Edgewood Corner Tavern, Atlanta GA

There are many places that I’ve read about and said “Hmmm, I’d like to go there,” and many others that I’ve read about and said “I’d like to go there along with Marie.” That’s the case with Edgewood Corner Tavern in the Old Fourth Ward. It’s one of four Corner Taverns in the city, the most popular of which is probably the one in Little Five Points. Each of them has their own specialties, along with a dense menu of reliable bar food and a very satisfactory and deep list of beers, but the Edgewood location was spotlighted last year in this report at A Hamburger Today.

Atlantans, if you’re not reading that blog, then you really should. It’s not just that I agree with Todd Brock’s opinion so often, it’s that he has a remarkable knack for finding really interesting hamburgers at really unusual and unexpected places. Never mind all the expected success stories and popular places around our town, he’s out in the suburbs, and in quiet neighborhood dives, and, once, at an airfield in Barrow County. I love following his reports, and his story about Corner Tavern really intrigued me. This is the home of the Carpetbagger, a buffalo burger unlike any you’ve had before. This isn’t a simple patty given a quick bath in buffalo wing sauce. Instead, they first make a Jucy Lucy using blue cheese as the interior, and then fry it up in a beer batter, and then give it the sauce bath. I’ve never had a burger like this before, and you probably haven’t, either.

Visiting with Marie and without any children meant that we had to wait several weeks until we had some grown-up time together, but we managed it one Friday in February. We arrived just before they opened at 11 am. It was a bright, windy morning, and we got there before they unlocked the small lot around the corner, so we parked on the street. If you’re heading down here, you’ll find the Tavern on the opposite corner from The Sound Table, and you might want to have a laundry bag full of coins for the meter if you can’t get a space in whatever lot you’re visiting. A dime’ll get you three whole minutes on the street here!

Marie was satisfied with their basic pub burger, which was very tasty and flavorful, but it certainly didn’t pack the surprising and enjoyable punch that the Carpetbagger offers. It’s not very spicy, but it’s very satisfying, fun, and weird. You may think that $12 is a bit much to pay for what Brock correctly describes as “a stunt,” especially when all the sides that sound the best cost an additional dollar, but if you’re due for a lunchtime splurge, this is worth considering. I had the pimento mac and cheese and really liked that as well.

Regular readers may recall that, a couple of months ago, we were in Jacksonville and I fell in love with the taste of Bell’s Cherry Stout when we visited Kickbacks Gastropub. Regular readers may also recall that I rarely get out for a beer, but since we were at this Corner Tavern, and since they do have a beer list that is several pages long and about two hundred varieties deep, I looked to see what Bell’s that had. I settled on a bottle of Bell’s Best Brown Ale. It was really good! I didn’t love it like I did the cherry stout, but that brewery is two for two with me now. I’ll have to sample more of their beers this year.

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