Out Of The Pan, Into Your Mouth

Buying food at Out of the Pan restaurant is a sensory experience.

When you step inside this tiny space off Clairemont Avenue, you're enveloped by the aromas of traditonal Southern food -- fried chicken and pork chops, greens and broccoli casserole -- steaming on the hot bar a few steps from the front door.

You may hear the food cooking in the small kitchen on the other side of the wall behind the servers. You'll definitely hear the servers callling out for more black-eyed peas and bantering with the customers. They stay busy.

Owner Eric Forth opened Out Of The Pan restaurant about a month ago at 105 Clairemont Ave., a small storefront with an awning that's housed several other restaurants over the years.

Being right in the middle of downtown and close to the city and county government buildings, it's quickly become a lunchtime favorite for office workers.

The daily offerings and the specials are written on chalkboards on the wall. A few round tables are available for dining inside, but most people buy takeout in styrofoam boxes. The iced tea dispensers usually sit right on a table outside the front door.

The daily offerings usually include fried chicken, pork chops and wide offering of vegetables, such as fried green tomatoes, rice and other staples of a Southern table. A meat and two sides is $5.99 and a meat and three sides is $6.99.

Out of the Pan offers breakfast, too, with plates such as the Cock-a-doodle-Do, which includes eggs, choice of meat, grits or hash browns and biscuit for $4.99.

It's open 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. For information, call 404-377-7266.