Ria’s Bluebird
Iced Coffee
The French Toast with Caramelized Bananas
The Pancakes with House Ricotta, Fresh Peaches, Streusel, Honey
With facial hair, thick glasses, tattoos, and even jorts proudly on display amongst the patrons inside the jammed packed diner plus an overflowing parking lot with a dozen or so people waiting in the sun kicking a hacky sack it would have been difficult to miss Ria’s Bluebird even if I hadn’t been looking for it; a throng of hipsters at 1pm on Sunday perhaps the most obvious sign of brunch as there is. Owned and operated by Chef Ria Pell and considered by many to be the best breakfast in Atlanta with The New York Times going so far as to call the pancakes the best in the country it was specifically these facts that brought me to Bluebird and sidling up to the counter after a forty-five minute wait for a single seat it was the daily special pancakes I ordered – plus an order of the French Toast for good measure. Pleasant and efficient in service despite the crush of the crowd with iced coffee refilled copiously it was another twenty minutes before my plates did arrive and with two slices of buttery golden toast and two fluffy buttermilk pancakes arriving with pure maple syrup and ample fresh fruits at $9 each the only real question is which was better – a vote I’d give to the French Toast only because the pancakes came so highly billed and weren’t quite as perfect as those at Buttermilk Kitchen.
