Atlantans of a certain age will remember a time when Piccadilly restaurants were plentiful. It didn’t require too far a drive to get to one of the cafeterias.
My first visit to a Piccadilly dates back to the late 1980s and Ansley Mall. As a newcomer from Los Angeles, I was unfamiliar with Southern fare or cafeteria-style dining as a hapless 20-something, stacking an incongruous assortment of dishes atop a melamine tray. Bless my heart.
Piccadilly cafeterias arrived in Atlanta in the mid-1960s. The meat-and-three menu has remained largely unchanged. Signature dishes include chopped beef, turkey and dressing, baked chicken, fried pork chop, Southern-fried fish. Among the modest, must-have sides are green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, okra, and rice broccoli casserole. The supporting cast of carbs includes corn muffins, jalapeño corn bread, rolls, and garlic bread…