Dinner at John's City Diner Leads to Green Top BBQ.......

I attended a Birmingham Chamber event at the Summit Club tonight in downtown Birmingham.  After the event I met my wife at John's City Diner which back in the day was known as John's Restaurant.  I always enjoy eating at John's because of its history and the great food and service. 

Tonight though was one of those nights that brought back some great memories.  I don't know if it was because we were there very late and it was almost empty, if it was the waitress telling stories of the older patrons arguing about if the new food or the food from the past was better, but it really reminded me of the old days and  why I cater BBQ the way I do ----to give people something to remember and talk about for years to come..(more to come on this topic)

Lets go back to 1980, it is Saturday in Jasper, Alabama, and it is the end of the month - that means payday..... The Wade family loads up and heads east on 78 Highway towards Birmingham to shop at Eastwood Mall and then to John's Restaurant for dinner.  Of course back in the day , you had Baby Doe's, The Bright Star, Joy Young's, Green Top BBQ, and John's Restaurant -that was the best..........Man do I wish Joy Young's was still around but lets get back to the story........

I can still remember the family waiting in line to get in John's.  We ordered John's Restaurant's famous steaks, fried shrimp(that was seafood back then, you didn't have 30 seafood restaurants in town like you do now), and John's famous slaw with that homemade French Dressing....You always felt like you were on top of the world after eating at John's Restaurant.  Like Bear Bryant said "I can't define class, but I sure can recognize it when I see it", and John's City Diner had class back then and still does today.

There is just something about how food brings people together and how the older restaurants that we went to years back are still the one's we go to now or we wish were still around.  I like John's City Diner because the waiters and waitresses tell me their name, they are friendly, they know the history of the restaurant, and they let me ramble about how when I was 5 years old I sat in this same booth with my
family ......That is a restaurant, that is food.........

It is the same reason I have to stop at Green Top BBQ every time I make the trip home to Jasper.  BBQ cooked over an open wood fire pit and you better know how to order it when the waitress asks for your order -  outside, inside, chopped, or sliced........It has history.......my family stopped there every time we traveled to Legion Field-"The Old Grey Lady" to watch Alabama play football.  We order BBQ from there for the holidays, they know us by name, and the BBQ is OLD SCHOOL........  It Ain't Pretty on the outside but the BBQ is legendary.... 

My rambling blog post tonight reminds me that BBQ isn't supposed to be pretty, petite, shiny, brand new, or served on fancy plates........BBQ is about going back, way back, back when it was ok to spill bbq sauce on your shirt, back when the whole family sat around the TV watching Alabama and Auburn playing football at Legion Field while eating Green Top BBQ or Crutchfield's smoked pork shoulder, back when you could just order a bbq sandwich and it only came with a bag of golden flake potato chips, back when Coca Cola or Grapico in the bottle was the drink of choice to go with your chopped outside meat bbq sandwich............... 

I can go on and on about John's City Diner and Green Top BBQ because they are classics, landmarks, remind us of past great times and more to follow.  That is why I partnered with Ted's Restaurant which has been around for 35 years in downtown Birmingham... combining their history of great meats and vegetables with my traditional BBQ......trying to make a classic of our own.

Comments

[Joe]

Great note, Heath, I also have very fond memorries of John's and Joy Young's, et al. I hope you and Dedra and the boys enjoy your long weekend at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear...safe travels...