Rightfully Crowned

For more information, visit King of Pops website.

Athens just got more delicious. King of Pops, an all-natural ice-pop food-cart, originally started on the busy street corners of Atlanta, but its booming success has brought it to towns like Charleston, Ashville and now thankfully, Athens. What makes these frozen treats unique is that they are paletas, Latin American ice pops made from organic juices that usually include bits of frozen fruit or confections.

The creative force behind this orgasm on a stick is Steven Carse—a pretty chill guy that has day-dreamed of bringing the fresh, gourmet paletas he once fell in love with while visiting a beach in Central America back to the United States. After getting laid off by AIG, a corporate insurance company, Carse no longer had an excuse not to follow his ice-pop passion. With help from his brother, Nick Carse, Steven went from corporate to mom-and-pop successfully establishing a dessert food-cart sensation.

In addition to providing the Athens neighborhood with delicious frozen treats, the King of Pops’ goal is to be a waste free company. All of their fruit waste goes to community gardens and most other supplies are recycled. Carse only uses natural ingredients from local farmer’s markets to create unique smoothie-like flavors such as Pineapple Habenera, Chocolate Sea Salt, and Raspberry Ice Tea. “I’ve never thought to combine blueberry and lemonade before,” customer Jake Moskowitz says, “and it was absolutely delicious. I miss popsicles; it’s a relic of my childhood.”

Walking back from the gym in downtown Athens, I stumbled across the King of Pops food cart on the corner of College Ave. and East Clayton Street. The delightful old-fashioned white pushcart stamped with a crowned creamsicle logo caught my eye, and I suddenly craved a refreshing treat. Considering I just exercised, I indulged in the juicy Watermelon Orange pop, which was unquestionably equipollent to biting into a ripe slice of watermelon, sprinkled with tarty citrus raindrops. However, the flavor of the Orange Creamsicle, another fruity ice pop, tasted muted like a watered down diet orange soda.

If you are looking for a more filling treat, fear not, because I am still drooling over the Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream pop—a light chocolate icy bar filled with three fat, doughy, fat chocolate chip cookies. I was at first skeptical towards the wet-dry combination, but after biting into the frosty chocolate which quickly melted into the sugary homemade cookie, my taste buds realized the ingredients blended together magically. What intrigued me about this pop was how the ice cream’s light and frosty flavor mimicked Pink Berry’s chocolate frozen yogurt, but the cookies were as rich as a pastry from a New York Confectionery. The flavor combinations are endless, and if you are a foodie like me, you can salivate over a complete list of flavors on the King of Pops website.

King of Pops now comes to Athens weekly, Tuesday through Sunday, from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm and cost approximately $2.50 a pop. They set up on the corner of College Avenue and East Clayton Street during the week, but you can find them in front of The Globe on Georgia game-days. So if you want to rekindle your forgotten childhood memories, then you must indulge into this savory and healthy treat. 

Athens Best Kept Secrets

You can’t tell from the exterior, as most hole-in-the-walls, but Add Drug is actually a time machine. Add Drug is located on S. Lumpkin Street in the Five Points neighborhood, and while the outside structure looks like a typical pharmacy, inside lays a charming old-fashioned drug-store diner complete with metal bar stools, deep fryers and UGA memorabilia.

“We’ve been around for 50 years,” Susan Stephens, the pharmacy tech said. She explained that when the owner Jim Horton bought the pharmacy with his father and brother, the grill was already there.

“Back in the day, all the independent pharmacies had some type of draw, like snack bars, to bring the community together” Stephens said.

With limiting seating at the food counter, the place tends to fill up pretty fast. “We only have 16 stools at our counter, so lines occur pretty often,” Stephens said. “But we have quick turnover because we cook the food fast and make sure everyone gets served quickly”.

Their menu consists of typical diner food like hamburgers, hotdogs, traditional milk shakes and flavored sodas--all underneath $4 individually.

“The pimento bacon cheese burger is really popular and people will have a conniption if we run out of fries, so take your pick” Stephens chuckled. The pimento bacon cheeseburger costs $3.75 and the fries cost $1.85.

Keith Wasser, a senior at UGA has become a regular at the food joint. “I always get the bacon cheese burger with a fried egg on top because it’s cheap and delicious,” Wasser said. “My older brother told me about this place. I like going there because it’s fast and they cook it right in front of you,” He said.

The Add Drug grill is open Monday through Friday from 9-5 p.m. and 9-3 p.m. on Saturdays and you can always drop off your USPS packages, pick up your prescriptions or roam the toy isle while you wait your turn.

Chef Ming’s Kitchen, a Chinese mandarin restaurant, is located on Epps Bridge parkway in the Epps Village shopping center next to the Kroger and Home Depot. While this overlooked and authentic restaurant offers traditional Chinese cuisine throughout the day, the lunch special is one not to be missed.

“The lunch special is where it’s at,” Jared Leidner, a senior at UGA said—probably because all Chef Ming’s lunch dishes come with fried rice, a spring roll or fried chicken wings or crab rangoon and your choice of hot & sour, egg drop or wonton soup for less than six bucks.

“Me and my buddies like going there on Fridays after class and the staff know us pretty well by now—the waitress always ask me if I want a coke before I even sit down,” Leidner said.

“Everyone has their own favorite dish,” Angela Won, a waitress at Chef Ming’s said. Won said the most popular lunch items are the Sesame Chicken and Mongolian Beef dishes. They also offer a variety of unique dishes such as Kung Pao Spicy Chicken ($5.25), General Tso’s Shrimp with Lobster Sauce ($5.95), and Mongolian Beef ($5.50). Leidner says he usually orders the Seasonal Triple Delight dish, which has your classic beef, shrimp, chicken, mixed with seasonal vegetables. The Seasonal Triple Delight dish costs a mere $5.95. Chef Ming’s is open for lunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. seven days a week, and if your willing to spend a little more, dinner is also served seven days a week from 3-10 p.m.

If you think you know about every food joint downtown, then think again. The Lay-Z Shopper, located on E. Clayton St. may look like a grimy mini-mart or “bodega” as they call it on their facebook page, but it’s actually equipped with gourmet Boar’s Head subs. To the right of the ice-cream bin, cigarettes and sodas, and across the poster of the “11 Commandments of The Lay-Z Shopper” (one of which reads “Don’t be an Asshole”) is a mini deli full of deluxe Boar’s Head meats, cheeses and veggies. 

The shop is open until 4 a.m. on weeknights and stays open till 5 a.m. on the weekends. “It gets pretty rowdy at night and a little bit nasty,” Felix Ahmed, Lay-Z Shopper employee said.  “We have shoplifters and have to handle real situations sometimes but unfortunately, that’s part of the job,” he said.

It’s the perfect place to go at three in the morning after you hit the bars,” Kirby Shulman, a student at UGA said. “I always get the turkey sub with lettuce, tomato, havarti cheese, spicy mustard, oil & vinegar with a side of barbecue chips,” she said. “And the staff is so friendly, I usually give Felix a high five before I leave.”

The Lay-Z subs can come either on a roll, which is an egg bun or a hero, which is an 8-inch-sub that comes in white or wheat bread. Felix said the most popular subs are the Buffalo Chicken ($5.50 for a hero and $4.50 for a roll) and Cajun Turkey ($5.75 for a hero and $4.75 for a roll). “You always have to get the hero,” Shulman said. “That way you can save your leftovers for the next day when you’re hung-over.”