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

UPDATE:  Yet another reason I love Waffle House.  They stepped up the day after a tornado hit Futondale, Alabama, set up a kitchen  outside, and started feeding rescue workers and “an entire neighborhood.”  Good people.  See this.  That sort of response is in Waffle House’s DNA.  It’s a shame more of us don’t have it.   ### I was back in Birmingham to see Dear … Continue reading Why I’m a Fan of Waffle House

I’ve written about the Jim ‘N Nick’s barbecue chain a number of times, and I’ve got another post in the wings after this one.  It’s a good, dependable chain, even as it has spread to seven states.  Most of them are distressingly clean, new, and nice, but they serve good barbecue, and a very good smoked sausage and pimiento cheese appetizer. I was in Birmingham … Continue reading Jim ‘N Nick’s, Homewood, Alabama

I really like the Original Golden Rule.  It has been around forever, and was our go-to place after Ollie’s of Blessed Memory closed.  That’s where my father would go when he decided we needed a pork butt to supplement the Thanksgiving turkey.  It was Patrick’s first restaurant.  (He was only a few months  old and slept through it, dreaming sweetly, I’m sure, of barbecue.)  It … Continue reading The Original Golden Rule, Irondale, Alabama