Make your next visit to the alpine town of Helen, GA, extra cheesy with a meal from Muller’s Famous Fried Cheese Café.
Family-owned, the café’s menu is a nod to Czech and German cuisine, led by Executive Chef Zdenek Muller, who trained at the Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management Institute in Prague.
The hard part? Deciding which cheesy specialty to choose.
“We try our best, cooking all our meals from scratch,” Michaela Muller told At the Table ATL, introducing a Czech specialty: French brie stuffed with ham, served with potato salad.
How does this dish represent the Czech Republic?
“This is one of the most traditional Czech dishes.” Muller said. “You can find it in every single Czech restaurant in Czech Republic.”
“Egg wash, flour, and bread crumbs, and then it’s fried," she said. “It is so filling and so rich … but the taste is so good, everyone who tries it once comes back for it.”
How does this dish represent Atlanta?
“When we came to Helen, 15 years ago, like tourists. We fell in love with the look of the village," Muller said. “We wanted to bring something that’s not here, something that represents our culture, our cuisine."
Other Czech favorites like schnitzel and dumplings can also be enjoyed at the cafe, but Muller said the fried cheese has really become an attraction.
“Lots of people come back, just because of the fried cheeses," she said. “We feel like a responsibility, cause lots of people from the Czech community come here."
At the Table is a digital series produced by 11Alive's Matt Pearl and Liza Lucas. Metro Atlanta features the food of dozens of nations. We want to eat through them all! Follow us on Facebook and share your favorite food stories.