Staggs
Grocery
Florence, Lauderdale County
This joint is on the AL.com list of 22 Greasy Spoon Burger Joints in Alabama
you have to visit before you die.
This is one of those places where no
tourist will ever set foot in. Instead, it is filled with hordes of indigenous people.
The Sheriff will be there, with a couple of his deputies, a heating &
cooling maintenance crew, some old timers with War Veteran caps on, a few local
farm hands, and the occasional Lexus driver. They all come to this place not
because it is fancy, modern, pretty, or even remotely cozy. It is situated at
the end of a run-down storefront in an area that maybe has never seen better times.
The people who come here apparently don’t mind that the weathered green marquise
over the entrance looks if it could come crashing down during the next heavy
rainstorm. Nor do they mind to sit with perfect strangers in soiled work
clothes at one of the half dozen large plastic lawn tables in the dining room,
where everybody just sits wherever there is a free space available. They
certainly do not mind the naked walls, where no picture or piece of memorabilia
blocks the view at the green paint on the walls, and where the only decoration
is an odd Pepsi clock. Some of them will come exactly because of this unique
atmosphere, but all come because of the burgers.
In Staggs Grocery in Florence, the
burgers are made to order, out of fresh ground beef, with fresh veggies and
they come in the usual varieties of plan and cheese, with or without bacon,
single or double. I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a fountain drink,
and did not mind at all that I had to pay not even nine Dollars for it.
After I ordered the burger at the
big counter that separates the kitchen from the dining room, I sat down at a
table with some young guys who talked about metal music the whole time. The
burger was brought out by one of the lovely ladies who take shifts in serving,
flipping, and assembling of the burgers. It came with raw red onions, tomatoes,
pickles, bacon, a beef patty, cheese and mayonnaise based cole slaw. On the
burger, not as a side. Cole Slaw. Yummy! At first, I thought that ketchup would
be a good idea, but after the first bite I realized that the cole slaw gives
this burger a very special note, which would be destroyed by putting anything
else on it. I must say, this burger was different, but in a very good way. The
substitution of the ubiquitous lettuce with the indefinitely more tasty slaw is
a stroke of genius. It gives the burger a very fresh presence and a distinctive
taste. Different. Good. Yummy.
I used the ketchup for the fries,
instead, which were very crisp and also top notch.
Staggs Grocery is in business since
1953, and it is one of those places where you can still feel America as it must
have been back then. Apart from the great food and the unique atmosphere, I
enjoyed a nice chat with the cashier, took a picture of the lovely ladies in
the kitchen, and generally had a jolly good time.
