"Momma Walton" started the business in 1946, a tiny midtown diner seating only 58 customers at 900 Monroe Drive. It has remained a country-cooking meat and three (vegetables) for 60 years now, a place with a loyal customer base, where people call you by name. I've known Kevin, the present owner who is married to the granddaughter of "Momma Walton," and Peg, a 73-year-old waitress who has worked there since she was 13, for the 15 years I've personally frequented The Silver Grill. I even remember seeing Momma Walton working the cash register years ago.
The diner has an eclectic customer base and has been more than just a restaurant to the midtown community. Through the years I've even observed Kevin quietly serving meals to lone individuals who didn't say much beyond "Thank you" and didn't have to pay anything because, well, they couldn't afford to, and they were hungry. I've always thought him to be a good man, about my age, very gregarious, with a colorful down-home-good-ole-boy personality, and a sense of responsibility to the whole of the midtown community. He sort of reminds me of my grandfather, who never met a stranger.
Kevin says that "if these walls could talk... There was that time when grandma saw grandpa, who always had his pistol on him, pat one of the waitresses on the butt. Momma Walton put that big butcher knife all the way through that metal trash can!"
And, on a personal note, one of the waitresses I had for many years got married and moved to Hawaii. One evening, while I was having dinner at the grill, she called from Hawaii. Kevin had to pass the cordless phone around to all of her customers so we could chat with her. The place is plenty small enough.
Well, the lease is up. The property owners want to redevelop. The Silver Grill closes its doors forever at 9:00PM on December 22, 2006. Kevin goes to work in sales, and Peg has her applications in at three nearby restaurants.
Many of my friends and family members have eaten here with me over the years. I'll miss this place. An Atlanta tradition comes to an end.
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