Cheap Eats - Pizza plus

Adam’s Garden is full of good-time grub

We forget that Atlanta really is a college town. With thousands converging on the city every semester, plenty of places pop up to serve that clientele. Adam’s Garden-of-Eatin’ feels like something from Chapel Hill or Athens, with its beer-can-lined walls, “Simpsons” airbrushed bathroom doors, cheeky signs and memorabilia. Adam’s is a warm, friendly place with good-time grub. Touting its pizza, pasta, subs and salads, the restaurant takes tired selections and makes them fun again.

Service: You won’t find surly service here. I walked in and was immediately greeted with a smile, seated, given an explanation of the menu, given promotional items (a cutesy pizza magnet with phone number for the fridge) and small-talked at my table. No college-age slackers to be found. Also, no delivery. But you can call in and pick up your order.

What we ate: John’s Favorite Club ($6.75) is a 10-inch sub stacked with black forest ham, oven-roasted turkey breast, sugar-cured bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo and deli mustard. The Italian hoagie roll can be toasted or press grilled. The sandwich is plenty big and certainly answers the call of the “Come Hungry” plastered across the menu. But it shrinks in comparison to the Rollie.

Described as “pizza in a roll,” it sounds like you’re simply going to get a stromboli. But the Adam’s Rollie is a force to be reckoned with. The Adam’s House Rollie ($6.50) contains pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, large chunks of onions and green peppers and plenty of mozzarella wrapped in parmesan-encrusted pizza dough, measured longer than my forearm and overlapped both edges of the plate. Go ahead and get the take-out box ready. A more risque choice would be the Hog in a Thong ($6.50), a quarter pound all-beef hotdog, spicy deli mustard and mozzarella wrapped in pizza dough.

For $10 on Sundays you can get the brunch which includes a laundry list of things not normally found on a brunch menu: eggs Italiano, six-layer shepherd’s pie, grilled salmon, oven roasted pork loin, chili mac penne and pizza by-the-slice.

Pizzas: Create your own pizza from standard and exotic gourmet toppings including gyro meat, curry chicken, corn, carrots or sweet peas. I don’t know if the Southern Bar-B-Que with barbecue sauce replacing tomato sauce, beef brisquette, dill pickle slices, coleslaw and mozzarella really gets me hungry, but it sure is creative. The price of specialty pizzas starts climbing when you start piling on the gourmet items. For example, the Cinco de Mayo includes salsa and refried beans, seasoned ground beef, onions, jalapenos, corn, cheddar cheese and extra mozzarella. You’ll pay $15.75 for a small and up to $24.75 for an XXL. But a slice of pizza starts at $2.50 (add 75 cents for standard toppings, $1.50 for gourmet). Gooey dessert pizzas include the Hunk O’ Burnin’ Love (peanut butter, fried bananas and chocolate), s’more, and peanut butter and jelly ($9).??