A Day to Relax

Playing chess over coffee may sound like a corny passtime, but it's a great way to focus on a partner--talk about what is going on in the world as you play a game. You can do this at Caribou Coffee on Highland Avenue (several other locations all over Atlanta) as chess sets are available. Or you can be really creative and take a chess set with a blanket to any number of Atlanta parks where you can set up on the grass and play in the sun. Then, just as your competitive spirit kicks in and tenses things up, Key Lime Pie is the place to get a Couples Massage and relax the stress away. The next stop would be to any of a hundred great restaurants in Atlanta, especially in the Highlands area. Walk a couple of doors from the spa to Harry and Sons for sushi or get reservations for romance at Dish. Top your evening off with a play, and your day to relax will be complete.

Quick Tips:

Plan your steps out. Atlanta is full of things to do, and certain activities will actually take you to the suburbs. Figure out which section of town you want to spend time in, and then plan your day accordingly. This will cut down on your frustration level and time in traffic.

Best Way To Get Around:

Everyone has a car in Atlanta. The city is very spread out. Public transportation does exist and is easy to use, but it won't get you everywhere. You can get cabs at Marta Stations, but, keep in mind, Atlanta is not New York, and if you just raise your arm on the street to flag a ride down, you might be standing still for a very long time.

Harry and Sons is a good place to go for lunch if you like Japanese or Thai. They do both very well. They also have a lot of $1 sushi rolls that are really quite good, and the restaurant is only a short walk from Key Lime Pie. In fact, they have a great sushi menu in general. After relaxing in a spa, a light and healthy lunch is very appealing, but we couldn't do without the sake. If that's not your drink of choice, there is a wine list and several good Japanese beers available as well.

Caribou is a great place to go for coffee. It always looks like the world is caught in the grip of winter to me when I step inside one of the many Caribou Coffees spread around Atlanta. There is normally a fire going, and the interior is similar to something you would have seen on that old sitcom about Alaska: Northern Exposure. Chess sets are available for anyone who wants to use them, and comfortable couches can be lounged upon while reading the paper. My wife loves to get a variety of different coffees at Caribou with caramel and whipped cream. This is a good place to start the day, or to go to AFTER a meal. Either way. It's a nice place to talk outside your normal environment.

Burrito Art is a great place to get a great Burrito. And they take it to a higher level than any other restaurant of its type that I've ever been to! Where else can you get a jerk chicken burrito covered in pineapple salsa? The bold blue and red colors used in the decor along with the varied and unique menu add up to a fun place to go. My wife tends to like vegetarian dishes as well, and Burrito Art has extensive choices to suit her tastes. And, most important to me, I've never left hungry.

Fritti is located in the Virginia Highlands and proves to have a lot of personality. When the weather is nice, there is a patio area in front that is used by patrons. One wall of the building is covered in graffiti art. There are white Christmas lights in the trees leading up to the front door. The interior is red brick with two floors of seating and a bar down some steps in its own area. If you are dining on the main floor, you will be able to see the wood burning oven that is used to cook the pizzas you can choose to eat here.

Needless to say, the atmosphere is very trendy with the typical VA Highlands crowd. Seating is close, but we didn't feel crowded. The menu offers entrees such as quail but most people opt for one of the light and thin crusted pizzas this restaurant is known for. There are some unique toppings you aren't gonna have delievered by the neighborhood pizza boy. My wife and I enjoyed a mushroom and zuchinni special one evening along with the house chardonnay. We liked the fried mushroom appetizer we had to start the meal. We did NOT like having an 8:15 reservation and still waiting over an hour to be seated. By 9:30 when we finally ordered, we were ravenous!

Bottom line about Fritti. The food is good but not great. The atmosphere fits the neighborhood. The service is good ONCE you're seated (but this is a problem in a lot of restaurants around Atlanta). A good reason to eat here is it is within walking distance of My Dad's Garage, an improv theater less than a block away that has late night shows for a unique date experience.

