Sho'nuff fine dining

WHEN? January - February 2008

WHERE? Alabama's Gulf Coast · find us on the map

Don't be surprised if we've put on a few pounds by the next time you see us. We've stuffed in as much Gulf Coast cuisine as we can during our stay in LA.

Start the day with a good breakfast:

• A morning visit to The Kolache Bakery, because I remembered my Grandmother Ellington making kolache pastries way back when.
• Big O's Seafood Grill's traditional greezy Southern breakfast is more my style. They're also open for lunch and dinner.

Then on to a mid-afternoon lupper:

• In spite of traveling to the Redneck Riviera for a number of beach vacations over the past 20 years, this was the first time we'd ever visited Original Oyster House in Gulf Shores. We enjoyed it so much that it earned its own blog entry after our first visit last month:

  We see seafood The Perpetual Vacationers

  Since then, we've visited at least three more times and introduced it to friends.
• Doc's Seafood Shack & Oyster Bar in Orange Beach is all about the seafood.
• Big Daddy's Grill on the Fish River in Fairhope, opened within the last year by a longtime RRR (Redneck Riviera Restaurateur)



• We cleared our plates on each visit to Jesse's Restaurant in Magnolia Springs. I still intend to eventually try Jesse's Whiskey Steak, which is one of the state Tourism Bureau's 100 dishes to eat in Alabama before you die (pdf).
• Speaking of dying ... the portion sizes at "Home of the Throwed Rolls" Lambert's Cafe in Foley may help send diners to an earlier grave. I'm not the least bit surprised that 4 out of 6 Yelp! reviewers mentioned the overabundance of artery-unfriendly (but tasty) food served here:

  San Fransisco:

  "Life is short, you can diet when you're dead. For now, eat another roll and savor the fried catfish."

  Pasadena:

  "The South is good for something, and yes, it's making people fat."

  Houston:

  "Really good, fattening southern cuisine ... chicken fried steak, fried okra, mashed potatoes, macaroni ... and pass-arounds come out ever-so-often."

  San Diego:

  "My take-out box weighed a ton!"

  Although 4 out of 5 of these comments are also by Californy-ans, I'm not one to stereotype.☺

• Shrimp Basket in Foley, an informal Gulf Coast chain that's popular with both tourists and locals.



• Fish Camp Restaurant in Summerdale was a close-to-home meal when we didn't feel like cooking.* Since its parking lot stays busy, we got the feeling the locals eat here frequently, and we weren't disappointed.

*And can you tell that we didn't feel like cooking a lot?☺