dragon, attack.

UPDATE: Republished for convenience's sake.

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Above: actually more of a crippled wooden frog.

Tonight I kind of inexplicably had a powerful recollection or transportation back to the first time I tasted tarragon. Out of nowhere.

This was an important moment in the life of VDuck, because it was my first understanding that there were such things as "herbs" and that if you found one you liked, suddenly eating became a different thing altogether.

It was at an Au Bon Pain at Copley Square in Boston, and I was starving, and I ordered a Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich. Kind of a ballsy thing to put on your fast-food menu if you think about it: who in America knew what tarragon was in 1987? And why for example would I, a typical 17-year-old culinary ignoramus, order a Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich?

Whatever, I remember after my first bite, just kind of stopping everything else I was doing and just tasting. Then I went back and got another one for later. Over the next year I spent in Boston, I had one whenever my budget permitted (apparently not an isolated phenomenon).

Eventually I decided that my budget wasn't permitting often enough, so I got a job: gentlemens, remind me to someday tell you about my adventures as a stockboy at The Limited, which, way more importantly than funding Au Bon Pain visits, put me in direct personal contact with many cute and unsuspecting (and, ahem, fashion-conscious) college-age women, a commodity in desperately, i mean desperately short supply at The Berklee School.  

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Speaking of nostalgic food experiences (segue?), I head back to the muthaland in a couple months. I should probably jot down some notes about things to put my tooth on. These are obviously just "ideas": I won't have a car very often, and I definitely don't need to eat 9 restaurant meals in the 8 days I'm in Atlanta, for example. I can imagine doing one or two per city. 

PHOENIX (in progress)

Pizzeria Bianco. I've never been, and supposedly the lines are less ridiculous these days.
Noca. Still. And still far away.
Gallo Blanco. Downtown, so this may be a stretch.
Woodlands. vegetarian South Indian in Chandler!
Takamatsu. real Korean in Chandler!
America's Taco Shop. The lady named America has a Tempe location now, making things easier.
Richardson's/Dick's. Of course.
Los Sombreros. Fancy Mexican Food, open from 4:30 on.

plus everything on this list. 

ATLANTA

Fox Bros. Apparently you can even get it at Whole Foods these days, so this should be possible.
Heirloom Market BBQ. In Smyrna, birthplace of Julia Roberts!!!
Yumbii. Korean-Mexican food truck, something we just don't see in Amsterdam.
Taqueria El Rey Del Taco. Great Buford Hwy tacos, this is the plan unless I can find similar closer to home base.
Chat Patti. The South Indian stuff I can't get here.

Seed Kitchen & Bar. It's a ridiculous name for a restaurant ("Hey, I'm going to Seed tonight, anyone want to join me?"), but supposedly a great burger 5 minutes from our old house.

Krispy Kreme. I just want one hot one. Puhleeeeeeeeze, can I.
Empire State South. A menu we will probably never see in Amsterdam.
Bocado. Supposedly the best burger in Atlanta.
El Señor Taco. The best fish tacos in town.

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