If you know me, you probably would know that I love food. Being Latin, I grew up surrounded by food and drinks. Since I’ve been in Atlanta, the struggle has been real between eating at home or going out. I have tried to find a balance, but hey, Atlanta has some great places to sit down and feast on your favorite dishes. This week, I am not going to tell you which are the top-rated restaurants in the city and how they compare; instead I am going to tell you what my personal go-to places are for food.
There are a few breakfast places in Atlanta that always blow my mind. When I moved here four years ago, my financial advisor was in town and said “Oh my God, Toby, we need to go to my favorite place in town — it’s a neighborhood diner/restaurant right in Inman Park.” She was referring to Folk Art.
Bitch, when I tell you I became obsessed with this establishment, I’m not joking! Every visitor (family, friends, everyone) I had in town I would take to Folk Art. This place has charm and southern hospitality out the ass, and ever since it got national recognition on the popular Food Network show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” it’s been hard to go there without a line wrapped around the block. But! If you get a chance to go there, my absolute favorite dish is the Folk Southern Fried — Oh. My. God. It comes with the most amazing homemade biscuits, which are moist and crumble in your mouth and are served with friend chicken, a fried egg and some sickening sausage gravy. Just thinking about this dish has me salivating.
But if you’re not into fried chicken in the morning, there are plenty of other options — just make sure you taste the biscuits. If you get the chance to go early and get a table during brunch and you like seafood, hands down their lobster roll is totes exquisite. I really can’t find words to describe how immaculate this roll is — try and you’ll understand what I mean.
Now, let me tell you about one other thing I love about Atlanta. The city has a lot of neighborhoods and neighborhood bars where the locals go to mingle. That place for me is local gay sports bar Woofs on Piedmont. I literally call it my Cheers. I walk in and the whole staff greats me with a happy face, basically no one is a stranger and if you’re a new face I most likely will say hello and introduce you to a few folks. Either way, everyone there knows I love wings, and I know there are some amazing places in Atlanta for wings, but let me tell you Woofs wings are fucking delicious.
Almost every Sunday I go in with some close friends and drink beer and eat wings. They always have the same bartenders that day — John Clayton and Nic. I always sit with Nic because he’s a good friend, he knows I’ll get either a beer or a vodka soda then order 10 lemon pepper or hot wings (or a mix of the both). I kid you not, these wings are juicy, delicious and mouth-watering. I get sad when I’m on my last one — I suck those bones dry!
If you haven’t checked them out, go on Wednesdays when its 75 cent wings. Just know that people come just to eat wings, and sometimes it’s so busy you have to eat them standing up. Either way, enjoy eating up and if you see me at Woofs, don’t be shy — say “hiiieee”! Or if you go, tell the staff that Toby sent you in to try their scrumptious wings.