Shortly after Nancy and I returned to DC from our trip to see Dear and eat barbecue, Doug Jacobson, the Kansas City Barbecue Maven, reminded me of our planned trip to Texas Jack’s, the Washington Post’s highly unreliable selection as the #1 barbecue place in the region. Texas Jack’s is named after John B. Omohundro, a Virginia native who had a colorful career out … Continue reading Texas Jack’s, Arlington, Virginia
After one more visit with Dear and lunch at Dreamland, Nancy and I left Birmingham in the afternoon and headed up to the Marriott by the convention center in Chattanooga. It’s a nice hotel, and had a particularly interesting clientele that night: a major boxing tournament, a large (962 guests) Indian (Asian Indian, not American Indian) wedding witHh the almost exclusively non-Indian guests dressed culturally … Continue reading Southern Craft BBQ, Johnson City, Tennessee
After our visit with the Oxford, Mississippi Tanners and a great meal at Southern Craft Stove + Tap, Nancy and I returned to Birmingham to spend some more time with Dear and to talk to her caregivers. It was easing past lunchtime when we finished, and Nancy suggested we go to a barbecue place for lunch before we headed north. Don’t you wish your … Continue reading Dreamland, Southside Birmingham, Alabama
After lunch at SAW’s, Nancy and I drove from Birmingham to visit the Oxford, Mississippi, Tanners — my nephew Griffin, his wife Molly, their children Anne Douglas and Henry, and my younger nephew Dave. If you haven’t visited Oxford, you should. It’s a lovely town with an even lovelier college campus, and, of course, Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s home. Definitely visit Rowan Oak. The heart … Continue reading Southern Craft Stove + Tap, Oxford, Mississippi
After spending Wednesday morning with Dear, Nancy and I left to go see the Oxford, Mississippi Tanners. Before we left Birmingham, we stopped for lunch at SAW’s in Homewood, one of the many suburbs of Birmingham. The barbecue at SAW’s deservedly gets a lot of love. SAW’s is on lots of “best” lists, including Garden and Gun’s, and has been pronounced by no less an … Continue reading SAW’s BBQ, Homewood, Alabama, Once Again
On Tuesday, Nancy sent me off to have lunch while she stayed with Dear and worked on her needlepoint. Continuing my tour of places in the Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame, I headed to Demetri’s. Demetri’s has been right in the heart of the central Homewood commercial district since 1961, and it recently has been inducted into the Birmingham Restaurant Hall of Fame. Sam Nakos, … Continue reading Demetri’s BBQ, Homewood, Alabama
Nancy and I canceled a planned trip to the Midwest continuing our 10K walks in the 50 state capitals in order to check in on my mother, Dear, who could be doing better. We stayed overnight at Bristol, ate, as we always do in Bristol, at 620 State Street, and continued on the next day. We hit Chattanooga around lunch time and would have gone … Continue reading Choo Choo Bar-B-Que, Chattanooga, Tennessee
In my last post I discussed sidemeat — salt pork — which is probably outside of your regular diet if you live outside the South. Even if you live in the South, you probably only use side meat to season vegetables. (Traditional Southern vegetables are rarely vegetarian.) How many of you have had side meat as an independent dish? Okay, how many who are under … Continue reading Streak o’ Lean
The subject of pot likker comes up from time to time in the blog, but not all of my regular readers know what it is, and fewer have ever made it. So here’s a recipe with an historical pedigree. It’s from Huey P. Long, known in his time as the Kingfish. You may recall that a while back I mentioned the dispute between Long … Continue reading A Classic Pot Likker Recipe
Our visit to Dear ended, so Nancy and I headed to the Birmingham Airport. I’m a big fan of the Birmingham airport. It is small, rental cars are on site, and if you’re picking someone up, you can park within a hundred yards or so of the baggage claim. And the first hour of parking is only a dollar. You also can get barbecue there. … Continue reading Jim ‘N Nick’s, Shuttlesworth Airport, Birmingham, Alabama
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