Remembering F. Scott Fitzgerald at West Egg Cafe
“Great Gatsby” author F. Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack at the age of 44 on December 21, 1940. That was 72 years ago, but his name lives on through his four books, short stories, movie versions, at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and at a westside Atlanta cafe. Located on Howell Mill Road, West Egg Cafe is named for the new-money neighborhood in “The Great Gatsby,” which is co-owner Jennifer Johnson’s favorite book.
“We had a reading in our wedding from the book, back in 1997, when West Egg was just a twinkle in our eyes,” she says about she and her husband, Ben. “We felt that even if someone did pick up on the Gatsby reference, we’re located on Atlanta’s West side, and we serve a lot of eggs!”
Even if diners don’t pick up on the name right away, they’ll see this quote hanging in the restaurant’s modern cafe design:
And while the menu is heavy on breakfast and brunch fare, from the Georgia Benedict to a Pimiento Cheese and Bacon Omelet, lunch and dinner are also served. (The huevos rancheros are pictured below.) A bookshelf with reading material in the waiting area and card catalog coffee station are a final nod to West Egg’s literary roots, and a photo booth helps capture the whole experience.
Stop by the restaurant tonight for a special Prohibition-era cocktail in Fitzgerald’s name, and find out more about West Egg Cafe and other literary eateries in the Deep South Literary Trail App.
Gustav Van Sant III of Tulane University / December 7, 2022
In paragraph 2, the sentence which reads partially, “she says about she and her husband . . .” is ungrammatical; would one says “she says about They or them? Them would be correct; it is the object of the sentence, therefore the subjective or nominative-case pronoun “she” will not work where it is placed in this case. The error belongs to the journalist or author of the article, not the speaker or the subject of the article, Jennifer, the once newlywed dreamer of The West Egg Cafe. Shame on Deep South Magazine for not correcting this error! I thought The South was known for its grammatical correctness and superiority in all matters of literary nature. Yours, Gus