Daily highlight #29: The pan lives on - Restaurant: Son's Place

I love the corner in the heart of Inman park where Edgewood Ave. dead ends into Hurt St. On the Edgewood side sits the airy space that is Shaun's, of which I've written much. Just around the corner from Shaun's on Hurt, you'll find the much older and much less talked about Son's place, a yearly summer lunch destination for our office.

Quite some years ago, son of Son's place inherited his daddy's cast iron pan used at the restaurant that previously occupied Shaun's space. He set up shop in an old house a stone's throw away to carry on his old man's legacy. Son's place is everything I conjured up about the South before moving here. The room is populated with old wooden tables covered in bright yellow checkered vinyl table clothes. A steam table in the back sends out aromas that announce the daily specials of fried chicken, bbq ribs, fried catfish, and many varieties of lard-infused vegetables. Every new face is immediately welcomed by the friendly servers behind the steam table, eager to load up another compartmentalize tray.

I was in the mood for ribs and then thought I'd balance out the meal with two different types of greens. Also on my tray was the warm and fluffy roll that is so great yet so seldomly found in contemporary restaurants. It seemed that most of my colleagues also had the same idea and mostly ended up with different cuts of ribs. As you can see, mine was one of the end pieces, so while I got some good charred bits, I also had to chew a bit harder. No matter though, the sauce was plenty tasty to keep me gnawing away. The greens were excellent the way fat-infused vegetables tend to be. The nice vinegary acidity provided a bright counterpoint to the sweetness in the rib's bbq sauce.

Besides the food, we come back every summer with newbies from the office so they could experience the first timer's shout out from everyone behind the steam table and the round of applause with some hollers thrown in from the lunchroom packed with regulars. That never fails to put some embarrassed smiles on peoples' faces.

Son's Place
100 Hurt St.
Atlanta, GA 30307
404-581-0530