Atlanta mini excursion
Jun 4th, 2009, 04:18 PM
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Atlanta mini excursion
I'm not into trip reports, but there is so little about Atlanta on these forums that I decided to post a little something of my recent stay. I returned yesterday from five nights in the city for the sole purpose of attending the NCAA Atlanta Regional baseball tournament. This was not my usual type of trip in any way, but my teenage son wanted to attend the games, so I sacrificed. 
In the short time I had for research, I didn't come across any sights or attractions in Atlanta of great interest to us or that we hadn't already done. That left us with a few meals and baseball, baseball, and more baseball.
The tourney was held at Georgia Tech Univ, so I chose the Hampton Inn Ga Tech which is directly across the street in the area of the city known as Midtown; the location was quite handy in a lively part of the city. Lots to do and see with easy, quick access to many of the city's main attractions (if you are there for that). I cannot say enough about this wonderful hotel - one of the best stays I've had at any level. The Hampton chain has certainly come a long way since I first stayed at one twenty years ago.
This location in particular is quite upscale, decorated in a modern style, inside and out appearing totally brand new. Nice standard of bed linens in all white, comforter with duvet, flat screen LG television with expanded cable, two nice upholstered chairs with ottoman, lap desk, high speed wireless internet, nice large desk and comfortable rolling desk chair, in cabinet fridge, single cup coffee maker, and marble bath. The entire hotel was spotless and well kept. All the desk staff were pleasant and most helpful; the housekeeping staff was good as well. The price was the lowest of any Ga Tech area hotel, so that made our stay even nicer.
Nice complimentary breakfast with rotating hot items like cheese omelets, waffles, and biscuits and gravy, in addition to the standard fare of breads, pastries, cereals, yogurts, milk and juices. Coffee and fresh fruit were available continuously throughout the day and night. There is a lobby store with frozen entrees for purchase, and the breakfast room is left stocked with paper goods so that guests may use the microwave to heat foods when desired.
Valet parking on site for only $15 per day (which is a steal nowadays) with on the spot in and out. Valet personnel were excellent and available 24 hours. I had car trouble during the trip, and the valets helped me have my vehicle picked up by a towing service and offered to shuttle my son and me anywhere we needed to go until my Mini repair was completed and the car returned to me.
This trip was not my usual foodie experience, rather we ate at low key places in our general vicinity because of varying baseball game times. Our first stop was the US's biggest drive-in, The Varsity, in business since 1928. It was only a block from our hotel and had long hours, so we ended up eating there a couple of times. It's old school drive-in food, but the fries and onion rings are hand cut daily and fried fresh - absolutely delicious. I felt like I was back in the 1960s. You can even drive up outside and have the car hop bring you the order just like the good ol' days - all a novelty experience for a teenager in this day and age. We can recommend the grilled chicken sandwich, the chicken tenders, the Frosty Orange, the fries, and onion rings. We DON'T recommend the regular cheeseburger, the chili burger or the chocolate milkshake (which was not a milkshake at all but soft serve choc ice cream hard frozen in a drink cup).
Another just off campus eatery we tried was Rocky Mountain Pizza. Fun, funky atmosphere with an eclectic as well as traditional slate of very good pizzas as well as salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, and more. Many, many brands of beer as well - on tap and bottled. We had a buffalo chicken wing pizza on thin crust that was really spicy and good as well as a meatball calzone. A Blue Moon White Belgian for me and Atlanta's only softdrink - Coke - for my son, and we'd had a very satisfactory lunch.
Since my son is a sports fanatic, when he found out Atlanta had an ESPN Zone, dining there was a given. Located in Buckhead, we headed there for lunch. While the food was exactly the same as we'd experienced in DC, the facility itself was not nearly as spectacular. No matter though since for a chain themed restaurant, the food we've tried has been quite good. We enjoyed our BBQ chicken stack and the grilled salmon followed by a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae which was a warm chewy Nestlé Toll House cookie, just baked in a small cast iron skillet then topped with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, caramel sauce, and whipped cream which we shared. The one downer was that they charge $3 to valet park your vehicle in their own lot which is right there at their door where you must walk farther to the valet stand than it would be to get in your car had you parked it yourself. And tip the valet on top of the charge - rip off.
