Keith McLendon (Roadfood.com’s Chickenplucker) knows more than anyone about great places to eat in Georgia, especially in the Augusta area, so when he praised the lunch he had at Fat Man’s Cafe as “outstanding,” it automatically made my hit list. It is a unique location with fascinating history, located in the maintenance building of the old Enterprise Mill, which started in 1848 as a flour mill, went through many industrial lives, died in 1983, and was reborn in the 1990s as a mixed-use venue for office space, lofts, and retail stores.
Fat Man’s Cafe has its own history dating back to the 1940s when “Fat Man” Usry opened a restaurant / grocery store on Laney Walker Boulevard that also became a beloved Christmas tree shop. Today run by Fat Man’s Son, Brad, and grandson, Havird, the cafe is a charming enterprise that specializes in classic Dixie fare from smothered chicken to grilled pimento cheese sandwiches to banana pudding for dessert.
The list of vegetables is long and inviting, some its highlights being creamy, onion-sweetened squash casserole crowned with chewy cheese, sweet potato casserole, fried pickles, and field peas. Both collard greens and mac ‘n’ cheese are agreeably mild — more comfort-food than kick-ass — and sweet potato fries are big and hunky. The last time I ate here, fried okra was whole pods, their fresh-vegetable crunch enveloped in a crisp, salty coat. It is possible to have a vegetable-only meal (four of them) with biscuit or cornbread for under $8, but it would be a shame to miss Fat Man’s superb fried chicken, made according to a recipe of long-time employee Miss Pearl. If you like beef of the comfort-food variety, pot roast is a must, served in a gravy-topped heap of big-flavored chunks and shreds on a bed of rice.
As for dessert, when I first ate here, I whined that the banana pudding wasn’t as good as everything else. That has changed. What host Havird Usry calls “banana pudding 2.0” is buttery, from-scratch pudding leavened with a cloud of topping and sheaved with cookies and slices of ripe banana. It’s glorious!
Other Nearby Restaurants
-
Miss Jane’s Restaurant
Warrenton, GeorgiaA small-town Main-Street cafeteria, Miss Jane’s is a treasure-trove of Southern fare including succulent fried chicken and beguiling cakes & pies.
-
Deep South Cheese & Grill
Dearing, GeorgiaDeep South Cheese is a hospitable Georgia roadside cafe that makes its own fresh cheese curds for poutine, plain or fancy. Plus fine burgers & smoked sausages.
-
La Casa Latina
Augusta, GeorgiaLa Casa Latina is a charming Augusta strip-mall storefront restaurant & grocery that offers a true taste of Puerto Rico and other Latin-American favorites.
-
Tequila’s
Aiken, South CarolinaA modest-looking strip-mall restaurant, Tequila’s serves some of the best Mexican food in town. Shrimp are especially wonderful.
-
Cafe 209
Augusta, GeorgiaLocals love this downtown Augusta, Georgia, lunch-only meat-and-3 for vivid southern vegetables, fried chicken, pork chops, Wednesday ribs and Friday catfish.
-
Sunshine Bakery
Augusta, GeorgiaIn the heart of downtown Augusta, Sunshine Bakery is an old-fashioned sandwich shop and patisserie known for hearty soups, fresh-baked bread & creamy pastries.