Sweet Tea and fried cornbread

Have you ever read one of those fancy-smancy food critic’s articles critiquing a restaurant?  I read those and sometimes can’t even pronounce some of the food they are talking about mush less think about eating it.

Well, I have a system that is better than any of theirs.  There is one quick way for me to tell if a restaurant is good or not.

Taste the sweet tea.

That’s right. Just by tasting the sweet tea, I can figure out if the food is going to be any good or not.  My reasoning behind this is really simple.  If someone is going to take the time to make sure the sweet tea is good enough to sell to their customers, the chances of them cooking their foot to perfection is pretty high.

I probably get this from being a southerner, where sweet tea is as plentiful as kudzu and saying the word ya’ll is the norm.  Both of my grandmothers made it, my mother made it and I make it.  We have three choices in my house; water, milk or sweet tea and the sweet tea runs out before the other two.

There are three places that I would like to mention by name that I personally think have the best sweet tea in Enterprise.  If your favorite place isn’t on my list, sorry, but I have tried them all and I know good sweet tea when I taste it.

In order:

No. 3 – PoFolks  I will say that I’ve had to add a few packs of sweet n’low to my glass on a few occasions but that doesn’t happen often.  They have good food and good sweet tea.  A must if you haven’t been.  And if you save room, they have a brownie thing for desert that is awesome.

No. 2 – Larry’s   A local favorite and a military haven, Larry’s always has good tea and the one thing I like about it is that they serve it in those really big glasses.  That cuts down on the number of refills my waitress has to make, so I’m sure she is glad as well.

And last but definitely not least is the No. 1 place — Cutt’s.  I don’t know what they use or how they make it, but their tea is the best I have ever tasted.  There must be some magical concoction or special sugar they use because it is always incredible.  Their sweet tea along with their friend cornbread and their mash potatoes makes them one of my favorite lunch spots.

They sell it by the gallon.  Did ya’ll know that?  Several times a week someone from our newsroom collects enough money from everyone and runs up to Cutt’s and gets a gallon.  We try to pour everyone the same amount, but when no one is looking, I’ll sneak to the kitchen and fill mine back up.  Sorry guys, but I can’t help it.

If there are any of you out there who haven’t eaten at Cutt’s (and I can’t imagine why there would be) just go by and check it out.  If all you order is a glass of tea, it will be worth your drive.

If anyone things anywhere else has getter sweet tea than the places I have named, bring it on.  I’m up for the challenge.

Nan G. Stinnett is the Managing Editor of the Enterprise Ledger and a sweet tea connoisseur.  She can be reached at 334-347-9533 or email her at [email protected]