So what do you get when you mix a hundred-some old grocery store building in Athens’ old mill community around Hiawassee and Boulevard with a Culinary Institute of America grad, Ken Manring? You get the best burger in Athens for the last several years. I made my fourth visit to White Tiger Gourmet during last month’s trip to Athens, and wanted to tell all you good readers again how terrific the burgers here are. (Here’s our original story, from June 2010.)
After starting our day at Saucehouse, we drove over to the Southeast Clarke Park to let our son play, and play, and play some more on their awesome playground. We can’t stress this enough: if the weather’s cooperating and you have an under-10 with you when you visit the Classic City, give yourself a break from eating and let your child rampage here. It surely must be the best playground in the state. Try to have another adult with you to tag-team playing hide-and-seek or “Daddy Monster,” because this place will wear you out before you know it. Anyway, after about ninety minutes of play, we loaded up again, and took the bypass around to Chase Street, passing by a restaurant that we’d return for dinner, and made our way to White Tiger for their Alice Burger.
I picked the Alice Burger on my second trip here, which really was a while back now, and that’s all that I’ve tried since. I’m aware that White Tiger smokes barbecue, but I haven’t made it that far. The burger comes with organic field greens, grilled mushrooms, and lots of sticky, wonderful sauce and mozzarella cheese. There are some pretty good burgers in Athens, but this is by some measure the best.
Marie had never made it here with me before. She was still satisfied with her lunch at Saucehouse and was looking forward to supper, so she just enjoyed a snack of their tomato basil soup. This is delicious, thick and peppery. We were surprised that they served it in the same sort of 20-ounce styrofoam cup they use for drinks, but accepted it as one of this restaurant’s cute quirks and enjoyed it all the same. The service is great and the ramshackle design is super fun. I like this restaurant so much, and am glad to call it one of my favorites, among many, in town.
After our snack, we drove over to Baxter and Alps, and dropped off our daughter to do some shopping at the Beechwood strip mall while we spent some time with our son in the Athens Public Library. We’d planned to give him about an hour of reading time, and the girlchild was meant to come join us, but we ended up leaving a little earlier than planned because she couldn’t figure out where the library was. Poor thing walked a whole thousand feet the wrong direction on Alps, still within sight of the traffic light, and the hospital where she was born, before phoning us in panic because she was lost. Kid’s got a lot of learning ahead of her. Opening the Google map on her phone might have been a start.
Other blog posts about White Tiger Gourmet:
Hungry Dude (Nov. 7 2011)
Cupcakes & Sunshine (Oct. 24 2013)
Bella Vivere (Feb. 13 2014)
My So-Called (Mommy) Life (Feb. 28 2014)
Pig Out Spots (Aug. 17 2014)
Do you enjoy classic adventure TV? I’m reliving some great shows from my own childhood with my four year-old son. Come join the fun at Fire-Breathing Dimetrodon Time!
Marie, Let's Eat! 
Is the White Tiger location the old Thrashers grocery store? I think it must be.
It is indeed!
They used to serve the biggest and best biscuits in that place. I mean huge biscuits, bigger around than a coffee cup plate. I remember the strings of dried peppers on the wall as well. Quite a place back in the day.
You are damn right about that burger, Grant.
I suppose I’ll try their barbecue one of these days, but maybe I can convince Marie to order the burger just so I can have a taste of that as well!