REVIEW -- A few month's back Tallahassee witnessed the opening of a new-to-market restaurant on Apalachee Parkway called Zacadoo's. Owners of the property made extensive renovations to what was once a modest bagel shop with large glass windows on the front. Zacadoo's emerges as this Mediterranean-style stucco facade with a bright electronic sign greeting motorist passing by on busy US Highway 27 a/k/a Apalachee Parkway. But there's one thing about Zacadoo's, other than that funky name, that really sets it apart from most other commercial establishments, yet alone restaurants in Tallahassee -- there are no windows!

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What you're looking at above is my half eaten meal from a pretty cool Tallahassee owned restaurant known as 1 Fresh Stir Fry. The story of why this bowl is half eaten and how we ended up eating at this restaurant is detailed below, but for those who don't have time, I'd just like to say this is a very nice locally owned restaurant, a casual type of place that you'd want to take someone if they've come to Tallahassee from out of town and they want to eat at a place they don't have where they're from.

The story of how Butterfly and myself wound up at 1 Fresh Stir Fry is rather interesting. Friday night after visiting Dorothy B. Oven park's Winter Wonderland of Christmas lights, we were hungry and I suggested we go to the Moto's restaurant that recently opened on N. Monroe Street across from Boston Market. When we arrived at Moto's, we were impressed by the signage on the outside, it had that brushed silver look, modern logo, and it had a name like moto. We figured it would be a grab and go Oriental style restaurant. It wasn't.

Moto has more in common with a more upscale restaurant than any grab and go. Moto's ambience is more suitable for a romanitc anniversary date. The menu is for sushi lovers, and those with $30-$40 to spend on a steak. We quickly realized we were priced out of our range and were slightly embarassed when we gave up our tables to leave. But the kind woman who greeted us and sat us down was very understanding.

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REVIEW -- Sunday morning I visited Atomic Coffee to give this place a try. This is one of Tallahassee's recent additions and true to my curious nature I had to see what Atomic Coffee was serving up.

Walking into the front doors, I was extremely impressed with what they've done with this place in not only transforming it into a coffee house where it was once Jenny's Lunchbox, but by incorporating many of the products and elements Starbucks and many of the other higher-end coffee houses have they've really made themselves players in the battle of the brew.

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REVIEW - Had lunch with a couple of other folks today at Avenue (formerly Urbane). They offer valet parking, which is a nice plus for anything downtown. The decor inside is almost identical to the previous restaurant, perhaps with minor changes here and there from color, to dishes, etc., but the layout is basically the same, like a restaurant in NYC. Tables situated right next to each other alongside long walls, so you're not completely isolated.

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REVIEW - There's probably no entity more guilty of overlooking established local businesses in Tallahassee than UrbanTallahassee, but with this upcoming series of reviews I'm hoping to change that! We place emphasis on introducing our community to the new things that come to town but over the past few months I, and by extension, UrbanTallahassee, have been introduced to a number of long established local eateries that deserve a little spotlight. The first feature is timely as of the writing of this review because today is Tuesday which means tomorrow is: "Wine & Cheese Wednesday."

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