GLEE CLUB MEETING-- All Invited

Just got home tonight. Awesome trip-----BBQ beef in Texas, Boudin and crawfish pie in Louisiana, shrimp po'boy in Mississippi, snow in the Arizona desert and more!  Will write about it and more-----had a great time meeting those I never had met and seeing those I'd seen before!  

So glad to have met you, Ed! Wish we could have spent more time together. You certainly had some great eating experiences!

Were there any good Breakfast experiences, on the
Mobile Trip?
Looks like the days and nights were well covered
 
mike

I have heard rumors of a breakfast place that STOOD UP to one of our own RFers and WOULD NOT let him order EVERYTHING he asked for.
 
I want to see the pictures and hear "The Rest of the Story"
 
Calling CTD!!!!!!!

Maybe Kenny Shopsin opened a place in Mobile?

I uploaded a few pictures to my Facebook account. You can check them out, if you like.
 
The highlight of my photos may be this one that welcomed me to Mississippi.
 

TTM

No Trip Report this time around.....
 
Just a very quick "pre", "post" and the actual weekend Synopsis of where we ate before and after the Glee Club Festivities with some photos of ** some new places and new dishes..... 
** descriptive reviews of places previously visited can be found
Here
and
Here
 
 
Wednesday February 13
 
Arrived in Charlotte for a later than usual dinner at Nana's Soul Food Kitchen after discovering that LaWan's Soul Food Restaurant was out of fried chicken (they had wings only)
 
Thursday February 14 
 
Heading towards Mobile, we stopped in Atlanta  and met up with Heartbreak Soup for lunch at Community BBQ in suburban Decatur. Sandra and I had something new that we  tried this time, compared to my liast visit, The very cheesy wide noodle mac n cheese. 
 

 
 
We continued on to Birmingham and enjoyed some white sauce chicken BBQ at Miss Myra's in Vestavia Hills.
Since we picked up a large tray of Banana Pudding in anticipation for the glee club group the following day
we shared another winner for dessert....their lemon ice box pie..
 

 
 
Full of "piggy motifs" these were my favorites..
 

 

 
 
and of course...
 

 
a PIG PEN!!
 
I'll continue with a synopsis of the actual glee club weekend events...at another time..

Piggie porn!
 

That mac & cheese looks really good - I've never seen that style before!

Did anyone try the Nassau Grits?
 
mike

Mike
  Both Ed Sailes and I enjoyed some very good cheese grits as a side dish with our seafood dinners at Wintzells. They were as good or better than any other than I have had at various places around the south.  Dipping Shrimp or Scallops into those grits was a real taste treat.

I didn't see any cheese grits at Wintzell's!!  Guess I was too busy eating those 3 dz. oysters on the half-shell.

lleechef


I didn't see any cheese grits at Wintzell's!!  Guess I was too busy eating those 3 dz. oysters on the half-shell.

 
I needed grits to go with my fried flounder. AFTER my 3 dozen oysters AND my plate of sauteed crab claws!

Al gave me a taste of his cheese grits-very good!

ann peeples


Al gave me a taste of his cheese grits-very good!

Hey, I sat next to Al!  He didn't offer me any cheese grits! But I ate enough and really didn't need any grits......although I love them.

Friday February 15
 
We met Poverty Pete and Mike S in Montgomery for lunch at Isaiah's
 
Well known for the Lemon Pepper Catfish...I ordered Green Beans and Corn Pudding as my sides
 

 
Sandra and I shared the peach cobbler....The best of the trip and some of the best I've had
 

 
The owner, Isaiah,  came out to chat with us. Isaiah is one of many folks I've encountered over the years  that makes visiting Roadfood restaurants so special....
 
We arrived in Mobile and our first official Glee Club stops was Wintzell's Oyster House. Having visited previously 5 years ago. I ordered exactly what I did previously...
 
