I feel that I must again express my disappointment that rural Alabama is so poorly covered by those of us who blog about food. I see that we have quite a nice audience, even if the transition to WordPress and our own domain means that our stats have taken the stumble that I heard would happen, and I’d like to think that many of our readers are adding restaurants that we have featured to their personal wishlists. Having said that, however, nothing would be better for either small communities or the independent restaurants there than blanket coverage from lots of bloggers, particularly when the restaurants that need championing are ones that serve up a product as good as the pulled pork at Big Marv’s. I applaud the restaurant for using social media to communicate with its fans, but I’m disheartened that Google searches don’t suggest that anybody else is using social media to talk about the restaurant. This needs to change. Continue reading “Big Marv’s BBQ, Scottsboro AL (CLOSED)”
Category: alabama
Bowen’s Dairy Bar, Henagar AL
Real life had interfered with our plans in a calamitously disagreeable way back in December and January, and while we kept on trucking and did not let it inconvenience us too much, it did mean the cancellation of two out-of-town trips that we had planned. One of these was going to incorporate a visit to what is possibly the last surviving Kay’s Kastles, a once-thriving ice cream chain that now only seems to exist in the town of Soddy-Daisy, a little north of Chattanooga. Perhaps we’ll make it back sometime. I mentioned this to my mother, who never, ever objected to stopping for a treat at a Kay’s Kastles in Rome on the way back from visits to Fort Payne, and she said that she had half a mind to take a side trip to this Kay’s the next time the road takes her to Chattanooga. She says that she really loved Kay’s grape milkshakes. Continue reading “Bowen’s Dairy Bar, Henagar AL”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Postscript
After finishing our quick visit to Huntsville, I had hoped to visit a couple more barbecue places in northeast Alabama, and so I used Google Maps to chart our way home. Then, unlike our “whatever happens” drive to Nashville the previous afternoon, I looked around Urbanspoon and hammered down two more places to try. This served as a “postscript,” if you like, for my “circumnavigation” of that state two weeks prior, hitting a few more places that I couldn’t have found at that time. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Postscript”
The Barbecue Dynasty of Huntsville AL
Ever since we started this blog, I have wanted to go back to the great city of Huntsville and pay a visit. I had only been here once before – like millions of kids around the southeast, I took an overnight middle school field trip to the Space and Rocket Center – and did not really remember anything about the city. What we found was a very charming and busy region, with a run of sprawl south of the downtown area along US-231 that’s pretty ugly but also decently managed, with a limited access highway running in tandem with the light-controlled avenues beneath it. We visited on a day with gorgeous blue skies contrasting the ring of the southern Appalachians that border the urban area, and it just felt peaceful and relaxed and, honestly, didn’t show us a bad side. Huntsville is the home of a couple of minor, minor league sports teams and a hospital with a monorail, and it’s where some of Big Bob Gibson’s kinfolk have carried on his tradition with some interesting barbecue joints. Continue reading “The Barbecue Dynasty of Huntsville AL”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 7
At last, my trip had brought me to Montgomery, and it was time to start heading home. I had decided to go north via US-231, which connects Alabama’s capital with the towns of Oxford and Anniston at I-20, and from there it would be just an hour and a bit home. Now, it’s with this last leg that I really do feel the need to kick myself. Back in part four of this story, I explained that it simply did not occur to me that the sun was going to go down and I would be driving part of this journey at night. Somewhere in Anniston, I am aware that there’s a barbecue joint called Goal Post that has one of the most amazing neon signs of them all. It’s a wonderful, animated thing that has a “football” travel along wires from the roadside sign to the restaurant. (There’s a pretty lousy twelve-second clip of it on YouTube. Hey, look at that. It’s next door to a Jack’s! I told you those things are all over northern Alabama.) I have said that I want to see that darn sign at night, and it just flat out did not occur to me to get directions and go see it as the last stop of the tour. I really am a numbskull. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 7”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 6
I heard a story once. Seems there were some pledges at an Alabama fraternity. Two were from Birmingham and two were from Montgomery. The two from Birmingham were waxing eloquent about Pete’s Hot Dogs. This legendary place, which closed last year after the very sad death of its owner Gus Koutroulakis, is part of the hearts and minds of generations of travelers and locals. The fellows from Montgomery were equally insistent that Chris’ Famous Hotdogs was even more magical. As the argument became spirited, the older frat brothers said that the only fair way to settle it would be to provide a taste test, and the four were commanded to leave town, two going this way and two going that, and return in six hours with enough hot dogs for everybody in the house. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 6”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 5
When I woke on Saturday, I surprised myself by being a little hungry. After all that I ate on Friday, I didn’t expect that, but I also knew that I’d be eating a little less on this day, and light salads for a couple of days after. I also surprised myself by sleeping as late as six, which is seven on my Eastern Standard Time clock and a couple of hours later than I normally rise. Still, I had about an hour to drive before lunch and five hours to kill, so I puttered around and played online and took a very leisurely morning. Eventually, I pulled on one of my Georgia Bulldogs T-shirts, checked out, went back to Jackson’s main street to photograph the restaurant where I was unable to eat the night previously, and wound my way down the road toward Mobile. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 5”
Marie, Let's Eat! 