Once upon a time, Gatlinburg was a quiet and unassuming mountain getaway. There’s very little of those days left for tourists to see, but there’s one tiny little sandwich counter that serves as the most relaxing throwback room in the entire city. Continue reading “Parton’s Deli, Gatlinburg TN”
Carlile’s Barbecue, Birmingham AL
Just about every time we’ve visited the Magic City, it’s been either on the weekend or after lunch, making it difficult to find time to visit one of Birmingham’s oldest and most highly regarded barbecue joints. Carlile’s celebrated its 75th birthday last year. We were pleased to finally visit this fine old place and enjoyed a very good lunch. Continue reading “Carlile’s Barbecue, Birmingham AL”
A Georgia Barbecue Circumnavigation
Over the last two days, we drove 720 miles to have ten very quick visits at some very good restaurants, every last one of them better and more satisfying to me than anything we found within a lunch drive locally. I wanted to get out and recharge my batteries again, so we left Chattanooga a little after eight on Friday morning and started the day with lunch at Sprayberry’s BBQ in Newnan, which opened 95 years ago, in 1926. Continue reading “A Georgia Barbecue Circumnavigation”
A Lexington Sampling Tour (part two)
After a terrible night’s sleep in a pretty good hotel, I was ready for some more barbecue on the second day of my trip. I knew that my first stop was going to be a great one, but how would the second stop fare? Continue reading “A Lexington Sampling Tour (part two)”
A Lexington Sampling Tour (part one)
Marie wanted a few quiet days to sip tea with her mother, and I wanted to drive fast along curvy mountain roads. So we packed our masks and said our goodbyes and I decided that I could find something to eat as well. I’d been through Lexington NC three times before but never really stayed to linger. I wondered whether any of the town’s famous barbecue restaurants were open on Sunday… Continue reading “A Lexington Sampling Tour (part one)”
Photo Post 25: (from 2008) Dead Mall in Corncob – The Belmont Hills Story
(This post is a reprint of one that I had shared at my old semi-private Livejournal in 2008 and documents the last days of a once-popular enormous shopping center in Smyrna GA.)
The bulldozers will be moving into Belmont Hills later this summer. The venerable strip mall, which opened in 1950, is said to have been the first shopping center of its kind in the region, attracting tour buses from miles and miles away. The area has been decaying for years, and it will soon be bulldozed and replaced with a development of about a thousand condos and townhomes, shops and offices. So before it went, my older son and I went there for one last look at this dying Georgia landmark.
Continue reading “Photo Post 25: (from 2008) Dead Mall in Corncob – The Belmont Hills Story”
The SmoQue Pit, Statesboro GA
As anybody traveling in southern Georgia knows, it’s difficult to find a good local place that’s open on Sundays. Last week, we found a fairly new place about ten minutes off the interstate that offers a very good Sunday brunch and a take on barbecue that has one eye on modern dining and one in the traditions of the region. Continue reading “The SmoQue Pit, Statesboro GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 