For you that Drive?

[staceymay00]

I live in a suburb of Atlanta and the OK Cafe immediately came to mind. It is right off I-75 in Atlanta but before you get far enough into the city to be in midtown/downtown. I'm not sure they have chicken and waffles, though, or even waffles for that matter. They do serve breakfast and brunch. I have to confess, I am not a native southerner and I have never heard of chicken and waffles being served together! That is what you mean, right?

We drive north to see relatives every year or two and take I-75 to I-24 and then we go straight up Illinois (is it I-55?). I always have to stop at the first Culver's I see. Seriously, it is about the only fast food place I like and we don't have them down south. Sarahk0204, you are right about the great playgrounds at Illinois rest stops. We usually pack a cooler of food and eat a meal at one of the Illinois rest stops. One fast food place we like that I think is only in the south is Zaxby's . Better than Chik-fil-A in my opinion. I know there is one in Murfreesboro, TN and Gainesville, FL. We have them in Atlanta, too, but I'm not sure of a location right off the interstate.

 

[Greyhound22]

If you go near Knoxville, depending on how you decide to drive. We absolutly love Buddy's Bar-B-Q. Here is the website and Sonny's is a close second. It is hard to find good Bar-b-q in Illinois. BTW - Sonny's is all over the place down there.

http://www.buddysbarbq.com/
http://www.sonnysbbq.com/

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

www.thumbsupdiner.com

Here's the website w/menu. They literally have chicken and waffles and got mentioned in a NYT food review somehow.

I looked at the menu and they have some unexpected things on there Look like a great place to

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

We're in Rockford!

We drive pretty much the same way you take, and we do stop for the night. We actually take 2 1/2 days to drive. (no super powers here )

We haven't stopped at many local places. With the ages of our children, our stops are usually play land oriented. We usually do a picnic lunch the first day (gotta love the real playgrounds at the rest stops in IL ). We eat at Chick-Fil-A at least once (gotta get my fix). I have never been to the original; that sounds like fun. We also hit Hardees at least once, as I just don't get up to WI to eat at the ones closer to us.

We did eat at a Shoney's for breakfast last year, but that would probably be more regional? At least it was something different from what's in Northern Illinois!

Hi ,we used to have a Hardees in town but that was years ago ,I have never been to Chick-fil-a Seems like alot of people love that place .I love the DIS boards the folks on here can tell you anything

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

If you want to try chicken and waffles you have to go to Gladys and Ron's (http://gladysandron.net/) It is owned and ran by Gladys Knight and her son....awesome chicken and waffles! Plus the whole cool factor of Gladys Knight!

There is another place for cool southern food just off 75...OK Cafe...they have everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to rosemary chicken...they even have fried cheese grits for an appetizer!

The Varsity is good too....you have to get what they call a Frosted Orange to cut the grease though....best thing there is chili dogs and onion rings! Just be sure to read the menu and know what you want before you go up to the counter...

Have a safe trip down...

Thanks I think I have a tough choice to make and thanks for the well wishes

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

If you go near Knoxville, depending on how you decide to drive. We absolutly love Buddy's Bar-B-Q. Here is the website and Sonny's is a close second. It is hard to find good Bar-b-q in Illinois. BTW - Sonny's is all over the place down there.

http://www.buddysbarbq.com/
http://www.sonnysbbq.com/

I LOVE BBQ I do think we go near knoxville

 

[cemeb4dk]

We did the Varsity because we saw the hot dog show on the travel channel. Needless to say its nothing like we have here in CHicago. Their Chili dog is not really chili like we are use to up here, its kinda like manwich with the juice.

We really did not like it, but we can say we stopped there.

 

[TheSweetLife]

A college roomate was from Belvidere IL. Small world.

We are driving for the first time from St Louis. I'm glad you posted this thread as we are trying to stay in Atlanta for the night and now we know where to eat!

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

I live in a suburb of Atlanta and the OK Cafe immediately came to mind. It is right off I-75 in Atlanta but before you get far enough into the city to be in midtown/downtown. I'm not sure they have chicken and waffles, though, or even waffles for that matter. They do serve breakfast and brunch. I have to confess, I am not a native southerner and I have never heard of chicken and waffles being served together! That is what you mean, right?

We drive north to see relatives every year or two and take I-75 to I-24 and then we go straight up Illinois (is it I-55?). I always have to stop at the first Culver's I see. Seriously, it is about the only fast food place I like and we don't have them down south. Sarahk0204, you are right about the great playgrounds at Illinois rest stops. We usually pack a cooler of food and eat a meal at one of the Illinois rest stops. One fast food place we like that I think is only in the south is Zaxby's . Better than Chik-fil-A in my opinion. I know there is one in Murfreesboro, TN and Gainesville, FL. We have them in Atlanta, too, but I'm not sure of a location right off the interstate.

