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William Orten Carlton = ORT.
SPECIAL CORESPONDENT FOR THE FLAGPOLE.
he Belly Of The Beast]
Just a few days ago (as I write, not as you
likely will read), Tuesday, July 2,1 happened
to be in Atlanta anyway and attended (with
out having to have my arm twisted at all) a
signing for an only slightly monumental new
work. It is the kind of thing that makes a great
gift; furthermore you might well want a copy
of it for yourself!
The name of the book is The Belly Of At
lanta; A Homegrown Guide To The Good
Places. Its authors are John T. Edge, Nelson
d. (sic) Ross and Boyd Baker. Edge is study
ing at The University Of Mississippi’s Cen
ter For Southern Culture; his specialty is
Southern Foodways. Ross is an accountant
who eats out a lot. And Baker (the only one
of the trio whom I did not know until the
signing) seems to be mammothly knowledge
able about Atlanta’s offbeat and out-of-the-
way places. They make a superb threesome,
especially for an undertaking such as this.
Let me quote from the title page: “We
aren’t comprehensive. You can find Stone
Mountain, Underground Atlanta and Lenox
Square on your own. What separates tourists
from natives is good advice; advice from lo
cals who eat, drink and play in a town’s best,
most distinctive spots. We want to give you...
the kind of tour we hope to gjt when we come
to your town.
“We live here. In the city; not the sub
urbs. We want you to get to know Atlanta’s
neighborhoods....
“Belly was chosen as the title because we
thought it described our idea best — to give
an unconventional insider’s view of the soft
underside of Atlanta...."
The signing was held at my favorite get-
ting-away place, The Euclid Avenue Yacht
Club, at 1136 Euclid Ave., N/E in the heart
of Little Five Points. It is one of the spots rec
ommended in the book, and weeknight bar
tender Robert Holland contributed to the
research.
This guide is limited geographically in
scope. For this reason, it makes no mender,
of such old-time places as Mama’s Country
Showcase at 3952 Covington Hwy. (Adanta’s
premier honky-tonk), Melear’s Barbecue at
6701 Roosevelt Hwy. in Union City (one of
my favorite barbecue places), nor the Rio
Vista at 3425 Moreland Ave. (“42 Highway”)
in Conley (the last remaining old-time cat
fish specialty place in Atlanta); nor such wel
come relative newcomers as Spiced Right Bar
becue at 5364 U. S. 29 in Lilbum (where you
can choose from six kinds of sauce!). They
are clear out of range of the book, until a
companion volume of places that are out
side 1-285 can be completed. 1 intend to
help them with this eventual task, but 1
am getting ahead of myself.
Most of you who grew up in Atlanta
will be at least vaguely familiar with quite
a few of the eateries, such as Pilgreen’s
Steak House at 1081 Lee St., S/W; Zesto’s
(several locations); The Majestic Food
Shop at 1031 Ponce de Leon Ave., N/E;
Harold’s Barbecue at 171 McDonough
Blvd., S/E; and The Colonnade Restaurant
at 1879 Cheshire Bridge Rd., N/E, whether
you have visited any of them or not. (1 have
been to all of them except Pilgreen’s, and
it is soon to be tried: 1 have already wai r ed
too long.)
But have any of you heard of The Sil
ver Skillet at 200 — 14th. St., N/W? Or
Thelma’s Kitchen at 876 Marietta St., N/
W?? Or The Flying Pig at 856 Virginia Ave.
in t lapeville?!? Or Taquerfa Los Rayos at
3290 West Hospital Ave. in Chamblee (or
is it Doraville?)????
1 thought not, because I was only fa
miliar with two of these, and I have never
eaten at either; let alone the ones I had
never heard of until now. And this only
touches on the book’s restaurant selection;
it is also filled with write-ups of recom
mended specialty stores, bars, nightspots
and all sundry. There is even a bowling al
ley listed.
There are a few glaring omissions. The
Silver Grill at 900 Monroe Drive, N/E is
conspicuous in its absence, and it has some
of the best fried chicken in town. Further
more, neither of Atlanta’s two remaining
drive-in theaters (Starlight Six Drive In
Theatre at 2000 Moreland Ave., S/E and
North 85 Twin Drive-In Theatre at 3265
Northeast Expressway Access Rd. in
Chamblee) are mentioned. Nor is my old-
time favorite place to grab a cookie or a
doughnut (back when I used to eat sugar),
Willis’ Bakery at 477 Flat Shoals Ave., S/E.
(Fred Schneider and I used to hop in there,
buy a bag of cookies, and spend the day thrift
store shopping and arguing with each other.
Boy, is that a whole nother column'!)
Neither are thrift stores mentioned, be
cause even once you wade through all the
known ones (Goodwill, Salvation Army,
Value Village, etc.), there are others you
would never find, such as Thrift House of
the Cathedral Of St. Philip at 2581 Pied
mont Rd., N/E; Junior League Of Atlanta’s
Nearly New Thrift Shop next door; St.
John’s Bargain Shop at 2823 Main St. in
East Point; and the new' Second Glance
Thrift Shop at 1599 Memorial Dr., S/E.,
which may or may not be run by a charity,
but still contains some amazing rubble.
Also, there is no mention of brewpubs,
although Nelson assured me that the next
edition would cover any that fit into their
geography.
If any or all of this is interesting to you,
you will want to pick up a copy of this nice
spiral-bound guide. Copies are available at
A Cappella Books at 1133 Euclid Ave., N/
E; any of the Oxford locations; and maybe
even places in malls that you might not
think of. You can write Intown Publishers
at P.O. Box 8054, Atlanta, GA. 30306-
0054 or call 404-875-5339. Copies are
$6.95, and compared to Michelin or Fodor,
that’s cheap.
Fact is, I even paid for my own review
copy. Might be I can milk two or three col
umns out of it, plus plenty of information,
so why not? Now, when they start in on
compiling the outside-of-I-285-as-far-as-
the-Atlanta-phonebook-goes-and-Athens
sequel, I’ll be right there to contribute a
plethora of stuff they’d never have other
wise: even budget motels in places like
Tallapoosa and Cartersville.
The Belly Of Atlanta. What a concept.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Highly
recommended. (30.)
©1996 William Orten Carlton
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JULY 31, 1996
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