Once the conference began, we didn’t have much time to see sights, but we did have time to eat. On Thursday evening, we drove to Matthew’s Cafeteria in Tucker, Georgia, a place I discovered on roadfood.com.
The place was packed with locals, which is always a good sign. No effort had been made to decorate the place — it was just two spartan dining areas with simple tables and chairs.
They have a limited menu, which changes every night, but it specializes in Southern-style food.
I went with mushroom steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, a cornbread muffin, peach cobbler and lemonade. All of it was amazing, particularly the cornbread.
On Friday morning, I was in the mood for something other than a fast food breakfast. I didn’t see anything interesting on the Internet, so I just plotted a new route from my hotel to the conference center and kept my eyes open. I hadn’t gone far before I spotted a tiny place in a strip mall, called Georgia French Bakery.
I was the only customer. There wasn’t a huge selection of pastries, but I bought a cherry turnover and a blueberry scone. Both were good. Neither were great. I noticed they had a lunch menu, so I suggested to my coworker that we try it again at lunch because …
- it wasn’t the bland, over-priced food available at the conference center.
- it wasn’t from a local fast food restaurant.
- it was far enough away from the conference center that it wouldn’t be packed with attendees who didn’t want either of the above options.
There were a lot of customers this time. The very few tables were occupied, so we sat on stools by a narrow counter along the front windows.
I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich (of course). The owner, who spoke with a decided French accent and spoke to several customers in French, asked me what kind of bread I wanted. He pointed to the French bread, naturally, so that’s what I went with. The sandwich was very good (one of the best I’ve ever had), and the bread was awesome.
I went back to the counter and ordered a slice of bread pudding. The guy asked me if I wanted chocolate or blueberry. I asked him which was best, and he said chocolate, so that’s what I got. He was getting to know me by this point, so when he asked me if I wanted it cold or heated up, he immediately smiled and said “I like it both ways.” I went with cold.
I looked the place up on the Internet later and discovered that it had tons of five-star reviews from locals. I’m not surprised.