Miss Dots Delicious Dining

Miss Dots

1715 University Blvd

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

            Miss Dots Chicken Shop is one of the many restaurants Tuscaloosa has added to its growing foodie scene in recent months. Miss Dots Tuscaloosa is the newest addition to John Cassimus’ quickly growing collection of restaurants. He and business partner Tyre Stuckey opened a Miss Dots location in the Birmingham township of Mountain Brook just a few weeks before their Tuscaloosa launch. Risky? The men don’t seem to think so. The new fast casual chain is the second that the duo has tackled; the first is the contagious Zoes Kitchen that is quickly spreading across the southeast. The new up-and-coming Miss Dots chain is sure to make a huge impact with its traditional southern cuisine in a fast casual setting.

Owners aptly named Miss Dots after a local culinary inspiration, Miss Leona Rogers— AKA Dot. Miss Dot and owners have created the perfect mixture of a southern at-home meal and a fast dining experience unprecedented in Tuscaloosa. The restaurant is located within Tuscaloosa’s forgotten mile, bridging the gap of between The Strip and Downtown. With plenty of parking and brand new sidewalks, Miss Dots is easily accessible to Tuscaloosa locals and students alike. Continue reading

“Hearty Soul Food:” Healthy Pan-Fried Grit-Cakes

“Rather than portray the complexity of this cuisine and its changes throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, many writers played up its more exotic aspects (i.e., animal entrails) and simply famed the cuisine as a remnant of poverty-driven antebellum survival food.”

Bryant Terry

grit cakes

In Bryant Terry’s article “Reclaiming True Grits,” he claims that, in the past several decades, soul food has become synonymous with comfort food—fried chicken glistening with grease; starchy, creamy macaroni and cheese; and, of course, grits, typically instant—and many in the African American community are suffering for it. However, this soul food, the sort romanticized by food writers, is not the soul food of tradition, but what Terry calls “instant soul food” and “a dishonest representation of African American cuisine.” It’s the food you find on a Cracker Barrel plate, not a traditional Southern meal. Continue reading