Category: St. Clair Dining

Christmas in St. Clair

Cooking up the holidays: Area chefs share seasonal secrets

Story and photos by
Elaine Hobson Miller
Contributed photos

Christmas time’s a-comin’, and you can almost smell the aroma of holiday foods. Cakes, pies, scrumptious side dishes, standing rib roasts and turkeys take center stage, or should we say, center table, in homes throughout the world.

It’s not just homes that feature holiday dishes, though. Many restaurants, including several here in St. Clair County, also bring out holiday foods that add a touch of festiveness to their daily menus. Discover managed to gather up a few that their chefs were willing to share. Many of them, like those on our readers’ tables, were handed down from mothers and grandmothers, making them extra special at family holiday gatherings.

Special dishes The St. Clair’s signature

Chef de Cuisine Sean Fincher at The St. Clair in Pell City developed an amazing appetizer recipe called, “Spiced Red Wine Braised Sausage Rolls with Caramelized Onion Fig Jam.” In fact, it could be used a side dish, too. It takes a little work but is well worth the effort. Co-owner Rebecca Robinson says the item isn’t on the menu yet but may be during the holidays. Or, they may add it to their catering menu.

The restaurant and The Tavern at The St. Clair are the brainchild of Rebecca and Carson Robinson, business partners for nearly two decades. Their menu is a mix of steaks, seafood, game, chicken, lamb and pork and a variety of appetizers and salads. Offerings are upscale, but not pretentious. This white-tablecloth restaurant doesn’t care whether you dress up or wear jeans, and patrons can be seen in both.

Always something good at Greasy Cove

Greasy Cove General Store’s contribution, Cranberry Salad, is a recipe handed down from owner/manager Donald Reeves’ grandmother. “She made it at family gatherings,” Reeves said. He also said he may be serving it in his Gallant-area restaurant, affectionately known by customers as the Greasy Spoon, during the current holiday season.

“The store building was in our family, but it was falling in, and I wanted to do something difficult,” Reeves said regarding the development of his business. “I always wanted a general store with a produce market and kitchen in it. We opened in 2019, but it took another year to get the restaurant open.” Prior to running a general store and restaurant, Reeves was a machinist. “I like hole-in-the-wall places with really good food,” he said.

Head to The Grill for palate pleasing dishes

Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts will make a vegetable eater out of hard-core meat and potatoes folks. Contributed by The Grill at the Farm, in Cropwell, it is part of a menu 75 percent of which was created by owner Wade Reich, his son/manager Eakin Reich, and Chef Patrick.

Wade Reich says part of his reasoning for opening The Grill (formerly Louie’s) was a lack of properly functioning synapses in his brain. This may be attributed to his having grown up in his family’s hotel business, which started in 1894 in Gadsden, as well as in the food business, with chefs out of New Orleans and 100-year-old recipes. “You get the food business in your blood, and you can’t get it out,” Reich said.

He wouldn’t have done it by himself, but his son joined him. “This used to be Louie’s Grill at the Countryside Farm,” Reich said. “We have 62 acres, and we’re trying to figure out how to develop the rest of the property.”

Besides its 100-seat restaurant, The Grill offers a 140-seat party room and a 40-seat sports or oyster bar. “Then there’s the Residence Inn and a barn we’re trying to do something with,” Reich says. “I also own Butts To Go on May’s Drive. The Grill at the Farm is at 230 Hamby Road, off US 231, then the Dam Road.”

What’s for dessert?

For a sweet-salty ending to your holiday meal, try Peanut Butter Pie, contributed by Scott Holmes, owner of Charlie’s BBQ in Odenville. In 2016, Charlie’s beat out nine other barbecue joints across the state to be selected Best Barbecue in The Dives division during Alabama Tourism’s Year of Alabama Barbecue.

Holmes thinks his location at the corner of US 411 and Alabama 174 South, in front of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and adjacent to a service station, probably placed him in the right category. “If you’re a barbecue place in Alabama attached to a service station, you’re probably a dive,” he said.

“Briskets are our signature dish,” he added. “We smoke six a week. A brisket is the chest muscle of a cow, and it’s hard to do. We cook them up to 16 hours to get them tender.” There’s a different special every Monday, such as the popular Soul Bowl, consisting of a bed of garlic cheese grits layered with turnip greens, pork and a cornbread muffin on top.

Look what’s cookin’ in Ragland

Anthony Soles and his business partner, longtime City Councilman Carl Byers, opened Chef T’s (for Tony) in Ragland in 2010, building on the success of their original Alexandria location. Chef T says he inherited his love of cooking from his mother, and he has used that “inheritance” for years as he worked his way up in the food industry.

For the holidays, Soles chose to share Apple Dumplings as the go-to favorite.

