For my first food blog, I didn’t want to start anywhere but The Nook on Piedmont Park.
Located adjacent to Midtown’s massive park, The Nook is a bucket list-type of restaurant for any local who has never paid a visit. They have one of my favorite patios in town (to see what I’m talking about, click here to take a look), tucked under large trees that provide just enough shade to make any afternoon or evening spectacular.
And then there’s the food.
The Nook’s menu has something for everyone. Piedmont Park’s kickball and softball teams frequent The Nook after games because of their large beer selection and tasty appetizers — the hummus, calamari and chicken wings have all gotten rave reviews from teammates of mine.
Thursday night, I ordered the award-winning Southern Comfort burger. I know the name comes from the Southern Comfort sauce the beef is slathered in, but it might as well get it’s namesake from being one of those “comfort foods.”
If you order a burger from The Nook, prepare to get messy — and that’s not a bad thing. The SoCo burger is too packed with flavor to be contained, and because I’ve sampled various other burgers on the menu, I came prepared.
The SoCo burger won Best Contemporary Burger at the Battle of the Burgers 2011, and I knew why as soon as I took the first bite. The bun. The cheddar cheese. The beef, glazed perfectly with barbecue sauce. The bacon macaroni and cheese, fried and packed inside the burger.
Yes, fried bacon mac & cheese. It’s a fantastic decision.
Since I’d never tried the onion rings, I ordered them to go with my burger. When my meal was delivered to our table, I was actually a little intimidated by the size of each ring. It looked like there was an entire onion inside of each of them, and there were almost 10 of them on my plate!
The Southern Comfort stuffed hamburger, and those delectable onion rings I mentioned
When I bit into the first onion ring, I was met with another surprise — there was only one moderately-sized ring inside each fried circle, but the thickness of each was due to the delicious batter. After you get past the crispy shell, the inside of the batter resembles a dumpling. Each bite provides nearly an equal ratio of crispy and chewy, met in the middle by a delicious onion.
It was as good as dinner gets. And did I mention the view?
My girlfriend ordered the Fish and Tots, and if you’re not in the mood for a burger, their fried cod was delectable. And while I’ve loaded you up with options for your next trip to The Nook, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one more menu item:
Totchos.
Their menu says they’re world-famous, and I don’t doubt that. Picture nachos, but take the chips off the plate. Replace them with tater tots, and you have totchos. The flavor is mouth-watering, and they have five different dishes you can try. They come in two sizes — the $5 snack-size (enough to feed one) or the $8 regular-size (enough to feed two), or you could combine all five types of totchos and go for the $30 MACHO Totcho. But if you’re going that route, bring a small army.
We had a great experience (as always) at The Nook, which is one of my “happy places.” I don’t expect all of my food reviews to be as perfect, and if I eat somewhere that isn’t satisfactory, I’ll be sure to mention it.
But I don’t have bad experiences at The Nook. I don’t know many people that do.
If you’ve never been, you have to visit The Nook.
Visit their website: The Nook Atlanta
