Country: Trinidad & Tobago
Dish: Doubles
Location: Marietta & Alpharetta
Stop: #2
The scents of curry and cumin travel through the open kitchen of Marietta’s Tassa Caribbean Restaurant, where customers take their lunch break for a taste of Trinidad and Tobago.
“This is a roti shop,” Radhika “Ria” Edoo explained, taking a break from the kitchen. “This is doubles. This is a street food in Trinidad.”
Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Edoo’s family made the leap to Atlanta after getting a taste of the city during the 1996 Olympics.
“My husband, wife, and daughter…we came to watch the basketball,” Edoo told 11Alive. “We came for the Olympics, and like a lot of people then, we fell in love with Atlanta. We decided we want to move.”
The Edoo family ultimately opened Tassa in 2006, a roti shop where reminders of Trinidad are served daily.
“How does this dish represent Trinidad and Tobago?”
“I grew up on [doubles],” Edoo said. “What doubles is to Trinidad is what hot dog is to Central Park. Every vendor in every corner sells this… but only this,” Edoo said.
Made with two pieces of flat fried bread, or baras, the doubles are filled with mixture of sauces and chickpeas.
“It’s sweet. It’s savory. It’s spicy,” Edoo said. “They sell it in the airport. The last thing you eat before you leave Trinidad to come to America is this … and then you buy ten to bring to your family.”
“How does this dish represent Atlanta?”
“It’s a comfort food, and Atlanta’s all about comfort food,” Edoo said. “This dish is a melting pot. You don’t see only one part of the people eating it. Black people will come, white people will come.”
And customers come, including celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, who is proudly displayed on Tassa’s wall of fame.
There is one difference, according to Edoo, between eating doubles in Atlanta and eating doubles in Trinidad and Tobago.
“The only thing about Atlanta that hasn’t caught on? They don’t eat it with their fingers,” Edoo said.