The mainstay of his everyday menu is the barbecue pork, and they offer a small-chopped pork sandwich for just $1.25.

The barbecue sauce is homemade and is described by Byers as a “sneaky heat, but not overpowering.” The signature Chef T’s burger is served with a steak knife holding it all together.

In addition to running a Southern, home-style eatery, catering is an aspect of the business and is supported by two food trucks. They cater for many of the large corporations and businesses in the surrounding areas.

If these recipes aren’t enough to inspire your holiday cooking, maybe you should pick up Christmas dinner at one of these St. Clair restaurants.

Holiday recipes

Spiced Red Wine Braised Sausage Rolls with Caramelized Onion Fig Jam
From Chef de Cuisine Sean Fincher at The Tavern at The St. Clair (Pell City)
Ingredients for the Braised Sausage:

8 – 5” Lengths of Conecuh Mild Sausages (or your favorite link sausages)
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups dry red wine, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir
1 cup beef broth
1 stick of cinnamon, whole
8 whole cloves
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 orange, peel only
Salt

Directions:
Add oil and sausages in a small braising pan (or other pan with 2” sides) heated on medium-high. Brown links on each side, then add cinnamon, cloves and rosemary and saute lightly for 2 minutes. Deglaze with wine, adding the beef broth and orange peel. Cover with a lid and braise for 1 hour. Remove sausages and allow to cool to room temperature, then chill thoroughly. Reduce braising liquid by half and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve for jam preparation. While the sausages cool, begin making the jam.

Ingredients for the Jam:

4 red onions, thinly sliced (Julienned)
2 Tbs. olive oil
4 cups fresh figs, chopped*
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. sugar, or to taste if you prefer it sweeter
Reserved braising liquid

Directions:
In the braising pan after straining liquids out, add onions. Cook the onions on low heat, stirring often until they are caramelized. They should have a deep brown color to them. Deglaze with reserved braising liquid and scrape the bottom of the pan from all the fond (brown bits) that has developed. Add figs, balsamic vinegar, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a bare simmer for 1 hour and stir often. The mixture should have thickened with very little residual liquid left in the pan. Taste for salt and sweetness and adjust to your personal taste. Remove to a storage container and allow to cool to room temperature. Serve warm.

Bring it all together:
Ingredients:

1 package of puff pastry, thawed
1 egg + 1 tsp of water for egg wash

Cut puff pastry into 8 equal pieces with a sharp knife. Place each sausage in the center of the pastry horizontally. Lightly brush egg wash onto the back edge, furthest from you. Fold the pastry closest to you over the sausage and then onto the back edge, leaving the seam side down on the cutting board. After completing all the sausages, place them on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Brush each roll with the remainder of the egg wash. Bake at 400* F for 25 minutes or until the puff pastry has turned golden brown.
Enjoy the Sausage Rolls with the Jam
*When fresh figs aren’t available, replace with ¾ cup of fig preserves. Don’t add sugar to the jam because the preserves are going to have more than enough.

Clara’s Cranberry Salad
From Donald Reeves at Greasy Cove
General Store (Gallant)
Ingredients:

2 small boxes raspberry Jello
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 cups boiling water

Directions:
Put 2 cups boiling water in a large bowl and add Jello. Stir until dissolved. Stir in cranberry sauce. Let set in refrigerator until syrupy. Add cranberry sauce, pineapple, sour cream and nuts, and fold in. Put in refrigerator until set.

Peanut Butter Pie
From Charlie’s BBQ (Odenville)
Ingredients:

16 oz. jar of natural peanut butter
8 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
¾ cup of honey
8 oz. Cool Whip
6 oz. chocolate pie crust
2 Tbs. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ Tsp. shortening

Directions:
Beat together cream cheese and honey until well blended. Stir in peanut butter and mix well. Gently fold in Cool Whip. Spoon into crust. Heat chocolate chips and shortening over low heat until melted, drizzle over pie. Chill overnight or freeze.
Serves 8.

Apple Dumplings
From Chef T’s (Ragland)
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon divided
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg divided
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 (15 oz) packages refrigerated pie crusts
8 med apples of your choice peeled and cored
3 tbsp butter cut up

Directions:
Boil 2 cups water, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in saucepan on med high heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low simmering and stirring occasionally for 10 min. This will turn to syrup. Once it does add 1/4 cup sugar and set to the side. In a separate bowl mix your leftover cinnamon, nutmeg and 2/3 cup sugar.
Cut pie crusts quarters and roll out into circles. Place an apple in the middle of each circle sprinkling each evenly with your cinnamon sugar mixture. Dot each evenly with butter. Fold dough over apples, pinching each closed. Place in lightly greased baking dish. Drizzle with syrup. Bake dumplings at 375° for 45 minutes.
You can always find a way to cut corners and use canned fried apples for a sweeter simpler dish.
Serve hot or cold. Goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Hope you enjoy this great dessert like we do.

Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
From The Grill at The Farm (Cropwell)
Ingredients:

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, halved
2 pieces thick-cut bacon, such as Nueske’s
Applewood smoked bacon
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large-rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bacon on sheets and cook until beginning to crisp, about 7 minutes.
Remove bacon from oven and transfer to a paper towel- lined plate; reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings. Chop bacon into small strips. Discard aluminum foil and return rimmed baking sheet to hot oven.
Meanwhile, fill large stock pot with water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add Brussels sprouts and boil until leaves are dark green in color, about 4 minutes. Transfer Brussels and any loose leaves to a large bowl filled with ice water. Drain, pat dry and transfer to medium bowl. Add half of the chopped bacon, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, reserved bacon drippings and salt and pepper to the bowl; toss to combine. Remove baking sheet from oven and evenly spread mixture over sheet; cook Brussels sprouts until caramelized and bacon is crisp, about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Transfer Brussels sprouts to a serving bowl and drizzle with remaining maple syrup and bacon.
Serves 6-8

Other Stories

Klarissa’s Cakery

From camper to storefront, cake creator cooks up success story

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Mackenzie Free

For lots of folks, the idea of graduating from high school a year early and building your own business from scratch at 18 would be a tad daunting. For Klarissa Hendrix, it was a piece of cake.

Her mobile bakery business was such a hit, in fact, that three years later she decided to mix things up and make it permanent. This past December, she opened Klarissa’s Cakery in an Odenville storefront and has enjoyed sweet success ever since. It turns out that her ability to dream big and willingness to take some risks, coupled with a lot of hard work and creativity, were the perfect ingredients for a booming business.

“From sunup to sundown, I’m going all day,” she said, adding that she starts baking around 5 each morning. “Most Saturdays, we have a line outside waiting on us to open. It’s been crazy.”

Customers can’t get enough of the mouth-watering treats, which include an ever-changing assortment of cupcakes, brownies, cookies and cakes that are sold whole or by the slice.

Her cake decorating skills help set her apart, and she’s created everything from beautiful tiered wedding cakes to cakes featuring superheroes, lobsters, unicorns, footballs and mermaids – all handmade from fondant icing. “Sometimes people will bring in pictures of what they want, but I love when they tell me I have free rein,” Klarissa said.

Her cakes come in all shapes and sizes, as well. She’s crafted cakes shaped like baseballs, whiskey barrels, pineapples and an RV. Her most popular cake is a Highland cow.

Cupcakes flavors range from strawberry, wedding cake, watermelon and orange Dreamsicle to pina colada, red velvet, lemonade, pistachio, banana pudding and key lime pie.

She’s pretty much done it all – well, almost. “I still really want to do a pickle cupcake,” Klarissa said with a grin.

Although lots of her customers are new fans, many were familiar with her cakes and cupcakes from her first business, Klarissa’s Cakes and Cupcake Camper. In addition to making custom cakes and filling cupcake orders, she hosted birthday parties and sold cupcakes at pop-up events – all from her refurbished 1970s camper.

“I went to Tennessee with it and took it to all kinds of events,” she said. “I’d do birthday parties and let the kids decorate cupcakes, and I even took it to schools so teachers could decorate them. It was a cute party idea, and people loved it.”

At the time, it was a great way for Klarissa, who had always planned on being a cosmetologist, to explore a new dream that was just beginning to take shape.

Cooking up a career

Klarissa, who lives in Springville, first began baking as a child. “My mom started letting me use the oven when I was about 9 years old, and I loved watching Cupcake Wars,” a televised cupcake-baking competition on Food Network, she said.

Her grandmother, Vicki Smith (also known as Gammy) has always baked for the family’s holidays and provided additional inspiration. Once they started baking together and exchanging ideas, Klarissa’s excitement grew. “Gammy really helped me,” she said. “We teach each other.”

When Klarissa turned 16, her grandmother made her a cake that featured a sculpted purse with makeup brushes, powders and lipsticks she made out of fondant, an icing that can be molded, shaped and rolled. “I saw her making all these amazing things, and they looked so real,” Klarissa said. “I got really excited about it, and I’d go to her house, and we’d try out all these new flavors and decorations.”

About the same time, Klarissa was working part-time at a bakery in Trussville and began to have second thoughts about cosmetology school. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “I took a tour of the cosmetology school, and it didn’t really feel right, so I started praying about it.”

