Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the restaurant's signature request: “What'll
ya have?” Over the years, the Varsity has
trained its customers to respond with its
own unique lingo: a “PC” is a chocolate
milk; an “FO” is a creamy frosted orange
drink (sublime); “walk a dog” is a hot dog to
go; “glorified steak” is a hamburger with
lettuce, mayonnaise, and tomato; “rings”
are onion rings; “strings” are french fries;
“bag of rags” is potato chips; and on and on
(for newbies, the menu prints translations).
Be ready by the time you reach the front of
the line, because they take those orders at
lightning speed.
Hot dogs are the Varsity's top-selling
menu item, and among the many varia-
tions, chili dogs win out (the Varsity claims
it serves 2 miles of hot dogs and 300 gal-
lons of chili a day), although slaw dogs—a
surprisingly satisfying combo—run a close
second. You'll certainly know you're in the
South when you see items like barbecued
pork, pimiento cheese sandwiches, dev-
iled-egg sandwiches, and a hypercaloric
fried peach pie listed on the menu boards
over the counter.
The Varsity is still a fast-food restau-
rant: The dining areas are strictly bare-
bones, with glaring lighting and blaring TV
sets on the walls; the food is intensely fla-
vored but greasy. But eaten in that tail-
gate-party atmosphere, it's quite a trip; it
may be the best place for people-watching
in all Atlanta. You can't really say you've
been to Hot Lanta without making a stop
at the Varsity—order a “Sally Rand in the
Garden” and an FO, and surrender to the
experience.
61 North Ave. (
&
404/881-1706;
www.
thevarsity.com).
(
Atlanta International (12 miles/20km).
L
$$$ The Georgian Terrace Hotel,
659 Peachtree St. (
&
800/651-2316
or
404/897-1991;www.thegeorgianterrace.
com). $$
Hotel Indigo,
683 Peachtree St.
(
&
404/874-9200;
www.hotelindigo.com).
Diners & Drive-Ins
261
Pink's Hot Dogs
Wieners of the Stars
Hollywood, California
Some days, all the glamour in Hollywood
can't compete with the pleasure of walk-
ing up to the counter at this iconic hot-dog
stand and ordering a sublime chili dog.
Of course, being in Hollywood, Pink's
isn't any old hot-dog stand; it has its own
idiosyncratic cachet. Name another hot-
dog stand with its own valet, who darts
around parking the stream of Rolls-Royces
and Mercedes that pull up regularly. And
because it's open into the wee hours,
Pink's attracts a colorful late-night crowd
(half-hour-wait lines usually spill out the
door even at midnight). It has been here at
the corner of La Brea and Melrose since
1939, when the late Paul and Betty Pink
began selling 10¢ wieners from their sec-
ondhand hot-dog cart in what was then
practically the country. Run nowadays by
three of their grown children, the current
building—a one-story white shack topped
with a clutter of mismatched signs—isn't a
whole lot fancier (it's still a cheap meal,
too), though the area has become thickly
developed. Pink's has worked its way deep
into movie-land history over all those
years: Urban legend claims that Bruce Wil-
lis proposed to Demi Moore in the parking
lot of Pink's, and here the maverick actor/
director Orson Welles set a record by
downing 18 Pink's links at one go.
