Athens of the South
At one time, in the 1800's the wealthy and the leaders of Nashville wanted to call Nashville "The Athens of the South" with the concept that Nashville would grow to have the best art, culture and educational institutions in the the Southern USA. Well, that didn't happen, but at least Nashville has a full sized replica of the Parthenon and the tallest indoor free standing statue, which is of Athena holding Nike, inside the Parthenon. The Parthenon replica and Athena are something to see while in Nashville,. Nike stands over 6 feet tall in Athena's hand, but when looking at Athena and Nike, with Athena being so tall, Nike looks a lot smaller than she really is. That is how tall Athena is.
the lemon chicken and rice soupAnother place Nashville has is Athens Family Restaurant. With its ups and downs, I think it has finally hit its stride. The standard fare we get are the lemon chicken and rice soup, burgers and the spanikopita. At one time Matt lived in Astoria Queens amongst the cheap eats Greek Diners, and he would get the lemon chicken and rice soup and a burger with fries. The soup is generally the same, the the burger and fries are that institutional burger and fries. When we first tried Athens for soup, burger and fries, Matt's memory was immediately thrown back to the Astoria Queens Greek Diner food.
a bacon Swiss burger with friesA couple months ago, before xmas, we went, and soup, burger and fries were right along the lines of the Queens Greek Diner food. It has become our staple when thinking of an Astoria diner burger. For a couple years now, Athens has been consistent with its burger and fries. Nothing special, always the same, and always reminding Matt of Astoria Queens.
Since I never lived in Astoria Queens, I am not attached to the burger and soup, but I like the diner fries for nostalgia reasons of my own. When I lived in Phila for a decade or so, there was this diner near Penn we used to go to after hours, and I would get a plate of extra crispy diner fries and chocolate milkshake to dip the fries in. I usually order my fries at Athens to be extra crispy.
my spanikopita and saladWell, just last week, starting this new year, Athens changed what fries they buy. They are not serving up the plain old diner fries anymore. The have gone to the skin-on steak fries, that are some how more "shee shee". They are like gourmet fries served at Mirror. It is no longer the same. They messed up the fries. What to do, what to do? Do I say something about the fries being all messed up now? Was it an accident with the wrong fries being delivered, and they will go back to generic diner fries? Oh, what should I do?
Labels: Nashville Eats
8 Comments:
I don't know about the Athens fries, but when Back Yard Burgers took away their spicy fries, I never ate there again.
I'm not even a fry lover, but the blackened chicken sandwich just didn't taste right without them.
All that food looks very tempting and tasty!
Cheers,
Rosa
That burger & fries looked nice enough for me! I seldom have anything other than McD burgers these days because anything else is so uninspiring here in the UK. Never had a REAL American burger like the kind you see on Us TV!
Hi Meredith, isn't it funny how the fries can make or break the diner? I understand what you mean about spicy fries changing. It is never the same.
Hello Rosa, you are right! The French Fries were good, and I hope they return to the old ways.
Hazza, oh thank you for stopping in! The burger here is quite like a typical American Burger of TV. But, I must say, the French Fries at McD's are still my favorite. I only go to McD's once or twice per year just for the fries. But, when you come visit the USA, say New York City, try going to Cozy Soup 'n' Burger and get one of the burgers there. That burger is just like TV! Fantastic! But, get only one burger and share because it is so big. They are located at 739 Broadway near Astor Place and Waverly Place.
hey lannae, what was the name of the diner near penn that you frequented? i went to penn, and am wracking my brain to remember a diner near campus, but i don't recall one.
Hi Melissa, I checked with my friend M, who went to Penn, and we used to run around together before becoming middle aged and with kids. The diners were the "American Diners" one sort of near Penn, and one on Spring Garden next to Silk City. Fries and choco milk shake at 2 am is the best! I think the American Diners are closed now, from what I heard.
HI IM ADEL CHEF AND OWNER OF ATHENS FAMILY RESTAURANT IM VERY SORRY ABOUT THE FRIES BUT WHATEVER WE ARE SERVING NOW IS ALOT BETTER QUALITY AND ON YOUR NEXT VISIT PLEASE ASK FOR YOUR FRIES CRISPY AND WE WILL GLADLY COOK IT FOR YOU AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR CHOOSING ATHENS.
Hi Adel, you know that we love going to your restaurant, regardless of what fries you have. The Spanikopita is my favorite.
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