Although Klarissa didn’t know what her future held, she knew she wanted it to come quickly. “I was the type who was ready to be done with high school and wanted to start working,” she said. Klarissa, who was homeschooled through Faith Community Christian School, worked hard so she could graduate a year early.

By then, friends were asking her to fill cupcake orders. She got a request for her first wedding cake and began thinking she might be able to turn the hobby she’d fallen in love with into a career. “I knew I couldn’t open a storefront at 17, and I began thinking about a food truck,” she said. “The next day, a friend posted a camper for sale.”

Her parents, Leslie and Bridgett Lupton, renovated the camper while Klarissa focused on baking at home and getting the necessary licenses and permits. Soon, she was able to take her business on the road – literally – and she hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s been working out so far,” she said, adding that after running the Cupcake Camper business for several years, she was ready to find something permanent. After finding the perfect storefront in Odenville, her family, which now included her husband Kody, helped get it ready for the opening in December – just months before her 22^nd birthday.

Forecasting success

Opening day was a busy one. “We sold out in the first hour,” Klarissa said. “My grandmother and I were trying to throw cupcakes and cookies in the oven, so we’d have enough to sell. December was a crazy month. We had 27 cakes go out in one day alone, and it really hasn’t slowed down at all.”

Although she’s got lots of repeat customers and is busier than she ever dreamed, Klarissa said she got one review that was extra-special. James Spann, the chief meteorologist for ABC 33/40, declared a creation she made to be “one of the greatest cakes ever.” Spann posts photos on social media of the hundreds and hundreds of decorated cakes and cookies he gets when visiting schools to present weather programs.

“I’ve always wanted to do a James Spann cake,” Klarissa said. She got her wish a few months ago when Leeds Primary School placed an order. “I immediately called Gammy and said, ‘We’re doing a James Spann cake.’”

Although the planning took a while, the pair spent about a week making the different pieces of the creation. It featured a house with an overturned car, a swaying tree, and a tornado with a trampoline in it since Spann often refers to trampolines that go airborne during storms as the “state bird.” The cake, which was completely edible, also showed a family wearing appropriate safety gear in front of a television in the basement.

“One of the greatest cakes ever,” Spann posted. “It even features someone wearing a helmet watching our live coverage in an underground basement. Amazing!”

Not just desserts

Not long after opening her bakery, Klarissa began getting requests for breakfast, so she now offers sausage balls and a variety of muffins. “I want to say I have the best sausage ball recipe,” she said. “I know that’s a bold statement, but I stand by it,” she said.

Breakfast has been such a hit, she hopes to one day be able to offer lunch as well. For now, though, she’s going to enjoy her success and the fact that her family has been a part of it all. Her grandmother does some of the baking, her mother helps at the counter a few days a week, and her 16-year-old sister, Chloe, has started working there, too.

Although Klarissa wasn’t sure she could make a bakery business work, her mom said she and her husband knew it would be a success. “We knew she was too young at 17 to enter into a legal contract, but the camper was a great way for her to start,” Bridgett said. “She took it and ran with it. She’s always been so mature for her age, so we didn’t doubt she could make it.”

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Shaw’s BBQ

Where everybody knows your name… and your business

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and Contributed Photos

Mornings at Shaw’s Barbecue in Ashville are a lot like evenings at the “Cheers” bar of 1980s television fame. It’s a place and time “where everybody knows your name.”

Day after day, week after week, the parking lot at Shaw’s is filled with the same cars and pickup trucks. Most of them arrive around 7 a.m., when the place opens. Inside, the tables are filled with the same men in overalls and work shirts, jeans and tees and baseball caps. They are farmers, construction workers, bankers, wrecker service owners and bodyshop repairmen. They are hardworking men and retirees. Sometimes they are politicians, too, when offices are up for grabs.

Southern country staple foods are a big draw at Shaw’s

They eat from Shaw’s menu of traditional Southern vittles like eggs and grits, pancakes, sausage and biscuits, with stout, hot coffee. What they really come for, however, isn’t on the menu. They’re there for the daily dish of tall tales, comedic retorts and a side of answers to the world’s woes.

“Hang around here long, and you’ll get dizzy,” says Ray Stevens, retired owner of a local service station and towing business.

Stevens sits at the same table with the same three men every day: Bobby Welch, owner of B&W Construction; Jim Wilson, retired owner of C.D. Wilson Contracting; and Jeff Corbin of Corbin Services. It is variously called the Wisdom Table, the Table of Knowledge or the Think Tank. An unknown female customer dubbed it The Gauntlet because, as the table nearest the door, a customer has to pass it to get anywhere.

“The amount of wisdom that comes from our table can’t be consumed in one day,” says Welch. “Before I came here, I was seeing a therapist twice a week; now I see one four times a week.”

And so the repartee begins.

