"Mr. Bear goes to Starkville" or "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a...." - SECT food thread

[BulldogBear]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. To recap, during the Autumn I have had a tendency to fall into a rut and go to the same places I like. So, when I decided to attend the entire SEC Softball Tournament, I decided to explore and eat only at places I've never been to as the restaurant has REALLY upgraded in the last decade.

The first day the idea was to sample the ballpark fare. Well, that didn't last long. The only vendors were ice cream and snow cones. The concession stand had mostly snack food with the only thing on the menu akin to real food being a $5 hot dog. And they ran out of hot dogs after game one of a four game slate.

So, after the first session this drove me to miss part of the Ole Miss-UGA game in order to find some grub. But this allowed me to get in a bonus trip to Bulldog Burger Company. I had the Bryant, which is sort of like a BBQ Burger but the sauce is really a Bourbon glaze. The highlight was the Philly Cheese Egg Rolls. Oh my. I sat at the bar and had a great view of the game on the tube. Only drawback was a big cockroach on the wall.

[starkvegasdawg]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. To recap, during the Autumn I have had a tendency to fall into a rut and go to the same places I like. So, when I decided to attend the entire SEC Softball Tournament, I decided to explore and eat only at places I've never been to as the restaurant has REALLY upgraded in the last decade.

The first day the idea was to sample the ballpark fare. Well, that didn't last long. The only vendors were ice cream and snow cones. The concession stand had mostly snack food with the only thing on the menu akin to real food being a $5 hot dog. And they ran out of hot dogs after game one of a four game slate.

So, after the first session this drove me to miss part of the Ole Miss-UGA game in order to find some grub. But this allowed me to get in a bonus trip to Bulldog Burger Company. I had the Bryant, which is sort of like a BBQ Burger but the sauce is really a Bourbon glaze. The highlight was the Philly Cheese Egg Rolls. Oh my. I sat at the bar and had a great view of the game on the tube. Only drawback was a big cockroach on the wall.

I hope your meal was free due to the roach. We had that happen at Old Venice one time. We were sitting there eating and one decided to crawl up the wall behind me. Now, the fact that I have a near phobia of roaches didn't make things better because I had to stand well away from that wall until it was killed and disposed of so the whole restaurant was aware of the event. That meal was on management that night.

[BulldogBear]

http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?43395-Need-some-restaurant-help-in-Starkville

Above is the original thread with all the great suggestions and comments that led to this.

Day 2 was wierd. I ate a bigger breakfast than planned at my in-laws and was running a little behind. It was supposed to have been the day I skipped a little of the first game and hit Two Brothers. But late and not h u ngry I just went straight to campus. Anticipating the rain delay, I decided to move Restaurant Tyler up a day and just have dinner.

I had the fried catfish with sweet potato fries. The catfish was good of course but wow...the sweet potato fries dipped in the tarter vinegarette was the bomb. I do not like tarter sauce in general. But this stuff was mixed up superbly and something about it complimented the sweet potato fries perfectly. I also had the crawfish dip appetizer that was pretty good.

Hack, dickiedawg, others, thanks for the suggestion. The food was good and should be a great place for lunch or dinner. I'm not sure it struck me as Gameday fare though. Should be an after the game type of thing maybe.

[War Machine Dawg]

Bear, I'm loving this thread. Always enjoy reading about, then trying, good food.

[BulldogBear]

I hope your meal was free due to the roach. We had that happen at Old Venice one time. We were sitting there eating and one decided to crawl up the wall behind me. Now, the fact that I have a near phobia of roaches didn't make things better because I had to stand well away from that wall until it was killed and disposed of so the whole restaurant was aware of the event. That meal was on management that night.

Nah. I really wasn't paying that close of attention with the game on. The bartender killed it with something but by that time it was behind something blocking my view. But now I know what to leave under your seat for one of these football games this Fall.***

Right now it's hard for me to get the image out of my mind of you vaulting out if your chair at Old Venice with a Wilhelm Scream.

[BulldogBear]

The postponement of Thursday's Iron Softball game till yesterday (Friday) morning threatened my lunch plans but I was glad to not have to drive back to my in-laws' at 2:00am the night before. Note: that was the only time Alabama and Auburn have played all season. I showed up at Two Brother's Smoked Meats not long after they opened. Friendly folks! I was the first one there, they put the TV at the bar on the Auburn-Alabama game for me and we chatted a while before the crowd came in a little later. Again, friendly staff. They were telling all about the Cotton District for one thing. I've driven thru many many times but only stopped once to eat at StaggerIn. I love the atmosphere and it was during thsee conversations that it came to my attention those were apartments above the establishments on the bottom. It's really cool what Starkville has done with this area. I was surprised though when they said that business really didn't noticeably pick up with the SECT in town. I know it doesn't remotely compare to a football weekend but I wonder if your average folks from other schools just don't know about this area. I overheard plenty of fans at the games commenting on when they needed to leave to go eat to back in time for this or that and stuff like that. They did eat while they were here! But I wonder if they just went to chain joints one can see on Highway 12. Personally, I almost never go out of town and eat anything I can eat at home. I recently scolded my best friend from Southaven about going to London, only to eat at Benihana's!

