a true ATL classic

"What'll ya have?!" That's the refrain you'll hear from the counter of this fabled chili dog joint that is a favorite of several U.S. presidents and countless other politicians and celebrities. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has its own unique vocabulary. Open 24/7. Note from Mary: This place has been open since 1928, when it was established to serve the local high school varsity football crowd, then quickly expanded to serve Ga Tech Yellow Jacket fans. Mary's dad and uncle (who was Ga Tech's legendary star end of the early 50s) cruised for chicks here during their Tech days!!

The World's Largest Drive-in sits on more than two acres and can accommodate 600 cars and over eight hundred people inside. On days of Georgia Tech football games up to 30,000 people visit The Varsity. It sells more than two miles of hotdogs daily, a ton of onion rings, 2500 pounds of fresh cut potatoes, 5000 homemade fried pies, and 300 gallons of chili, all of which are made from scratch daily. The downtown Varsity is also the world's largest single restaurant outlet for Coca-Cola. This is where the now famous cry of The Varsity started. Mr. Gordy ran a tight operation. Everything, from custom-designed equipment to training on how to dress a sandwich revolved around one thing: No matter how big the crowd, get everybody fed with great quality and service. And since sometimes the bottlenecks were on the customer's side of the counter, employees began the now famous chant: "What'll ya have . . .what'll ya have . . . what'll ya have. Have your order mind and your money in your hand."