“The Wisdom Table holds court, picks the topics of conversation,” says Skip Shaw, owner of Shaw’s Barbecue for almost 40 years. “Leave your feelings at the door when you come in.”

“The biggest thing we do is solve all the problems of the city,” says Dennis Moyer, a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy and former Ashville rural mail carrier. “We tell the city how to run it, but they don’t listen to us.”

Once you get past The Gauntlet, you’ll find Phillip Gleason and Matt Sims eating together at another table. Gleason, a veterinarian, comes to learn about what’s going on in St. Clair County. “I come for the fellowship every day but Wednesday, when I have a meeting elsewhere,” he says. He lives in Steele, and swings by on his way to Argo Animal Clinic. “We learn stuff here before it becomes public.”

Pointing to Carl Smith of Smith Farms, Gleason proclaims, “That’s the Chandler Mountain tomato man.” Pointing to Cody Green, he says, “That’s the Straight Mountain tomato man.” It’s a friendly rivalry, but it helps delineate between the two. Smith grins and responds with, “They call me Mater. I’m here every morning. Shaw’s serves really good food, and I enjoy the company. The topics run A to Z.”

Skip Shaw (right) often works the register

Matt Sims, known as Matt-Matt, lives by the Ashville Stockyards, about a mile away. Someone at the Wisdom Table points out Matt’s big feet. “You know what that means,” one of the guys says. Wink, wink and raucous laughter follow. Dennis Moyer says Matt-Matt, described by Skip Shaw as a jack of all trades, is always fun to be around, always has a smile. “We kid him about his women problem, try to fix him up, but we are always a failure,” he says. “He’s a jovial guy.”

Asked why he tolerates the teasing, Matt-Matt grins broadly and replies, “Cause I learn what’s going on in the county.”

Pete Morrow, retired from ACIPCO, sits at the same table every morning with Dennis Moyer. “The food’s good, but I come to get knowledge from these four,” Morrow says, gesturing toward the Wisdom Table to his right. “I come to learn how to run a business, how to treat people. I came here before Shaw bought it. It was Sharp’s then. Everybody knows everybody here, it’s good food, and on Friday nights they have fried catfish.”

Moyer says he goes because the food there is hot and homemade from scratch, and because his wife won’t get up and cook breakfast. “I usually eat something simple like eggs, but she (the cook) makes good pancakes, biscuits and gravy.”

He says he goes for the camaraderie, too. “It’s a bunch of us old guys, like the old Round Table that used to meet at the drug store (Ashville Drugs). We meet and throw our brains out and come up with a solution. Pete and I sit next to the Table of Knowledge, wheretwo are cattlemen and two are retired bankers. Skip has a herd, too.”

According to Moyer, the regulars talk about things the city is doing. “The big topic now is the subdivision Lyman Lovejoy is developing near the Industrial Park,” he says. “It’s a big subdivision for Ashville. We talk a lot of politics, too. It got very heated when (St. Clair Commission Chairman) Stan Batemon was running. He was hot and heavy there during that time. (Former Alabama Chief Justice) Roy Moore comes in from time to time. We have all kinds of dignitaries stopping by.”

The crowd doesn’t cut politicians any slack, either. They once took a former Ashville mayor to task for taking credit for a civic project that he had little to do with. Then a candidate for re-election, he left in a huff!

John Harrison is another regular who comes for the food. He likes to eat at small, local places rather than large chains. “We settle the world’s problem here,” he says. A semi-retired farmer, he’s only there two to three times a week. “It’s mostly gossip and B.S. around here,” he says. “Skip talks to everybody, he doesn’t miss nobody.”

In fact, Shaw’s daughter, Lori, who sometimes helps out at the restaurant, says that Skip is the main reason most of the regulars are there in the first place. “All these guys come for dad … and stay for the food,” she says.

As if on cue, Skip Shaw sits down beside Mater. Wilson hollers, “Get him to tell you about his lady friend and the $150 bottle of wine.” It’s a running joke that refers to an auction that benefitted Shoal Creek Community Center. They tease Skip mercilessly about the auction, and the price of the wine gets higher with each re-telling.

“It’slike the movie, Groundhog Day, same thing every morning,” Mater says. “They always bring up the story about Skip and that woman.”

Shaw bought the place in 1984, and says he eats his own food. “I’m a product of it,” he says, patting his belly. “A third generation of folks (customers) come to eat here now, lunch and supper. I would not be where I am without my customers.”

He says a fire during the COVID pandemic shut him down temporarily and almost did him in. “It was an electrical fire in the back,” he says. “We were closed for eight months. That was back in 2020-2021. I thought about closing. But the place needed a facelift anyway, so here we are. I’ve been back in business about two years now.”

