Back in February we reported that Morehouse professor, Matt Hinton, had successfully recreated the defunct Tortilla’s burrito and that he was delivering them all over Atlanta, including to Decatur.  People were stoked.

Now Hinton’s Facebook page reports that he has opened up a brick-and-mortor location called “Bell Street Burittos” in the Sweet Auburn Market…

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been making burritos and delivering them for the past year and a half to supplement my meager income as an adjunct professor of Religion. The schtick of West End Burritos (as it was formerly known) was that these are burritos “for those who miss Tortillas” (“Tortillas” being the legendary burrito shop that was on Ponce from the early 80′s till the early 00′s).

Somewhere along the way, I was convinced to open a brick and mortar burrito shop in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market– one of the really great places in Atlanta to go for a variety of food and people. So, after a few months of effort, cleaning, construction, painting and setting tile, we’re finally opening. And yes, the burritos are still in the manner of Tortillas, though we’ve added our own elements as well (or anyway, we stole ideas from other people too).

According to Omnivore Atlanta, current hours are around 11a-4p with a grand opening scheduled for Thursday, September 23rd (11a-8p).

Magic Kingdom, FL (pic submitted by Eric)

As you may have already seen on the front page of your Decatur Focus, next Wednesday, September 22nd is “Car-Free” Day in Decatur.

The city encourages residents to go “car-free” for the day and plans to hand out special stickers for those who walk or bike (or rollerblade or unicycle, I assume) up to the Concert on the Square at noon on Wednesday.

In a similar vein, the car-sharing company, Zipcar, is currently hosting it’s annual “low-car diet” program, where participants agree to give up their car for 30 days, posting stories and little tidbits along the way.  According to Atlanta Intown, “61 percent of the 2009 participants said they planned to go “car-free” after the 30-day challenge. Additionally, participants increased their miles biked by 132 percent, decreased their miles driven by 66 percent and lost a total of 413 pounds.”

Could you go car-free for a month in Atlanta?  The 2010 Decatur Citizen Survey (pdf) showed that only 14% of daily commutes involved walking, biking or public transportation as the primary means of getting to work.

Also, is there anything that the city of Decatur could be doing that would make you less car-dependent?

For someone who took a lot of Greek history in college and was drawn into this battle in Steven Pressfield’s 1998 novel “Gates of Fire”, this sounds pretty darn interesting.  From Emory’s Carlos Museum…

The Michael C. Carlos Museum marks an important anniversary of one of the most famous battles in European history, the Battle of Marathon. Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 490 BC, a small Greek force defeated a much larger invading Persian army at Marathon. Emory will convene a weekend symposium, “Immortal Light: The Battle of Marathon and its Athenian Legend”, and hold a 2.62 mile race through the Emory campus to commemorate this event.

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