The Alabama Department of Tourism puts out a little brochure, updated every couple of years, to highlight all the good eating to be found in that state. You can view a PDF of this fun document, 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before you Die, and marvel at all the interesting meals that they’ve found. A couple of things occur to me here. First, heck, we drove right past the Log Cabin in Mentone on this trip and did not stop for an order of chili corn pone. Second, I sincerely hope that when Ric and I next go to Mobile, we visit one of the places on this list. I’ve been thinking about The Brick Pit for several months, after reading 3rd Degree Berns’ rave review of the place. Continue reading “Bar-B-Q Place, Fort Payne AL”
Category: alabama
Big Jim’s Bama-Q, Hammondville AL (CLOSED)
So I decided that we should have a little barbecue tour around DeKalb County, Alabama. The valley between Lookout and Sand Mountains, where my parents lived in the 1950s, is still really isolated from today’s bloggers. With an aging population and little industry anymore, there are very few reasons for younger people to stay here, and, other than the gorgeous land around the somewhat-unimpressive-in-August Desoto Falls, little to bring tourists through. Well, there’s a church that’s literally built into a mammoth rock, and that’s pretty neat, but even Manitou Cave is closed to the public now. Haralson’s Drugs, which once sported an awesome soda counter, is long gone. Well, I knew that place wasn’t gonna last when they quit carrying comic books in 1981 or so. At any rate, there are very few restaurants in the area, and unless you’re a fan of the country band Alabama, whose fan club and museum is larger than some airports I’ve seen, or unless your parents grew up here, I can’t imagine what would bring you to Fort Payne or any of the surrounding towns. Continue reading “Big Jim’s Bama-Q, Hammondville AL (CLOSED)”
Tasty Dip, Heflin AL
In the previous entry, I noted how I have done a terrible job remembering where I heard about or got the notion to visit a restaurant. Tasty Dip was another heartbreaker, and the “version 1.0” of this entry reflected that. Continue reading “Tasty Dip, Heflin AL”
Rusty’s Bar-B-Q, Leeds AL
This is the first of two entries this week in which I will mention a restaurant that I can tell you less about than I would like. In fact, I can’t tell you the most important thing about it: where we heard about it. Well, I suppose “Is it any good?” might truly be the most important part, but as we typically don’t go in for negative reviews here, the fact that it gets an entry at all should be evidence that it’s a good place. Continue reading “Rusty’s Bar-B-Q, Leeds AL”
Dreamland BBQ and Taco Casa, Tuscaloosa AL
My dad never went to Tuscaloosa. I always thought that was weird.
When he was younger, he saw his beloved Crimson Tide play many times at Legion Field in Birmingham, and, once he and my mom moved to Atlanta, back when Georgia Tech was in the sort of proto-SEC, he’d see the Tide play in Atlanta at Grant Field. Yet he never saw the Tide at what is today Bryant-Denny Stadium, which is briefly visible, towering over the trees, as you make your way down Tuscaloosa’s main commercial strip, McFarland Boulevard. At least, I think that was the stadium. I’ll feel a bit silly if it wasn’t. Continue reading “Dreamland BBQ and Taco Casa, Tuscaloosa AL”
Mix, Birmingham AL (CLOSED)
Over the course of the next several days, we’ll be telling you about the fun trip that we took to Starkville, Mississippi, to visit Marie’s brother and sister. Karl moved there after serving a few tours in the army, and Anne, as readers who were with us last year, lives in Memphis. We had a terrific little trip, taking the baby out of state for the first time. Starkville is five hours’ drive from our place, not including the stop in Birmingham for breakfast, and once we got to Karl’s place, and visited for a little bit, he and I got back on the road to go pick up Anne, and get some barbecue. Continue reading “Mix, Birmingham AL (CLOSED)”
Kendall’s BBQ, Georgiana AL
I’ve said before that I’m sure other parts of the continent – Wyoming, Montana, the Yukon – have mind-deadening, desolate highways bereft of civilization, restaurants and funnybook merchants, but in the southeast, we have two humdingers of our own. I-16 between Macon and Savannah is one, and it’s pretty amazingly stultifying, but that’s like rush hour in Philadelphia compared to I-65 between Montgomery and Mobile. This highway, 169 miles of nothing, will try the patience of the most seasoned road tripper. Continue reading “Kendall’s BBQ, Georgiana AL”
Marie, Let's Eat! 