What's with the Decatur restaurant scene lately? There are SO many great options in this part of town. Whether it's no246, or Cakes & Ale, or now The General Muir, the effort to get to Decatur will be richly rewarded. I've been hearing raves about The General Muir, an "authentic" Jewish deli, for months but the aforementioned location has made me slow to pull the trigger.

Then Creative Loafing's 100 Dish list came out and The General Muir had One-Two-THREE entrants on the list.

Well, o.k. If you insist, I'll go.

Boy is it worth the drive!

The first item on the list is the poutine which, technically, isn't a Jewish dish, but a Canadian one. My friends in Canada always talk about the deliciousness of french fries, gravy and cheese (customizable with extras), but I've never seen anyone actually order the dish. Perhaps it's because even as a small plate, it should come with a heart attack warning.

Still, fatty foods have never tasted so good!Next up, fried avocado. Sure, avocados are already buttery, so why make them richer? I have no idea. However, our server promised this wasn't a heavy dish, and I had to experiment. We loved the cream and strawberry accompaniment with the avocados and enjoyed the dish, though I'm not sure I'd order again. A plain avocado begins at awesome, so it's tough to improve.Next, up,list item #2, The Reuben. Wow. The picture doesn't do it justice. Begin with perfectly toasted rye bread, slather on Russian dressing, add sauerkraut, corned beef and cheese, and you have an amazing sandwich. Flat out delicious. We split this entree. You could bust a gut if not!Finally, like any great deli meal, a NY Style Cheesecake. I am not a huge cheesecake gal. Most cheesecakes are, to my tastes, thinly disguised blocks of Philly cream cheese. It's tough to find the right balance of richness and light. The General Muir cheesecake gets it 100% right. Now I am thinking I need to give cheesecake recipes a new look to see about recreating this gem.

To top it all off, not only is every List item COMPLETELY worthy of the praise, the environment of the space is very cool. Casual, but great for a date night. Give The General a try. You won't regret it.

Now if only Decatur were more accessible!

The List: The General Muir