Thing 12: Georgia Brown's, Revisited

I think everyone gets really excited for restaurant week, and then is hit with a number of disappointments, from bad service to small portions to soggy tarts.

So I would like to add a quick note here that Georgia Brown's really does restaurant week right. My hat is off to you, Georgia!

First of all, the food is quite good, and the portions are tremendous. I ordered blue-cheese- stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates, which were really delicious in their salty sweet richness. As far as bacon-wrapped dates go, these were rivaled only by those at Jaleo, and Jaleo deep fries theirs, so they have an unfair advantage. I was served with eight dates wrapped in bacon. Eight. I ate three. Like I said, huge restaurant week portions.

For my entree, I ordered the classic fried chicken. It was a tremendous plate of food, two huge chicken breasts fried to golden, crispy brown with a smoky brown gravy, a scoop of mashed potatoes and a heap of collards slow-cooked with bacon. It was all delicious. I especially attacked the collards, and I needed the waiter to box the second piece of chicken and a good bit of the potatoes for my lunch the next day.

Finally, for dessert there were two options: an orange-infused chocolate mousse and a strawberry shortcake. On the waiter's recommendation, I went for the chocolate mousse. The mousse itself was delightful, rich and creamy, dense and with an edge of orange. It came served in an orange-honey sauce which I wasn't fond of, but no matter. I just pushed the sauce over and dug into the thick chocolate sphere. Again, I could only finish half of it with all the delicious food from the two previous courses sitting happily in my belly.

Our service was prompt, attentive and polite. Our waiter was happy to answer questions, make recommendations and was not the least bit put out that we were ordering from the restaurant week menu. Our meal took about an hour and half, a nice relaxed pace but not slow at any point, and certainly not rushed.

I think restaurants that do a good job of restaurant week, both food and service, should be recognized and patronized both during and after the promotion, so head over! For $30, you actually get two meals out of it -- dinner and the next day's lunch -- and an enjoyable meal in a lively atmosphere.