Also worth noting, there is free parking on the street around Frittis, but not much. The Elizabeth Street Lot is a pay lot across the street from the restaurant ($5 for your parking space). There is a sign at Frittis advising patrons not to park there because a lot of cars have been towed. We did park there without a problem, but we checked with a parking attendant emptying the pay box so that my wife wouldn't be anxious through dinner about our car. He said towing is strictly enforced for cars in a space without a five in the pay box, and sometimes people who park in the lot get the numbers on their space and the number slot for the pay box mixed up when they pay; thus they get towed. We took his name, and didn't think about it again. Our car was still there at the end of the evening, but I can only speak for our experience!

Near the Bell South building and Georgia Tech campus, you'll find Jobe Noodles and Pasta on Peachtree. There's a steaming noodle bowl sign over the door.

Once inside you'll find a large dining area with cafeteria style seating. Order from the cashier and sit at one of the long, blond wood tables, which are painted with random blue circles that match the modern, circular light fixtures. The New Age instrumental music enhances an "industrial feel" in the room. A colorful painting of a pair of hands filled with vegetables attracts the eye. Underneath the hands are piping hot bowls spaced evenly across a red and white checked tablecloth along with the advice: Eat your noodles. The art hints at the creative menu -- the Japanese/Italian fusion available for you to enjoy!

When you think about it, it makes sense. You can get a traditional bowl of ramen noodles in mushroom and ginger broth (my favorite), but traditional Italian pastas like spinach fettuccini please the noodle lover too! Huge portions satisfy any appetite. Specialty dishes like sez-me chicken or beef moo-moo are also on the menu. If you've got a date with someone on the South Beach Diet, they can get a salad.

My opinion? This is a good, inexpensive place for a quick, healthy meal. Bowls are under 5 bucks. You can fax take-out orders to 404-389-0726 if you want to pick up food to take back to your office.

Particulars: Open Monday-Saturday from 11-11. Open Sunday from 12-9. Beer and wine available. Little Pasta Bowls for kids 9 and under are only $2.95.

Moving into the Buckhead area on a Friday night means maneuvering through a lot of people out for a good time. There are many good bars, restaurants and nightclubs in the Buckhead area, thus it always draws a crowd. A place we like to go dancing is Swingers right in the heart of all the pedestrian traffic. Swingers has two floors. On most nights, the top floor has the typical music playing as people move on the often crowded dance floor (One night of the week this floor is Swing and downstairs is Salsa.). There is a large playground-like slide to one side of this dance floor near the entrance of the club that patrons can use as a gateway into a different atmosphere entirely (If you don't feel playful, or your wife wore a mini-skirt, stairs are also available!). This bottom floor is dedicated to the resurging art of Swing Dancing. To be honest, it is just as fun to watch the people who are good at Swinging as it is to actually do. And if you do swing, there's plenty of room to show your stuff. Just don't brag too loudly. There is the occassional professional on the dance floor.

From my understanding, Dad's Garage Company was started by a bunch of actors from Florida State who figured they could make a living doing something they loved, whether or not anyone would hire them! You've gotta admire that! They chose a great place to open a small, blackbox theater in Inman Park near Little Five Points. The name of the program is normally improv.

My wife and I took a Friday night to join an audience who obviously patronized this place a lot. The "play" was the seventh installment of an in-space soap opera called Scandal! As the characters introduced themselves, other audience members seemed to know them very well. We, of course, had not been there from the beginning, but the crowd enthusiasm was hard to resist. I enjoyed the adventures of the space crew off on a potato search on an alien planet. I mean, we weren't expecting Broadway. I will say my wife did not share my enthusiasm. No sense of humour, I suppose. She actually has a degree in theater so can be a little hyper critical. She did say, however, that she believed attending a night of theater sports (theater games similar to those seen on Drew Carrey's Improv TV show) would be a lot of fun.

