Cheap and Porky

Go ahead, do a double-take. That logo is what you think it is. A hefty, moronic-looking fellow in a daisy-patterned apron. Presumably, that's Uncle Betty, the ace behind Snellville's best BBQ addition since Pizza Hut plopped sauce on their pies. The oddity that is the business' name is apparently just an attempt at being silly, dashing my hopes of finding good ole boys in Crimson Tide sequins in the kitchen. Whatever the case, somebody knows how to smoke meat and craft sides. The pork plate, which I last tried, is a best-around-these-parts $7.99, replete with a sugary cube of cornbread. You can't beat a pulled-pork sandwich accompanied by one "fixin" and a drink for $5.49. Combo plates (two meats) are sub-$10, which is unheard of Intown. My gut tells me to get back quick while the gettin's cheap.

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Restaurants • Extended Coverage Area

Be Free

Freedom Parkway can seem nonsensical to the uninitiated. If a strand of Atlanta's hair fell to the east and developed a wicked split-end, that would be Freedom Parkway. It jostles at first, and some connections can seem downright unsafe, but once you learn to maneuver "Freedom," you'll find it's a pretty smooth short cut. It beats having yet another mammoth, dingy freeway jutting from downtown, as was proposed in the 1960s. Instead of a wonderland for joggers and dog-walkers and graffiti scoundrels this could be I-485, an expressway hooking up with US 78 near Stone Mountain. Five hundred homes were sacrificed to GDOT bulldozers, but litigation and general bitching from residents eventually halted those plans, leaving a kudzu-eaten wasteland for two decades. With the Olympics coming down south, leaders realized their opportunity and eventually let Freedom, uh, prevail.

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Landmarks • Inman Park / Little Five Points

Taste the Revolution

Aficionados of Cuban cuisine swear by the country's eponymous sandwich at Las Palmeras. They call it the most authentic offered in our fair city. Most authentic or not, I think it ranks with that of its Midtown brethren, Papi's, as the most delicious, especially since the sad, fiery demise of Havana Sandwich Shop. Las Palmeras, a quaint eatery on a quiet and leafy residential street, is worth the labyrinth of one-ways you'll traverse to find it. Try the authentic BBQ for a starkly non-Southern version of smoked pork. Top that with the moros, a combination of rice and beans, and you're skating out for under $9. The nearly $4 house salad is tiny and overpriced--though the dressing is killer--and the fried yucca can lean toward greasy. The primary drawback to Las Palmeras (and I don't consider the plastic tables and chairs to occupy that category) is that it's open only Wednesday through Saturday. Which makes those haphazard visits that much more difficult. Pop in the tiny market next door for a decidedly odd shopping experience. Dusty, 2004 NCAA Tournament hats, anyone?

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Restaurants • Midtown

Cheeseheads Unite

TJ's is an Alpharetta institution, having survived on Atlanta's fickle barflies since 1990. Ironically, that was about the same time the Atlanta Falcons drafted Brett Favre, which on the surface seems totally irrelevant. Here's the thing: Perhaps the greatest concentration of Green Bay Packers fans--those beer-swilling, sausage-grinding, boastful loudmouths of the arctic (as described by a Bears adherent)--to be found this side of Milwaukee are at TJ's. Pop in on a Sunday, now that TJ's has the NFL ticket and a few cinema-sized screens, and see legions of Cheeseheads chant Wisconsin-centric fight songs with refrains like "the Bears still suck." On the long tables in the main room stand little shrines to Lombardi and Lambeau and the flip-flopping geezer himself. Not my cup o' tea, but one marvels at the enthusiasm. Regarding the food, the Classic Reuben ($8.95) from the "Championship Series Sandwiches" side of the menu was the sloppiest, most buttery and delightful version I've had in years. But I'd lean toward the heaping Philly Boy subs, served with chicken or beef. A word to the wise: they sometimes stiff you on the onion rings. With light-beer pitchers under $7, you won't much mind.

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Nightlife • Extended Coverage Area

Spanning the Basket

P'cheen, the Old Fourth Ward's hippest nightspot, is a celebration of culinary diversity and damn-strong beers. Their high-gravity list, which evolves to something else each time I'm there, touts an array of the eye-crossing stuff. For the more patient drinker, I'd advise you set down your $2 PBR once in a while and grab a Boddingtons, priced right for a 20 oz. slugger at $5. Like everybody, I can't keep my hands off The Big Ass Basket of Pommes Frites, which at $4 comes straddled with three dipping sauces. The entrees span the globe, from Guinness-Battered Fish n' Chips ($12) to Chipotle Roast Chicken paired with Herbed Yukon Gold Potatoes ($13). On random nights I've heard inventive DJs raising the roof. Which sucks because I live above it.

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Nightlife , Restaurants • Inman Park / Little Five Points