Photograph courtesy of Busy Bee Cafe
Photograph courtesy of Paschal's
“During the civil rights movement, we’d start our day at Busy Bee or Paschal’s,” says Andrew Young, referencing his days at the SCLC with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. “But you didn’t go to those places so much to eat as you did to meet. That’s where you found out what was going on.” Politicians can still be found at Busy Bee—an unassuming institution considering its small storefront set behind a parking lot off of M.L.K. Drive—but now R&B artists and the post-church crowd also line up for the comforts of smothered pork chops, oxtails, collard greens, and candied yams. As for Paschal’s, the original unfortunately closed in 1996, but the current location on Northside Drive purports to use the same fried chicken recipe that dates back to 1947. Busy Bee: 810 M.L.K. Jr. Drive, 404-525-9121, thebusybeecafe.com; Paschal’s: 180 Northside Drive, 404-525-2023, paschalsatlanta.com
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