You won’t find any thin-skinned folks there each morning, Shaw says. “The guys who are here are hardy folk who don’t get their feelings hurt easily.”

There are few women in the early-morning crowd, although they begin to drift in with their dads and husbands around 9 a.m. When Barbara Stevens walks in, Jeff Corbin yields his seat to her at the Wisdom Table. She’s Ray’s wife. Soon, a few more regulars drift in, including Don Sharp and Joe Jinright, both retirees. Jackie Vaughn of Vaughn Body Shop plops down nearby.

Ray Stevens decides to call local real estate mogul Lyman Lovejoy, another regular who, for some reason, hasn’t dropped by yet this particular morning. But he’s there within five minutes of receiving Stevens’s call. “These guys could be lawyers,” Lovejoy says, “because they tell the truth in a lot of different ways.”

Stevens nods toward Lovejoy and says, “His Bible has only a front and back cover, no pages between.” Then Stevens gets taken to task for blocking the fire hydrant in front of Shaw’s with his truck. “No problem,” one of the guys says. “Ashville hydrants are dry anyway.”

Jeff Corbin agrees. “I watched my place burn down one day after the fire department tried three hydrants and couldn’t get water from any of them.”

Jim Wilson says primary cook Amanda Leftwich is the one who keeps the place going, “without a shadow of a doubt.”

“I kid everybody, tell ‘em she runs the place, I just work here,” Skip Shaw says of Leftwich. “She’s the main cog that makes everything turn. I’m fortunate to have her.”

His sister-in-law, Debra Meadows, makes the pies. “We do four – apple, peach, chocolate and coconut,” Shaw says. “Sometimes she adds sweet potato in the fall. We serve sandwiches, plate lunches, beef, chicken, smoked turkey. Our menu is pretty well-rounded, with something for everyone. We have salads, too, and daily vegetables. I’ll smoke meat maybe, but Amanda does most of the cooking. We have three or four women working here every day, and sometimes my daughter, Lori, helps out, too.”

Leftwich has been working for Shaw for 12 years. “My customers are very good to me,” she says. “You know that old saying, ‘Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see,’” she remarks. “It applies here.”

“What you say here WILL be held against you,” says Skip Shaw, emphasizing the word, “will.” “We have selective memories: We select everything and remember all of it!”

Features

Moody cuts ribbon on commerce park

When Joe Lee first arrived in the city he now serves as mayor, population stood at a mere 4,000. That was 30 years ago, and Moody’s ascension to the largest municipality in St. Clair County has been soaring at a dizzying speed.

Kelly Creek Commerce Park in Moody entrance

Little more than ‘crossroaads’ three decades ago, today’s Moody is hardly recognizable to those who remember vehicle traffic stopping to allow cows to cross the thoroughfare.

And to those gathered on 170-plus acres on a breezy afternoon in February to cut the ribbon on Kelly Creek Commerce Park, a cattle crossing isn’t even imaginable. What is conceivable is what is planned there – 1.5 million square feet of distribution facility space, a $125 million investment in well paying jobs and the “huge impact on our community from bobs created in this community,” Lee said.

Moody didn’t arrive at this pivotal crossroad alone, Lee said, crediting partnerships with the St. Clair County Commission and St. Clair County Economic Development Council. “It’s a good example of how economic development works in St. Clair County – everyone working together.”

“Elected officials, mayor, you and your team make it easy,” said EDC Executive Director Don Smith. Through partnerships, they “lead by example.”

Smith talked of Mike Graham of Graham and Co., a leading commercial and industrial broker, as a key partner in helping facilitate the vision for the property, “exceeding expectations.” He talked of Horizon, Metro Bank and Alabama Power Co. as major partners as well, predicting, “The best is yet to come.”

Aerial view shows off the expansive park property

The vision is being fulfilled because Moody is “a great community to support new investment, workforce readiness and has a reasonable tax structure. We’re excited about what lies ahead.”

Alabama’s Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield agreed that Moody’s future looks bright. He should know after overseeing $61 billion of new investment during his tenure, including Airbus, Honda, Google and Amazon.

He pointed to the strides in growth Alabama is experiencing in textile, automobile and aerospace industries, which Moody should benefit from in coming years. “This is a great day for Moody,” he said, looking forward to attracting high paying careers in the community. “The site is spectacular.”

From Alabama’s vantage point, the future is focused on international power. The state ships products to 193 countries around the globe, Canfield said. “Alabama has a future as long as we continue to do things like we’re doing today.”

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The St. Clair and The Tavern at the St. Clair

Sizzling success stories

Story by Paul South
Submitted Photos

Since January, Pell City’s hottest new restaurant and bar – The St. Clair and The Tavern at The St. Clair, have sizzled and sauteed, shaken and stirred their way to a mouth-watering recipe for success.

