Holeman & Finch: Burger Time

Recently, a friend told me that he'd read a magazine several years ago that listed the best burgers in Atlanta.  The first place on the list was Ann's Snack Bar, home of the ghetto burger.  I have to admit that although I'm not a huge meat-eater, I have definitely experienced Ann's Snack Bar, which, unfortunately, I believe is now closed.  It would be very difficult to call yourself a true Atlantan if you did not at least once, experience the Wall Street Journal famed Ann's Snack Bar that is reminiscent of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi.  Ms. Ann, the owner/operator would only allow in just enough customers to fill the bar stools inside the Snack Bar.  The extra patrons were forced to sit on the screened in patio, regardless of the weather.  The veterans would sit quietly and patiently as the newbies, who didn't know any better, would walk straight into the snack bar, only to be run out seconds later by a screaming, yelling Ann.  It's funny as I think about my first time and I too, ran away from Ann's screams, but that didn't stop me from watching the very next newbies walk up and walk right into Ann's.  I remember when we finally made it inside, my then boyfriend, a politician, who, like most politicians, thought that the world took notice every time he opened his mouth, questioned Ann about her business.  At first, she ignored him, as she did most of her guests.  You filed in, everyone ordered at the same time, everyone left at the same time, the next group all came in at the same time.  And you had better not dare ask for a turkey burger.  After being ignored for the first 20 minutes, he announced that he was a politician, and it turned out that he was right about that whole, mouth opening, world taking notice thing, at least as far as Ms. Ann was concerned.  Suddenly, Ann began to TALK!!   She ran off a list of celebrities who'd visited her snack bar, many of whom, she claimed wanted to buy it because she intended to retire soon.  However friendly they became, that didn't stop Ms. Ann from promptly kicking us out as soon as our group's burgers were all done.  Oh, the memories.  Lol.

So, the second place on the list of best burgers was Holeman & Finch.  Now, if you've been to Holeman & Finch, you're probably saying to yourself, "Burgers?  What Burgers?"  Well, apparently every night at 10:00, except Sundays, Holeman grills up exactly 24 burgers, not one more, not one less.  And unless you're in the know, you can't even place an order for one, because it's not on the menu.  Now, admittedly, they do announce that it's burger time every night at 10, but by that point all of the burgers have been spoken for, so if you didn't get there early enough, you don't get to partake.
Thursday night, I got to be one of the cool kids, in the know!!  I arrived at Holeman around 8:50 pm.  Apparently the protocol is to give them your name as soon as you walk in and they take care of the rest.  I made my way to the overly crowded bar area.  The energy was amazing.  I felt like I was in some cool happy hours spot in New York.  The crowd was very diverse and we had a wonderful time.  Somehow the bartender got word of our burger order and around 9:50 he made his way over to bring eating utensils and set up place mats.  At 10:00 Holeman announced that it was burger time and shortly thereafter a large burger that was falling out of the bun with a side of fries was placed in front of me.  Also on the plate, homemade ketchup and mustard.  I must vouch for the mustard because it was very very good.  Now you don't get a whole lot of say in how the burger turns out.  You don't get to ask for cheese, lettuce or tomatoes.  You take it the way they make it, or you leave.  I took it!  I started off by cutting my burger in half.  Now, it was no ghetto burger, but there was still a lot to work with.  It was topped with cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and there was something about the meat.  It tasted as though the meat was ground really, really fine before being shaped into a burger and grilled.  You could actually feel the fineness of the meat between your teeth.  The bun was lightly buttered and a perfect compliment for the burger.  I tried my burger with a little bit of mustard, but definitely no ketchup.  I watched a special on the Food Network months ago that highlighted the best burgers in the country and they visited a few places that claimed to be the inventors of the hamburger.  The one thing they all said, was that adding ketchup to your burger is like putting ranch dressing on creme brulee'.  Since then, I've taken all of my burgers sans ketchup.

It was a great experience.  You should definitely check it out.  The crowd, the staff, the energy and the atmosphere were all A+!!  It's just one of those things that you have to try at least once in Atlanta.