Mobile's favorite things..Remembering past and present

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by oscottscotto

Really don't know why it's called that, but 95% of Mobilians call the Walmart at I-65 (behind BestBuy) the "ghetto walmart". I went there all the time lol.

LOL. Oh okay, the one next to the service road.

[Nighteyes]

Sorry to join this thread so late. We grew up in Mobile (my wife was born there), and have lived out on the Left Coast since 1988. Whenever we get to visit Mobile there are three things we always try to do. All are food-related.

First, go to Wintzell's Oyster House on Dauphin Street, downtown. Read each and every sign and slogan on the walls. While both going and returning, marvel at how much Dauphin Street has changed since 1988.

Second (and sometimes concurrent with Number 1), order and eat a huge serving of crab claws.

Third, go to one of Mobile's marvelous catfish restaurants and absolutely tank up on fried catfish, hush puppies and etc!!!

We generally get other "Gulf Coast" foods while we're in New Orleans. You see, it's much cheaper for us to fly into New Orleans, rent a car, and drive over to Mobile, than it is just to fly into Mobile.

Because we live on the Left Coast, I have learned how to cook many Gulf Coast foods out of simple necessity -- red beans & rice, jambalaya, etouffe, gumbo, buttermilk cornbread, buttermilk biscuits, chicken & dumplings, etc. -- but we still love to tank up on other real-deal foods while we're there.

Notice that nearly all of our "tank-up" foods are seafood. That's because the sh*t -- oops, seafood -- we can get on the Left Coast comes from the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is COLD, which means the food chain is very different. So, and sad to say, the taste just isn't the same. Besides, there are no oysters, precious few crabs, and the wrong kinds of shrimp. While we CAN get Gulf Seafood (it is packed in dry ice and flown in daily from New Orleans), we would have to take out a second mortgage on our house to pay for it.

Lookin' forward to our next Mobile trip,

-- Nighteyes