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”
Return Visits to Two Favorites in Nashville TN
It worked out that on our trip to Nashville, I had an appetizer at one restaurant, a main course at a second, and a dessert at a third. I think that I’d do that every evening if only I could. Continue reading “Return Visits to Two Favorites in Nashville TN”
Pepperfire Spiced Chicken, Nashville TN
Nashville is the world’s home of hot fried chicken, and, as we learned from our visit last time to the legendary Prince’s, the city is not kidding at all when they say “hot.” No, sir. However the spice mix is made and however it’s applied to the bird, places like Prince’s or Bolton’s are fully prepared to knock the swagger out of anybody’s walk. But these wouldn’t be worthwhile if all you were getting was a mouth full of lava; there has to be some amazing chicken underneath it. Continue reading “Pepperfire Spiced Chicken, Nashville TN”
CBQ, Smyrna TN
Our trip to Nashville did not go as planned.
Returning to US-41 in the town of Jasper, my idea was to drive at a leisurely pace and stop wherever the roadside lured us. In one instance, this worked out splendidly. We found the gorgeous Foster Falls near the town of Sequatchie, and a better distraction from a drive I can’t describe. We really enjoyed stretching our legs and spending a few minutes walking around there. Continue reading “CBQ, Smyrna TN”
Dixie Freeze, South Pittsburg TN
For many, many years, I have told myself that one of these days, I was going to go visit Nashville and take US-41 to get there. Last weekend, Marie and I finally did this, taking the baby and the teenage girlchild along for a very, very long trek up to Nashville that let us see some amazing scenery and lovely places. I had it in mind to stop at every single barbecue joint along the way, expecting to find a few. In the end, we only saw three, all in the Nashville suburbs, thereby putting a crimp in my plan to scale the Urbanspoon Tennessee rankings. More about that in tomorrow’s chapter. Continue reading “Dixie Freeze, South Pittsburg TN”
Jalisco, Atlanta GA
In January, I wrote about the popular Nuevo Laredo Cantina, and noted then that every three or four months, I get a little peckish for El-This-Los-That Atlanta-styled “Mexican” food. The story goes that the red sauce-and-cheese style of Mexican food – the sort of place where, in the late 1980s, we all gorged on cheese dip – was brought to Atlanta by the founder of the local chain of Monterrey restaurants around 1974. Continue reading “Jalisco, Atlanta GA”
The Festival of Dairy
This is Marie, contributing an article about a day of excessive indulgence we have called The Festival Of Dairy. As regular readers of the blog may have noticed, I have been avoiding dairy since we noticed that our son was sensitive to cow’s milk proteins. Well, he’s sensitive to a bunch of other stuff too, although we have never been totally sure what, but at least that one thing we could prove and replicate. As a result, I have been avoiding some of the foods I love most, such as good cheese, cheesecake, ice cream, most chocolates, and more. Continue reading “The Festival of Dairy”
Marie, Let's Eat! 