Of course, Dad's Garage doesn't just do off-the-cuff soap operas. We might even try to attend a short play festival there one of these days. If you like searching out a unique experience, enjoy improv in the theater, and like to laugh, you will probably enjoy a night with the Dad's Gargage Company. Especially if you have ever enjoyed Saturday Night Live. Alcohol is served before performances and during intermission. My wife would highly suggest you buy a beer from the get-go. I would say you'll only need one if you're thirsty. At the absolute least, this experience will be a unique one. A different kind of date!

The Lodge is a building of different levels. There's a sports bar on one floor and a grill on another. The top floor is called Firehouse 21 because the Lodge is located in an old fire station. My wife and I climbed the long flight of stairs located on the outside of the building to dance here one evening when some of the other clubs were too full to move. (If you want a crowd here, come late at night, after 2 a.m.)

A full service bar is to one side of a small dance floor. A sliding door is opened on the other side to allow access to a small balcony and a wonderful view of the downtown Atlanta skyline. The breeze from this area keeps things from getting overheated, too, so it's really a cool feature. The walls are painted black with an orange and red flame mural. There are a few barstools scattered around here and there, but the only reason to visit the top floor of the Lodge is to dance.

The music the night we were at the Firehouse encompassed a wide range of bubble gum pop ("I'm a slaavvveee," crooned Britney over the sound system after "Play that Funky Music White Boy" mixed things up.) with a good dance beat.... Think everything from No Doubt to Disco. I'll have to admit we had the best time singing "I will Survive." Everyone in the crowd was doing his or her best Gloria Gaynor impression--which got everyone else off their stools and moving....

Lodge Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Friday 11 a.m. - 4 a.m., Sat 11 a.m.-3a.m, Sunday 11 a.m. - 12 a.m.
Phone:
404-233-3345

If you are wandering up and down Highland Avenue, looking in the shops, you might want to stop at the San Francisco Coffee Company for a mocha latte. A funky little coffee joint with blood red tables, stone floors and a constant stream of techno music playing on the loud speaker, this place has good coffee and a very Virginia Highlands feel. More importantly, the walls are decorated with black and white photos from The Right Brain Art Gallery located inside the same building. The last time we got a cup of Joe here, we could not help but admire the gothic looking church door that was hung as a piece of art on one wall, flanked by hanging church windows: art for sale ($1100).

The gallery itself is normally opened until 8 p.m. so you can drop in and take a look. There is a nice mix of photography and other art work - indicative of the type of art you find in this area of town.

Jellyrolls is the type of place you visit with a group of friends out for a good time. When you enter the bar you'll see it is also a favorite for groups of women having bachelorette parties. But don't mind the girls running around in veils. Even if you're not about to get married, you'll have a lot of fun.

Order some drinks and sit back at one of the small tables (if you can get one---there are a lot of people standing here, too) near the stage to listen to the dueling pianos, but don't get too close. Before long someone in the group will be asked to stand up and join in on the act. If your friends are evil, they'll tip one of the piano players and slip him your name to call you on stage. After all, this is not a place for the shy---though on nights when it's crowded, there will be enough exhibitionists in the audience for the more introverted to hide! We saw more than one woman put onto a piano and serenaded. Or asked to dance in a line. Or told to do movements that almost amounted to aerobics. Very silly but amusing.

With that in mind, it deserves a mention to say the piano players are extremely talented, and after eight years of suffering through lessons, I should know. They play old favorites by artists such as Elton John and Billy Joel. The entire bar will join in on choruses everyone knows, but that's the idea. Imagine "West Virginia... Mountain Momma... Take me home... Country roads..." a little off key, and a lot loud, but everyone smiling.

Also worthy of note (my wife says) are the bathroom attendants in the women's restroom. When was the last time someone squirted soap in your hands at a bar?

