Anyone who hung around Tech campus between the 1940s and the 1990s remembers Junior’s Grill, home of North Avenue’s finest chicken fingers and burger baskets. And anyone who’s hung around campus since Junior’s closed in 2011 knows that the restaurant’s old location on the backside of Tech Tower has been sitting eerily empty for too long. But anyone hanging around campus this week—spring break stragglers, say, or your intrepid Alumni Association staff—knows that life has returned to the old spot in the form of a new outpost of Highland Bakery, one of Atlanta’s most beloved purveyors of breakfast and lunch.
After a soft opening yesterday, Highland officially opened its doors this morning. And so this afternoon, your faithful Alumni Magazine assistant editor made the long journey down the stairs of the Alumni House, across North Avenue and up a slight incline (woof) to visit the Institute’s newest dining option. I did this because I know you Tech alumni like being kept abreast of the latest happenings around campus. I assure you that it had absolutely nothing to do with my great personal interest in baked goods.
Verdict: While the bakery won’t satiate anyone’s craving for fantastically greasy diner fare, the full-service cafe is a delight in most other ways. I can especially recommend the curry chicken salad sandwich, and I give a big thumbs up to the combo of a tiny high-hat cupcake (or two) and iced coffee to go.
Once students return to campus next week, the dining area—light and airy, outfitted with modern furniture and subtly Tech-y gray and yellow textiles throughout—will doubtlessly be jammed with study-groups and lone scholars hunched over MacBooks. But that’s OK. It’ll be good to see the place bustling again.
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