Tag Archives: travel

Beer in the Garden

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Miss Annie’s Rustic Park Restaurant and Beer Garden in St. Joseph, Tenn., finally is reopened! It’s been a long four years since the owners had to close and move their restaurant back from the roadway to make room for U.S. 43 widening. They took advantage of the break, though, and remodeled and redid so that Miss Annie’s has returned better than ever. Definitely worth the wait. The renovated building is spacious and gleaming, while the beer-garden courtyard is clean and welcoming. What is Miss Annie’s, you ask? Well, it’s a restaurant, with sandwiches, steaks, chicken, seafood, BBQ and pasta. It’s a bar, with plenty of beer and appetizers such as hush puppies, stuffed mushrooms and spinach/artichoke dip. It’s a landmark —  Miss Annie’s has been welcoming thirsty travelers and locals off and on since 1928. And it’s an unexpected surprise to find such a fun place in what everybody cheerfully admits is close to the middle of nowhere. Miss Annie’s is about 12 miles from Killen, Ala., — 1.5 miles north of the Alabama/Tennessee state line on U.S. 43. This is the sort of place that makes you happy as soon as you walk in. On the recent crisp fall evening my husband and I went, there were families, couples, groups of friends and folks getting off work, all enjoying a place to linger and relax. Now, this isn’t a place to explore new breweries since the beer menu is pretty limited or to worry about your cholesterol level — although the house salad is fresh. Just go and enjoy yourself. Check out the Web site first, at http://www.missanniesbeergarden.com/, and learn the history of the venerable and much-loved Miss Annie’s.

Your Table Awaits

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This sign is on U.S. 72 west in Cherokee, Ala. I love the table and chairs -- what a great idea for a kitchen wallhanging!

Tupelo Travels

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I’ve found a new favorite place to eat in Tupelo, Miss. Or, rather, my dear husband found it. He asked Ginna Parsons, the food editor at the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (read her blog, Speaking of Food, at http://djfoodblog.wordpress.com/) for lunch recommendations, and she sent us to Southern Ice Cafe, 3952-D N. Gloster, in the shopping center near Barnes Crossing Mall where Bed, Bath and Beyond is. “You’re going to love it,” my husband promised. And he was right! Housed in a former Quiznos’ (the sandwich oven and basic setup are still there), Southern Ice Cafe is a sandwich shop, ice cream (actually, gelato and sorbetto) store and tapas bar in one. I’ve never seen the tapas small-plates format translated to fast food, but it works here. You can order from four different “World Plates”: bistro, from France, featuring quiche lorraine and rataouille (eggplant and zucchini stew); tapas, from Spain, with ham-wrapped shrimp and roasted/marinated vegetables; Middle Eastern,  with hummus, baba ganoush (eggplant dip) and tabouli (bulghur salad); and antipasto, from Italy, with tuna, bruschetta and mozzarella. This is my kind of food! I asked for the addition of grilled bread with olive salad, part of the Spain plate, to my Middle Eastern plate, and it was all fresh and delicious. My husband ordered the Santa Fe Salad, with black beans and chicken, plus the broccoli cheese soup — also fresh and yummy. Southern Ice has an extensive sandwich menu, with subs, wraps, muffulettas and sandwiches made deli-style, toasted or hot. There also are specialty salads and you can create your own with more than a dozen additional ingredients. And we didn’t even get to the gelato and dessert menu, but I’m planning a return trip soon. Most prices were about $6-$7 — reasonable for the amount and quality of food you get. Southern Ice opens at 11 a.m. every day and closes at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays. Call 662.840.5885. I’m telling you, it’s worth the drive!

Tennessee Trips

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If you’re headed to Lynchburg, Tenn., this fall, make sure to stop at Woodards Market, south of town on Hwy. 55 (Fayetteville Highway) and home of some of my favorite food ever. Woodards is a general-store gathering spot for all of Moore County. You can buy almost anything you need here and catch up on the latest news: distillery gossip, high-school football scores, Sunday sermons, presidential politics — it’s all discussed while roaming the produce section in case your tomatoes are bad and you need to buy some or while waiting in line for fried chicken and sausage biscuits at the deli counter. And while you’re eavesdropping … uh, listening, I mean … pick up local treats such as creamy store-made pimento cheese in regular, white or jalapeno; Granny’s Cow Patties, classic chocolate-oatmeal-peanut butter no-bake cookie, from nearby Decherd, Tenn.; and a bag of whole Uncle Bud’s Salted Peanuts, which are deep-fried so you can eat the shell. If you want to. The shells taste sort of like fried sticks — a bit woody and fibrous — but it’s nice to know you can chow down on them if you want to. Less waste that way, at least.

My favorites are the cookies. I cannot pass up a chocolate-oatmeal no-bake cookie, and these are rich and creamy with authentic flavors and nice chewy oatmeal. Perfect for breakfast — I mean, it’s oatmeal, right?

Eating NOLA in Tupelo

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For a taste of New Orleans in Tupelo, Miss., swing by Boondock’s Grill, downtown at 206 Troy St. This casual Cajun/Creole/Caribbean restaurant is a Tupelo favorite, with a fun selection of lively appetizers, draft beer, fried catfish, po’boys, meat-and-vegetable lunch specials, creative salads and soup of the day — all with a Louisiana twist. I especially like the house salad because it’s not your usual iceberg/grated carrot/shredded red cabbage pre-mixed mix. Instead, it’s a taste adventure with walnuts and blue cheese-bits rolled in a spicy herb mixture, cubes of some sort of delicious (smoked?) ham and a creamily firey house vinaigrette. No iceberg in sight. And while your eyes are rolling back in your head with delight, take a look at the exposed brick walls, stone tile floor and pressed-tin ceiling that gives the restaurant its authentic French Quarter feel. Boondock’s is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5-10 p.m. Sunday. Call 662.840.5680.