when it came out. I was kinda expecting a more visual presentation with the crab legs sticking out at the end like a peacock tail but sadly this crab had like two little retarded legs twisted together. They shoulda named it the Tiny Tim Roll, instead. It wasn't a bad spider roll, it just didn't wow me like a few other places that do it right with plump fried soft shell crab and minimal filler.

King Kong, spicy tuna, avocado, topped with yellowtail, spicy aioli (baked), masago, scallions, crunch. Jesus, is this a picture of a STD? My god, what kinda gonorrhea mess did I get myself into... Do I eat it or build a foundation for a sunroom with it? I know I said, when in Rome, eat as the Coreans eat... But for fuck sake, how do you even eat this monstrosity? It's like a cinder block. I was actually more interested in how they come up with these names... They have one called B.T.S. but don't tell you what it stands for. They shoulda named this one IBS... Maybe this one makes you take King Kong size dumps. This thing was awful... With all that shit on it, you would think it would be an explosion of flavors but this tasted like eating R13 insulation. The Pouch says pass.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix, salmon, yellowtail, spicy tuna, crunch, spicy aioli Topped with black tobiko. What is this, the Nightcrawler's tail? I must admit, this looked a lot more appetizing than the King Dong roll. It looked a lot cleaner and more traditional. While it didn't taste like much of anything, especially, the fish inside, it was still light years ahead of the previous brick roll...Wait, I got Rick rolled on that last one. But that doesn't mean I would ever get this again... Because I wouldn't.

Like I said, I'm not a big fan of rolls... It's like the gateway sooshee for people who doesn't really care for the real stuff. I still remember this loud ass broad at another Japanese joint telling everybody that she absolutely loves sushi but doesn't eat the raw stuff... Yeah, she was one of those people. So, I paid for the California roll, took her home and pumped and dumped it the next day or maybe it was the other way around... Hmmm, Japanese whisky usually have that affect on me.
I can't say if there will be another visit for me in the future but the staff was great and the owner was gracious and I wish them well. I'm sure they will do fine in this newly developed area, it has the right demographics for their sushi rolls galore. They should put a giant menu on the wall and have diners throw darts at it because no matter which roll you pick, it will probably taste the same as the other 71 rolls... Talk about being Rick Roll'd. On second thought, I don't think I will be back but I will bless their heart.

5070 Peachtree Blvd
Suite A100
Chamblee, GA 30341
http://www.fudoatl.com/

Bully Boy

I know what y'all are saying... Where the fuck has the corpulent slob been lately? Has the great glutton gone riding into the sunset of the big toilet in the sky? No motherfuckers, I have been mass consuming vittles at the same rate a blackhole eats up planets, stars and galaxies. I am so fucking obese these days... I am the size of a bully boy. Whales laugh and spit out gallons of plankton at the sight of me. The amount of posts I have to write up are backed up like my bowels... It's almost surreal on how many places I have been to in the last month or two. Between the eating, IBS and crying myself to sleep, I barely have time to write up the Pouch's recent adventures... But I can't let my one reader down. I have sworn an oath to report all that's fit to eat and shit... Let's take a first look at one of the newer concepts from Concentrics...
Anyone remember Nexto... Prolly not, but their name was so fitting. Right after you ate their ramen, you will be saying, NEXT! The space was built out nicely but their "Japanese" inspired menu was extremely pedestrian and lacked excitement. The joint didn't last long, they gave some bullshit excuse about how they're turning it into an private event space or some shit like that... But we all know what that means, no one went back a second time. The place was not getting any traction, not even with the local "celebrity" chef consultant as the face of the place. Then the space went dark for quite awhile, until Concentrics came up with a new concept... A simple menu with no specific cuisine, just a mix of fusion dishes. Yeah, yeah, we all know what fusion means... Usually, a broad mix of different cuisines and the liberal use of the word "inspired by". The menu consists of influences from popular Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Southern, North East dishes that seems so generic and boring but the menu actually read well. This sounds weird but I'm kinda curious about this joint because Concentrics restos have never gotten me excited in the past, they were all so pedestrian and made for the masses. The interior and the layout hasn't changed much since they already spent the money on building it out for Nexto. It still has that dark cavernous feel to it but it doesn't feel cold... This location could be such a kickass club/lounge space. Ok, enough of the gabbing and start feeding already, Pouch... Do what you do best and consume in mass quantities.

