Whether you’re tailgating at home, or at the game, here are three things we think you should be serving.
Salsa
Every business has an origin story, and the one for Roswell-based Sully’s Slammin’ Fresh Salsa is one of our favorites. When 11-year-old Tyler Sullivan surprised his parents with multiple purchases of Fortnite V-bucks on his mom’s credit card, the result was an immediate ban on electronic devices, until he could pay his mother back. When chores didn’t earn the money fast enough, he decided to use his dad’s recipe, and peppers from the family garden, and make salsa to sell via Facebook. The salsa was a huge hit, and soon Tyler was selling it at local farmers markets and online. We tried the mild version, which is labeled “My little brother can eat it.” It’s chunky, with finely diced tomatoes, onion and garlic, and is full of flavor. It’s delicious on chips, but we served it with quesadillas, and stirred it into a fresh corn and tomato salad. There’s also a hot salsa, with two jalapenos and a habanero, and occasionally they make a really hot version, with dried ghost peppers. Tyler has labeled that one, “My mom says it too hot.”
$10 per 14-ounce jar. Available at Kudzu in Sandy Springs and at sullyssalsa.com. Front porch pickup available in Roswell.
Credit: Jon Woodman Photography
Credit: Jon Woodman Photography
Craft soda
What are you going to drink while you’re enjoying the game? How about some locally made soda from Marietta-based Red Hare Brewing Co. The brewer certainly makes plenty of beer, with year-round brews like Long Day Lager and 2Hazy5 IPA, as well as seasonal and limited releases, such as Hasenfeffer Oktoberfest, but it also makes two nonalcoholic craft sodas — root beer and grapefruit. The root beer is no shrinking violet; it’s rich and flavorful. The grapefruit is a lighter take on citrus, and includes grapefruit zest. Even our testers who aren’t crazy about grapefruit enjoyed this one thoroughly. If you want the best of both worlds, pick up Red Hare’s SPF 50/50 Grapefruit, which is 50 percent grapefruit soda and 50 percent IPA.
$5 per six-pack. Available at Red Hare Brewing Co., 1998 Delk Industrial Blvd., Marietta. 678-401-0600, redharebrewing.com.
Credit: handout
Credit: handout
Matzo chips
Sure, you can serve potato chips, corn chips, or even black bean chips. However, our new favorite is the matzo chips from the Brooklyn-based Matzo Project. We love the clever packages — the bag says, “Eat Something. You Look Skinny” or “A Good Snack for the Plane (If You Ever Came to Visit).” But what’s inside those packages is what impressed our testers, who all thought these were a huge step up from other matzo that, quite frankly, can taste a lot like cardboard. Ashley Albert and Kevin Rodriguez tinkered with traditional matzo recipes to come up with these crisp, crunchy, sturdy crackers. They’re available as flats, but we loved the bites and chips, available in sea salt, everything, cinnamon sugar and harissa flavors. The Matzo Project also makes matzo ball soup mix and matzo crumbs.
$4.79 per 6-ounce bag of chips. $15 per 15.75-ounce bag of cinnamon sugared bites. Available at the Fresh Market, Lidl or matzoproject.com.
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