Our other notable meal was Nancy's Chicago Pizza, a little hard to find as they are in a little complex on a side street even though their address is given as on Ponce de Leon Ave. Since there are no Chicago style pies locally, I'm always a sucker for a place that claims to serve the real McCoy. Nancy's was a pretty good facsimile. Their website says they make their own dough fresh daily as well as making their own marinara sauce. We chose the individual Chicken Cacciatore Pie consisting of chicken breast, mushrooms, green peppers and sautéed onions, and an individual super thin crust chicken taco pizza. We enjoyed both pizzas hot and again the next day when we warmed up the leftovers while we were confined to our hotel room while our car was in the shop. (OK, we could have gotten out and about, but after a few late nights, we opted to sleep in and rest up for that night's upcoming championship game.)
On the way home, we stopped for ribs at the renowned Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa AL. Tasty and tender with good, spicy rather than sweet sauce, ribs are the only thing on the menu, accompanied by our choice of beans and potato salad for sides. They also have coleslaw and banana pudding, but we didn't sample those.
So tomorrow we're off to Gainesville for the Super Regional, hoping our team can pull off another victory on the road to Omaha. If we do, I'm sending the husband on that trip!
In case anyone's interested:
Hampton Inn Georgia Tech-Downtown
http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/h...tyhocn=ATLGTHX
Nancy's (Ponce de Leon location)
http://www.nancyspizza.com/
ESPN Zone
http://www.espnzone.com/atlanta/
Rocky Mountain Pizza Company
http://www.rockymountainpizza.com/home.htm
Dreamland BBQ
http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/default.aspx?id=5
High Museum of Art
http://www.high.org/
In the short time I had for research, I didn't come across any sights or attractions in Atlanta of great interest to us or that we hadn't already done. That left us with a few meals and baseball, baseball, and more baseball.The tourney was held at Georgia Tech Univ, so I chose the Hampton Inn Ga Tech which is directly across the street in the area of the city known as Midtown; the location was quite handy in a lively part of the city. Lots to do and see with easy, quick access to many of the city's main attractions (if you are there for that). I cannot say enough about this wonderful hotel - one of the best stays I've had at any level. The Hampton chain has certainly come a long way since I first stayed at one twenty years ago.
This location in particular is quite upscale, decorated in a modern style, inside and out appearing totally brand new. Nice standard of bed linens in all white, comforter with duvet, flat screen LG television with expanded cable, two nice upholstered chairs with ottoman, lap desk, high speed wireless internet, nice large desk and comfortable rolling desk chair, in cabinet fridge, single cup coffee maker, and marble bath. The entire hotel was spotless and well kept. All the desk staff were pleasant and most helpful; the housekeeping staff was good as well. The price was the lowest of any Ga Tech area hotel, so that made our stay even nicer.
Nice complimentary breakfast with rotating hot items like cheese omelets, waffles, and biscuits and gravy, in addition to the standard fare of breads, pastries, cereals, yogurts, milk and juices. Coffee and fresh fruit were available continuously throughout the day and night. There is a lobby store with frozen entrees for purchase, and the breakfast room is left stocked with paper goods so that guests may use the microwave to heat foods when desired.
Valet parking on site for only $15 per day (which is a steal nowadays) with on the spot in and out. Valet personnel were excellent and available 24 hours. I had car trouble during the trip, and the valets helped me have my vehicle picked up by a towing service and offered to shuttle my son and me anywhere we needed to go until my Mini repair was completed and the car returned to me.
This trip was not my usual foodie experience, rather we ate at low key places in our general vicinity because of varying baseball game times. Our first stop was the US's biggest drive-in, The Varsity, in business since 1928. It was only a block from our hotel and had long hours, so we ended up eating there a couple of times. It's old school drive-in food, but the fries and onion rings are hand cut daily and fried fresh - absolutely delicious. I felt like I was back in the 1960s. You can even drive up outside and have the car hop bring you the order just like the good ol' days - all a novelty experience for a teenager in this day and age. We can recommend the grilled chicken sandwich, the chicken tenders, the Frosty Orange, the fries, and onion rings. We DON'T recommend the regular cheeseburger, the chili burger or the chocolate milkshake (which was not a milkshake at all but soft serve choc ice cream hard frozen in a drink cup).
