2018 Road Trip - Day 12

Saturday 09.15.18 - All Day in Atlanta, Georgia

Whoever said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, must have eaten at the Atlanta Breakfast Club. I went in not knowing exactly what we wanted to eat, but then the menu grabbed me by the collar & told me I was going to have the breakfast tacos. It was a delightfully bizarre dish. They cook 3 flour tortillas in a French toast batter, stuff them with scrambled eggs & smoked bacon, then drizzle syrup over them. What!? Seriously, what mad scientist thought of this tasty concept? Simply delicious!!!

breakfast tacos
French toast battered flour tortillas, smoked bacon, scrambled eggs & house syrup

oh ya!

Sadly, my wife did not share my enthusiasm. After she finished her fried green tomato BLT, she said, " I liked that the fried green tomatoes were thick sliced, but the biscuits fell apart when trying to eat them. The avocado and corn spread was my favorite part, with the corn crunchy and sweet.  It was good but I wouldn't order it again."

fried green tomato BLT
bacon, avocado puree, local greens, sweet corn “caviar” on 2 biscuits

close-up BLT

With full bellies we jumped into the truck, ready to experience the grandeur of the Georgia Aquarium. It wasn't until the last few years that I began to look forward to going to aquariums. I used to think that it was rather boring, but I have since changed my mind. This was a fascinating visit to a top notch facility. I was so enamored, that I took over 100 photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

It would be funny to say that after that adventure, we went to eat some seafood, but no instead we went for pizza & wings at Max's Coal Oven Pizzeria. We shared a pizza and an order of outstanding lemon & herb wings. Fried, tender, juicy and we loved the seasoning. As for the pizza, we had them add pepperoni to their Bianca specialty pizza. I thought it was awesome that they use a coal fired oven. It's nice how there were charred bubbles of dough. It reminded me a lot of 5 Ate Cafe back home. There was a perfect amount of cheese and the pepperoni was the tasty small thin discs.

coal fired oven

Red Chili Flakes, Oregano, Salt, Pepper, & Parmesan Cheese

Lemon & Herb Chicken Wings
Parmesan, Cracked Black Pepper, Buttermilk Ranch

Specialty Pizza, Bianca + Pepperoni
Ricotta, Fresh Mozzarella, Parmesan, Confit Garlic, Chili Flakes, Basil

dough bubble

A slice of Heaven

My wife & I have 2 rules for when we travel:

1. Never stay overnight anyplace that is less than what we live in.
2. Never eat someplace that we can eat at home. 

Now for our next stop, we broke rule #2. We happened to walk past Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream. Ice cream sounded awesome on a hot Atlanta day. So we went in to share a small cup.

I scream, You scream, We all scream for Ice Cream

Next we walked over to The World of Coca-Cola. We had booked a VIP Tour, which was a joke. What it turned out to be was a guided tour, where we were mixed in among all of general admission. It was extremely crowded & difficult to get quality photos. It may have been a little of our fault for the day of the week & time of year. There was just too many people, especially loud obnoxious kids. It was so bad, that we spoke to management & left early. To there credit, they understood our complaints, so they gave us a full refund. Before we left, I was able to take over 60 pics. Here are a few of my favorites:

After that debacle, we took off to see another of Shelly's Roadside America sites. This time it was the replica White House. Dream project of a builder, three-quarters the size of the one in Washington. Contains an Oval Office and Lincoln bedroom. Built in the early 2000s, but was sold in a foreclosure in 2011. Now it's a private home.

I found an article that sheds more light on it's history.

We arrived back at the hotel, too tired to go back out for dinner, so we ordered room service.  They set up a table complete with white linen tablecloth, ice waters, and a small plant for ambiance.

I had their signature burger with a side of sriracha mayo & honey mustard. You can tell this was a hand formed patty, as it fell apart. Well seasoned, juicy, and cooked to order medium well.  I liked the brioche bun, grilled and fluffy. The fries were good, but I should have requested them twice fried as I prefer crispy fries.

Signature Beef Burger
1/2 lb angus beef, bibb lettuce, tomato, bacon jam, herb aioli, cheddar, brioche bread

Shelly had the turkey club with house made chips.  This club was stacked with meat, a lot more meat to bread. The sriracha mayo added a good tang to the sandwich, the bacon was perfectly crispy, and the house made chips were awesome. Definitely a great room service option.

Turkey Club
roasted turkey, applewood smoked bacon, bibb lettuce, sriracha mayo, sourdough bread

Hey yo, can you come get this stuff?

Oh man, I'm stuffed! It's time to catch some shut eye, 'cause tomorrow we are going zombie huntin'. Well really, checking out filming sites from one the best shows on TV, The Walking Dead!