Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Ancient Athens

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Saw this and thought it would make for a good Roundtable (maybe Friday Foodie) post for today:

I liked DePalmas, but I can’t say I’m as heartbroken to see it go as I was the original Mellow Mushroom go (so many hazy memories), Chow Goldstein’s, Harry Bisset’s, The Mean Bean, The Grit, or a host of other great Athens eateries disappear.

So for today’s Roundtable, for those of you who frequented “ancient” Athens, which Athens restaurant from days gone by do you miss the most?

Have at it in the comments.

84 thoughts on “Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Ancient Athens”

  2. Allegedly, Weaver D’s is serving its last meals tomorrow. I know it has been threatened many times before, but I believe it this time.

    • Interesting, I will tell me son to go over one last time. I had thought they would close last month. Automatic ….

    • Herbie (the owner) was awesome, and the food was late night decent. Hated to see it burn.

      • Herbie was a nice guy – a self-described schmuck. His cook (the cranky old guy with the apron) probably would have killed all of us if he could. Not that I can really blame him.

  4. Allen’s and Chase Street Cafe. Mark kept a sawed off shotgun in plain sight under the register.

    • Mark: What are you gonna have?
      Me: (looking at the chalkboard) umm
      Mark: It ain’t up there. Pick something else.

    • Allen’s was the first place I’d ever seen chilled mugs. The cheeseburgers were good, too. Used to play Space Invaders there.

      • We would occasionally stop by Allen’s on the way out of town after a game. My Mother was with us one day. She enjoyed a scotch and water so I got her a cup of ice and fixed her one for the road. We got as far as far as the traffic light and I heard her spitting and sputtering in the back seat. Come to find out Allen’s kept their cut onions in a bowl on the ice. She had scotch, water, and onions.

  7. I miss the Spaghetti Store. I still have a couple of those glasses with the built in shot glass bottom.🙂

    • 100%. I loved going down there first thing Sunday (around noon, LOL), getting 2 dogs all the way, an order of rings and a jumbo FO, and sitting down to watch the Falcons figure out a new way to lose.

    • +1000 on Compadres. Not only was it delicious, but the portions for the price were perfect for my broke student a$$.

      Also really miss Harry Bissetts (best meatloaf I’ve ever eaten) and the Grit.

      • It really was a great, budget-friendly place to go for a date downtown instead of Mexicali or another cheaper place. Damn, I miss Compadres.

  14. Downtown Varsity. My good luck pre game meal was always a grilled pimento cheese and a grilled ham and Swiss. Does anyone remember when the downtown Varsity closed? Early 80’s?

    • I think it was late 70’s. I got to Athens in the fall of ’79 and I believe it was already gone. I’d eaten their with my dad in the early ’70s when we went to games.

      • Sounds about right. I graduated in ‘77, it was definitely open then. I know when I returned for games for a couple of years, it was still open. We always parked at the bell. Too bad those tailgating spots are gone forever.

    • Anyone been to the new “Varsity” at Butler’s Crossing in Watkinsville? How does it compare with the OG?

      • My wife and I ate there a couple of weeks ago and the food was just like in Athens.

  17. Lot of great old places mentioned. Varsity, Charlie Williams,Mayflower. One downtown was good ltalian was Tony’s!! Ate there a lot and Tony was always around! Weren’t as many choices then as now.

    • Man, I’d give a lot of money to teleport to a warm May Friday afternoon at Son’s before a big conference series in baseball started (and then head to Kudzu Hill with a cooler in tow).

    • Yesm Davinci’s. I have never found anything to match it. My roomate’s girlfriend worked there. Lots of leftover mistakes came home.

  23. The Varsity, Tony’s and Stricklands’s downtown. Sub and Steak in Five Points.

  24. Stricklands downtown(but at least it is still on Atl hwy)
    Bissets
    Taco Stand
    Mayflower
    Allens
    Gutbox
    Steverinos

  25. Irelands (steak & biskets with shoestring fries)
    DaVinci’s which was close to where Ireland’s had been
    Posse’s
    Steverinos
    Sons of Italy
    On Broad next to the Mayflower was a great gyro place and also an Italian restaurant perfect for date nights on Saturdays when all the Atlanta kids had cleared out for the weekend.

