Taste the Shoals

The Shoals has an array of flavors for the palate, from Southern style cooking to sweets and steak.

Here we've listed some recommendations on how to fully taste the Shoals on your visit - take a look, grab your fork, and dig in. You'll never go home hungry..

Legends

201 N. Seminary Street, Florence, 766-5072

Hours: Monday – Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

www.legendssteakhouse.com

Open since last fall, Legends’ Florence location brings diners “slow cooked pot roast, pan friend pork chops and Smoky Mountain meatloaf – with a variety of fresh vegetables and side dishes, such as broccoli casserole, fried green tomatoes and mashed potatoes with gravy,” according to co-owner Bill Osborn.\

The lunch menu ranges from $5.99 to $7.69, and dinner ranges from $7.99 to $24.99.

The restaurant features Creek Stone 100 percent premium Black Angus steaks (filet mignon, NY Strip, ribeye and fresh roasted prime rib.

Legends also serves fresh pasta dishes, baby back ribs, fresh grilled chicken, seafood platters and a salad bar with hand diced fresh vegetables.

“All of our desserts are prepared right in our kitchen and include our famous Hershey’s chocolate cake and walnut crusted cheesecake,” Osborn said.

Osborn said he “always liked the historical downtown of Florence and felt there was a need for good ‘down home cooking.’”

Local memorabilia fill the restaurant’s walls and compliment the casual family atmosphere.

“We wanted [guests] to feel like each restaurant belonged to them, because when it gets right down to it, our guest really owns the operation,” Osborn said.

Dale’s

1001 Mitchell Blvd, Florence, 766-4961, Monday - Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Waiters wear red tuxedo jackets with bow ties, but diners can dress casually at Dale’s.

“You don’t find many places down South where you find that,” said co-owner Tommy Campbell.

Dale’s is the type of place where anniversaries are celebrated and “guys give their girlfriends rings here,” according to Campbell.

Campbell recommends the filet, “That’s probably our best cut of steak,” he said.

However, the steakhouse also serves fresh salmon from the Atlantic Ocean.

The average meal costs about $25, according to Campbell.

The wine menu contains an assortment of vinos that are unavailable from local stores and range from $20 to $120.

Dale’s seasons its meats with its own seasoning, a recipe around for 50 to 60 years.

For dessert, Dale’s offers a homemade apple turnover a la mode with a warm sweet buttery sauce that is a favorite of guests.

Some waiters have worked there for 30 years and know what a customer will order without even looking at a menu.

The dark and quiet atmosphere seats about 200. An available banquet room can seat from 10 to 200 people. Take out also is available.

Carol Daniels started the restaurant in 1962, but Campbell said, “There is no Dale, that’s just the name of the restaurant.”
Swamp John’s Catfish

210 Woodward Avenue, Muscle Shoals, 381-2722, Hours: everyday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Southern style catfish breaded with Swamp John’s own recipe and served with homemade tartar sauce. That’s what Swamp John’s Catfish is known for.

Owner John Shubert started catering out of Swamp John’s convenience store in Red Bay and stuck with the name after he opened his first restaurant in Muscle Shoals in 2005.

The restaurant now has locations in Red Bay and Huntsville as well.

Plates come with fish chicken or shrimp and a choice of two sides (fries, baked potato, baked beans or slaw) for $6.59 or $6.99.

Snacks come with one side and range from $4.99 to $5.59. Sandwiches also are available.

Alana Cantrell, manager, recommended the combo plate: any two meats, two sides and hush puppies.

Children 10 and younger eat free on Tuesday with the purchase of an entrée.

Desserts include key lime pie, Georgia pecan pie, triple chocolate cheesecake and homemade banana pudding.

In the near future, Swamp John’s will begin serving baked fish and baked chicken.

Picnickers can pick up a family pack that will feed four to five with 20 pieces of fish, 10 hush puppies, a pint of slaw and a pint of tartar sauce for $32.99.

For those interested in souvenirs, the restaurant also sells T-shirts and hats with the Swamp John’s logo.

Southland

1309 S. Jackson Highway, Sheffield, 383-8236

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Southern style barbecue cooking is a family affair at Southland.

Brother and sisters Tommy McKay, Phyllis Robinson and Linda Scott took over the business from their parents and aunt who started the business back in 1950.

Southland barbecues with real hickory wood and uses the same pit used for the past 57 years.

“We’re well established for homemade meals and home-cooked pies,” said Scott.

The menu includes the popular catfish that is local and farm raised.

To compliment the catfish, Scott recommends the lemonade pie, which she described as “almost like a cheesecake” but not over-filling. Another option is the coconut cream pie.

Lunch and dinner range from $5.99 – $9.95.

Specials are available throughout the week. For example, on Fridays, salmon patties traditionally are served.

