Ages back, sometime in this blog’s infancy, I intended to follow a metaphor to its conclusion and tell you good readers a little about Martin’s. As metaphors go, this is not the most accurate, but you know how Birmingham is home to a fast food chain called Milo’s and it is surrounded in the suburbs by another chain called Jack’s? Well, Zesto in Atlanta is similarly surrounded in this city’s suburbs by Martin’s. Kind of. I mean, there are something like 140 Jack’s all over north Alabama and peeking into neighboring states, and there are only fifteen Martin’s, almost all of which are in the northwestern suburbs and nowhere near an interstate exit, but it’s a little bit similar. Continue reading “Martin’s, Austell GA”
Tag: drive-ins
Photo Post 10: Where We Did Not Eat
In this entry, a few very short recaps of some places that we photographed. Longtime readers might recall that I have a soft spot for old-fashioned walk-up dairy bars. Very few of these have survived into the modern day, particularly in Georgia. One of the few that we’ve found in Georgia, and the nearest to us, is the Jiffy Freeze in Canton. Earlier this month, Al.com had a short feature about five others in northern Alabama and one near Chattanooga, half of which we have featured here and one of which I hope to see next month. Continue reading “Photo Post 10: Where We Did Not Eat”
Photo Post 9: The Varsity, Atlanta GA
Everybody has written about the Varsity and shared all the same anecdotes, but for our 700th post here at Marie, Let’s Eat!, we wanted to come up with something special, so why not finally show off this Atlanta landmark and roadfood classic? But there’s something even more special about the Varsity that you probably don’t know. There’s a secret burger that’s not on the menu and it is, quite honestly, the best thing that you can order here. Continue reading “Photo Post 9: The Varsity, Atlanta GA”
Nikki’s Drive Inn, Chattanooga TN
No city has generated as many suggestions from our readers and friends as Chattanooga has, and on this most recent trip, I wanted to be sure to visit one of them. It’s actually a place that an acquaintance from the Roadfood.com message boards, “Littleman,” first suggested a couple of years ago, but we’ve also got emails from three different people assuring us that it fits our sensibilities just perfectly. Longtime readers with long memories may recall that “Littleman” has pointed us in the right directions several times before (we have him to thank for Green Acres and The Little Dooey, among others), and he’s still batting a thousand. Everybody has told us that we needed to try the shrimp and the onion rings, and here they are, printed right on front of the menu: “World Famous Jumbo Shrimp and Onion Rings.” Continue reading “Nikki’s Drive Inn, Chattanooga TN”
Photo Post 8: The Sno-Cap at Sunset
Slightly omitted from the previous chapter was the reality that this trip to Columbia was not a complete success at all, especially on the wallet. The previous day, I had my tires rotated, and I then celebrated our arrival at the children’s museum by mounting the curb and blowing one of them. At first, I would have said that Columbia’s not a good city to be looking for obscure tires for a weird little Mazda on a Saturday afternoon, but then I got home and looked up my tires and learned that I was lucky to find one at all. Even the big Kaufmann Tires chain has only three in all of Georgia. Anyway, I drove around and around. Businesses started closing and I was hobbling around on the spare doughnut going from store to store looking for something to use. It took two and a half hours to find the tire, then I collected Marie and the baby, and hit the three restaurants that we wanted to see. Continue reading “Photo Post 8: The Sno-Cap at Sunset”
Photo Post 7: The Leopard Drive Inn, Homer GA
Earlier this month, I took my daughter up to the Commerce / Banks Crossing outlet malls to shop, and from there, we motored up the road to the town of Homer to pick up some sodas from a store that I had read about. Along the way, we passed by this very old fast food joint and I stopped on the way back to take a few pictures of it. I’d have bought a milkshake, but astonishingly, despite this place virtually screaming “soft serve,” they don’t actually have ice cream here. Continue reading “Photo Post 7: The Leopard Drive Inn, Homer GA”
Cardin’s Drive-In, Knoxville TN
I had an internal schedule to keep as we raced down I-75 – well, Marie raced and I napped – to get back to Knox County, Tennessee. My daughter has family there, and I’d offered to let her kick back with them for a few hours while Marie and the baby and I went out and ate and played around Knoxville. The girlchild was duly deposited with her aunt, and we drove out to East Magnolia and pulled up at Pizza Palace, the home of Marie’s favorite pizza. Continue reading “Cardin’s Drive-In, Knoxville TN”
Marie, Let's Eat! 