The Butt Hutt, Athens GA

I’ve been absolutely fascinated by chicken mull since we first discovered it back in the spring at that fundraiser up in Danielsville. It really shines a light on my deficiencies as any sort of food writer, doesn’t it? I lived in Athens for a dozen years and, despite the “think global, act local” bumper sticker, I never heard of the stuff for a decade after moving. That said, it’s certainly not a common dish in the region, nor is it even really known far and wide under that name. Wikipedia has an entry for it, but there it’s called Southern chicken stew. They may not make it with squirrels or turtles anymore, but mull is one of the region’s last, best-kept secrets, and not very many restaurants keep it on the menu. Continue reading “The Butt Hutt, Athens GA” →

Zeb’s Bar-B-Q, Danielsville GA

At some point in the early ’90s, I drove from Athens to Greenville, South Carolina up US 29 and passed by Zeb’s Bar-B-Q, a little roadside restaurant in the oddest location. It’s about seven miles north of Danielsville, about halfway between that town and Franklin Springs, in between nothing whatsoever and a field. I thought that delightful, hand-painted sign out front was laugh-out-loud charming and quaint and wished Zeb well indeed as I sped on by. I don’t know what I thought I would be doing in Greenville, but I’m reasonably positive that I wasn’t going to eat as well there as I could have, had I stopped here instead. Continue reading “Zeb’s Bar-B-Q, Danielsville GA” →

Paul’s Bar-B-Q, Lexington GA (CLOSED)

At some point in the mid-90s, I started taking an interest in what I know today is classified as “roadfood,” and decided to cast my net wide and learn about some fascinating restaurants in the small towns that surround Athens in and around northeast Georgia. I sat down with the Flagpole Guide to Athens and, for the first time in my six years in town, read the darn thing cover to cover. The restaurant listings just amazed me. There were dozens more places to eat than I ever knew about. Most intriguing, in the barbecue section, was Paul’s Bar-B-Q in Lexington, which, the listing promised, was only open on Saturdays and on the Fourth of July. Continue reading “Paul’s Bar-B-Q, Lexington GA (CLOSED)” →

Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q, Birmingham AL

A few chapters previously, I mentioned how the discovery of mayonnaise-based white barbecue sauce in Clarkesville, Georgia had changed everything. “Oh, yes,” some people say, “that’s what they have in northern Alabama,” but that isn’t true. White sauce is still extremely obscure and not at all common. One of my co-workers was born and raised in Tuscaloosa and he’d never heard of it until I asked him about it. Heck, the girl we spoke with at a fair trade importer right in the heart of downtown Birmingham had only a vague idea what we were talking about. I don’t know that it’s as accurate to call it a regional delicacy as it is some weird thing that only a scattered few oddballs know about. Continue reading “Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q, Birmingham AL” →