This is my third time living in Tuscaloosa. I was here from 1977-88, 2003-09, and 2018 to present. I must like it.
Something else I like is food. As a foodie, I’ve seen several restaurants come and go in Tuscaloosa, but there are five “goners” I especially miss. Which ones? Why?Here you go:
Posey’s Cafeteria
We all love City Cafe in Northport, but imagine if a similar menu was served cafeteria style on a hot line with friendly servers and tasted like, well, Grandma’s cooking. That was Posey’s, a big student favorite located off 10th Street, which is now Bryant Drive. There were no bad meats. Fried chicken, hamburger steak, meatloaf, win, win win. The veggies were fresh, not frozen. I especially remember the green beans. You could tell they were cooked in ham, as all southern green beans should be.
Alberta Seafood
All of us, well, most of us love going to the beach. My wife and i prefer the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area. Back in the day, Tuscaloosa had a restaurant that tasted that fresh. For most of its time open, Alberta Seafood was in, you guessed it, Alberta City. It’s last year was spent on 15th Street.
I especially remember the Seafood Platter with fried fish and shrimp. It truly tasted like what you get on the Gulf of Mexico.
Cypress Inn
When it first opened on the Black Warrior River, this gem was called “Cock of the Walk” as part of a Mississippi-based chain, but a year into it, circa 1983, local businessman Drew Henson bought the property and made it Cypress Inn. For around 35 years, it was the place to dine in T-town, and had lines of waiting guests filling the porch and bar to prove it.
My favorite dish was he grilled chicken with white barbeque sauce, but there was not a bad entree on the menu. Rumor has it a version of it could return. We shall see.
Little Italy
Also located in Alberta City, this was a locally owned pizza place, not the chain of the same name that briefly resided on the Strip. The style of pizza they served was very similar to how Papa Johns comes now, especially crust-wise. It was always delivered to my dorm hot, and usually in 30 minutes or so.
My family did not partake of delivery pizza during my formative years. Imagine my surprise when I got to college and learned of such a thing! I ate dinner in the dorm cafeteria at 4:30 so I’d have room for Little Italy around 9 p.m. In other news, I surpassed the dreaded “freshman 15” by about 20 pounds.
Shoney’s
This fading chain once had two locations in Tuscaloosa, then one, then none, which is sad. I know it’s a chain, but many of my summers were spent waiting tables at the Stone Mountain, Ga. location so I’m partial. Those tips allowed me to put money aside for things like the above four restaurants.
I especially miss getting up on a Saturday morning to go to enjoy the piping hot Shoney’s breakfast bar. Ah, the memories.
FYI: The closest two Shoney’s to Tuscaloosa are an hour away and an hour and a half away, located in Fultondale and Clanton, respectively.
Source : tuscaloosathread.com