Another just off campus eatery we tried was Rocky Mountain Pizza. Fun, funky atmosphere with an eclectic as well as traditional slate of very good pizzas as well as salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, and more. Many, many brands of beer as well - on tap and bottled. We had a buffalo chicken wing pizza on thin crust that was really spicy and good as well as a meatball calzone. A Blue Moon White Belgian for me and Atlanta's only softdrink - Coke - for my son, and we'd had a very satisfactory lunch.
Since my son is a sports fanatic, when he found out Atlanta had an ESPN Zone, dining there was a given. Located in Buckhead, we headed there for lunch. While the food was exactly the same as we'd experienced in DC, the facility itself was not nearly as spectacular. No matter though since for a chain themed restaurant, the food we've tried has been quite good. We enjoyed our BBQ chicken stack and the grilled salmon followed by a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae which was a warm chewy Nestlé Toll House cookie, just baked in a small cast iron skillet then topped with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, caramel sauce, and whipped cream which we shared. The one downer was that they charge $3 to valet park your vehicle in their own lot which is right there at their door where you must walk farther to the valet stand than it would be to get in your car had you parked it yourself. And tip the valet on top of the charge - rip off.
Our other notable meal was Nancy's Chicago Pizza, a little hard to find as they are in a little complex on a side street even though their address is given as on Ponce de Leon Ave. Since there are no Chicago style pies locally, I'm always a sucker for a place that claims to serve the real McCoy. Nancy's was a pretty good facsimile. Their website says they make their own dough fresh daily as well as making their own marinara sauce. We chose the individual Chicken Cacciatore Pie consisting of chicken breast, mushrooms, green peppers and sautéed onions, and an individual super thin crust chicken taco pizza. We enjoyed both pizzas hot and again the next day when we warmed up the leftovers while we were confined to our hotel room while our car was in the shop. (OK, we could have gotten out and about, but after a few late nights, we opted to sleep in and rest up for that night's upcoming championship game.)
On the way home, we stopped for ribs at the renowned Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa AL. Tasty and tender with good, spicy rather than sweet sauce, ribs are the only thing on the menu, accompanied by our choice of beans and potato salad for sides. They also have coleslaw and banana pudding, but we didn't sample those.
So tomorrow we're off to Gainesville for the Super Regional, hoping our team can pull off another victory on the road to Omaha. If we do, I'm sending the husband on that trip!
In case anyone's interested:
Hampton Inn Georgia Tech-Downtown
http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/h...tyhocn=ATLGTHX
Nancy's (Ponce de Leon location)
http://www.nancyspizza.com/
ESPN Zone
http://www.espnzone.com/atlanta/
Rocky Mountain Pizza Company
http://www.rockymountainpizza.com/home.htm
Dreamland BBQ
http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/default.aspx?id=5
High Museum of Art
http://www.high.org/
Jun 4th, 2009, 06:42 PM
#3
Nipsey Russell got his start at the Varsity as a carhop. He had a talent for making folks laugh 
Nice trip report, crepes. I always wondered about that Hampton Inn - if it were on the "wrong" side of the expressway. Glad to know you liked it so much.
FYI for others coming to the Midtown area of Atlanta. The Kimpton group of hotels has just opened the Hotel Palomar.
Good luck in Gainesville!
Nice trip report, crepes. I always wondered about that Hampton Inn - if it were on the "wrong" side of the expressway. Glad to know you liked it so much.
FYI for others coming to the Midtown area of Atlanta. The Kimpton group of hotels has just opened the Hotel Palomar.
Good luck in Gainesville!
Jun 5th, 2009, 05:19 AM
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Very interesting about Nipsey Russell. I almost booked the Palomar but decided I didn't want to spend that much. It looked uber nice on the website though. I really fell in love with this part of town.
Jun 5th, 2009, 07:15 AM
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Nipsey Russell worked at the Varsity??!! I've never heard that before.
It's definitely about the experience, not the food. I always tell people to stick with the onion rings and the Frosty Orange. You can't beat those onion rings, yum.
It's definitely about the experience, not the food. I always tell people to stick with the onion rings and the Frosty Orange. You can't beat those onion rings, yum.