On Sundays, Southland serves chicken and dressing and side dishes such as broccoli casserole and vegetables.

Sunday dinners are $7.45 and include one meat choice and three vegetables.

The vegetable choice is changed daily through the week and includes green beans, homemade macaroni and cheese, candied yams seasoned or cream potatoes.

The atmosphere is casual. “Everybody’s right at home here,” Scott said.




Singleton's

4220 Huntsville Road, Florence, (256) 760-0802

Hours: Tuesday – Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Since 1957, the Singleton family has served hickory-smoked, pit-cooked barbecue in the Shoals.

Originally in Sheffield, Singleton’s opened its Florence location in 1993.

“We’re the only full-service barbecue restaurant in Florence,” according to co-owner Rick Singleton.

Their menu, little changed since 1957, includes hickory-smoked pork, chicken and rib barbecue, along with ribeye and hamburger steaks.

Their new “chicken flapper” wings come in plain, barbecue or hot and spicy flavors.

Singleton recommends visitors try the two-meat combo with pork and chicken.

The restaurant’s signature homemade pies include peanut butter, cream vanilla and peanut butter filling in a homemade crust and browned in the oven.

Singleton calls the atmosphere “family casual” with a family-priced menu and reasonable portions.

Servers know most of the regular customers by first name, he said.

Most servers have worked there since the Florence restaurant opened in 1993.

“A lot of people don’t realize we’re here,” said Singleton since the restaurant is off the main thoroughfare.

However, out-of-town visitors mingle with regular diners.

The two dining rooms hold as many as 92 people, and the private room, which holds as many as 45 people, is available for parties and special occasions.

360 Grille at the Marriott Shoals

800 Cox Creek Parkway, Florence, 246-3660

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.

The 360 Grille gets its name inspiration from the breathtaking view of the Tennessee River Valley the rotating restaurant provides its patrons.

The culinary inspiration comes from “food that makes us feel good,” said Amy Kohn, maitre d’ at the 360 Grille. The menu combines the familiar with the unexpected.

Examples include the truffled green bean casserole and the oxtail ravioli.

Their new menu will include fois gras with French toast and wild mushrooms and barbecue quail, cornbread and fresh shell peas.

A $30 prix fixe menu is available that includes three courses served Tuesday through Saturday between 4 and 6 p.m.

“I hope to excite the community with fresh, new ideas and local product. I am working with Steve Carpenter (Jack O’Lantern Farms) and Sherry Campbell (Shoals Culinary Center) in hopes of continuously changing the 360 Grille menu to reflect the season’s products,” said Joshua Quick, 360 Grille chef de cuisine.

The menu includes appetizers ($10 to $15), soup/ salad ($7 to $9), entrees ($19 to $44) and desserts ($8).

“We have one of the best wine lists in North Alabama,” Kohn said. “We are heavy on our California wines; however we have something to please all wine palates.”

Nightly entertainment is provided by Mr. Harvey Thompson Jr.

Reservations are recommended.

George’s Steak Pit

1206 Jackson Highway, Sheffield, 381-1531

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 4:30 to 10 p.m.

www.georgessteakpit.com

George and Vangie Vafinis opened their steak and grilled chicken fine-dining restaurant in the 1956. Their son, Frank, now carries on the tradition, though Vangie, 78, still cooks on special nights.

Frank Vafinis recommends the ribeye or fillet. He said and all meats are cut at the restaurant cooked on an open pit with hickory logs.

They also have a variety of seafood such as sushi-grade rare seared tuna, Alaskan King crab legs, broiled lobster tail and fresh fish.

A children’s menu also is available.

Appetizers include homemade Greek meatballs with feta cheese and homemade Oysters Rockefeller.

Their extensive wine menu includes 28 wine varieties (prices range from $25 to $75), 11 of which are by the glass. Also, their reserve list includes 35 kinds of wine that range from $45 to $295.

For after the meal, George’s serves authentic Italian cappuccino and espresso.

Meals are served with tossed salad or soup, garlic bread and choice of baked potato, wild rice, steak fries or vegetable of the day.

All of their sauces and all but one dressing (Catalina French) are made in-house.

The Blue Cheese and Thousand Island dressings are 50-year-old family recipes and are available by the pint or quart.

“We make everything we can in house,” Frank Vafinis said.




The Palace Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop

100 S. Main St., Tuscumbia, 386-8210

Hours: Monday – Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

“Meet’n’eat” is the mantra of the Palace Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop, an old-style soda fountain.

The former hotel built in 1833 became the original Palace Drug Store in 1906. The soda fountain was removed in the ’60s but it remained as a drug store.

However, the fountain’s rebirth came in 2001 when Harvey and Joyce Ann Robbins, high school sweethearts during the late 40s and early 50s, decided to restore the Palace to its original state.