Weekends are packed with patrons dressed to the nines in The St. Clair, and in jeans and boots at the Tavern. The décor is white tablecloth elegant, yet welcoming, with decor celebrating the rich history of the area.

The restaurant and tavern are the brainchild of Rebecca and Carson Robinson, business partners for nearly two decades. The Pell City venture is their third venture together.

White-tablecloth dining comes to Pell City

Rebecca Robinson moved to Pell City 11 years ago, loving it so much she never left. The St. Clair and the Tavern blossomed from the growth and change she saw in the community. As more and more people from Birmingham, Atlanta and other areas discovered Pell City, culinary expectations climbed.

“I, myself, being from Birmingham, it’s really nice and convenient when you have a place close by where you can go get a nice glass of wine, a great steak, where you have good seafood choices,” she says. “And we really didn’t have here in Pell City – while we have a lot of good locally-owned restaurants – we did not have really any that hit that higher-end mark.”

The COVID-19 pandemic also brought a steady stream of more full-time residents to Pell City and Logan Martin Lake, migration sparked by a now-remote workforce.

“It was just the right time to open up a fine dining restaurant with an attached tavern, Robinson says. “It was just the right time for the market.”

The menu, crafted by Robinson, Executive Chef J.R. Dell and his team is a mix of steaks, seafood, game, chicken, lamb and pork and a variety of appetizers and salad.

Offerings are upscale, but not pretentious.

“That was our goal for Pell City, to offer a higher end option, but still be casual enough to meld into the Pell City way of life. A lot of people live here because they like the more relaxed lifestyle,” Robinson says. “That was our vision for the restaurant: to provide the great food, the quality food, the great service, but not to overdo it.

“In other words, you can come in in jeans and eat Ahi tuna or a wagyu steak,” Robinson says. “That was our goal.”

Dell leads a team of five chefs. He’s a magna cum laude graduate of the prestigious Johnson and Wales University culinary school. He trained in the United States and in Europe under Peter Jackson, founder of the Welsh Culinary Olympics team. The menu has a mix of Europe, the Florida Keys and local influence.

Along with top-flight food and service, the restaurant and companion tavern pay homage to a history of St. Clair County and its namesake, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who served in the French and Indian War and in the American Revolution. St. Clair’s portrait adorns the restaurant/tavern’s website, and the walls are filled with photos, like the black and white image of Logan Martin Dam, which transformed the area in the early 1960s, and other prominent St. Clair historic figures and places.

“We wanted people to know we were local,” Robinson says of the photos featuring prominent locals.

“We felt like the St. Clair was a good venue to bring back and to remember some of the great history of the county,” Robinson says.

Since opening earlier this year, The St. Clair and the Tavern at St. Clair have created a stir, drawing diners from west Georgia and across central Alabama, as well as locals.

“I have to say, we’re humbled by the reception that we’ve received, not just locally, but from miles and miles away.”

But the strong showing of the restaurant and tavern’s early days were not unexpected.

“We felt like there were a lot of people just like us in these communities that wanted and were asking for a restaurant of this quality and food of this caliber,” Robinson says. “So no, we weren’t really surprised by the buzz. We’re glad that people appreciate what we’ve been working towards.”

Robinson credits her team for the success of The St. Clair and the Tavern. Many restaurants across the country have thrown in the napkin so to speak, closing because of the inability to secure and keep staff. Many have worked with the Robinsons in past ventures.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have such strong staff join us throughout this process … One of the things we like to do is we like to develop long-term relationships with the people that work with us. They’re not people who work for us. They work with us. We’re a team.”

Robinson adds,” We look at business as long term, 20-plus years. And we take care of the people that helped us make that happen.”

While Robinson and Dell created the current menu. The future menu will be created by the entire kitchen staff. Likewise, the bar staff will create the cocktail menu. On March 5, the restaurant launched a weekend brunch. For the staff, it’s not only about a paycheck, but the ability to create, Robinson says.

“I see the smiles on their faces when the customers love what they’ve done.”

The new menu, set to be rolled out in April, is like a state secret. Asked for a sneak peek, Robinson says, “I will not divulge.”

Robinson is a self-described “foodie of sorts,” and the initial menu reflects many of her likes. It took a year to develop the wine list.

“I love good Ahi tuna. I love good Wagyu beef, American Wagyu beef,” Robinson says. And while it’s hard to pick her absolute favorite on the menu, she has a standout.

“My standout is the Ahi tuna,” she says. “I absolutely adore it. We sell Triple A Saku. It is the best you can get. We serve it with Ponzu sauce, an Asian dipping sauce that’s a mix of salty and sweet.”

Wine tastings and pairing dinners and holiday events will come down the road, Robison says.