  27. Rocky’s downtown – great pizza and great wings!
    Steverino’s & Sons of Italy in Five Points
    the original Loco’s at the top of Baxter Hill

    • Ricky’s had great wings, and you could request the extra hot jalapeno sauce.

      I think there was an Italian place called Provino’s on Baxter that had small round bread “rolls” in garlic butter.

  28. My list from my time at UGA would be in no particular order, Poss’s BBQ, Downtown Varsity, Cleve’s Place, and Steverino’s. Special shout outs to B&L Warehouse, The Other Place, Fifth Quarter, and the place on Broad street that caused memory damage.

  30. Harry Bissetts deserves its own post. That was a favorite spot in Athens when my folks came to visit and was my gameday tradition after I moved back south for the last decade+ it was open. The oysters Rockefeller and crawfish etouffee rivaled anything New Orleans puts out. George’s Lowcountry Table at 420 Macon Hwy still serves many of the same recipes (started by a former Bissetts chef) but not as easy to get to on gameday.

  32. Anyone recall a BBQ restaurant called Spring House on Broad in the early 1990’s? Short lived there, moved out to Baxter, wasn’t the same and didn’t last long. My recollection was that the original was pretty damn good bbq.

      • Yes I remember that place it was good. That dude also owned The Exsirlence … underrated and short-lived dive bar.

    • The owner was gunned down in front of his place on 441 by the outlet mall. They never caught the perp!

    • I remember Springhouse BBQ. My buddy’s wife was a vegetarian, and he used ask her if she wanted to go to the Springhouse so she could get a salad that only had a little meat in it.

      Speaking of BBQ, what about Walter’s BBQ. I think Peter Buck recommended it in the movie Athens Inside Out.

  33. I can’t believe no-one has mentioned Walter’s or its successor, JB’s. So I will.

    Walter Rittenbury, M.B. (master barbecuer) was a fine pitmaster and quite the raconteur. At lunch there one day, in Gresham’s Disco (they played all the latest) Walter explained, as a roach crawled across the counter, why he was open only three days a week:

    “Well, Sunday is church day. I can’t be open on church day, now can I? On Monday I’m too hung over from church day to even think about cooking. On Tuesday, my mind’s getting right. On Wednesday, I do all my preparing. On Thursday through Saturday, I see you.”

    Walter moved from Gresham’s to an old drive-in on Broad Street (IIRC, not too far from where Longhorn is now) but wasn’t there for very long before he sold out to JB. JB was making a go of it but the last time I went (ca. 1997), he wasn’t there. I asked his wife where he was and she said, “He’s in jail.” I don’t think they hung on too long after that.

    Anyway, the bbq was very good. The hash – a usually underwhelming to downright disgusting dish – was sensational.

  34. These are great shoutouts. I went to Stricklands downtown multiple times per week (goat bbq on Friday). Shipfeifer Gyro Wrap, The Grill, Mean Bean, Steves & Sons, Provino’s, Rocky’s, Taco Stand are all great memories.

    However, on my all-time favorite restaurants (anywhere – not just Athens) that I truly miss opened after my matriculation in Athens. I loved Farm 255. Ate there a TON after early/mid-afternoon games at Sanford or early dinner for a night game or brunch on Sunday after a game.

    Their foie gras burger was the best burger I have ever had in my life. So many good dishes. I even made a special trip up to Athens in the middle of the week on a stormy late spring/early summer night before the closed for good.

  36. February 14, 2000 was an extremely special night for my wife (then girlfriend) and I. We went to dinner at the downtown DePalma’s Athens, then we saw Carrot Top perform at The Classic Center, and after that went to the historic founder’s memorial garden where I proposed (spoiler: she said yes). I wanted to choose somewhere that would exist forever and not be torn down and made into a strip-mall (or worse) someday.

    Every now and then during a UGA game they will show the garden and that’s always pretty cool.

    Thank you DePalma’s and Athens, GA in general for being the city where we got our young lives started!

    -Muckbeast

  38. Gus Garcia’s–the Texas chili and the Tequila Slammer Hostess

    Helen’s–how sad nobody remembers Helen

    Ronnie B’s–the meal ticket for students and very underrated bar

    Sparky’s–again, how soon they forget

  39. Swamp Guinea
    Cleve’s
    Helen’s

    I practically lived on the 1/2 fried chicken special at Helen’s during my second year.

    • I was at Cleve’s so much in the early 80’s they should have sent me a W-2 form at the end of the year..

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