Eating out in southern
Alabama is somewhat of a challenge if one wants to avoid eating food
which is drowned in hot buckets of oil. Most restaurants seem to
rely on a deep fryer for almost everything. We like seafood BUT it
is very hard to find seafood which is not drenched in unseasoned
flour and drowned in hot oil. Whether fish, crab, shrimp or oysters,
they are prepared identically. The worst part is that it all begins
to taste the same. Yes, of course, a few restaurants do exist that
have some seafood options that aren't deep fried. But 95% of the
seafood here seems to be breaded and deep fried. And “fish” in
the local area is usually farm- raised catfish from Mississippi.
But seafood is not the
only problem. Breakfast is another issue. Besides the problem with
grits as the common starch on a breakfast plate, side meat is also a
problem. We've been to several places that deep fry “breakfast
sausage.” Some places have sausage links that they deem to prepare
in a fryer instead of a cooking on a flat top grill. Though the term
“breakfast sausage” may mean the traditional link sausage (“Jimmy
Dean” etc.) or bulk sausage patty, but in some places it means a chunk
of smoked rope sausage which is split down the center and deep fried.
Of course the menu is unclear as to what type of sausage is being
served. Wait staff are not that helpful either as they may or may
not know the difference. Caveat emptor.
And then there is bacon.
Normally, bacon is thick or thin, crispy or wimpy, smokey or not
smokey. It is a challenge to order anywhere. I don't like bacon
which cracks whenever it is dropped on a plate. I like it with an
oink or two left in it. I have had omelets containing bacon strips
and pieces. Some more crisp than others. But there is something
very wrong with omelets advertised as containing bacon which is
nothing more than Baco-bits crumbles. It is something you don't want
to eat twice. Trust me.
Donna and I had breakfast
at a popular restaurant in downtown Fairhope (a good sized community)
and she ordered an egg with bacon. You guessed it: the bacon was
deep fried! The bacon was so crisp it shattered by looking at it.
The waitress checked on us and Donna commented on the incinerated
bacon. Apparently, the owner overheard the conversation and came to
discuss the issue. The owner stated that people like their bacon
crisp and, therefore, it is deep fried. Donna was told that if she
didn't wanted it deep fried, she should have ordered it prepared
differently. Really? Who would ever think that bacon would be deep
fried? A deep fried easy-over egg, anyone? We haven't rushed back
to that place.
We have been accustomed to
the fact that wherever we park our rig, that “butter” and
“cheese” means different things to different people. When asked
for butter, waitstaff will invariably bring some form of margarine and very
seldom butter. Butter comes from a cow, oleo from a plant. How hard
can that be? It's like asking for a rib-eye steak and being served a
pork chop. Okay, maybe not quite. And cheese is the same way. There
is a lot of very good cheeses made in this country, but little of it
has made it to this area. Cheese usually means something akin to
Velveeta. It's like that cellophane wrapped yellow gook that you see
in the dairy case. Cheddar cheese on the menu means that the yellow
gook was not cellophane wrapped by the producer.
Eating in has never looked
better. And, by the way, buying cheese at the local grocery labeled
as 'Made in Wisconsin” is not a sure fired way of getting a quality
product. If the label says “Crystal Farms,” run towards the box
of Velveeta. It's probably better.