Bourbon #1. I'm usually not impressed with the house cocktail menus... Bartenders these days are always trying to be innovative and breaking the mold which there is nothing wrong with that... But I'm old school and a purist when it comes to cocktails. But this brown juice concoction sounded good with tamarind, lemon and ginger... And it was pretty tasty.

Florida Red Snapper Tartare, red onions, cilantro, leche de tigre, $14. Visually, it doesn't look that appetizing but the ceviche style marinade of the leche de tigre really brings out the flavors of the snapper. It had a nice firm bite to it and the fried rice paper gave it an Asian spin to it.

Crispy Brussels Sprouts,  spicy Thai sauce, lime, $8. C'mon, Pouch, brussels sprouts are so played out these days... I don't give a shit, I still like it like the cheesy Spider Roll that I can't stop ordering at sushi joints. The sprouts look like they were a bit over-charred but it didn't taste like burnt rubber at all. It had a hint of spiciness, nothing Thai hot as advertised but the acidity from lime helped bring out a bit more flavor. It was a good dish, nothing offensive about it.

Blue Crab Mango Salad, blue crab, jicama, green papaya, charred green beans, jerk vinaigrette, $12. When I see papaya salad on a menu, it's guaranteed that it will be on my table. The presentation was nice, it had height to it and vibrant colors. They were not chintzy on the crab meat which was a nice surprise. The papaya and jicama played well together but entire dish was very under-seasoned. The jerk vinaigrette did nothing to maximize the ingredients' flavor. The dish overall wasn't bad, I kinda enjoyed but I would have enjoyed it even more if it was seasoned properly.

Roasted Mushroom Empanada, black garlic aioli, $9. I knew I was gonna get ripped on this $9 empanada but I didn't care, this empanada had me at roasted shrooms and black garlic aioli. It was a normal sized empanada which would had cost about $3 or less at any Mexi joint on Buford Hwy but this was off the beltline and you're gonna pay a premium for it. The crust was crispy and flaky, the roasted shrooms inside was flavorful and tasted pretty good... But the black garlic aioli was kind of a let down, it wasn't as flavorful as it sounds. Barely any garlicky flavor, if it was this would made the empanada worthy of the $9 price tag. Still a tasty bite to try once.

Comfort Farms Rabbit Patty Melt, double stack, brioche, shoe string fries, $17. I was really curious about the New England Clam Chowder Carbonara... It looked like such a Frankenstein dish, I mean who fucking does that? It also kinda made sense in a Bizarro world kinda way but it looked way too rich and fatty which is the last thing I need these days. So, I settled for this rabbit burger thinger with fries because that wouldn't be fatty at all. I was pretty surprised on how tasty this rabbit burger was... Yes, it was greasy as hell but I really enjoyed it. And I ate all the fries as well... Yeah, how's that diet working out for you, Pouch?

I was not expecting much from this fusion menu but it really surprised me with how well their execution of the ingredients in each dish was. Each dish didn't take long to come out and it all seemed to be made to order as well. The one dish that kinda insulted me was the Blue Crab Fried Rice for $26, are you fucking kidding me, bro? Fried rice is like the cheapest dish ever and tossing some crab in it doesn't make it worth 10 times the amount of some day old re-fried rice. I saw it at the next table and the portion of the fried rice was a bit light, they toss an omelette on top of the rice to give more heft and volume for the theatrics of it. I wasn't gonna fall for this banana in the tailpipe trick but the whities were ordering this dish left and right. I was also interested in the Maine Jonah Crab Roll but then the memories of the crab roll at Cousins Maine Lobster made me rethink my decision before I got scammed for a $19 bland canned crab roll again. Then again, they may surprise me with the crab roll... Ok, I'll get it next time. Yes, the probability of a next time at this joint is pretty high. But the Maine Lobster Frites is just too over the top for me at $36... I just can't tell if it's a whole lobster or a half with two claws to trick you. It looked so saucy and heavy with the giant pile of fries that takes up 2/3 of the plate.
The service was really good, my server knew his shit and was attentive and on point... Which makes the whole experience even better. It's like a Jedi mind trick to make you over look the mistakes... The service has a strong influence over the weak pouched. I have to give credit when credit is due... This visit was very pleasant, the vibe was cozy without feeling confined and the food was more than acceptable and playful. This resto may be the best concept Concentrics has came up with in a long time. I would go back with more people to try more things but all my friends are either imaginary or incarcerated... Y'all know what I'll be doing tonight...Crying myself to sleep... Again.

828 Ralph McGill Blvd
Atlanta, GA 30306
https://www.bullyboyatl.com/