It’s a funny thing, how our food tastes evolve. When I was little, I developed a love for toast and jam. My mom has a knack for placing the triangles of butter just so, in the corners and a dot in the middle, where the result is pillowy pockets of butter hugged by golden brown crunch. Topped with sweet jam of almost any variety (strawberry, apple and raspberry top the list), it’s a love I haven’t outgrown. During my teenage years, it took form as that ready-to-go breakfast sensation, the Pop-Tart. Not nearly as delicious to me as fresh toast, Pop-Tarts were appealing mainly as a go-to vessel for something sweet, be it jam or chocolate. The fact that they’re glazed didn’t hurt, either. In college, I even savored cold Pop-Tarts after long camping trip hikes. So when I recently saw Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery on The Today Show making home-made Pop-Tarts, maybe I didn’t think of it as my carbohydrate + sweet quick-treat maturing into adulthood. That might be a stretch. But I did think that making my own breakfast pastries sounded pretty darn good. Check out the recipe for yourself. A few disclaimers based on my experience: making the dough a day ahead is awesome; rolling it out can be tricky—I found that my Silpat worked best as a surface; DON”T OVER-FILL—I think 2 tablespoons was a bit much for each tart and I will definitely cut back the next time I make these, maybe to 1 tablespoon; if you do over-fill and don’t seal the dough together enough, like me, prepare to mop up jam from your sheet at 5 minute intervals during baking; don’t worry, you’ll get through it, and the leaking jam doesn’t cause the Pop-Tarts to taste any less delicious; USE SPRINKLES, for crying out loud, they’re pretty and yummy. Despite my minor pop-tastrophe with over-filling, I’m totally going to make these again. The pastry is buttery and flaky. There are endless possibilities to fillings. And sprinkles rock. 

John likes sprinkles, too. Well, he likes salt sprinkles better than any rainbow variety. He loved butter from a young age, also. As in, he ate sticks of butter. Luckily, like kids who ate Crayolas and Play-Doh, he grew out of it. But what this habit grew into, I’m convinced, is his love of caramels. Those sticky sweets’ main ingredients are cream and butter. And he must’ve eaten salted butter because salted caramels are John’s favorite. It’s pretty easy and quick to make this treat yourself, as long as you pay careful attention and have a candy thermometer. Try Ina Garten’s Fleur De Sel Caramels. I made a few adjustments: I used a 9 x 9 pan and chose not to roll the caramels. I cut them directly into squares instead—by turning the 9 x 9 pan out onto a cutting board, cutting the square in half and then into smaller squares. I also chose not to individually wrap the caramels, but to store them in a single layer in an air tight container in the fridge. Last, I didn’t have any fleur de sel on hand, so I ground up kosher salt in my mortar and pestle for a finer texture and that worked just fine. It’s really up to your tastes, so you can get creative with the salts. I tried Bella Cucina’s Tuscan Rose & Pink Peppercorn salt to tasty effect as well. I’ll never outgrow a good sprinkle.

If you don’t feel like getting in the kitchen yourself…
Find locally homemade Pop-Tarts by Atlanta’s Red Queen Tarts
Find locally handmade caramels (salted or chocolatey) by Atlanta’s Cacao

There’s something about places you have to know about in order to find; places you won’t just happen upon. Sugar-Coated Radical is such a place. It is a small chocolate haven tucked away in Poncey-Highlands, behind the ironic thoroughfare that features Chipotle, Green’s and Whole Foods (the "green" triumvirate). Upon entering the closet-like enclave, you’re greeted by the warming scent of chocolate, and by pastry maven Taria Camerino; or perhaps by one of her sons. Straight ahead is the kitchen. To your right is a simply beautiful array of handcrafted chocolates. The care that was taken in their making is evident as they are described to you. The flavors are thoughtful and intense. And the chocolate is rich and deep.

