January 16, 2004 12:12 PM | By Adam Roberts | 6 Comments

Friday Morning's Southern Breakfast Spectacular: The Silver Skillet

As some of you may already know, like Batman and Bruce Wayne, I--the Amateur Gourmet--have an alter-ego: Adam the Law Student. This dichotomy rounds out my character to such a degree that Warner Brothers has already purchased the rights to my life story, Tim Burton to direct.

One of the sadder aspects of my life as a law student is the mandate that I take certain "required" classes. One of these classes is a dry, dusty examination of agencies and partnerships called "Business Associations." The fact that this class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12 pm renders it slightly better than tolerable. The fact that there's also a Friday morning session that meets at 8:45 am--yes, 8:45 am--renders this class an act of sadism.

Have you ever been up at 8:45 am? I imagine not. Clearly, this ungodly hour is reserved for lunatics and politicians to shuffle back and forth before the rest of the world awakes. I eyed the neighboring cars suspiciously: who are these people? Why are they up so early? Regis isn't even on yet!

Class today was moderately interesting. I actually like my teacher, he's an old world business lawyer type: he wears a suit and tie every day to class and he wears his glasses on the bridge of his nose to create a wisened elder effect. Today's topic was the fiduciary responsibilities of agents to their principals. I spent most of my time thinking about breakfast.

Which is why, when class was over, I hopped in my car, turned up the radio (well, a mix I made with "Raspberry Beret" featured prominently), and pedaled my way over to "The Silver Skillet"--an establishment voted, according to their sign out front, "Best Breakfast in Atlanta."

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Full disclosure: I have been to the Silver Skillet before. Last time was with my roommate who, while she enjoyed it, found the political climate a bit disconcerting.

"Notice the big American flag on the wall," she said.

"That doesn't mean anything," I said.

But at the cash register she pointed out the large streams of conservative political cartoons adorning the walls.

"How do you know they're conservative?"

This was a fruitless question. The large majority of snippets address the endlessly merry topic of Bill Clinton and his sexual proclitivies. "I'm With Stupid" reads an image on Clinton's shirt, with an arrow pointing down to his crotch.

"So what?" I sighed. "You can like the food and not like the politics."

Today I decided to do just that. After perusing the menu for a few minutes,

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I decided on a safe choice: cheese omelet (I spell checked that and that's how my computer spells it, though I feel there should be more ls and ts), grits and biscuits. The waitress had a lot of character. One part Flo from "Alice" and one part Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies."

"Arright," she said, bringing the ticket to the kitchen.

While waiting for my food, I snapped a picture of the counter which, like the waitress, also had a lot of character:

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I then, to kill time, whipped out my copy of this week's New Yorker. Reading The New Yorker at The Silver Skillet might be likened to reading The Communist Manifesto at Joe McCarthy's dinner table: it raised many an eyebrow.

"You have a lot of eyebrows," I told the man sitting next to me.

Finally, the food arrived.

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Let me be honest and tell you that the omelet / omellette / omelllllettttte wasn't very good. The eggs had no flavor, it was dry and comparable to any other Diner omelet you've ever had except less tasty. The grits, on the other hand, were good. I have no frame of reference for grits. Culturally, I am to grits what Balkie from "Perfect Strangers" is to Lomain. "Cousins?" No, Balkie, no.

Alas, we come to the biscuits. Allow me to wax lyrical on the biscuits. These are the best biscuits I have ever had. They are perfect. Light, fluffy, buttery, flaky: these biscuits melt in your mouth and stay there in your dreams. These biscuits are what biscuits are all about. I am a former biscuit neanderthal, declaring The Flying Biscuit's biscuits the best biscuits in Atlanta. (Say that ten times fast). Those, however, are biscuit novelties: weird saucerlike structures that taste good with apple butter and look good in dirty photographs. The Silver Skillet biscuits, on the other hand, are the real deal. Perfect, they are. So good, in fact, they even made the omelet taste good.

Breakfast digested, I rose to pay. Near the door are two trophy cases with photographs of the many celebrities who have dined at The Silver Skillet. John Lithgow (who filmed a TV movie there) and Katy Couric (who had her colonoscopy there) are just some of the many who have graced The Silver Skillet's tables. What caught my eye, though, was an image that sums up The Silver Skillet better than I can in words. Suffice it to say, if you see a professional wrestler on a trophy case near the door of your next breakfast haunt, order the biscuits. They're the best.

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6 Comments

You're making me really miss the Silver Skillet.

Have you been to Kool Korners nearby? Best damn Cuban sandwich I've had outside of Miami.

By the way, you gonna have trackbacks? I find myself linking to you so often that I feel guilty for not sending you a ping.

Did you know that the Silver Skillet recently closed?

Also, I wish you were still here so you would continue to blog about the ATL.

Maybe I will have to pick up your slack...

Anne-Caroline

Did you know that the Silver Skillet recently closed?

Also, I wish you were still here so you would continue to blog about the ATL.

Maybe I will have to pick up your slack...

Anne-Caroline

The Silver Skillet didn't close. Apparently another restaurant with a similar name did, but they're still open.

For the previous post...i believe your statement is in reference to the Southern Skillet. This is apparently a rumor that has perpetuated since a developer bought the property (strip mall) where the skillet resides. The SOUTHERN SKILLET in Roswell however is not closing.

The Southern Skillet in Roswell is in it's 28th year of business and remains in operation.

FYI, there is also a new location in Chamblee.

To previous posters....i think ur thinking of the Silver GRILL on Monroe Dr., which was closed for a period of time and recent re-opened under new mgmt. HOWEVER, i hear from someone who is a server there, that the Silver Grill's biscuits are FROZEN, and not made from scratch....enuf sed.

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