An Old-Fashioned Tea Room in Atlanta

As we drove away from the Margaret Mitchell house in midtown Atlanta (see my last post), we followed a Georgia Tech bus and passed by another old building down the street, the Palmer-Phelan Apartments.



The Palmer-Phelan Apartments were built in 1907. They were built in the so-called garden apartment style which was adopted later on by many architects for apartments built in Atlanta in the 1920s.

Click on photo to enlarge

It was 2:40 pm and time for a late lunch. Since we were already in midtown and had seen a “southern landmark,” we decided to go to another one, the Mary Mac’s Tea Room, an old-fashioned southern urban lunch room close by on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Growing up in Paris I had not heard of a “tea room” as such. My mother and I would go some Thursday afternoons, when school was out, to eat a small cake and drink a cup of tea. In Paris they were called “Salon de Thé” and would usually be next to a “patisserie” (pastry shop.) They were not large shops and were mostly for ladies. They have been famous since the 19th century and earlier as shown in Jean Béraud’s painting below of the Patisserie Gloppe on the Champs-Elysées.

Patisserie Gloppe, Jean Béraud, French 1849-1936

In London I used to go to some tea rooms where they also served meals. I enjoyed the tea rooms of the chain J. Lyons and Company which were called Lyons Corner Houses. I liked one near Victoria Station, or another one on Piccadilly or near Marble Arch. They were not too imposing for a teenager who did not speak English too well. I would have a cup of tea and a piece of pie and felt very British. But I have not seen them the last few times I visited London – they must be a thing of the past already.

Vintage postcard of Maison Lyons Corner House, London

I read that Tea Rooms were extremely popular in the US in the first half of the 20th century. Most were owned and patronized by women. In the 1920s a tea room was a fashionable place for women to meet friends. They did not only serve tea and cakes like those in Paris, but specialized in “lady’s food” such as fancy salads, dainty sandwiches and yummy desserts. These tea rooms could be located in anywhere from a small house to a large department store or hotel. They were nicely decorated and offered a “cozy” atmosphere. Here are several shown in the postcards below.

Vintage postcards of US Tea Rooms - from top left: Prince George Hotel Tea Room in New York City, Blue Parrot Tea Room in Gettysburg, PA
then below left: Grand Crystal Tea Room in Wanamaker Stores, Philadelphia, PA and Japanese Tea Room in the Congress Hotel in Chicago, IL.
Last row: Frederick and Nelson Store Tea Room in Seattle, WA and the Danish Tea Room in Portland, Maine.

In the early 1900s tea rooms were a way for women to own a business and for ladies to enjoy luncheons without being escorted by men. Women proprietors gave their eating establishments the more genteel name of “Tea Rooms” rather than restaurants. In Atlanta there were 16 or so. A famous tea room was named the “Frances Virginia Tea Room.” It was established in 1928 as a 350-seat restaurant. It closed in 1962 so I never had a chance to eat lunch there but my husband gave me the 25th anniversary edition of their cookbook.

The back cover says “Frances Virginia Wikle Whitaker founded her Tea Room in the late 1920s. It was indelibly stamped with taste and style. Ladies wore white gloves. The setting was elegant, decorous, the food sumptuous …..for almost four decades the “Frances Virginia” reigned on Peachtree Street, as prestigious as her neighbors ….That Atlanta is gone.”

Inside the book is says “…In the 1920, “tea room” signified a dynamic restaurant filled with independent women, bachelors, businessmen and families, instead of the little-old-lady stereotypes we think of today.” Below is a postcard of the Frances Virginia Tea Room and a 1948 menu.



There was hardly any traffic on Ponce de Leon Avenue but we quickly found a parking place in front of Mary Mac’s Tea Room.



Mary McKenzie opened her tea room in Atlanta in 1945 to make money in the tough post World War II job market. Ponce de Leon Avenue then was a bustling place. There were trolley cars, fancy movie theatres and many shops. But now, 66 years later Mary Mac’s Tea Room is the only one left of the 16 tea rooms in Atlanta. Actually these were not really “tea” rooms but a nicer way of calling a “meat and three” restaurant. Mary Mac served old-fashioned comfort food cooked the southern way. John Ferrell purchased Mary Mac’s Tea Room in 1994. The cuisine though is the same traditional down-home Southern Food. It’s a busy restaurant but since we arrived at 3:00 pm we did not have to wait to be seated.




There are several dining rooms there. The Myrtle Room was being readied for a large group. The Ponce Room is small and was ready to serve dinner that evening.

We were seated in the Atlanta Room.




We placed our order, accompanied with what they call “Table wine of the South” which is “sweet tea.” In Georgia when you order tea you always get iced tea, usually sweet. If you wish hot tea, you have to specify “hot tea.”




While our food was being prepared I took some pictures. The hall wall is covered with photographs of politicians, sports figures and celebrities from President Carter to Cher, Richard Gere and the Dalai Lama.


With our iced tea they brought us a bowl of “pot likker” which is the broth left over from the long boil of collard or turnip greens. This is African in origin and is usually sided by a cornbread muffin so you can dip it into the pot likker. It was very flavorful.



Mary Mac’s advertises that “ … every morning the workers shuck bushels of corn, hand wash selected greens and snap the fresh green beans by hand. Breads and desserts are baked on the premises. “ Our plates arrived and the food looked indeed like classic old timey southern food. I had grilled catfish with sides of turnip greens, squash casserole and fried okra. My husband had the salmon croquettes with sides. Both of our plates were too much for us to eat and we took advantage of take-out containers to take home the leftover – which is something not done in France. We also took our peach cobbler dessert home.




Now with my new cookbook I may include some Ole’ South favorites to my regular French-Mediterranean cuisine.