This little strip mall is becoming quite the little culinary hub. You got Ms. Icey's, Po'Boy Shop, Community Q, Mela Ethiopian Kitchen, Pyng Ho, Brew and Bird (how the fuck is this dump still alive?), and Hiro Ramen & Tea Bar is coming sooooon... It sounds like a food haven but this strip mall has also seen it's fair share of restaurant turnovers over the years. Many different concepts have come and gone, the one that I wished would have stuck around was Janet's Kitchen, one of the few Filipino restos to be had in this one horse town. Now, Mela took over that space.. Which I still have to try. Ethiopian cuisine saw some nice media coverage at the end of 2019 and coming into 2020 and then COVID hit... Which we all know what that shitshow did to the entire service industry. But that didn't stop all small business owners from opening up new concepts in a very challenging environment.
Fine dining in this town is basically dead... Not that it was ever booming at any point in time in this city. French cuisine in Atlanta still pisses me off, passing off fake Fronch shit and billing it as authentic French cuisine and techniques like Lane Meyer's mom... Peru! Fuck, why the hell not? It's not like any of these mossbacks in da ATL would even know the difference between fromage and fromunda cheese. I can still remember like it was yesterday when Cafe Alsace in Decatur served me canned green beans as haricot verts many many moons ago, but it did say "French Style" on the can in the garbage... Then, naturally, I demanded for some French's Fried Onions to go with it, on the side of course, I'm a ballbuster, not a barbarian.
The entire year of 2020, so far, has been dominated by casual and comfort foods that have been doing takeout mostly. Come to think of it, I am kinda sick of fancy overpriced grub that I have been suckered into paying for over the decades. Just remember, most of the ingredients are nothing special, you're just paying for the people watching and ambiance of the place. This fat fuck has reduced itself to cooking a lot at home and also picking up takeout from local mom and pop shops. Hell, they need the community support more than the investors backed big name restos and I'm all down for that. Fast food joints have been loving this goat rodeo of a year... Chick-fil-A has seen a big surge in business. Popeyes ain't hurting, either, they are swamped every time I go there or drive by one. Bojangles and Zaxby's, both, seem to be doing about the same amount of business. Why are all the chains mentioned have something to do with cheekan, almighty marsupial? That's because the Pouch gives zero clucks about the other fast food dumps that does not specialize in fwied cheekan.
A few small business owners with big cojones said, Fuck COVID! and decided to open projects they have been working on before the pandemic vs. closing them like most up and running ones. This Cuban food truck recently opened their brick and motar in the old Nectar space. It's small and cozy with a very simple operation. The opening weekend was a mad house with a line that stretched all the way down to Brew and Bird. All I wanted was a Cuban sando and this fat fuck was thinking.. "C'mon, it's Decatur. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again... We're not going to Moscow." The Pouch musta been drinking cough syrup all morning if it thinks it can get in and get out quick. I looked at the line and said, fuck this noise... It's just a fucking sandwich. So, I went to PAB for their excellent $5 Cubano, instead. I went back to BGC after a few days and went early during a week day and it wasn't bad. Ordered my shit and waited outside for my to-go order. Got my shit and went home to check out the stash... Hope this shit was worth the hype...
Medianoche, roasted mojo pork, bolo ham, swiss, pickles & mustard pressed on Cuban bread. I know, I know, why didn't the Pouch get the Cuban sando??? That's because I just had one from PAB. Plus, I was curious about the medianoche here. It's basically the Cuban with a softer egg dough bread, instead. The color of the bread looked great and the portion size was spot on. This sando looked promising at first glance... Let's see what's under the hood.
Side view of the innards... Not too shabby. Nicely stuffed with the proper fillers. Took a bite and the bread didn't disappoint. It has a nice slight crunch on the outside and the soft savory meats on the inside. This was a pretty damn good sando. All the flavors were present and the swiss cheese had a melt and pull. The entire package was well made but the bread was the real winner here.
Pan con Lechon, roasted mojo pork and onions on Cuban bread. This looked interesting... It reminded me of an upscale Hot Pocket. Sometimes, you don't need more than 3 ingredients to be an amazing sando. Let's take a peek inside.
Side shot. Oh, yeah... Look at that crusty pressed bread and the manmeat filler with a sprinkling of minced onions that reminded me of the re-hydrated minced onions found in McDonald's burgers. There's just something addictive about them Mickey D's onions when I was growing up, I think they were laced with PCP or Angel dust back in the mid to late 1900's or the 70-80's to you millennials. This pork sando may look simple but it was packed with flavor... And I loved it with the crispy pressed Cuban bread.
I like this place. It's doing it right and not dumbing it down for the gringos. The pricing and portions are pretty much spot on but if they go over $12 a sando, I will have to take it off my rotation... Because PAB still has the best $5 Cuban in this town. This is a definite addition to this tiny strip mall which is basically a food hall by any definition. The sandwich competition here is fierce.
Squirt.
1365 Clairmont Rd
Decatur, GA 30033
