4/6/2023 0 Comments Vortex atlanta![]() ![]() If you think the atmosphere is a lot to soak in, look at the menu. In the corner, a woman lights a cigarette and exhales into the busy air. Tattooed twenty-something waitresses dart about, weaving through tables and barstools. At the bar, a pair of bikers in leather jackets and boots order two bottles of Laughing Skull Amber Ale – Atlanta’s very own brew. At another table, a group of jeans-and-tee-shirt guys scarf down the last of their meal. In one corner, a hipster couple speaks intimately. The crowd is much like the restaurant itself: eclectic, an unlikely combination of all things ordinary and bizarre. ![]() It’s hard to describe the type of person the Vortex attracts. “And that’s probably why I still love the place so much … kind of like the way you never get over your first crush.” ![]() “The Vortex was doing big, bad burgers way before burgers became cool again,” Todd Brock, Serious Eats blogger and “professional burger eater” explains. But throughout the restaurant’s evolution over the past 20 years, its rough-around-the-edges approach has earned the restaurant a loyal following that can’t seem to get enough. In 2005, after the passing of the Georgia Smoke-Free Air act that outlawed smoking in restaurants, the Vortex became on adult-only environment, only admitting customers over the age of 18. The Vortex is not a place for the nitpicky and whining often falls on deaf ears. They declared the bar an “Official Idiot-Free Zone,” a no-tolerance policy for difficult customers, garnering the eatery some notoriety for its unusual business strategy. Soon after the restaurant’s conception, the owners adopted their trademark unconventional approach to customer service. To aid in the transition, faithful customers helped the owners with the move, caravanning the few blocks down the road with chairs, tables and tchotchkes galore, a true testament to the allegiance of their fan base. Then in 1997, they relocated their Midtown location to Peachtree Street to accommodate growing crowds, where it remains today. The Vortex Burger – a juicy, back-to-basics half-pound of premium ground sirloin – was born.įour years later, the Benoits opened a second location in Little Five Points. They created the Vortex with dreams of becoming a cozy neighborhood bar, “a secret hideout for serious drinkers.” To keep their customers from going hungry, they decided to serve burgers as well. When siblings Michael, Hank and Suzanne Benoit opened the original Vortex in Midtown, they didn’t anticipate that it would become an alpha dog of Atlanta burger joints. The giant skull façade of the Little Five Points location has become something of a landmark, and the restaurant has been honored by local and national publications with a handful of awards and has been featured on popular TV shows like “Man v. “Keeping it real since 1992,” the Vortex Bar and Grill has become an establishment for Atlantans in search of a fine burger and a beer – served with a side of attitude. With 360 degrees of hodgepodge décor, it’s easy to forget the main attraction: Atlanta’s best burger. Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” pervades eerily through the hum and bumble of conversation. A spinning barbershop pole twirls hypnotically next to a giant boar’s head. A skeleton mounted on a motorcycle dangles from the ceiling. Knickknacks and rusty beer cans are haphazardly strewn about, hanging from every square inch of brick wall. On the other side of the skull’s jaws, it’s as if the dimly-lit den was swept up by a tornado, landing in a surreal other world. For those who venture through the skull’s mouth and into the Vortex, an alternate universe awaits. ![]()
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