“We’re so busy, I’m not sure what day we would do it on right now.”

Reservations on the restaurant side are recommended through Resy.com, especially on the weekends. Walk-ins are welcome in the Tavern at the St. Clair. For more information, visit thestclairpellcity.com. The restaurant and tavern are located at 2413 Dr. John Haynes Drive in Pell City.

“Pell City is growing, and Pell City is changing,” Robinson says. “Don’t be afraid to come try us. Don’t be afraid to come try something new. Don’t think that you can’t come in in your blue jeans and have a nice dinner with a great glass of wine or a fabulous cocktail. Don’t be afraid to try us.”

Other Stories

Chef T’s

A hometown secret of the best kind

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Mackenzie Free

Family truly is the foundation for the success of Chef T’s Restaurant in Ragland. Chef Anthony Soles’s mother loved cooking, and that passion inspired him to work his way up through the food industry and spend more than a decade as an executive chef at a major hotel chain.

Their family kitchen stories and experiences influenced Chef Anthony’s son, Cordelro, to attend culinary school and become a chef. Several other family members work in the food business as well.

Chef T’s, named for Anthony (Tony), is a family affair – kin or not. His business partner, Carl Byers, also grew up cooking for his family and friends, and his son and daughter help out in the business as needed.

Restaurant and catering manager Melissa Burnette credits her passion for food and home fries for her dedication to the southern cooking offerings at Chef T’s. One of Melissa’s favorite menu items is the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. She recommends pairing that with the home fries or onion rings.

This restaurant is the quintessential, unassuming “hole-in-the-wall,” in a building that was originally built as a convenience store.

It’s a hometown secret of the best kind. Their mainstay is the barbeque pork, and they offer a small-chopped pork sandwich for the budget-friendly price of just $1.25. The barbecue sauce is homemade and is described by Carl as a “sneaky heat, but not overpowering.” The signature Chef T’s burger is remarkable and is served with a steak knife holding it all together.

“The home fries got me,” says Melissa. “As a customer, I just kept coming in and loving them and one day Chef (Anthony) said I should come to work for him.” So, she started out as a server at their Alexandria location before moving up to her current role in Ragland. She’s one of a staff of 10 who consider themselves a family.

There’s a lot of teasing and bantering among the crew, as there is in many family kitchens.

Byers and Soles opened the Ragland restaurant in 2010, building on the success of their original Alexandria location. They purchased the building on Ragland’s Main Street that had, most recently, been a Mexican restaurant and completely reinvented it as a Southern home-style eatery with a simple hometown atmosphere. Its following has grown so much that they are waiting for the opportunity to expand into adjacent space.

They made it through the early COVID pandemic days by converting to curbside pickup only, then adding outdoor seating in the parking lot. Now they’re even talking about opening a restaurant in a third location.

Long-time customer, Kay Carroll, is a huge fan. After she orders a blackened pork chop with home fries and a chicken salad to go, she chats with the wait staff and the manager like old friends. “You can do no wrong coming here,” she says. “You won’t find a friendlier place.”

Her husband comes in at least once a week. Even though they live 15 minutes away in Ashville, it’s “definitely worth the drive,” she says.

“When people finally discover us, they always tell us they’ll be back,” says Carl. “It’s just like Ragland, though,” he says. “It’s a hidden gem. You don’t go through it. You go to it.”

Carl, a longtime city councilman, is a strong supporter of his hometown. They are firmly committed to giving back to the community that has supported them. They frequently feed the football team for in-town games, as well as help to sponsor little league teams.

Since they opened 10 years ago, they’ve fed emergency workers several times when tornadoes came through nearby towns. Chef Anthony and Carl also make it a point to work with local churches to help feed “shut-ins,” or those who aren’t able to drive to get their own food.

“They’re good neighbors,” says Ragland Mayor Richard Bunt. “As a small-town restaurant, they always jump in and help when they can. They work with the town in situations where we have to feed workers.”

“Greet ‘em, seat ‘em and feed the people” is their unofficial rally cry. In this town of 2,000 people, they’re one of only two places to eat (the other one is a convenience store deli). They take that charge seriously, opening seven days a week to prove it. From the moment a customer enters the door, the staff makes it their mission to be friendly and accommodating.

The menu variety ensures that just about anyone can find something they’re happy to eat at Chef T’s. The mayor’s favorite, he says, varies with the daily special. “They’re known for the barbecue, but I love the hamburger steak meal,” he says. “They also make great burgers.”

Catering is another aspect of their business and is supported by two food trucks. They cater for many of the large corporations and businesses in the surrounding areas.

They’ve even sent a small contingent to cater a gathering in Alaska. Obviously, that’s not the usual delivery area.

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