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DOWN-HOME DOWNTOWN
Back to The Library: The Library (420 E. Clayton
St., 706-227-6182) now serves a Southern lunch
on weekdays. There's still a range of burgers,
grilled chicken sandwiches, wings, salads and
other basic bar food, and apparently they serve
all-you-can-eat spaghetti and garlic bread for a
mere $6, but the possibility of another option
for collards downtown is probably the real attrac
tion. Those two venerable institutions do have
superior food, no question, but a meat and three
vegetables, piled high on the plate, only come
to S6.50 for a very hearty lunch. The hand that
wields the salt shaker does so too enthusiastical
ly, for the most part, as the fried pork chop had
to be consumed with copious amounts of water.
And occasionally, pepper wants to party just as
hard, asserting its presence in the pork chop
and the loose macaroni and cheese. The fried
okra, on the other hand, could use a bit more
seasoning, though its breading is decently tasty.
The collards trend to the sweet side and would
probably be improved by a few shakes of pep
per sauce. All in all, it's not the best Southern
food in town, or even downtown, but one must
appreciate the prices, the heaping servings and
the friendly staff (for the first time, when one
decides to push open the decidedly bar-like front
door, one isn't forced to wander to the back
of the long room in confusion, but is met by a
peppy, well-organized server, ushered to a table
and handed a menu rather than listening to a
list of what's actually in stock). The Library also
delivers downtown and serves lunch 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. weekdays and its grill menu from 9 p.m. to
2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Fruity-licious: The next entry in the "Song
Remains Largely the Same but with Slightly
Different Lyrics" department is the latest frozen
dessert business to open in the red-and-white
awninged structure in front of Carmike Cinemas:
Truit Glacier Water Ice Co. (1580 Lexington
Rd.). For some reason (the winter? Students be
ing out of town in the summer?), these small
businesses keep closing, even though each of
them has been both good and significantly
less expensive than the fancy marble slab-type
premium ice cream establishments. What Fruit
Glacier brings is not only a selection of creamy,
rich ice creams with cool flavors (red velvet cake,
Boston cream pie, Reese's, pineapple upside-
down cake, banana pudding), but "water ice,"
something relatively new to town. Picture a
slightly more solid Slush Puppie, a slightly softer
version of the Italian ice you can mostly buy
prepackaged in the grocery store or at sporting
events. More refreshing than ice cream because it
doesn't coat your tongue, friendly to the lactose-
intolerant and containing far fewer calories, the
water ice is available in even more flavors than
the ice cream, mostly fruit-centric ones: tropical
splash, strawberry, peach, pifia colada, pear, pink
grapefruit and so on. "Gutbuster" was created
with UGA food sciences students and consists of
a Cherry Coke-flavored water ice base sprinkled
with Pop Rocks, a la Life Cereal's Mikey's rumored
demise. The flavors are pretty fresh, the prices
good and the scoops large. Fruit Glacier is open
every day, though its hours change from summer
to winter.
What Up?: A Taste of Athens was once again a
tremendous hit and a great fundraising event.
Yours truly served on the committee of three
judges, along with Courtney Alford-Pomeroy
of the Banner-Herald and Tom Maicon of
Atlanta Cuisine, deeming Homer Whitmire's (of
DePalma's Downtown) version of lamb slightly
superior to Bret Clark's (of The Foundry Park Inn
& Spa's three restaurants). Maison Bleu was
awarded "Best Food" and Hoyt House nabbed
the "People's Choice." Farm 255's choice to serve
mojitos was the best decision of the evening
and, as always, a good time was had by all. That
restaurant, incidentally, has introduced a new
feature on its revamped menu: "Ask the Chef,"
a four-course meal of chefs choice, available
5:30-7 p.m. daily. Tuesday, Apr. 24, will mark the
13th annual An Entree of Hope. The following
restaurants will donate 10 percent of their gross
sates that day to The Ark and the Athens Area
Emergency Food Bank: Broad Street Bar and
Grill, Buffalo's Southwest Cafe, DePalma's (all
three locations), East West Bistro, Five & Ten,
Five Points Deli, Foodworks. Fre^h Air BBQ (Hull
Road), Gautreau's Cajun Cafe, Harry Bissett's
(both locations), Hibachi Express Inoko, Hilltop
Grille, Last Resort Grill, Maison Bleu, Plantation
Buffet, Roly Poly, Speakeasy, The Grit. La Fiesta
(Hawthorne), The Sultan and Zim's Bagel Bakery.
The Lee Brothers, authors of The Lee Bros.
Southern Cookbook, will be in Athens Apr. 13 and
14 to sign books at Mercury Art Works and at
Earth Fare.
Hillary Brown
Daily Special
by Donna L. Barstow
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Athens Business Center
Suite 2 2440 W. Broad St
706-548-2188
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