Sometimes it feels like we are eating our way across the Unites States. Honestly, it’s a great way to get an idea of the people of a region, but it is hard on the waist line.
Atlanta is home to the iconic Varsity, an 83-year-old establishment that is still the world’s largest fast food drive-in. Best-known for their chili cheese dogs, fruit pies and “Frosted Orange” (an orange slushy), most of their menu is made fresh with natural ingredients each day.
Their parking lot is enormous and they still offer “car side service”. But, when I have to eat in my car, I want to keep the vehicle rolling down the highway. So when we can, we go in and sit down. The Varsity, at lunch time and on game days can be absolutely packed, so the restaurant has an extremely long counter with a dozen or more registers, each with a cashier waiting to yell “ ”What’ll ya have?”
Originated by frazzled cashiers as a way to keep the lines moving, the blunt and abbreviated greeting caught on with both staff and public and eventually became the restaurant’s unofficial slogan. Today “What’ll ya have?” appears on takeout boxes and cups and is the required greeting to all customers.
There are many places to sit and enjoy your food – one room featured modern school desks facing a large flat screen TV classroom-style, others feature comfortable booths and there are standing counters as well. The downtown location can feed a small army during a lunch rush, so we didn’t have a problem finding a booth. We sat overlooking the drive-in watching the waiters rush to and from the cars in the lot.
On this trip, we had to try some of their meat items (last time we visited we were vegetarians and only sampled the Frosted Orange). This time we got a variety – chili burger, chili dog, coleslaw dog and onion rings. We enjoyed the food but have to warn you that it is a tad greasy!
Definitely worth an indulgence at least once while you’re in Atlanta, but just include a workout and maybe an EKG just to make sure nothing went wrong!
looks like they are located at a busy intersection too.k