Afterwards many of us returned to the Admiral Semmes Hotel to enjoy the banana pudding I got the day before at Miss Myra's
 
Saturday February 16
 
We drove to Pensacola to meet up with Buffetbuster, Chi Town Diner, Ralph Melton,  Mariton, and Will_Work_4_BBQ at The Coffee Cup. Ed Sails and Sterling joined us later
 
I ordered a ham and cheese omelette with Spanish Sauce and Nassau Grits...
 

 
 

 
Clearly the best breakfast of the trip.....The Spanish Sauce reminds me of spanish rice sauce and  I believe they use that to make the Nassau Grits....
 
All of us shared the local specialty biscuits and tomato gravy
 
 

 
 
Others departed for the museum...
We spent two hours walking Pensacola Beach..
 

 
 
We later met the crew at Peg Leg Pete's...Neither of us were very hungry....
 
I ordered a cup of gumbo and some chilled shrimp....
 

 
 

 
So I can save room for Key Lime Pie that Sandra and I shared...(Yes we ended up sharing just about all the desserts of the trip)
 

 
 
After lunch we returned to Mobile.... and picked up some goodies for later on at A & M Peanut Shop
Our second official Glee Club event was at Brick Pit BBQ which I previously visited 5 years ago...It was as good as ever...Bill, the proprietor, like Isaiah, the day before......was truly an all around great guy and every reason why we should appreciate these Roadfood treasures...
 
 
Sunday February 17
 
We met up with Buffebuster, Chi Town Diner, Travelin Man, Ralph Melton and Mariton one last time at Spot of Tea.
Great Atmosphere...
 

 
 

 
Ordinary Food. I did have the Cajun Shrimp Omelet...
 
However I did enjoy the cheese grits i ordered as a side..
 

 
After breakfast we departed ways....
 
I'll post the final, post weekend synopsis in a few days...

I live in Nashville, ground central for the southern style meat & three dining.
Isaiah's , in Montgomery, was the single best example of that that I have ever found.

Unfortunately, Al , Janet and I had some very mediocre food when we went the the other way to the gorgeous beaches of Biloxi.The bbq was, at best, bad.I can make better. However, again, the people in the south are charming, and its not a put on.They kept telling me to bring the "cold" north with me. It was 50, so I told them I would try.I so enjoyed seeing birds, ocean and a random guy cooking ribs at a corner-selling to the public. THATS where we should have stopped....

Wish I had another Coffee Cup breakfast right now!  All the pictures are great, and do justice to the marvelous food we enjoyed!

Thanks for the pictures and Input.
The Coffee Cup is an all time favorite for Breakfast and their
Lunch is great also. I'm able to get by there quite alot.
Sorry Spot of Tea wasn't all that great, never had Breakfast
there, but lunch was good a couple times. Close to the Hotel.
 
mike
 

Sunday February 17 cont...
 
 
We noticed that the Montgomery location of Wintzells was right across the street from the Hank Williams  museum and since we were a little hungry, we went there. I ordered the chilled seafood platter lunch special which included west indies salad, boiled shrimp and smoked tuna dip. Unfortunately no photos.
 
We then drove to Atlanta for dinner at Mary Macy's Tea Room- the place was so packed when we arrived that they had to hold off seating people so the kitchen to keep up. I was told this hasn't happened in over 7 years. Unfortunately as a result our meals (or at least mine) suffered- everything seemed "thrown together" and my country fried steak unlike my last visit 6 months ago , was overdone.

Sandra ordered the turkey diner and got the collards with cracklin' corn bread and  sweet potato casserole.
 

 
We each ordered separate desserts this time because Sandra really wanted the pecan pie and TTM insisted I get the banana pudding..
 

