Muller's Famous Fried Cheese Cafe

Most of Helen's menus run on the same schnitzel-and-bratwurst script. Muller's reaches a little farther east. It's a family-run cafe that Michaela and Zdenek Muller opened in 2011, and the kitchen cooks German and Czech food: fried cheese, a proper goulash with dumplings, and schnitzel breaded by hand.

It's also easy to get to. The cafe sits on Chattahoochee Strasse, a couple of minutes off Main Street, so you can walk over from the shops without fighting the crowd on the main drag. Locals and visitors both fill the tables, and the cafe says it's family friendly and pet friendly.

The cafe is open seven days a week, and it's one of the few places in town where you can sit down for a real breakfast before the shops open.

Hours are from the cafe's own website. Call 706-892-1212 if you're planning around the closing time.

Start with the dish on the sign. The Fried Cheese Steak is a mozzarella or brie cheese "steak" stuffed with ham, and the Helen visitors bureau lists it first among the cafe's favorites. It's rich, golden outside and molten inside, so share one if you plan on dessert.

If you'd rather have something that sticks to your ribs after a hike, go for the Original Hungarian Goulash with Czech bread dough dumplings. The schnitzel comes as hand-breaded and grilled pork or chicken steaks with homemade roasted potatoes or potato salad, or as Wiener or Jaeger schnitzel with homemade mushroom gravy. There are also soups, grilled bratwurst with sauerkraut, and grilled chicken medallions with mushroom saute.

Breakfast and brunch run from opening, and the menu also lists soft serve ice cream, frappes, shakes and specialty coffees if you want something sweet.

The cafe posts its full menu as a PDF on mullerscafe.com, so check there for current prices.

The cafe's website lists gluten-free and vegetarian meals as part of the menu, which is welcome news in a town where breaded and fried is the default. The cheese dishes give vegetarians a real main course. If you have an allergy, tell your server when you order and ask how the dish is prepared.