Grit Expectations Travelogue Vol. 1: Athens, GA

The weekend of July 24th began with a trip to Athens to see Austin, TX grindcore rippers Hatred Surge and to consume some delicious food. Before the show, my traveling companion Ruby and I hit up Clocked. We were ravenous, as our metabolisms had been boosted to freakish levels from the Endorush we consumed befored driving. We ordered sandwiches and tore into them with a vengeance. I ordered Katy's Vegetarian, which is a boca burger patty smothered in grilled onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, honey mustard and basil-jalapeno dressing on grilled rye. I'm not really a fan of boca burgers, so I was hoping the ridiculous amount of toppings would nullify the blandness of the fake burger. Unfortunately this hot sandwich left me cold. The various dressings left my tastebuds confused, and honestly with the peppers/onions mix this just ended up tasting like like a cheesesteak with fake meat. Not bad, but I was hoping for more. Ruby seemed to enjoy his Bacon Cheeseburger, so I suggest that route for any potential Clocked patrons. We also enjoyed the spicy and plentiful cajun Tater Tots. After we finished we headed to the Go Bar to see the show. This isn't a music blog, so I'll be brief: Hatred Surge were easily in the top five bands I've seen this year. I left the show feeling good, but the brutal, primal energy of Hatred Surge must have affected my body. I needed to eat. I needed tacos. It was two in the morning and thought I remembered that Taco Veloz was open late on weekends. We hit up the Norcross and Doraville locations but both were closed, so we headed down Buford Highway to find an all night Taqueria...and we were successful. El Rey de Taco (open until 6am on weekends) provided us delicious tacos to satisfy our hunger. The highlight was definitely my Al Pastor taco. A spicy mix of beef and pork really completed my night. El Rey de Taco is located at 5288 Buford Hwy NE and I urge you to go there ASAP.