 

 
Monday February 18
 
With so much to do in so little time, we couldn't make it to the Silver Skillet for breakfast ... (I know buffetbuster will e disappointed)  After visiting the Martin Luther King Memorial including Ebenezer Baptist Church. We headed back on the road with a stop at Mutt's BBQ in Greer SC for lunch. Since we were going to be visiting friends just outside of Charlotte  in the evening and were uncertain of dinner plans (or if there were going to be any) we lucked out since the was a bbq buffet and we (I) probably ate more than we should have. I asked if ordered off the menu if it would be fresher but was assured that everything on the buffet was fresh and that if we ordered off the menu- the servings would be taken off the buffet.
 

 
Clockwise- slaw, fried chicken, ribs, pulled pork, hash and rice and hushpuppies...

Very average with the exception of the very smokey hash and rice which I really enjoyed..
 

 
The other standout was there "sweet potato crunch" which could pass for dessert
 
Speaking of dessert...
 

 
The peach cobbler was nothing special..
 
Later that evening we went to Italiano's in Lincolnton NC with my friend Julianne and her husband Scott. It was one of the few places open on Presidents Day, let alone a Monday...It was probably the first Italian restaurants I visited that didn't have soup on the menu...We had salads...My Chicken Chipotle Salad was actually pretty good.. no photos were taken since I was with friends..
 
Tuesday February 19
 
In Charlotte for the duration of the trip. After taking care of some personal business in the morning we returned to LaWan's Soul Food Restaurant for lunch..
The fried chicken was even better than I remembered and so was the mac n cheese, this time I had collards instead of cabbage and that too was really good.
 
We shared a really good peach cobbler for dessert...the second best (next to Isaiah's) on the trip.
 

 
After some sightseeing for most of the afternoon....
For dinner we went to a non roadfood restaurant with my cousin Lisa and her husband Phil called 131 Main a local chain. I had the shrimp and grits which were very good- no photos since I was with my cousin and her husband.
 
Wednesday February 20
 
After discovering that a couple of historic sites and museums in Charlotte either cut back their hours and/or temporarily closed due to lack of funding we ended up at the Gaston County museum in Dallas NC just under two miles from our final lunch destination.
 
We returned to Long Creek Fish fry in Dallas NC for our final meal. We had the Catfish with freshcut fries and hushpuppies, everything was fantastic, even the slaw tasted better...
Afterwards we were on our way home...
 


 

Here's a synopsis of the best meals.
 * Best new restaurant
* best non-roadfood restaurant
 
Community BBQ- Decatur GA
Miss Myra's Pit BBQ- Vestavia Hills AL
*Isaiah's- Montgomery AL
The Coffee Cup (best breakfast)- Pensacola FL
The Brick Pit- Mobile AL
*131 Main - Charlotte NC
Lawan's Soul Food Restaurant- Charlotte NC
Long Creek Fish Fry- Dallas NC
--

Best Coffeehouse-  Drowsy Poet- Pensacola FL
Best Beer- Sweetwater 420 (microbrewery out of Atlanta GA)

You and Sandra had some awesome food! Thanks for the rest of the leg of your travels.......

Well, it's about time that I shared the finish of our trip. One more visit to Buck's Diner in Fairhope for lunch and then Tuesday morning we high-tailed it for CA. The first stop we made was a Waffle House in Mississippi, for some quick nourishment(?). Once we crossed the border into Louisiana we needed to pick up a few items. We stopped at a Market Basket just of the 10 in Vinton, LA. I wandered over to the sign for the deli to look since there were several people there. They were dishing out gumbo, jambalaya and other items. I saw a sign for a shrimp po'boy for $3.99. Even though we had just eaten I got one to split with Sterling.  

 
It was not great, but really good. I was still on a quest for something else so we left and got back on I-10. 
When we got just through Lafayette, LA I saw a sign that attracted my attention. I had Sterling get off a few exits away and we went to the place I had seen the sign from, M & S Grocery.

 

We went inside to look. There were several people, obviously locals inside. I walked up to the deli counter.

