My Michael Nolan

Like every Southern woman should, Aunt Ruby knew tomatoes.

The gardening wonder woman from Greeneville, Tennessee passed away in 1997 but not before leaving behind one of the best tomato legacies in the South.

The heirloom tomato bearing her name seems tailor made for my favorite Southern delicacy, with its beefsteak qualities and average size of about a pound each.

Of all the foods associated with Southern cooking, fried green tomatoes have to be at the top of the list – at least in my experience they have been. I can’t even remember the number of places Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

It seems like a travesty that I live a mere 3-4 miles from the restaurant that inspired Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes and I have yet to even mention it here.

Go on, I know you all want to throw something . . . just make sure it isn’t tomatoes.

As a Southerner who adores just about any type of Southern cooking, and a man who has seen the film quite a few times over the years, it wasn’t until I moved back to Alabama in 2002 that I even realized I was so close to the famed Irondale Café, and made it a point to plan a visit. Read the rest of this entry »