We were heading up to the fabulous North Georgia Folk Festival, above Athens and stopped downtown, for a little pre-festival shopping and lunch at Clocked! Diner.  They declare their ideology very clearly:  

We proudly use organic, local and natural ingredients, free of chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones, synthetic herbicides and pesticides, ammonia and other additives. All of our food is cooked-fresh-to-order, we appreciate your patience.

While it was fairly busy, we seemed to have landed right at the end of the first shift of diners and were seated, fairly quickly.  It’s very much a throwback, without being kitschy, reminding me of Grindhouse Killer Burgers, in that regard.    Check out that pleated leather on the bar, below. 

The menu is burger-centric, but with a large variety of vegan and vegetarian options – salads and sandwiches.  I went with the Ring of Fire burger – jalapeños (which were full of seeds – they were very fresh), topped with pepper jack cheese and a chipotle mayo.

The first couple of bites were fairly lively, so I pulled out the jalapeños themselves.  But I ended up leaving the seeds, which probably made it worse…  This was a good, hot burger.  

My beloved had a Bronco burger, with Gouda, bacon, barbecue sauce and an onion ring.  

Honestly, just like in Jerry McGuire, I think that they had her at onion ring.  When they added Gouda, she was hooked.  We decided to share an order of tater tots.  Since the burger was completely devoured, let’s assume that it was good.  I see why they’ve been known for making “out of this world” burgers since 2000.