Small, stylish and necessary.
If The Righteous Room was a handbag, it'd be a Fendi or a Kate Spade. Well, possibly not -- those handbags are overpriced and quickly go out of style. Maybe a better comparison is the VW Beetle. It's hip, but reasonably priced and timeless.
So what's so righteous about The Righteous Room? Everything really. The food is delicious and inexpensive. Favorites are the homemade veggie burger served in naan bread (voted Best Veggie Burger in Atlanta for 2001 by CL critics) and the little appetizer dish of olives, complete with pits. Friends swear by the chicken quesadilla.
Another Righteous Room treasure is the jukebox. Where else are you going to find a jukebox with a Captain Beefheart CD in it? (Try song one, "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby.")
And then there's the beer. Like every Atlanta bar that caters to stylish, young intowners, it has genuinely hip import beers (including Stella Artois and Pilsner Urquell) and at least one ironically hip American beer (Miller High Life, bottles and draft).
Stop by before or after your next trip to the neighboring Plaza movie theater. If you don't like the Righteous Room, your next issue of CL is free. That's my guarantee.
The Righteous Room, 1051 Ponce de Leon Ave., 404-874-0939. Mon.-Thurs., 11:30-2 a.m.; Fri., 11:30-4 a.m.; Sat. 11:30-3 a.m.; Sun., 11:30 a.m.-midnight.
