Bob Carlton

2 weeks ago | al.com | Bob Carlton

John Crum Sessions was just a teenager when his father, Henry Sessions, put him to work – doing everything from sweeping floors to stuffing sausage -- at the family’s Conecuh Quick Freeze sausage-processing plant in Evergreen, the seat of Alabama’s Conecuh County. “I rode my bicycle down there to work,” Sessions recalls.

4 weeks ago | al.com | Bob Carlton

Two popular downtown Birmingham restaurants are getting closer to opening new locations in neighboring Homewood. El Barrio, a Mexican-inspired restaurant famous for its chorizo meatloaf, masa roasted trout and al pastor tacos, and Paramount, a casual restaurant and bar known for its hot wings, cold beers and two-fisted burgers, are expected to open in June in the new West Row residential and commercial development in West Homewood.

1 month ago | aopa.org | Bob Carlton

By Bob CarltonIt’s really cold up here. The wind chill is biting into any exposed skin. I’m going fast but still accelerating. The air rushing by my helmet creates a roar that is quickly becoming a banshee scream. As I move faster, every part of my body is engaged. The slightest movement has an ever-increasing effect on my flight. As the scream becomes overwhelming, I twitch my lower legs slightly. I wobble.

1 month ago | al.com | Bob Carlton

The couple who brought new life to a beloved old burger joint in the small South Alabama town of Jackson have restored and reopened another classic burger-and-shake shop just up the highway in neighboring Grove Hill. The husband-and-wife team of Justin and Julia Brooks, who bought Jackson’s 61-year-old Ed’s Drive-In in the summer of 2019, cut the ribbon Wednesday on their latest trip back in time, Ed’s Dairy Bar, on Main Street in downtown Grove Hill, the seat of Clarke County.

1 month ago | al.com | Bob Carlton

For four glorious days, the annual Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July all rolled into one – a smoke-infused celebration of swine that attracts more than 100 teams from across the United States, Canada, Mexico and even Norway. None of those teams, though, has a more decorated history at Memphis in May than the crew from Alabama’s legendary Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q in Decatur.