Well I finally made it Anns Snack place. I had a business call in Atlanta, and was driving down Memorial Dr. It was about 1100 AM and I remembered that is when she opens. As I pass there were not that many cars. Ideal time to go in and try that World Famous Ghetto Burger with all the trimmings.
She is a crusty old bird and you can tell she don't take no shit off of anybody. I dont think she has ever been robbed in all her years there, as she would probably shoot and kill the perp if they had the balls to try it.
Tried to call Whinerguy to see if he could maybe meet me for a burger but seems he was too busy worrying about fats and not making it to the golf outing. Or maybe he was drunk , who knows.
So I walk in and Miss Ann directs me to a stool by pointing. I quickly sit down. What will you have ?
I will take the World Famous Ghetto Burger plate.
By the way Miss Ann am I in the ghetto ?
She looks at me hard and says just watch your
back Jack.
I asked her if she had seen Whinerguy around and she said she had no time for such mess. And if he came and whined he would get what was coming to him to his lardass.
It takes quite a while to get the burger. It is cooked right in front of me on the griddle that's been there for 100 yrs. The fries are delivered first with a coke and ketchup and napkins. I am being served by the Mother God of Burgers.
The fries aint all that but I eat some to pass the time.
So after about 20 minutes here comes the burger. This thing is a monster. I swear it was almost as big and Bobbybluechips head.
Two patties oozing with the kind of cheese that makes TerryRay proud. I got the burger all the way and it was like two storys high.
There is a reason a knife and fork is provided. The burger is cut in half and I lift it and attempt to take a bite. The lettuce and tomatoes fall onto my boots.
Holy Shit. What now. I just dropped vegtables onto Miss Anns floor under the counter. I get a look from the black guy sitting next to me, but I think he could see I may be packing so he dont say anything,
So I then proceed to get my my knife and fork and cut into this beast. I am not sure what the seasoning is but that burger is good. :00hour
Must have taken me another 20 minutes to down all of the burger and most everything else. By then the lunch crowd was gathering outside. If you attempt to enter before there is a empty counter seat you pretty much are chewed up by Miss Ann.
I finished and paid and told her I had waited a long time to meet her and it was worth it. It was alot of food.
Miss Ann don't smile much but as she charged me $10.28 for my meal I could tell her time was just about done.
Too many years of watching the Price is Right on the small TV where she sat eating out of a paper plate. Too many years of getting up early to get ready for the busy day. Too many years of standing on her feet for hours on end.
It doesn't look to me like the property will be all that valuable but she has said she has had good offers. It is a bad neighborhood and who would want anything there ? Maybe she owns more than just that storefront burger place.
It was worth stopping in before she closed.
A Atlanta Icon. Alot of famous people have passed thru them doors. Some probably sat on the same stool where I had been.
It reminded me of the time when I was working for a security company and was checking alarm problems in the MLK center. The person taking me around told me in the storage room where we were that there was MLK's leather office chair. They went on to another room and I took the liberty of sitting in that chair where Martin Luther King had sat. I figured maybe some osmosis would occur and I would find inner peace and non violence in my future years.
Or the time when I sold Security Gates and fence to Evander Holyfields huge house in Fayetteville and got to sit on the toilet in the master bedroom as I walked around looking for the GC.
I had the same feeling sitting on Miss Anns counter stool.
She will be missed.
.........................................................................
News update
Ann Price, known to her customers and the world at large as ?Miss Ann,? told Buzz on Monday that she?s ready to sell after 37 years of hand-shaping patties for hungry customers.
?You got a buyer?? she shot into the phone.
Miss Ann won?t be locking the doors just yet. She plans to talk with a real estate agent in a couple weeks, and doesn?t yet know the price, but wants it on the market at the end of the month. It?s not clear if the restaurant will remain open once it?s out of Miss Ann?s hands.
?I don?t care what they do with it,? Miss Ann said of the building at 1615 Memorial Drive. ?Once they pay me for it, they can do whatever the want with it.?
The "World Famous Ghetto Burger" at Ann's Snack Bar in Kirkwood.
That news will be hard to swallow for regulars who got comfortable on the bar stools at Ann?s. It was already a local institution when its ?World Famous Ghetto Burger,? was named the best burger in America in a Wall Street Journal story two years ago. The crowds have been flowing even steadier since then.
So why now? ?I?m tired. Isn?t that a good enough reason??
What next? ?Sleep. I?m planning to sleep when I leave here.?
Miss Ann did say she?ll stay in Atlanta, but didn?t elaborate: ?I can?t talk now. I?ve got customers.?
...........................................................................