At last cooked rice

As I have explored the diverse albeit limited eateries in the Emory village I have come across many pleasantly surprising meals. However upon venturing out of the Village to Publix with my roommate we decided to go ahead and dine in the area. After closely reading the names of the restaurants and weighing our options we decided to go and eat at a Vietnamese and Thai restaurant. I was excited to go to the Saigon Café for I had never consumed food from those particular regions of the world. 

As I entered the relatively empty restaurant, which probably due to the fact that we were their during the awkward couple of hours in between lunch and dinner, I was meet with an array of odors which was a nice change from the same fried smells of the DUC. This was the first indication that the food was going to be flavorful, which made me even more excited to try the meal to come.  At the table in which we were seated there was a large variety of sauces, some I had never seen.  There were also some chopsticks, which I have often tried but failed to use properly. The general ambiance of the restaurant was very casual which was fueled by its eclectic mix of music, the large colorful photos of some of the numerous food items offered, and a tree from which hung colorful wax like tubes.

The menus that were given to us by the friendly server contained multiple items that were previously foreign to me. This variety only made it more difficult for me to choose what to order. Since it was a new experience I wanted to try many different items so I decided to order an appetizer, which is something that I usually do not do.  I decided to order a spring roll that had shrimp and pork. Because it has been strangely warm outside considering how late into the year it is when I saw the various soups on the menu I had to deter from choosing them even though they looked intriguing and instead opted for a rice based dish.  I cannot remember the name of the dish because when I ordered my food I only pointed to it on the menu because I could not pronounce the name of it.  But it was a rice dish with two different forms of pork and a baked egg.

The first to arrive at our table was the spring rolls that were accompanied by a dipping sauce that was sprinkled with crushed peanuts.  Though I usually do not enjoy peanuts in savory food I just scraped them off of the top of the dipping sauce and began to eat the spring rolls. They chewy exterior of the roll was nicely contrasted by the tender shrimp and beef and crunchy bean sprouts. The bean sprouts initially were the ingredient that was the most pronounced and slightly overpowering however when I dipped the spring roll into the complex sauce the sweetness from the sauce helped balance the flavor of the bean sprouts. The rest of my food arrived fairly quickly, probably because of the small amount of customers.

As I began to eat my meal I was overjoyed by the fact that the rice was actually cooked unlike the rice that is served at the DUC. The grilled pork was sweet and had a charred flavor to it, which was complimented by sweet and tart coleslaw. The shredded pork is another story however, it was cold and the texture was not something that I was used to but that is not to say that it was all bad for it was flavorful at least.  The baked egg was not what I expected but it contained many different savory ingredients that took it beyond the flavor of that of an ordinary egg.  Overall the meal was delicious and the large portion allowed for leftovers. The best part of the meal however was that I was able to practice eating with the chopsticks.

Quintessential American food

For weeks I had been hearing recommendations for a restaurant in the village that sold great hamburgers from peers, friends, and even food blogs.  Yet every time that I wandered down to the village I ended up going to the same three restaurants that I had become accustomed to. Just recently however my roommate and I found ourselves in the village and there I of course ceded the decision making to my roommate due to my inability to choose anything. And with me ceding over all of the power to my roommate I finally saw myself going to Wonderful World.

My roommate who had previously visited the establishment ordered first and with her grilled cheese she ordered a milkshake, which she suggested that I try. I ordered from the few menu items, which I would like to think show that they decided to make just a couple of things well rather than making to many poor quality items. However when I ordered my food and milkshake, I was sadly informed that there was only enough strawberry ice cream for one milkshake. Even though I was not able to have the sweet treat, which in hindsight was probably for the best, I was even happier with my cheeseburger and fries came out snuggled in a pie pan. The whimsical plating really brought character to the otherwise plain ambiance.

 While the fries were large in quantity the cheeseburger in comparison seemed to be very small and compact. I dove into the fries that I can now only describe as salty, blistering hot, and herby. Not only were the flavors of the fries great but so was its structure. It was a great size that was easy to manage and it was not drenched in grease like many other restaurant french fries. The dill that was sprinkled all over the fries gave it a sense of freshness that is usually not found in fried food let alone french fries. Every bite that I took of the perfectly crisp fry made me forget the boring fast food that is readily available. However when I bit into the juicy hamburger I was pleased by the large flavors overflowing from the small package of meat. The buttery bun held a garlicky beef patty and real cheddar cheese, not the processed American cheese, as well as bacon and of course lettuce and tomatoes.  Wonderful World was able to combine the cornucopia of flavors and textures from the various ingredients of the cheeseburger into one singular flavorful experience. Though my experience may have been swayed by the fact that I had not had a real hamburger in months the seasoned food was a nice deviation from the usual under seasoned food. However that was not to say that the meal was without flaws. The garlic flavor in the patty was delicious however the salt content, at least for me, was too much.  Though the salt was not at the level that I would have liked it was such a small flaw when compared to all of the other delicious components of the meal that I was easily able to overlook it.

 The greasy residue of the slab of beef that was cuddled in between two warm halves of a buttery bun was all that remained on the unorthodox plate. With the remnants of the gluttonous meal pestering my conscious, I lifted the pie pan that moments earlier had nestled the greasy burger and french fries and placed it with the mountain of other pans, that sat there representing the patrons that had come and gone. With that my roommate and I walked back to campus a little slower, weighed down by the calories accumulated by the sinful food. While the price was reasonable, with the best purchase being the French fries, and the flavor was explosive when compared to the plain cold stale and disproportionate burgers at the DUC, I would have to say that it was still not the best hamburger that I have experienced. For this very reason I do not think that I will be frequenting this particular establishment as often as I will be other nearby venues though that does not mean that I will exclude it either, for there are not many restaurants in walking distance that specialize in the quintessential American food.