Lunch of Champions

14Jul08

Festival-goers lunching at Sprint Food Alley.

This morning I was sent out on a special assignment: Spend $30 at Sprint Food Alley (as a local, in my heart it will always be Junk Food Alley) and write a review based on what I find. I’ve been receiving advice from family and co-workers for several weeks regarding my eating adventure, so I kept their pearls of wisdom-everything from “Pace yourself” to “An elephant ear is a must”-in mind on my hike from the newsroom. 

Despite Food Alley’s reputation of housing the greatest concentration of artery-clogging cuisine in the city during mid-July, I remained undaunted as I nibbled on some of summer’s finest fried fare.

Before I sampled anything, Ellie Bogue, photojournalist at The News-Sentinel, tagged along to take some photos of some of the vendors I talked to for story research before she went to shoot the Waiter-Waitress Competition (watch for a stand-alone photo of that event in tomorrow’s paper).

Bill Johnson prepares Hobo Potatoes. Johnson and his wife JoAn have been vending from their Whistle Stop stand at local festivals since 1986.

Among new vendors this year include local favorites Bandido’s Mexican Restaurant (Georgetown location) and Nelson’s Barbecue. Food for thought: When I was taking my tasting tour, Nelson’s Head Chef Don Tyler told me he cooks 400 servings of chicken, 100 sets of beef ribs and enough pulled pork for 300 sandwiches each day of the festival.

As I predicted, my eyes proved bigger than my stomach, so I enlisted Kelly to finish up what I couldn’t. That’s not to say I wasn’t any less of an enthusiastic eater: I handed over my last $6 with a flourish for some fried green tomatoes, which Kelly said were a must.

I wouldn’t recommend the Junk Food diet for everyday eating (no pun intended given my last name), but it was fun to splurge on deep-fried delicacies for a day.

I was able to fit most of what I ate in tomorrow’s front-page column, but here’s just a sampler of what I had for lunch:

Napkins were necessary for our fried green tomatoes.

Authentic Greek Gyro: Vertically smoked pork piled into a pita with grilled onions, tomato and cucumber sauce, topped with feta cheese; $8.

Hobo Potatoes: Smashed potatoes mixed with steak strips, liquid cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, onions and green peppers; $7.

Classic Corndog: Crunchy outer layer of silky batter encasing a hotdog with a little bit of spice that Kelly called “heaven on a stick”; $3.

 

 

 Post and photos by Amanda Junk for The News-Sentinel.

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