This is Marie, contributing a follow-up article (here’s the original) about the iconic Athens restaurant, Weaver D’s. It’s been in a rather precarious position the past year or so, even announcing, twice, a closure, but somehow Dexter has hung on. His store is an Athens landmark, so we’re crossing our fingers that he’ll stick around. Continue reading “Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods, Athens GA (take two)”
Tag: southern belly
The Sheik, Jacksonville FL
In the 1960s, as fast food really began to take off, every business owner was looking for an angle. In Jacksonville, a fellow named Tarzan Akel came up with a winking little way to get attention. Several of the area’s delis had been building sandwiches in pita bread for a few years, looking to win the attention of the city’s large Arabic population, and he decided to go full-bore into middle eastern imagery. In 1965, he opened the first of what would be a six-store chain called The Sheik, specializing in a pita sandwich filled with ham, salami, bologna, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion, along with a special sauce. It’s called a camel rider. Continue reading “The Sheik, Jacksonville FL”
Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part eight
Of all the restaurants that I planned to visit on this circumnavigation, Leo & Susie’s Famous Green Top Bar-B-Q – my heavens, what a great name! – was the one that I looked forward to the most. About three years ago, I discovered the work of the Southern Foodways Alliance and their “Southern BBQ Trail.” This is, if you have not already found it, an invaluable resource for barbecue lovers. In Alabama, this restaurant is one of twelve to be spotlighted via one of Amy Evans’ completely terrific oral histories. Please go give this a read and a listen if you’ve not already, and if it doesn’t leave you craving a visit, something might very well be badly wrong with you. (Evans covered all the details about how the meat and sauce are prepared in her interview with Richard Headrick, so I’ll point the curious among you that way.) Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part eight”
Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part four
Well, I can’t say that I was not warned. Let’s just put that on the table.
So, some years back, as my interest in regionally specific cooking began to grow, I read John T. Edge’s excellent and breezy Hamburger & Fries, a cute little book that talked about green chile burgers in New Mexico and steamed burgers in Connecticut and pimento cheeseburgers in South Carolina – those I know darn well – and something called slugburgers in upper northeast Mississippi. Now, New Mexico and Connecticut are pretty far outside our realistic travel radius, but Mississippi sounded doable. Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part four”
Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six
In today’s chapter, the tragic story of a traveler not eating what he intended to eat.
I made terrific time from Manning to Orangeburg, because I-95 connects the two towns. Once upon a time, US-301 had crossed over Lake Marion as a high two-lane bridge, but when the interstate was built, they rerouted 301’s traffic between the cities onto it, and the pair of new bridges, two lanes north and two lanes south that were newly built. The old bridge is now a pedestrian fishing pier, and Lake Marion is itself quite beautiful. Continue reading “Circumnavigating South Carolina – part six”
The Sweet Auburn Curb Market, Atlanta GA
Over the years, I’ve taken my share of potshots at a certain type of Atlantan – and these are a very, very small minority of us, I trust – who cannot countenance the idea of traveling anywhere outside I-285. Now, I understand a reluctance to make long, unnecessary journeys, but having been raised as a suburbanite who would, in high school, ride or drive all over the city and the northern ‘burbs looking for certain scarce comics or records, my mindset might be a little different from some. When I was trying to assemble a complete run of Mark Evanier and Will Mueginot’s DNAgents, arbitrary boundaries like an interstate didn’t mean anything to me. Plus, we walked either under or across the darn road all the time. It was just a road, and certainly not a barrier keeping people from tracking down a really good hamburger. Continue reading “The Sweet Auburn Curb Market, Atlanta GA”
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”
Marie, Let's Eat! 