What'll ya have? those are the words I heard many a time when I approached the counter at the Georgia institution of hot doggery, The Varsity Drive-In. I lived in rural, middle "Joe-Ja" out on a hidden cove on Lake Sinclair near Milledgeville for two years of grad school. Broke, working on two masters degrees at the same time, my entertainment budget was nill. Cheap eats were the norm and my roommates (two pretty gals, a blonde and a redhead) raised a lot of our own food and hunted, fished, and bartered for the rest. Every now and then we'd take a road trip and go shopping and partying in Atlanta or Athens. On the way home it was almost mandatory to make a visit to The Varsity to fortify ourselves for the long drive home.
The default choice is a chili dog, if you ask for a hot dog that's what you'll get. A frank on a soft bun with mildly interesting chili meat sauce and a streak of yellar mustard along its back. Two of those, plus an order of the fries or the fantastic onion rings, a peach fried pie for dessert (I dream of those at times), and you were good to go. To wash down your chow it is a must to have an FO, a Frosted Orange, which is a super tasty and refreshing creamy orange drink that tastes sort of like a creamsicle.
There are six locations of The Varsity. The Mother Ship, which is the worlds largest drive-in at "more than two acres and can accommodate 600 cars and over 800 people inside," serves around 10,000 people a day, double or triple that on game days at Georgia Tech, handing over "two miles of hot dogs, a ton of onions, 2500 pounds of potatoes, 5000 fried pies and 300 gallons of chili... daily."
like many drive-ins of the past, as well as diners and small lunch joints, The Varsity has their own lingo that the cooks, servers, and carhops developed. Customers picked up on it over the years and it makes ordering a lot more fun.
Here's a list of some Varsity talk.
Hot Dog a hot dog with chili and mustard
Chili Dog same as a hot dog
Naked Dog a plain hot dog in a bun
M.K. Dog a naked dog with mustard and ketchup
Regular C Dog a chili dog with ketchup only
Red Dog a naked dog with ketchup only
Yellow Dog a naked dog with mustard only
Yankee Dog same as a yellow dog
Heavy Dog a hot dog with extra chili
Walk a Dog (or Steak) a hot dog (or hamburger) to go
Steak a hamburger with mustard, ketchup, and pickle
Chili Steak a hamburger with chili
Glorified Steak a hamburger with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato
Mary Brown Steak (or Dog) a plain hamburger (or hot dog) without a bun
Naked Steak a plain steak
Sally Rand a naked steak
Sally Rand Through the Garden a naked steak with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise
N.I. Orange a Varsity Orange without ice
F.O. a frosted orange shake
Joe-ree coffee with cream
P.C. plain chocolate milk (always served with ice)
N.I.P.C. a P.C. without ice
All The Way with onions (on a hot dog, hamburger, etc.)
Bag of Rags a bag of chips
Ring One order of onion rings
Strings French fries
Sideways onions on the side
V.O. Varsity Orange, the original carbonated orange soda drink
L.G. Lazy Gordy, a Naked Dog and a Sprite
6-26-2008 @1:06PM Tug Spicer said... Hahhahahah. This slays me. I love hearing the jargen of diners and hole-in-th-wall greazy spoon restaurants. Thanks for this....
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6-26-2008 @1:06PM jessica said... i grew up going to the varsity. i am a vegetarian now but everytime i go home to atlanta, i still swing by the varsity for some onion rings and a frosted orange. truly some of the world's best onion rings
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6-26-2008 @1:07PM Rt said... I had the opportunity try The Varsity and wasn't that impressed - probably too old by then :) I was more impressed with a hotdog topped with coleslaw at a local hospital.
There was a show on PBS called 'The Hotdog Program'. They went to various places around the country. Very interesting, I would like to trace their steps.
Here's a list of where they went. Yes, the Varsity was one place, that's why I tried it on that trip to Atlanta.
http://www.wqed.org/tv/natl/hotdogs/hd_places.shtml
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6-26-2008 @1:07PM doodoolemonque said... I'm not sure The Varsity qualifies under any definition of a "hole-in-the-wall." I've only been twice, while driving through Atlanta (a truly dumb thing to do), but its reputation preceded it, so....
Other than the aforementioned orange drink, its historic but persistent verbiage and the place it holds in Georgian hearts, there's really little to recommend The Varsity. It is, I will admit, fascinating to watch the crowd being processed on a busy day, but they are pretty much on auto-pilot, eating where they are supposed to eat, as dictated by tradition or habit. (Incidentally, tradition at The Varsity is an ugly thing, exemplifying some of the worst in Southern culture.)
Mostly bland food with hardy helpings of grease thrown in for good measure, pretty much describes The Varsity menu. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in comfort food, but at The Varsity, they somehow fail to raise it to any kind of art form. The Varsity thrived on the three basic business requirements; location, location, location. Were it not for that, it would have been relegated to the "remember when" food piles.
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6-28-2008 @5:26PM Kitt said... I've only had a frosted orange once, and I dream of it to this day.
Kitt
http://www.kittalog.com
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6-29-2008 @10:39PM Cindy lou who said... I was only able to go to the Varsity twice when I was in college. I was at another GA college and did not have a car. However, when you are in LaGrange, GA, be sure to go to Charlie Joseph's to get a hot dog!
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6-30-2008 @2:19AM BobO. said... You haven't lived till you have gone roughly 90 miles south of the downtown Varsity, to NuWay Wieners{yes thats their selling} in Macon,GA and go to the one on Cotton Ave where they have been serving since 1909 a signature hotdog in a "toxic red colour" with a Greek insprired chili. Order it all the way with chilli and slaw, which Gormet Magizine recognized as the dogs woof.
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6-30-2008 @3:43AM Skip said... The Varsity...
I happen to live in Spartanburg, SC... The home of the world famous Beacon Drive In Resturant. The second largest Drive In Restaurant in the World...
The Varsity is the largest... And, it looks like we will never live it down...
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6-30-2008 @3:24PM Coach said... The hots at the Varsity are overrated. Just a plain boiled dog with less than exciting chili. The onion rings are worth eating, but only if you take Lipitor.
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7-01-2008 @7:35PM Ray said... I moved to Athens Ga 3 years ago and one of the first places i tried was The Varsity.I ordered 2 hots and a coke.
I was very disappointed.The dogs are very small,have little taste and are only edible because of the chili sause which was also weak.
I lived all my life in Rochester NY and would dare anyone to compare what the Varsity sells to the Zweigles hot dogs sold at Schallers resturant. I have mine with mustard,onions,and a very very mild hot sauce
Now there is a hot dog worth going out in a winter blizzard to get.
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