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”
Tag: north alabama
Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 1
Back before Christmas, Marie mentioned that she’d be taking the baby for a trip to visit her family in early February, just the two of them. I realized that we could each have road trips. Sadly, the interference of the real world meant that we did this on different weekends, but she got her trip and I got mine, and we are quite satisfied with the results. Continue reading “Circumnavigating Alabama – Part 1”
Joe’s Walk Hard BBQ, Leesburg AL
Longtime readers know that Marie and I – well, admittedly, it is mainly just I – get a kick out of stopping in other states for regionally-available sodas that we cannot get in Atlanta. When we were in Fort Payne, we pulled into a grocery store called Sav-a-Lot, where I hoped – actually, where I expected – to get twelve-packs of Buffalo Rock and Grapico, but they didn’t carry them. They did, however, have strawberry flavored Moon Pies. I gobbled those babies up within four days. Continue reading “Joe’s Walk Hard BBQ, Leesburg AL”
Bar-B-Q Place, Fort Payne AL
The Alabama Department of Tourism puts out a little brochure, updated every couple of years, to highlight all the good eating to be found in that state. You can view a PDF of this fun document, 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before you Die, and marvel at all the interesting meals that they’ve found. A couple of things occur to me here. First, heck, we drove right past the Log Cabin in Mentone on this trip and did not stop for an order of chili corn pone. Second, I sincerely hope that when Ric and I next go to Mobile, we visit one of the places on this list. I’ve been thinking about The Brick Pit for several months, after reading 3rd Degree Berns’ rave review of the place. Continue reading “Bar-B-Q Place, Fort Payne AL”
Big Jim’s Bama-Q, Hammondville AL (CLOSED)
So I decided that we should have a little barbecue tour around DeKalb County, Alabama. The valley between Lookout and Sand Mountains, where my parents lived in the 1950s, is still really isolated from today’s bloggers. With an aging population and little industry anymore, there are very few reasons for younger people to stay here, and, other than the gorgeous land around the somewhat-unimpressive-in-August Desoto Falls, little to bring tourists through. Well, there’s a church that’s literally built into a mammoth rock, and that’s pretty neat, but even Manitou Cave is closed to the public now. Haralson’s Drugs, which once sported an awesome soda counter, is long gone. Well, I knew that place wasn’t gonna last when they quit carrying comic books in 1981 or so. At any rate, there are very few restaurants in the area, and unless you’re a fan of the country band Alabama, whose fan club and museum is larger than some airports I’ve seen, or unless your parents grew up here, I can’t imagine what would bring you to Fort Payne or any of the surrounding towns. Continue reading “Big Jim’s Bama-Q, Hammondville AL (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 