SGTravels: South for Yo' Mouth

Since February, when I was able to post almost daily, SOUTHERN GENT has slowed down to about once a week. With both personal and professional travel taking me from Texas to New York and all over the Southeast in between, I've had limited time in front of the computer that isn't consumed with the grind of my 9-to-5.

However, no matter where I went, a blog post wasn't too far from my thoughts. So when I finished this Rainbow Tour of the South, I realized the common thread was great food with wonderful Southern influences. Come along as I revisit these amazing places...

New Orleans: R&O, Ignatius Eatery, Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Cafe Atchafalaya, Restaurant August, Mulates. While back home for Mardi Gras, we covered the map from casual classics (Felix's Oyster & Shrimp/R&O's bread pudding w/ extra sauce) to top shelf (celebrity chef & Louisiana Son John Besh's August), but what stood out where 2 restaurants that fell in the middle - the up-and-comers from Ignatius, who was voted best new restaurant in New Orleans, and Cafe Atchafalaya, who can't be missed along Lousiana Avenue because of the GIANT cast iron skillet on the side of the building.

Traveling with four Yankees (2 of them being finicky eaters), Ignatius' take on a dressed po-boy with remoulade instead of mayo, finely sliced creole tomatoes and perfectly shredded lettuce on both the shrimp (salad) and alligator sausage, peppers and onion po-boys along with Abita's "Camp Street" style and Zapp's potato chips appealed to all - check them out.

Richmond: On a quick day trip from Washington to meet a prospective client, I dragged The Boss Man to Ukrops Super Market in between meetings for a visit to their bakery as I wasn't going to leave w/o a few slices of cake and bucket of cookies. You see, several years ago, my good friend Paige introduced all of us at GWU to two amazing treats: Rainbow Cookies and Ukrops pound cake.

The Rainbow Cookies, we affectionately call "dot-cookies," are buttery and star shaped with a perfect dot of hard icing (color coordinated to the season, of course). Recently, her sister Bridgette asked me in her perfectly sweet Virginia drawl, "How do you eat your dot cookies?" Confused, as I traditionally throw the little morsel in all at one time, she explained either "dot first" or eating the cookie around the dot and "dot last" - since being educated, I definitely fall into the school of "dot last".

As you can imagine, the pound cake isn't your regular Sarah Lee. First, the butter content probably rivals any recipe Paula Deen could conjure up and second, and here's the kicker - the Pound cake is the base for their cakes and covered with fluffy frosting for any special occasion. These cakes are such an institution that Paige even had a 4+ tiered frosted pound cake for her wedding! So basically, we're talking about decadence covered with delight.


Dallas: Who would have known that airport dining could be so fine? At the end of a long work conference, I was searching the terminal map at DFW for something to eat, when the heavens opened up and shined down on two magical words: Dickey's BBQ. Dus my eyes deceive me? Hauling tail up the escalator, onto the terminal train I found Dickey's someplace around Gate 32 where I can some it up in three words:

1. Pulled Pork
2. Sweet Tea
3. Big Yellow Cups

New York City: After all the times I have been to NYC, somehow the Carolina BBQ joint that peppers Manhattan has missed my radar. So after a wonderful dinner at Jean George's Mercer Kitchen in SoHo, my good friend Barrie dragged me up to Murray Hill to see Brother Jimmy's - and I felt like I was home in the deep south, right there in the middle of Manhattan.

It may be a bit kitch, manufactured South, and to some contrived, but the pink cursive neon sign that reads "Southern Belle", Big Buck Hunter and Tailgate Toss video games - along with their signature cocktail served in a fish bowl with plenty of straws and plastic gator - gets two thumbs up, however, they loose one thumb for not having Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka.

Montgomery: The weeks of travel couldn't have ended better than with quick (as in 24 hour) jaunt down to Montgomery, AL - one website claiming credit as the "birthplace of the Civil War and Civil Rights."

I told myself, if I was going to go all the way down to Montgomery just to visit one client, I was going to pack that trip with as much BBQ and local fare as possible. Stapled inside my "trip prep" folder was the research I had done on the best of Montgomery - while my first stop at Sam's, a roadside joint that I am told can usually be seen from down the road by the plume of smoke coming from the cinder block chimney, didn't play out so well (they were closed), my second stop at Country's BBQ was slap your knee fantastic. The crispiness of the fried green tomatoes, the tartness of the coleslaw & perfectly seasoned pork made for a wonderful lunch that I finished up with a piece of lemon ice box pie I couldn't refuse.

Now I traditionally swear off chains, but the website for Jim 'N Nick's was compelling so I saddled up to the bar for a beer, a basketball game (which I barely watched) and a catfish dinner that reminded me of Friday lunch during Middle School.

It's now 8:00 AM, I am salivating and all I can think about doing as Brother Jimmy's slogan proudly instructs: "Put some South in yo' Mouth!"

Image Credits: Dickey's BBQ, Brother Jimmy's, Country's BBQ, www.edwardsmallstudio.com