By Sara Amis, contributor 

The new FolkArt location in Decatur is open at 174 West Ponce de Leon Avenue, in the old Thumbs Up Diner location. The original FolkArt in Inman Park has been open since 2013.

Their pimento cheese and saltine appetizer, labeled “redneck cheese dip,” was good enough that when I ran out of saltines I just ate forkfuls of the pimento cheese.  A little spicy and a little smoky without losing its essential pimento cheese virtue, the appetizer was the best part of the meal. The mimosa with apple bitters was another high point, as the bitters give the brunch-standard drink a little bit of interesting bite.

The strawberry fields with blackened chicken salad was pretty much exactly what you would expect.  The balsamic vinaigrette dressing was in a bit of mild disagreement with the blue cheese, candied nuts and other flavors in the salad, but not open war.  In both the salad and the sautéed collard greens the flavor of the actual leafy greens were covered up with other things (in the case of the collards, bacon and sautéed onions).

When I order salad or vegetables it’s because I like those things and want to taste them. I am a weirdo who likes collards more than I like bacon. Those of you who feel differently can order bacon as a side, because they serve breakfast all day.

The flat top mac and cheese was cheddary and good. Not super creamy, but I prefer it that way. My shrimp po boy was a little bland on the sauce part but the shrimp themselves were excellent as opposed to batter-fried place holders in the sandwich.

The pulled pork barbecue plate was the low point of the meal. It was bland, despite extra sauce that we asked for and some inexplicable onions. In a town where you can get really good barbecue from a guy in the parking lot of Kroger, any restaurant serving it needs to step up their game.

My recommendations: Leave the barbecue alone and order the pimento cheese and mimosa. I will probably order the fried fish and shrimp next time rather than the sandwich, because the sandwich wasn’t bad but the shrimp were the best part.

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