Cheap Eats - Stand-up fry job

Burgers and cobbler surprise treasures at Atlanta’s Best Chicken & Fish

On your way up Ponce, past Mary Mac’s Tea Room, you may have spied a stand-up-and-eat hole-in-the-wall called Atlanta’s Best Chicken & Fish. Sure, the sign says Atlanta’s Best Chicken and Fish, and the establishment stakes its claim as Midtown’s only fish joint. No argument there. But since we’re being literal as far as names go, why not call it Atlanta’s Best Chicken & Fish & Burgers & Peach Cobbler? If you ask me, this is a clear case of false advertising. While I wouldn’t say that this dive of a fryer joint serves the best chicken and fish to be had in Atlanta, I would say that — just two short weeks after our Best of Atlanta issue — it looks as though we have a serious contender for Atlanta’s best burger.
Pregnant women and other protein deficient and carnivorous types careening through drive-thrus in search of the perfect burger, look no further.
Not only do I rarely eat meat, I am also known to be a particularly unhurried eater. So, we have Altanta’s Slowest Semi-Vegetarian Eater visiting Atlanta’s Best Chicken & Fish quick-serve who orders, you guessed it, Atlanta’s Best Burger ($6.50) — a dining paradox, no doubt. Although I was at first intimidated by the double-decker piled with Swiss cheese, grilled onions, bacon and mushrooms, I not only finished that whopper of a burger, I devoured it.
The meat was juicy and gray-pink in the center, the bun was disintegrating into greasy grilled patches in my hands, the bacon had a peppery, smoked flavor and a crisp texture. The cheese, a thin layer atop each hamburger patty, didn’t overwhelm the onion/mushroom combination and the perfect proportion of onions (not onion overkill) didn’t force people to cower in a far corner of the elevator when I returned to work, either. And the fries were delicious. Lightly dusted in cayenne and plenty salty, they accompany anything and everything on the menu.
One evening I ordered the Chicken and Fish Feast ($5.00): 6 wing pieces, 2 pieces Whiting filet and plenty for two. The chicken wings and mini drum sticks, which consisted mostly of dark meat, held our attention longer than the fried Whiting filet, which tasted like anonymous fried white fish. The chicken was floured in something slightly tangy and spicy before frying, whereas the fish seemed as though it had been dropped into the fryer basket straight from the deli case. Or the freezer, as it may have been.
I also ordered a garden salad with my meal ($2.50). Not particularly fresh, it was topped with thickly grated cheddar. As a roughage counterpart to my meal of deep-fried fish and chicken, it didn’t do much to balance out the saturated fat quotient.
And since I’d already indulged myself, why not, what the hell? I went in for the peach cobbler ($2.25). If you visit Atlanta’s Best Chicken & Fish for no other reason, go for the peach cobbler. It’s not only homemade, it’s authentic, canned peaches and all. The cobbler is served warm, doused in heavy syrup, with strips of peaches that melt in your mouth and a fluffy puff pastry. There is nothing pretty or delicate about the presentation of the peach cobbler, which is the kind of thing you could bring to a church potluck and pass off as your own. But then you would be Atlanta’s Biggest Liar.