I love it whenever I get to visit a restaurant and have a preconceived notion dropped on its head. A few weeks ago, I was invited to sample a lunch at Kabob Land, which is in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, on Piedmont just below its intersection with Peachtree. I looked forward to visiting, but I think that the colorful, Saturday-morning-cartoon logo that the restaurant employs actually hides just how good the food is. I always try to visit every restaurant that we try with an open mind and a kind heart, but wacky lettering sort of gets in the way of seriously good food. Continue reading “Kabob Land, Atlanta GA”
Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, Irondale AL
For our final stop on this road trip, we visited one of the oldest restaurants in the southeast. Golden Rule Bar-B-Q is on at least its fourth set of owners, and the current home of its flagship store is, again, at least the fourth, but it traces its history back to 1891, when a family named Williams opened the original stop on the long Alabama to Birmingham highway. In the late 1930s, a gentleman named Jabo Stone, who had married into the Williams family, became the owner. He sold it in 1969 to Michael Matsos, and, in 2010, CM Foodservice, LLC took over Golden Rule as well as Matsos’s popular Michael’s Steakhouse. They run a few other small brands with locations dotted around the southeast, including La Paz, which, until recently, had a store within walking distance of my childhood home in Vinings GA. Continue reading “Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, Irondale AL”
Gus’s Hot Dogs, Adamsville AL
On Sunday afternoon in Memphis, our daughter bought a very nice blue dress. On Monday, she wore it and received more compliments from the crowd at Gus’s Hot Dogs in Adamsville than the local homecoming queen probably got last fall. There’s a whole bunch of really friendly people in this town, and by 11.15 each day, they’ve swarmed into Gus’s. We were lucky to find a table. Continue reading “Gus’s Hot Dogs, Adamsville AL”
Gibson’s Donuts, Memphis TN (take two)
Here’s a very short little post for you today, readers. The last time we were in Memphis, we stopped by Gibson’s Donuts on our way out of town, with a light and gentle rain beginning to fall, and I took terrible photos, and we sped out of there as quickly as possible for what would be the beginning of a really, really long and exhausting drive home though a monsoon. With a flat tire. This time, I wanted to try a little harder and capture the fun place, which opened in 1967, a little better. Continue reading “Gibson’s Donuts, Memphis TN (take two)”
Dyer’s Cafe, Collierville TN
In 2012, Mark McMinn celebrated the hundredth anniversary of Dyer’s by moving the restaurant – the version that he owns, anyway – further out east from Memphis, to the town square of a lovely, sleepy little suburb called Collierville. There has been some pushing and pulling as to whose is the one, true Dyer’s, because there’s another restaurant by that name in downtown Memphis, on Beale Street, pulling in the tourist dollars, but after I read Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story by John T. Edge, I figured that the McMinn-owned Dyer’s was the one to visit. He says that his father, Kahn Aaron, worked for “Doc” Dyer in the 1920s and bought the restaurant from him in 1935. Continue reading “Dyer’s Cafe, Collierville TN”
Germantown Commissary, Germantown TN
After our lunch in Mississippi, we returned to Memphis, picked up our daughter, took her shopping, and then went to Marie’s sister’s house to spend the afternoon with her. They played Carcasonne – I’m open to most any game, but this one’s appeal has long eluded me – and, several hours later, the convention finished, their brother Karl joined us for some Munchkin, and then we convoyed out east along Poplar Avenue for ages and ages, to the suburb of Germantown. Continue reading “Germantown Commissary, Germantown TN”
SideStreet Burgers, Olive Branch MS
If I may be allowed to wear my “well, some people in this hobby take me seriously, so I’ll speak seriously once in a while” hat for two paragraphs, I really don’t like it at all when people delete their blogs. Yeah, I understand that long, long-term blogging is uncommon, and many hobbyists lose interest and find new hobbies – or start families, that seems to derail or sideline quite a few bloggers who, upon becoming a daddy or mommy, elect to eat out a lot less – and let their blogs wrap up for a while. That’s disappointing, but understandable. Continue reading “SideStreet Burgers, Olive Branch MS”
Marie, Let's Eat! 