The menu now includes sandwiches, burgers (from regular to chili cheese), seafood gumbo and pimento and cheese. Lunch typically costs around $7.

Manager Mary Ann Inman recommended the chicken salad and fruit plate and added, “We also have a really good Philly steak sandwich.”

The Palace also is known for its ’40s and ’50s inspired ice cream treats. These include banana splits that feed two or three, a dozen different ice cream flavors and even ”Harvey’s milkshake,” one of the “100 things to eat in Alabama before you die.”

Diners can lunch at the counter or at a table in an intimate atmosphere that seats about 65 people.

The drug store closed in April 2005, but the restrooms remind diners to this day of the building’s history with their wallpaper of prescriptions from the early 1900s,

found in the building’s basement during renovation.

In the dining area, original pictures of historic Tuscumbia and the old Palace add to the ambiance.

Rosie’s Mexican Cantina

302 N. Court Street, Florence, (256) 767-5599

Hours: Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Rosie’s Mexican Cantina offers authentic family-style Tex-Mex in downtown Florence.

The Mexican blue tile entrance, the dining room mural of a modern market scene and the Mexican art and antiques all compliment the restaurant’s Tex-Mex theme.

David Martin, founder of Rosie’s and native of Muscle Shoals, recommended the Texas-style cheese enchiladas with diced onions on top, a signature Tex-Mex dish.

All Rosie’s food is homemade from fresh ingredients.

Another favorite is Rosie’s shrimp burrito, filled with sautéed jumbo shrimp, mushrooms, onions and mild peppers and topped with a creamy avocado sauce.

A popular dessert, the Tres Leches (translated to Three Milks), is a chilled cake soaked in cherry cordial, Bailey’s and three types of sweet cream topped with fresh fruit and homemade whipped cream. It serves two to four people.

Their signature drink, the Mambo Taxi, combines frozen margarita with swirls of Sangria wine and is available from the full-service bar.

Diners can also eat al fresco in the patio during the summer.

Lunch ranges from $6 to $10 and dinner typically costs from $8 to $14.




Ricatoni’s Italian Grill

107 N. Court Street, Florence, 718-1002

Hours: Sunday – Thursaay 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Ricatoni’s combines Spanish ambience with Italian food. A trip to Spain inspired owner Rick Elliot to emulate the Spanish style of restaurant: long and narrow with an exposed kitchen.

However, the food is all Italian.

Specialty dishes include the tagliarini piace pellerossa, pasta in a sauce of crushed tomatoes, olive oil and spices; chicken marsala, grilled and topped with mushrooms and wine sauce and pizza margherita, with roma tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozerella.

The cozy bar serves mixed drinks, beer and wine. The wine menu includes merlot, chianti and cabernets from Italy, Chile and California with bottle prices from $17 to $42.

Entrees range from chicken alfredo ($9.95) to shrimp spiedino served with pellerossa ($18.95).

Ricatoni’s, a wordplay on the tube-shaped rigatoni pasta, was listed for their bread with herbs and olive oil in 2005’s “100 dishes to eat in Alabama before you die” published by Alabama Tourism and Travel.

The restaurant’s building dates back to 1884 and seats 160. The full-service restaurant opened nearly 11 years ago, and has become a mainstay of the Shoals’ culinary scene.

Daily specials are available along with “to go” service for those on the run.

Trowbridge’s Ice Cream and Sandwich Bar

316 N. Court Street, Florence, 764-1503

Hours: Monday – Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Open since 1918, Trowbridge’s is Florence’s oldest business in its original downtown location, according to third-generation owner Don Trowbridge.

The restaurant is the type of place where a grandmother can take her grandchildren and say, “My grandmother took me here when I was your age.”

That brings owner Trowbridge his greatest joy, he said.

The menu focuses on tradition and simplicity: sandwiches, salads, soups and let’s not forget ice cream.

Their chicken salad sandwich is the most popular item on the menu, according to the owner.

A dessert favorite, “Oh My Gosh,” was named from customers’ response after eating the vanilla ice cream sundae topped with warm brownie, hot caramel and whipped cream.

Popular with downtown workers, Trowbridge’s staff can get you seated and out of the door in half an hour for lunch.

“We are not a fast-food restaurant, we just serve food fast,” said Trowbridge.

The restaurant has kept the traditional décor of an old-time diner. Its booths, tables and counter space seat 50 people. Framed photos of early Florence and the Wilson Dam construction surround diners with nostalgia.

Trowbridge’s also offers non-traditional health-conscious fare such as low-carb

stuffed tomato and sugar-free ice cream.

The menu ranges from the ham sandwich ($3.50) to a plain hotdog ($1.35).

Dessert ranges from a single ice cream dip ($0.90) to a three-gallon take-away ($23.00). Or you could just eat it there.