Thursday, August 27, 2009

Ted's Montana Grill, Atlanta, GA


Ted's Montana Grill
133 Luckie Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
P: 404- 521-9796
Hours: Sun - Thurs 11 AM - 10 PM • Fri - Sat 11 AM - 11 PM

http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/index.html

Ted Turner, Captain Courageous himself, does not get enough
credit. Not only did he single-handedly create cable news, heck
with CNN, TNT and TMC, he practically invented cable (he also did
with Jane Fonda what Sarah Silverman did to Matt Damon). Now,
in addition to all that, he has created Ted's Montana Grill, a new
mecca of hamburger cuisine.

Mr. Turner, is not without hubris. The Turner Building at the
corner intersecting with Luckie Street (and, apparently,
continuing Ted's lucky streak) houses not only his upscale burger
joint but, in addition, the Captain Planet Foundation, Turner
Enterprises, the Turner Foundation and Ted's Montana Grill
University. Alrighty then, I thought as I entered the establish-
ment.

The downtown Atlanta location of Ted's Montana Grill has the
atmosphere and ambiance of an upscale bar - Tiffany lamps,
Hennessy, Knob Creek, Johnny Walker's Black Label visible -
its a Cheers for carnivores. I sat at the beautiful hardwood bar
and a white-aproned bartender presented me with a white cloth
napkin and a coaster for the iced sweet tea I ordered. In addition
to the cloth napkins, Ted's featured flatware - big forks and huge
spoons. When the bartender took my order I had the choice of a
burger made of USDA choice beef or great range brand bison. With
that big honking bison head looking at me from the wall, I couldn't
bring myself to order the bison so I choose beef.

The burger I ordered came with chili, cheddar cheese, grilled
onions, jalapenos and arrived open-faced on a white plate
surrounded by hand-cut fries with the garnishments - lettuce,
onions, shredded lettuce and pickles - on the side. I applied
brown mustard and ketchup before building my personal burger
tower. The meat to bun ratio was ridiculous. When I attempted
to cut my burger in half so I could finesse it, delicious, succulent
meat fell off it with no appreciable diminution in the size of meat
covering my bun.

The burger was incredible and the fries were crispy and delicious.
I saw and wished I had ordered the onion rings. They looked
wonderful - huge and grilled to golden brown perfection.

Now, Ted's is decidedly not fast food. I arrived in the middle of
a lazy Thursday afternoon and there was a looong wait for my
food to arrive. Later, when I decided to splurge and go for a huge
bowl of strawberry shortcake (with fresh berries, real whipped
cream, ice cream and a crunchy homemade shortcake) and a cup
of coffee. The coffee came early but the shortcake came late.
Perhaps this is because everything at Ted's is "made-from-scratch
comfort food that’s never seen the inside of a microwave or a
freezer." I dunno.

Ted's also serves some upscale fare like Fresh Cedar Plank
Salmon, Bison Meatloaf, All-Natural "Beer Can" chicken, and
BBQ Bison Short Ribs (served with the likes of garlic mashed
potatoes, buttered broccoli, squash casserole and country-style
green beans. But, for me, its all about the burgers.

I am fiending to try the Blue Creek Burger (bleu cheese, available
with bacon), George's Cadillac (BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and
bacon), and the Green & Hot (guacamole, jalapenos and monterey
jack cheese). If I had discovered Ted's on Monday instead of
Thursday, I might have sampled them all by now.

At $11 for a burger and fries and $8 bucks for the shortcake, Ted's
is not a cheap date but, for my money, it was worth every penny.

On the Eating While Black scale:

So good you'll slap yo' mama!
It made my mouth happy!
Aiight!
Better than dirt.

Service: Friendly and courteous
Comfortable for black people?: Yes
Recommend to your black and white friends: Yes
Recommend to just your black friends: N/A
Recommend to just your white friends: N/A

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