 
OK, I was hooked. I bought andouille sausage from the fridge. I bought crawfish boudin and pork boudin freshly made and just out of the oven. 

 
I then ordered what I had been looking for----crawfish pies. they had pork pies so we got those too. Delicious!

 
We finished the pies and got back on the road. Next stop was either Luling, Kreuz or City Markets or Joel's Bar-B-Q in Flatonia, Texas. Ten years before, one of the neatest things had happened just after leaving Joel's on our way to Alabama. We were listening to the radio and ZZ Top's "La Grange" came on, one of my favorite songs. A minute after that started while the song was on, we entered the next town. La Grange, Texas!!! Was that a sign or what? As time ran, we decided we wouldn't make it to Luling, so we stopped for an early dinner at Joel's Bar-B-Q in Flatonia, Texas. I had been there 10 years before and hoped they were still around. We were in luck.

Sterling headed inside while I took pictures. 

I talked to the man inside, who told me they had been doing things here for 35 years now. There are about a dozen wooden picnic table inside. And one huge smoker!

Sterling was still full but I knew I needed BBQ so I ordered a brisket sandwich.

Simple, but delicious, with a great pink smoke ring on the brisket. 

I resisted the urge for a slice of pie from the cabinet in front which also held smoked sausages to go.

It was raining outside and quiet. Last time we had been there, 10 years ago, there was a table full of Texas Rangers. I had taken that as a good sign before we even ordered. Speaking of the menu sign.....

We left Joel's and got back on I-10. At one point I started driving. I drove through the night. Sunrise hit just before Lordsburg, NM. We pulled over for a minute and noticed something unusual. It didn't take long to figure out------it had snowed in the desert during the night!

That was an unexpected surprise and we spent quite a bit of time in the cold taking pictures of the unusual event in the desert. 
The rest of the trip was uneventful, a quick stop at the world's WORST Waffle House in Tucson and then to Mission Viejo. A week ago we had been sitting on the Gulf of Mexico, sipping cocktails and watching the boats. It came around completely a few days after we got back when we went fishing in the Pacific. Sterling caught sand dabs and bass for dinner.

 
All in all, it was a great trip. I really enjoyed breaking bread (and oysters) with so many Glee Club members who I had been friends with but never met in person before. It was great seeing wanderingjew who had visited me in Long Beach several years before. A special thanks to Poverty Pete for bringing me a slice of absolutely delicious ham. I am looking forward to the next Glee Club meeting. Thanks everyone! 
 
 

Fabulous trip West, EdSails!  You two hit some good spots. 
It was very nice to meet you and Sterling during Glee Club.  I look forward to more eating adventures with you in the future!

Cracklin's? No one filled me in? Bought 8  bags-but not fresh......love those silly things...Ed-love to see the leg of your trip!

ann peeples


Cracklin's? No one filled me in? Bought 8  bags-but not fresh......love those silly things...Ed-love to see the leg of your trip!

 
In the days when I tried the Atkins diet, cracklin's were on the menu.In fact, one of my favorite dishes to make was fried or baked chicken, using crushed cracklin's as the breading. I know that had nothing to do with my high cholesterol......

Lol! I either have high cholesterol or low blood sugar..

I have an idea, I know the Glee Club and BBQ society has their roots in meeting for BBQ and ???? for the weekend. 
 
Ed's post made me think.
 
What about a next year, the glee club's adventure head to NOLA for a BOUDIN trail and Meet and Eat.?
 
Mardi Gras is March 4, 2014 and President's Day is the weekend of February 14-16 so there is no major event taking up all the hotels in the area.
 
There is Plenty of BBQ and Boudin in NOLA
 
Here is an AWESOME site dedicated to the LOVE of Boudin
 
http://www.boudinlink.com/
 
What do you all think??
 
Al,
 
I am not trying to step on your toes, you are the master of the Glee club event planning, just throwing out a suggestion. (AND A DAMN TASTY ONE AT THAT)