Good Morning Darlings!

When Caren West calls (or emails), I listen. As one of Atlanta’s premiere PR mavericks, her clients are all incredibly fab.

Then she asked me to review The Real Chow Baby. What? Isn’t that like a fast food place? Really, Caren?

But, I trust her wholly, so off Eric and I went. We had dined at this type of concept once in Tampa and had not been impressed.

Those Tampa folks didn’t have Caren West. Or Kevin, the manager. Or Marauda, who keeps everything moving at the food stations.

One tiny suggestion – we arrived and thought we were asking the host to check on our reservation. Um…he was the DJ. He is right inside the door and that poor man must get that all night long. But he played some awesome music to eat by.

After locating the hostess stand, Kevin, the manager and everyone else we encountered took fantastic care of us. I didn’t get the name of our server, but he was terrific.

We started by taking a look around. The space is so happy and upbeat. And boy, did everything smell wonderful.

The cocktails! They had the widest selection of mojitos I have ever seen. I ordered the pineapple mojito and Eric got the Peach Ice Tea. It was Chow Baby’s version of Long Island Iced Tea. Yum.

The thing here is that your server brings you this small wooden paddle with a number on it. You use one of the pencils on the table to write your name on the paddle. Then you take it up, grab a bowl and start filling it with what you think might be the tastiest flavor combo.

Then they fry it all up for you. That is, after Miss Marauda makes sure you got everything your little heart desired.

Wait – are you a vegan? They have a special stir fry pan just for you, so there is no cross frying of meats and vegetables. They have thought of everything. Don’t eat meat, but still crave a protein? Why, there’s some lovely tofu for you!

Since I wanted to try and eat a little healthier, I chose brown rice, mushrooms, peanuts, bok choy, panko chicken, peas, sesame seeds, a combo of the ginger lime basil and Asian peanut pesto. Holy Toledo. Eric opted for something else – I was too busy mooning over my dish.

And to offset all those health benefits, we ordered the fried calamari with a citrus sauce and an aioli that was to die for. Love!

Are you looking for a sandwich or a salad? They can do that, too. In fact, I asked Kevin how many flavor combos he thought they might have. Neither one of us could do the math – it is just too many to count!

Will I return? You betcha. And I will bring friends – lots of them.

Thanks, Caren. You really always do know best.

xoxo, Patti

Today blogging to The Lion King – Chow Down