Oh, about the food. Thanks to It_Could_Happen for suggesting to pimento cheese fritter with chipotle ranch. I started with those and the smoked wings and they had me right there! I almost order another round of that instead of a sandwich but went ahead and got a pulled pork grilled cheese with baked beans. The sandwich was great. The beans were okay, but I always like to try the baked beans at any sort of BBQ place. I had no room for debris fries unfortunately. I'm gonna have to get those next time and some other sandwich with chicken and white BBQ sauce. This is by far my favorite of the new places so far.

And I did make it down to the ballpark to see the last inning in person so my going to every game integrity is intact!

[BulldogBear]

Last night I drove over to the Central Station Grill and watched the last three innings of the baseball game on my phone. Enjoyed a blackberry mojito with my appetizer, a crab cake. I then had the NOLA pasta which was spicy but really good. I almost tried a burger because I was in a strange mood for fries but in the end I passed. I'm glad I went with the pasta as it was tasty and filling. Finished it off with a hulkin' price of NY cheesecake with pecans and caramel drizzle.

All in all I was satisfied but still didn't top my experience at Two Brothers.

[It_Could_Happen]

The postponement of Thursday's Iron Softball game till yesterday (Friday) morning threatened my lunch plans but I was glad to not have to drive back to my in-laws' at 2:00am the night before. Note: that was the only time Alabama and Auburn have played all season. I showed up at Two Brother's Smoked Meats not long after they opened. Friendly folks! I was the first one there, they put the TV at the bar on the Auburn-Alabama game for me and we chatted a while before the crowd came in a little later. Again, friendly staff. They were telling all about the Cotton District for one thing. I've driven thru many many times but only stopped once to eat at StaggerIn. I love the atmosphere and it was during thsee conversations that it came to my attention those were apartments above the establishments on the bottom. It's really cool what Starkville has done with this area. I was surprised though when they said that business really didn't noticeably pick up with the SECT in town. I know it doesn't remotely compare to a football weekend but I wonder if your average folks from other schools just don't know about this area. I overheard plenty of fans at the games commenting on when they needed to leave to go eat to back in time for this or that and stuff like that. They did eat while they were here! But I wonder if they just went to chain joints one can see on Highway 12. Personally, I almost never go out of town and eat anything I can eat at home. I recently scolded my best friend from Southaven about going to London, only to eat at Benihana's!

Oh, about the food. Thanks to It_Could_Happen for suggesting to pimento cheese fritter with chipotle ranch. I started with those and the smoked wings and they had me right there! I almost order another round of that instead of a sandwich but went ahead and got a pulled pork grilled cheese with baked beans. The sandwich was great. The beans were okay, but I always like to try the baked beans at any sort of BBQ place. I had no room for debris fries unfortunately. I'm gonna have to get those next time and some other sandwich with chicken and white BBQ sauce. This is by far my favorite of the new places so far.

And I did make it down to the ballpark to see the last inning in person so my going to every game integrity is intact!

Glad you enjoyed it. If I wouldn't have been out of town all week you probably would have seen me in there I go at least once a week.

[BulldogBear]

I'm late with this. It's been almost a week.

Saturday morning of the championship game I went back to the Cotton District and sampled Commodore Bob's. And what about Bob's? Heheh. Had crab cakes as an appetizer with a mint julep. They were okay but not impressive. However.... although it's $29, if you don't mind splurging, do get the stuffed pork chop. Talk about some flavor! I like the setup of the place, and although it was a little hot in there at first, it seems the air kicked in and it cooled off somewhat.

The winner is: Two Brothers. That will definitely make the Football season "first string." As to the others. Do go there. I didn't think there was a bad place among the bunch, but I'll rank the new places I tried. Of course I've not tried everything on the menu or both lunch and dinner atmosphere but I'm just having fun here.

Food
1) Two Brothers
2) Commodore Bob's, Restaurant Tyler, Bulldog Burger Company, Central Station Grill
(That was harder than I thought it would be so, yes, I copped out after TB)

Atmosphere - Gameday
1) Two Brothers
2) Bulldog Burger Company
3) Commodore Bob's
4) Central Station Grill
5) Restaurant Tyler

Atmosphere - Other Times (may think of this as the take the fam to lunch after church category)
1) Restaurant Tyler
2) Bulldog Burger Company
3) Central Station Grill
4) Two Brothers
5) Commodore Bob's

Little Friends Free Zone
1) Everywhere but Bulldog Burger Company
2) Bulldog Burger Company