I had read about Pinewood Tippling Room when it opened in 2012, in the boom of cocktail bars that opened that summer.  What is a “tippling room”, you may ask?  To tipple is “to drink (liquor) especially continuously in small amounts” – making this a place to drink, slowly.  So, it’s  a bar.  A bar with good food, according to many.  I had also heard that the food was good, but with our experiences with “bars with good food in the last year”, I had (kind of) moved it towards the back of the list.

Today, when we were heading to Decatur at lunch on Good Friday, and having seen their burger on the recent “Best Burger in Atlanta” list in Atlanta magazine, I named it and claimed it.   

We parked on the street and walked into a restaurant that, except for a couple eating at the bar, we had to ourselves.  We took a table in the middle and perused the menu.   I (thought that I) knew what I’d be having.  Then I saw the fried bologna sandwich at the bottom of the menu.  Here I sat at the crossroads: burger? or bologna sandwich?  Using the example of the wisdom of King Solomon, I chose to have both, intending to cut each in half.  I failed to take a photo of the bologna sandwich, so you’ll have to accept my description: as opposed to every other fried bologna sandwich that I have eaten in my life (and there have been plenty), in which the centerpieces was a medium-to-thick slice of bologna, fried in a griddle or skillet, this was thin sliced and stacked.  The closest analogy I can draw is the roast beef on an Arby’s sandwich.  And it rested on a bed of creole egg salad, topped with standard sandwich condiments.  It was good.  Different, but good.  On to the burger: 

A single patty (they also serve a double), topped with cheese and smoked bacon on a challah bun.  With a side of tots – hard to lose, on that count.  The burger was good, but this bacon made it great.  The bacon was thick cut, not too crispy and smokey, smokey, smokey.  I can see why this burger made the list.  Our daughter had a chicken and roasted Anaheim chile sandwich.   

This sandwich was very tasty, according to she who ate – with one complaint: every ingredient was slippery. Stacking a roasted chile atop a chicken breast covered in remoulade lead to a sandwich that had a hard time staying together.  Jo ordered a black bean burger with a side salad.

The veggie burger was fine, although the patty did not appear to be house made.  The surprise on that plate was the salad, partially the ingredients, but mainly for the vanilla balsamic vinaigrette.  In fact, that salad was mentioned several times that afternoon.  

With so many dining choices in Decatur, it’s tough for a restaurant to stay a while.  Hopefully, this one will.