Cheap Eats: Googie Burger (1)

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside the enigma that is downtown

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Yes, Googie Burger. It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a visitor-centric corner of the enigma that is downtown Atlanta. There’s no parking lot. No valet. The nearest MARTA stop is half a mile away. There are plenty of office workers nearby during the work week, but one regular I talked to offered up his assessment: “I love their burgers, but I have no idea how they’ve stayed open — hardly anyone, not even my co-workers, seems to know they’re here.”

It is a mystery, isn’t it? That a burger joint with a kooky name and a background in fine dining and convention concessions is sitting in the middle of a park in one of the most automobile-driven cities in the country. It’s maybe even more of a mystery that the food can (sometimes) be as good as it is, nestled in the Tourististan that is the golden triangle of the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Studio Tour, and the World of Coca-Cola. But Googie Burger is here. And, while consistency is an issue, Googie Burger often makes food far above what you’d expect from what is essentially the official Centennial Olympic Park concession stand.

Read the full story by Brad Kaplan here.