In Search of a Good Hamburger

When I crave a burger and fries I head for Family Cafe, which is located just off the intersection of North Decatur Road and Ponce de Leon.To get there, take a right as you exit the city onto Rockbridge and drive about four miles. Take a right onto Ponce; the restaurant will be immediately on your left.

An unsmiling woman with a cough that worries me with take your order. Her more jocular husband will cook it. While you wait for your food you can thumb through a copy of Creative Loafing, which you can pick up from a dispenser by the door.

There are other sandwiches, no doubt good, and Chinese food that's not advertised on the menu on the back wall, but I go there for the hamburger. For four dollars and change you get a plate with a juicy burger and a big helping of fries.

The burger fat like the ones you get at Five Guys and fern bars, but it's juicy and the thin meat works well with the vegetable and condiment-laden bun.

The fries are regular-cut, not the Frankenfries you get at fast-food places, and always cooked just right. There are so many they's a meal in itself.

There's seating, but Family Cafe is far from fancy, but it's a short drive from Pine Lake and when I've taken the food home it' been still hot unpon arrival-- but I generally eat it there.

Family cafe is open seven days a week, always staffed by the couple who own it. I've never seen an employee. Except for holidays and rare family emergency the owners are always there. I"m not sure of the hours, but they always seem to be open when I get hungry. I doubt they close before 9 pm.