Trippin': Atlanta - World of Coca-Cola

121 Baker St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30313

I want to say that the number one Atlanta attraction that all visitors check out would have to be World of Coca-Cola. I completely made that up so there's a big chance that's just a bunch of hokum. For a general admission of $15, you get to enjoy coke from beginning to now. You start off with a brief intro. There were antique paintings and coke written in different languages. The speaker pointed out one sign in particular and asked the audience what language it was written in and of course me and my big mouth quickly blurted out Vietnamese! He wanted to know who said that and I yelled out, the Vietnamese girl! Haha. And here's the embarrassing part. He wanted me to tell everyone what it said, but since I don't know how to read VN nor do I know VN other than food and simple conversational phrases, I was like, uuuhhh ... don't know, sorry. Hah! Next comes a short film about Coke makes people happy. And then you get released on your own where you have several things to enjoy. There was this 4D movie about discovering coke's secret formula. I think the answer was like us Coke drinker's is/are the secret formula. CHEESE! You also get to see a fully-functioning bottling line, pop culture gallery and the world's largest collection of Coke memorabilia. The thing that everyone always talk about is getting to taste coke and coke products from all over the world. I tasted about five or six sodas before calling it quits. The floors were super sticky and my hands felt sticky so I was like, bail time! My fave part was getting to take a picture with the polar bear!

Restaurant: Gravitas

807 Taft St
Houston, TX 77019

The second restaurant that big poppa and I hit up for Houston Restaurant Week was Gravitas and we had the pleasure of enjoying Jacques and Gilles company as our dining companions for the evening. It was raining tigers and bears that evening yet we still drove and ran in the rain as if this was our last supper. What were we thinking?!? So to explain in more detail what the restaurant week is all about, restaurants all over Houston have agreed to offer a special three course meal for $35 per person. The website says that $5 from each CHECK will be donated to the Houston Food Bank. I hope that's not the case. I hope at least $5 from EACH special course ordered is donated. It wouldn't be right otherwise. It's like cheating the hungry! In any case, the food was so-so. Another case of the special menu possibly not representing the restaurant very well. The highlight for me was the appetizer and dessert. The four of us all chose the caramelized onion tart and oh boy was it super caramelized! A great way to start things off. Every bite was so good and so sticky. I was only able to eat about a quarter of it cos it was a bit much. I'm not capable of eating that much onion by itself and I couldn't shake the nagging feeling I had in the back of my head about how bad it was for my teeth. We also all chose the same item for dessert, the chocolate hazelnut panna cotta and it was simply DELISH! Well, I really liked it and gobbled it up very quickly. I'm not sure if everyone else liked it as much as I did. As for the entree, I wasn't too impressed and I think everyone else felt the same. The girls had the grilled paprika marinated chicken and the guys had the pistachio crusted salmon. Both were just okay. The hostess and our waiter were both very nice. Our waiter actually refilled our glasses of water even though we stayed well after the completion of our meal. You know how it goes. I mos def want to go back and try other things from their regular menu.

Trippin': Atlanta - Vortex

438 Moreland Ave
Atlanta, GA 30307

The Vortex Bar & Grill was the very first place that we ate at in Atlanta. I'm doing things a bit backwards and out of place. Vortex is located in Little Five Points and it was perfect cos I wanted to walk around the area for a bit anyways. If you're thinking it must be pretty difficult traveling with me, then you are CORRECT! I create these over ambitious itineraries that tend to overwhelm rather than relax. Must be born that way. Anyways. Vortex equals some crazy good burgers. Not the best but mos def up there. Where else can you get a coronary bypass burger or a double coronary burger. Big poppa got the coronary bypass. How does he stay so slim! Not FAIR! We indulged just a bit. The place tries to front as this rough and tough biker place but all the patrons are all average joe's so there's no feeling of uncertainty. The inside is full of junk that's been arranged to cover every bit of the actual wall and ceiling. We sat in this outside patio area. Unfortunately, it was a smoking area and the people out there were very attached to their cigs. Such a filthy habit! I had this old security guy give me his piece of cake today cos he lost his sense of taste years ago from SMOKING. Ugh! NOSMO KING PEOPLE! The first thing you'll notice about Vortex will be the larger than life skull head entrance with crazy eyes. Loves it! We took a gazillion pics in front with it, halting entering and exiting restaurant traffic. Once again, I have to thank monkhi girl for telling me to go here. It was a wonderfully good choice.

Mucho Mas Macho Nachos.

Fried Zucchini and cousin D of DnB.

Vortex veggie melt and big poppa with his coronary bypass.

A close-up of the coronary bypass.

I can't remember what else anybody else had but these onion rings look sooooo good right now!