Sometimes, a restaurant will show up featured on the much-loved Roadfood.com and I will have no idea why. So it is with this fairly new little place in Dunwoody, Village Burger, that opened about a year and a half ago. It is quite good and just a fantastic place to kick back and enjoy the weather and the company of a wonderful family like the one I’m lucky to have, but it’s far too new to have become a legend and it’s much more of a neighborhood hangout than a place to hunt down from miles away. Continue reading “Village Burger, Dunwoody GA”
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”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 4
So, the situation as I was leaving Tuscaloosa was this: the sun had gone down, I was completely full, albeit well under budget, I’d met some great people and enjoyed some terrific scenery, but I was on a time crunch, with another 130-plus miles to go before my destination motel, and three more restaurants to visit. I was also pretty sure that I’d be getting sleepy pretty soon, before I had planned to. I had to press on through the darkness of US-43, which runs parallel to the combined routes of I-20 and I-59 in a southwest direction until reaching the town of Eutaw, at which point it drops away straight south. Eutaw is one of those towns where travelers have to pay close attention to the signs, because the road makes some surprising and abrupt left turns. It makes a long and gentle westerly curve into the downtown area and then drops south after that. I’m a pretty seasoned road tripper and it surprised and confused me more than these things usually do, anyway. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 4”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 3
I’d only been to Tuscaloosa once before, in June of last year, when we went through on our way to Starkville, stopping for a couple of meals on our way back. I’d like to linger a little longer sometime, and actually visit the University of Alabama campus and see its legendary Strip, maybe getting a meal at the renowned Rama Jama’s. This visit didn’t leave me time. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 3”
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 2
Shortly after Marie and I started the blog, we took a trip to Tallulah Falls and found our way to a joint called Hawg Wild in Clarkesville. There, I found the first example of white barbecue sauce that I’ve ever seen, went gaga for it and we made tracks for Birmingham as soon as feasible to sample white sauce in its home state. It turns out that even Birmingham is too far south for this very regional delicacy to be common; some of the people that we met during that trip had no idea what we were talking about, but everybody in the avenues and routes around Huntsville and Decatur and some other places are at least familiar with it. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 2”
Marie, Let's Eat! 