Monday, August 6, 2007
Restaurants How they see our dining scene in Perry
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Mon, Aug 6, 2007 at 7:00 PM
It's always interesting to get an opinion on Atlanta dining from a Georgian outside the big city. Below is Larry Walker reminiscing in the Aug. 3 Houston Daily Journal (Perry, Ga.). I have to admit I'm not missing many of the defunct places he mentions, most of which were at their prime in the '70s and '80s. I do fondly remember the Coach and Six, where Creative Loafing's founding publisher, Debbie Eason, often took employees for lunch on special occasions.
Walker's column did make me think, too, that I'm overdue for a visit to Hal's and the White House. As a teenager, I used the eat lunch in the original White House in Buckhead before catching the bus downtown.
I’m glad we’ve got a Longhorn's in Perry. I eat there, often. But, in all due respects, it doesn’t measure up to the original Longhorn’s on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. The original place was a little grungy, and you could throw your peanut hulls on the floor. There was a huge jukebox, featuring country music, right at the front door. Free plays. Lewis Grizzard hung out there at the bar. I must have eaten at this Longhorn’s at least 100 times (yes, literally). The food was great, the atmosphere was wonderful, and the memories of meals with friends is embedded in my brain. It’s closed, now. I miss the real Longhorn’s.What about a burger at Flamingo Joe’s in downtown Atlanta?
Or, a gourmet meal at the Coach and Six. I’d take another grilled cheese with tomato at Mr. C’s in Atlanta. Maybe Bryant Culpepper, who introduced me to Mr. C’s and their sandwich, would go with me. Then Bryant and I would go to Hamburger Hamlet, whose name belied its type and quality of food. And what about the Brookwood Grille (replaced by an Argentina steakhouse), and Baby Doe’s and The Big Red Tomato? Then there was Harrison’s on Peachtree Street and the Peachtree Café...
I could go on and on about the loss of so many great eating places in Atlanta, but it makes me sad, so let’s shift to some that have “stood the test of time†and are still putting out excellent food. Of course, I’d have to start with Hal’s on Old Ivy. Great food, wonderful atmosphere, and a friendly owner in Hal Nowak. Like Longhorn’s, I must’ve eaten 100 meals at Hal’s — often with Clark Fain or Connell Stafford or Billy Corey, or all of them. And for years, the best piano man in Atlanta, Charly Marshall, played at Hal’s.
And, now we have New York Prime (a rich man’s steak, which isn’t a bit better, if as good as, the original Longhorn’s), the Capital Grille (fairly good food, great view) and old staples such as Dailey’s in downtown Atlanta. Talking about “standing the test of time,†what about the Colonnade, Mary Mac’s and the White House in Atlanta?
Comments (2)
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This was cool to read - it made me nostalgic for the restaurants we went to when I was a kid in the late seventies/early eighties. I remember going to Baby Does and thinking that it was really cool and also a little scary because it seemed like it was going to slide off the hill it was precariously perched on. I also liked Joe Rigatoni's on Windy Hill and W.D. Crowley's (I don't remember where that was). I was a kid, so I can't tell you if these places had terribly good food - though I did love the fried manicotti at Joe Rigatoni's and I wish I could have that again. Oh, I also loved this place called Around the Corner on Northside Pkwy. It was a retro-50s diner where you made your order from a phone on the table. I think it's a Hooters now.
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