Taste of Gwinnett: Dining out: Southern favorites, done healthy to go
Hank Reid, owner of Trinity Bistro,
prepares a dish at his restaurant in
Snellville, Georgia.
(photo by GAVIN AVERILL)
Trinity Bistro serves breakfast as well
By LYNN PEISNER
For AJC Gwinnett News
Published on: 02/06/08
The scent of fresh rosemary fills the space of the former Bagel Time Cafe and Deli in Snellville, the first indication that things have changed here. New owners, husband and wife Hank and Rachael Reid, still do bagels and lox,
breakfast sandwiches and coffee-bar service, but have added a family-style, bistro-to-go element worth checking out. If you snag one of the few tables, you'll feel like a guest in the Reids' home and will probably be served or
greeted by one of their five children. It's warm, clean and friendly in here, and the music selections make it hard to be in a bad mood. Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong come around on heavy rotation.
Trinity offers spicy pork quesadilla with green onions, jalapeños, cheddar and jack cheese, served with Georgia peach BBQ sauce.
(photo by GAVIN AVERILL)
Southern light
Most of the selections off the new menu are held together with traditional
Southern ingredients including peaches, figs, pecans, sweet potatoes and
Vidalia onions. On Thursday, the daily special is a pan-seared pork chop
with a fig glaze, served with wild rice and choice of an additional veg. It's a
good combination of flavors — sweet from the figs, and earthy with rosemary and garlic. Opt for some of the best sides: sweet potato casserole and collard greens that are more sweet than bitter. The barbecue pork quesadilla is fiery with jalapenos, but balanced nicely with cheddar cheese and a homemade peach barbecue sauce. The pork is tender and smoky, slow-cooked in-house over hickory chips.
The pan-seared pork chop, a
Thursday special, is served with fig
butter, wild rice and a vegetable.
(photo by GAVIN AVERILL)
Panini power
Tender meat is also the main attraction of the roast beef panini. Top sirloin
roast is smoked for 10 hours, then spends another few hours in a crock pot
with some gravy. The sandwich is served with even more gravy, Swiss
cheese and pimento aioli on freshly baked sourdough bread. For dessert,
the bread pudding with praline sauce is the thing to order, but a close
second is apple cobbler.
Roast beef panini arrives with pasta
salad. The bistro also serves
breakfast: bagels and other
sandwiches.
(photo by GAVIN AVERILL)
Hank Reid said he envisioned a menu of healthful traditional Southern
favorites. The collards are slow-cooked with a turkey helper instead of pork,
and some of the breakfast pastries are made with Splenda. Where leaner
ingredients didn't serve, Reid said he adjusted portions to be smaller. The
healthy-but-hearty style also shows up in his lineup of weekly specials,
which in addition to the pork chop include turkey or vegetarian lasagna,
roasted chicken and blackened tilapia.
The name and the fish dotting the "i" on the temporary sign outside the
restaurant hide little of the family's religious leanings. Hank Reid, with more
than 15 years of corporate restaurant experience, said owning his own
place will allow him to pair the business with charities and community
outreach. The family has a history of civic influence in Snellville, having
created a nonprofit program promoting affordable athletics for children.
They have also held positions on PTAs and Parks and Recreation boards.
Reid said that in addition to being known as a "Starbucks with really good
food," he'd like his restaurant to be a safe place for teens to gather. He
plans to donate portions of large-party checks back to the schools,
programs or groups that host meetings or events there.
Maybe the tastes of teens have changed since the days when all it took was
a Big Mac and fries to lure kids to congregate in safe, public places. If they
can be tempted with portabello mushroom and smoked gouda sandwiches,
then the Reids could be on to something: promoting peace, one panini at a
time.
• Where: 2274 Main Street East, Suite B, Snellville 770-736-1338
• Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays
• Recommended dishes: BBQ pork quesadilla, roast beef panini, pan-seared pork chop, bread pudding
• Prices: entrees, $1.49-$7; desserts, $2.50
• Verdict: The food is fresh, homemade and affordable a nice addition to the roster of places you can pop in to pick up a weeknight lunch or dinner.