So order a round (or two or three) of drinks, and get ready to start dancing (there's a small floor separated from the pianos). The music will get you up on your feet before you even know what you're doing....

T&G is a mainstay in Buckhead bar culture. It tends to attract the pretty people, so I'm amazed I got in! Perhaps I look like the type of man who could appreciate their selection of cigars or brandy.

Overall this is truly a club for dancing---they play everything from Latin to Hiphop to mainstream hits in the middle room where people crowd the dance floor---but the whole club has an interesting, eclectic motif with curtains separating doorways, an umbrella hanging from the ceiling, black and white stripes on the walls, mosaic tiled bars, low lighting and an attractive staff that seem to decorate the place as much as the funky paintings on the walls. Known for having different theme nights, women can actually get manicures here on Fridays. (Check their events calendar at www.tongueandgrooveonline.com for different specials.) Now that's unique! Almost always crowded, T&G has retained its reputation for being part of the "scene."

Make sure you walk all the way to the back. That is, if you can push your way through on a crowded night. The music changes from room to room....

My wife and I like to laugh, so when we had friends in town visiting, we decided to check out the Funny Farm Comedy Club. We made reservations for the 10:30 show.

The Funny Farm is located inside the huge StarTime Entertainment Complex in Roswell not far from the Atlanta city limits (take 400 North from 285). Even for the late show, the vast parking lot was packed with cars. Lots of people were there to see movies or to play mini-golf and video games. These other activities could be fun for the entire family on a weekend . . . or before a comedy show if you're out on a first date.

Go inside and follow the arrows through a bar to the Funny Farm. If you're a smoker, get your nicotine fix at the bar before being seated because the shows are all non-smoking within the club itself. We had a quick drink while we waited for the house to open.

Once at our table, I took a moment to look around. We were seated in front of a decent-sized stage. The small house is a dimly-lit split level with a very casual feel. The waitresses were moving quickly from table to table. There is a menu available, and we were starving before the show. We ordered everything from a spinach and artichoke dip appetizer to a porkchop entree. The food wasn't excellent, but it was still pretty good. Our waitress was quick and efficient.

Then came the show. The host's schtick was "Southern stupid" as he made fun of some of the less appealing aspects of trailer park culture in Georgia. I wouldn't call him hilarious, but he didn't overdo it or take too much time. And he got the place warmed up. We saw three other comedians in all -- a woman and two men. The headliner was a writer for Jay Leno.

As with all live shows, the quality of the performances you see will always depend on who the club has booked, so check the before you get tickets. Sometimes they run specials for free passes on the web, too. If our experience is any indicator, the Funny Farm is a part of the circuit for some of the larger names in stand-up. It may not have quite the draw as the Punchline in Atlanta, but we still had a lot of fun.

Call ahead for reservations at 770 817-4242.

Key Lime Pie is located at 806 N. Highland Avenue NE. It is a very trendy, full-service spa and salon. The salon is in one half of the building, and the spa is on the other. A small store that offers various beauty products is in the middle. There are chairs hanging as art on the walls of the spa. There are hardwood floors and dim lights. There are people here who can make every screaming muscle in your body turn to mush. Full body massages for you and your significant other are a must on a day when you're both trying to relax and pamper yourselves! The first time I did this, it was HER idea, but I found I really liked it, and we try to go back when we can. This is also a thing my wife ALWAYS thanks me for, and I have learned that there are many rewards associated with that accomplishment! Be sure to drink a lot of water before getting your massage though. One of the purposes of a deep-body rubbing is to release a lot of the toxins that get stored in your muscles. If you don't drink a lot of water, you will still greatly enjoy your massage, but you will be as sore the next day as if you'd just spent a week in the gym. Key Lime Pie has showers (and water-spa therapy) available for after the massage as a lot of oils are used in the course of an hour. There are many other services available at the Spa as well. You MUST make appointments for ALL services ahead of time. Just call 404-873-6512, and let the relaxation begin!