ADD DRUG

By Katie Wolitarsky

The ding of the door is the first sound that greets you when walking into one of the most local, familiar diners in Athens. Shortly after, a “good afternoon” comes from the cashier to your right, followed by a “welcome to Add Drug!” that pleasantly flows out from the nearby fifties-style dining counter top. Kids run up and down a narrow lane that separates the 16-seater lunch counter and the bordering aisles of cosmetics, hygiene products and Mother’s Day cards. This isn’t just any regular neighborhood diner, it’s the place you fill your prescriptions, rediscover childhood sweets like Pop Rocks and Jujubes, and immediately feel like you are in a scene out of Blast From the Past. All in all, it’s a time capsule.

The small amount of seating is cozy, which is a recurring theme to the entire place. Immediately you feel like you are having an afternoon conversation with your new best friends. The two ladies behind the counter know all the regulars by name. Brenda already has a milkshake, a favored treat here, in the blender for the kid two seats down before his mom can even get him to sit still. When it gets overwhelmingly crowded, which it does during the lunch rush, the staff doesn’t hesitate to find a stool in the back for the waiting elderly couple.

The food is nothing out of the ordinary, but somehow a BLT tastes so right in this setting. Maybe it’s because the bacon is generously applied and extra crispy or because watching them prepare and cook everything right before your ravenous eyes and grumbling stomach just seems to make everything taste so much better. The accordion crinkled french fries are oily and crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. These perfect fries are a necessary side to your meal.

For an ambitious stomach, feed on (because feast is too big a word) a cheeseburger. A hungry boy could effortlessly put two of these patties of greased goodness down with a side of fries and a canned Cola. If you’re feeling bold, add a fried egg to top off your bacon cheeseburger for the ultimate taste fusion, where breakfast and lunch coincide.

There isn’t much that is healthy about Add Drug, which contradicts its adjoining neighbor, Earth Fare, but the hand-held portions are a good size that won’t leave you feeling too guilty. For something on the lighter side, the chicken salad sandwich is pure simplicity. Served on toasted wheat or white bread, lettuce and tomato should be added for that extra flavor and crunch. There is no overwhelming mayo taste, which successfully makes this sandwich an easy, enjoyable meal.

To wash it all down, you pick out a canned beverage from the countertop cooler, which then comes with a Styrofoam cup of crushed ice. Crushed ice is the essential element that can make just about any of their drinks quench a hot summer day thirst. Overall, the drink selection is fitting, but the sweet tea blend is sub par. Not sweet enough — a little bitter. Even though the South is famous for it, get your sweet tea fix somewhere else.

When checking out at the Add Drug cashier, pocket change is handy for once. The prices are unbeatable. At $3.25 the fully loaded cheeseburger is the most expensive thing on the menu. You cannot beat a satisfying meal when it comes at such a reasonable price. A regular or malted milkshake to-go is only $2.10, which leaves you smiling on your way home while rubbing your full belly.

The whole scene takes you back to an easier place and time where people would get together and enjoy a good meal and conversation with each other. It reminds me of childhood trips to Braum’s, the local creamery and lunch counter that my grandfather would treat us to when visiting him in Norman, Okla. Everyone greeted you and knew you by name, and you always left with a satisfied smile and a chocolate milkshake stain on your shirt. Today, I drove away from Add Drug with a big, nostalgic grin on my face and a ketchup stain on my sleeve.