![]() ![]() The dish remains a best seller to this day. At Eats, chicken is coated in dry rub and baked in the oven to the point of near charring. Traditionally, jerk chicken entails coating the bird in seasonings and spices and cooking it slowly on the grill, leaving it imbued with smoky flavor. Hatcher says the restaurant’s popular jerk chicken was a surprise hit when it went up on the menu all those years ago. There used to be a pasta station where people could build their own bowls, but it was scrapped during the pandemic. Kerns closed Tortillas in 2003, but still owns the Local just east of Eats on Ponce.Ītlanta Meat and Threes to Fill Your Plate Full of Southern ComfortĮats is a counter-service restaurant specializing in jerk chicken, Southern vegetables made without animal fats (a nod to vegetarians,) and other comfort foods like chicken lasagna, chicken alfredo, meatloaf, and spaghetti and meatballs. Eventually, Kerns and Hatcher parted ways, with Hatcher taking full ownership of Eats. They opened Eats together in what was a swingers club on Ponce, with Kerns devising the original menu and Hatcher running daily operations. ![]() The concept for Eats sprung out of another Ponce restaurant institution, the burrito joint Tortillas, owned by Charlie Kerns, a childhood friend of Hatcher’s. Prices hover between $10 and $12 a plate. ![]() “As long as I can pay everybody and make a little money, I’m all right with it.” ![]() And people still yell at me, my wife mainly, ‘You need to raise your prices,’” he says. “If I was paying the going rate per square foot to have a lease here, I’d have to double the prices. Owning the building gives him breathing room to operate Eats the way he wants. Hatcher bemoans the developments going up around the restaurant and wishes the city would focus on fixing existing infrastructure first before piling on new developments. That Eats still exists at all on Ponce today comes down to the fact that owner Bob Hatcher ended up purchasing the building in 1998. It remains a restaurant staple in Atlanta serving uncomplicated, affordable food in an atmosphere which can only be described as charmingly old school. But Eats hearkens back to a time when the city had some semblance of local character and wasn’t chock-full of bland mixed-use complexes dotting the landscape. Sometimes the decades-old businesses occupying those buildings are factored into future plans for these properties. Opened in 1993, Eats is a hold-out in Atlanta, a city where developers are known for snatching up properties at lightening speed, often razing historic or cherished buildings. As a modest, single-story building with stucco painted avocado green, Eats is squat in stature sitting in the shadow of Ponce City Market across the street and at least two construction sites which will eventually tower over the restaurant in the coming year. These restaurants serve as the foundation of the Atlanta dining scene, and continue to stand the test of time.Įats stands out among a sea of construction along Ponce de Leon Avenue where the borders of Midtown, Old Fourth Ward, and Virginia-Highland meet near the Eastside Beltline. The restaurants featured are a mix of longtime familiar favorites and less well-known venerable establishments serving a wide variety of cuisines and communities in Atlanta and the surrounding metro area. Eater is highlighting some of Atlanta ’s oldest restaurants and food institutions through a series of photo essays, profiles, and personal stories. ![]()
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