Thanks for posting It is nice to hear from a local And yes it 55 ,I love Culvers too only we have one 5 min from the house

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

A college roomate was from Belvidere IL. Small world.

We are driving for the first time from St Louis. I'm glad you posted this thread as we are trying to stay in Atlanta for the night and now we know where to eat!

GREAT PICTURE!! and it is a small world ...That funny

 

[SusieBea]

We did the Varsity because we saw the hot dog show on the travel channel. Needless to say its nothing like we have here in CHicago. Their Chili dog is not really chili like we are use to up here, its kinda like manwich with the juice.

We really did not like it, but we can say we stopped there.

It's not Portillo's for sure. (We lived in the NW suburbs for 14 years.) But it's a slice of the food culture in an area we drive through. I think it's worth experiencing just for the experiencing.

 

[Sammie]

I LOVE BBQ I do think we go near knoxville

If you are taking I-75 you would have to detour and take I-40 east to go to Knoxville. I -75 passes outside of Knoxville. You would lose alot of time.

 

[Sammie]

We drive from Illinois also. We take the 65 route thru Indiana. As far as eating I can't help you either we are always in a rush to get there we just stop and grab something while we gas up. Although the last trip we left at about 9:30 at night and got to the Ruby Falls area about 8AM and ate at the cracker barrel and did Ruby Falls it was a nice break for me to rest my eyes before continuing the rest of the way. We always drive straight thru.

Good luck and safe travels

Do you ever stay on I-65S and go through Birmingham and Montgomery, that is such a better traffic route than Chattanooga to Atlanta. I-75 through Atlanta is horrible, actually all of I-75 is horrible.

 

[cemeb4dk]

Do you ever stay on I-65S and go through Birmingham and Montgomery, that is such a better traffic route than Chattanooga to Atlanta. I-75 through Atlanta is horrible, actually all of I-75 is horrible.

No we have always done the 65-75 route. We try and plan our drive times around what time we get to Atl. For the most we hit in the middle of the night. Our last trip we hit it about Lunchtime ( planned for Varsity lunch) and it was not terrible.

But yes I do agree you need to avoid ATL at certain times.

 

[sskem96]

We have always flown, but we're tentatively planning on driving to HHI instead of doing WDW next summer since airfare has gone up so much. If we survive that trip, we can decide if we're ready tackling the drive to Orlando the next year!

We'll probably pack sandwiches and snacks and eat in the car or at rest areas, but I'll definitely have to talk DH into stopping at Sonny's. I've eaten there a couple times when I went to KY to visit a friend.

 

[sarahk0204]

Do you ever stay on I-65S and go through Birmingham and Montgomery, that is such a better traffic route than Chattanooga to Atlanta. I-75 through Atlanta is horrible, actually all of I-75 is horrible.

We did that and got stuck in traffic in Birmingham So we decided to come back through Atlanta and got stuck in traffic there. Sometimes, you just can't win.

We bought a GPS (actually an iPad with a GPS app), so hopefully we can negotiate the traffic better.

 

[WDWBlue]

We like to stop at The Varsity in Atlanta near Georgia Tech. http://www.thevarsity.com/locations.php?action=view&store_id=9 If you check out the Wikipedia entry, you'll learn all the history associated with the place. It's been featured on some of the Travel Channel shows as well.

This palce is great! We try and make it here too on the drive down.

 

[FOXFIELDZOO]

We did that and got stuck in traffic in Birmingham So we decided to come back through Atlanta and got stuck in traffic there. Sometimes, you just can't win.

We bought a GPS (actually an iPad with a GPS app), so hopefully we can negotiate the traffic better.

We are thinking of heading east toward Savannah After we get to Atlanta and taking the I think its 95 down It looks like it only will add 1 hr to the drive has anyone out there done this I just don't think I can take the construction on 75 in Georgia that never seems to be getting done .Have the abandoned that strip?One year it was I swear it was a 2 hr long 1 lane highway ,that alone added soooo much time

 

[Sammie]

We did that and got stuck in traffic in Birmingham So we decided to come back through Atlanta and got stuck in traffic there. Sometimes, you just can't win.

We bought a GPS (actually an iPad with a GPS app), so hopefully we can negotiate the traffic better.

Well traffic in Birmingham is better than any day in Atlanta, but timing it to avoid the rush hour is always good.

 

[SusieBea]

We are thinking of heading east toward Savannah After we get to Atlanta and taking the I think its 95 down It looks like it only will add 1 hr to the drive has anyone out there done this I just don't think I can take the construction on 75 in Georgia that never seems to be getting done .Have the abandoned that strip?One year it was I swear it was a 2 hr long 1 lane highway ,that alone added soooo much time

It's a little over 2 hours from the Macon exit to I 95. What you're essentially doing is going out of your way east after which you'll have to angle back west on I 4 to WDW.