Thanks to Creative Loafing’s Cliff Bostock for tipping us off to Taria’s lovely shop; Camerino has previously worked at some of our favorite spots: Alon’s, Top Flr, Holeman & Finch, Restaurant Eugene and Highland Bakery. We arrived at Sugar-Coated Radical curious and were treated to a sampling of fresh chocolate covered s’mores (vegan, gluten-free and delicious), dark chocolate ‘enrobed’ Ragged Mountain rum-white chocolate ganache topped with candied mango, and dark chocolate yerba mate (the yerba mate intensified the chocolate nicely). Some of our favorite selections were milk chocolate covered pear-honey (the honey was caramel-like and the hint of pear so delicate), dark chocolate covered malted milk/vanilla bean powder whipped white chocolate ganache (described, and accurately so, like a milkshake), milk chocolate covered caramel with black lava salt, dark chocolate covered massaman curry-white chocolate butter ganache with toasted coconut, a spicy “Black Heart” chocolate filled with chipotle/Mexican vanilla bean, and to cool our palates, dark chocolate scented with lavender. Next on our list to try: White Heart (raspberry pate de fruit/rose petal-white chocolate ganache), fig/goat’s milk brie-dark chocolate ganache with Oregon walnut, and olive-oil dark chocolate ganache/Balinese pyramid salt. Oh, and drinking chocolate. Yes.

This chocolate is transcendental. Go get some.  

Location

Walkability is not Atlanta’s strong suit. Sure, there are a number of tree-lined streets where we love to take a stroll, many of them in our neighborhood and the surrounds. And yes, we know Decatur is awesome for walking around, but I didn’t name this post “Quite Possibly Decatur’s Best Block.” This blog is also not called “Trees We’ve Seen.” So, what makes Atlanta’s best block the best? Food per square foot of walkability, naturally.

We’ve told you before of our love for Burro Pollo and it still ranks as one of our favorite hot, fresh, delicious weekend meals. And, after sitting curbside enjoying burritos and agua frescas, we’ve been known to head down the block for a sweet popsicle from King of Pops. But now, ladies and gentleman, there is a triumvirate of street foods on this beautiful block of North Highland between Ponce and Freedom Parkway. For now, there are Belgian fries. Yes, people, Belgian fries. They are fat spears of piping-hot, skin-on, seasoned deliciousness, served up fresh to you in a handy cone from The Fry Guy; he’s set up just outside The Highland Inn. The fry cone is $5 and there are a variety of dipping sauces to choose from (we liked the slightly spicy red curry ketchup). We found the cone to be quite shareable and a welcome snack as we waited in the Burro Pollo line.

Last, just to make our point that this block is fantastic for its brick and mortar spots as well as its street food kings, we stopped in The Atlanta Cupcake Factory for a Salted Caramel and a Vanilla cupcake (sprinkles get me every time). We like that Cupcake Factory’s little cakes are, in fact, little; they’re the standard muffin cup size, just the right amount of sugary satisfaction at the end of a meal. For comparison, if we’d eaten a CamiCake, we’d probably have had to check into the Highland Inn for a nap. The flavor choices at Atlanta Cupcake Factory are fun too, from El Diablo to Sweet Potato Bourbon to old favorites like Red Velvet and Chocolate Peanut Butter. All of the frostings are cream cheese based and while this style isn’t my favorite type (butter cream is), their icing is perfectly creamy and the cake beneath is bouncy and moist. We know that pie is the next dessert trend, and we do love ourselves some pie, but until a pie stand opens up next to The Fry Guy (please, someone, open a pie stand), we’ll eat our little cake and enjoy it, too.   

Now, if you need to take a break after enjoying such a tasty walk, stop into Young Blood Gallery & Boutique to shop it off and pet their cat. If it’s just too much excitement for you, sit for a while at Cafe di Sol and nurse a Grapefruit Rosewater Martini (our favorite thing about the place). Cheers to Atlanta’s Best Block!