During my time in Atlanta I had been curious to try a restaurant called Stationside, which was listed as gluten-free on Yelp and had reviews mentioning that most of their items could be made gluten-free. When I took a look at their menu (which also mentioned that almost all dishes could be made gluten-free), things like empanadas and pimento macaroni and cheese looked pretty exciting (big fan of pimento cheese!). Unfortunately Stationside was only open 11-2 PM each day for lunch and then open during concerts at the Terminal West concert venue next door. I could never make it during the the lunch time hours because of work meetings while I was in Atlanta.
The last day of my trip (Friday) I didn’t have any meetings before my flight in the afternoon. I also missed out on visiting the Georgia Aquarium early since the earliest tickets were already sold out, so my visit to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights wrapped up earlier than I had been planning. I decided to Uber up to Stationside in West Midtown for lunch before heading back to my hotel to grab my suitcase.
The restaurant (more cafe/coffee shop) is inside a 100 year old iron and steel foundry originally used to manufacture plows as a part of the King Plow Company. Now it’s been renovated as the King Plow Arts Center, which includes the Terminal West concert venue. The inside of the restaurant has a revamped industrial kind of feel. There were a lot of people that looked like they were doing work and taking meetings.
At the counter I asked what could made gluten-free and it looked to be most of the things that are generally gluten-free naturally, plus gluten-free bread for the sandwiches. The empanadas and macaroni and cheese were the “almost” in “almost everything can be made gluten-free,” but that makes a lot of sense (those would be really special). The grilled cheese with provolone, cheddar, and American sounded good, but with some elaborate and/or interesting sandwiches, I felt I should branch out a little more than the grilled cheese. I went for the breakfast sandwich and the Sloppy Joe, with a side of the adobe tator tots.
The sandwiches came out on gluten-free-bun type bread. The breakfast sandwich had two fried eggs, bacon, and cheddar, while the Sloppy Joe was made with chorizo (one of the reason I wanted to try it so much), mojo sauce (olive oil and different spices), and onion-fennel slaw. The bun was good quality. We’re getting to a point where bad gluten-free bread and buns are more abnormal than at least decent buns. These buns met the “decent” standard. The only issue was that I had a little trouble keeping everything inside the buns, but these were also pretty full sandwiches in terms of fillings (plus fried eggs, Sloppy Joes, etc. are more “slippery” kind of toppings). The breakfast sandwich met expectations on the taste side (can’t beat eggs, bacon, and cheese), while the Sloppy Joe’s had some good flavor. I liked the more unique taste of the mojo sauce and chorizo. The adobe tator tots were solid, but the two sandwiches kind of put me over the edge in terms of fullness, so I wasn’t able to eat many.
I enjoyed the relaxed vibe of Stationside. It looks like a great place to come and do work or have a casual meeting. It’s great they offer gluten-free buns for their sandwiches and want to accommodate gluten-frees. Given that it has limited hours and seemed to be a little isolated in a more industrial/commercial area (at least from the direction I came), I would recommend this more for locals (especially those attending a concert or looking for a place to do work) than visitors (who might have a harder time making a visit work logistically). I was glad I had a chance to check it out though and get some gluten-free sandwiches as my last meal in Atlanta (overall the trip was a great gluten-free visit thanks to Yeah! Burger).
Stationside- 887 W Marietta St NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
http://www.stationsideatl.com/
The sandwiches on gluten-free buns and tator tots in the background
Inside of Stationside
