Well, the groundhog has seen its shadow and that means goodbye winter and hello early spring! In other words, that means hello barbeque and white sauce. Numerous people, including my own high school teacher Mrs. Bone, referred me to Bunyan’s Barbeque. Mrs. Bone was my culinary teacher, so I knew if she said it was good then this place must be on point. I was mainly doing all the pointing, though, to the menu over and over again.

I ordered a pork sandwich, a bag of chips and one glass bottle of Coke-as well as, of course, a bowl of white sauce. Unlike some other southern barbeque places in the Shoals, Bunyan’s offers white sauce for a low cost of “I don’t care, I need it anyway.” I paid for my meal and sat down in the mini dining room that consists of four two-seat tables. I got many weird stares. When only sitting down for more than 10 minutes I realize this is a grab-and-go kind of place.

I told myself I would remember this next time-I mean the next day. As you can tell, I’m not a salad and a water meal eater, so I went back to the cash stand and ordered another sandwich, and that’s when it hit me: a slaw dog. I guess it didn’t really hit me too hard after realizing everyone in there ordered one, not to mention the guy in front of me that left with three. I proceeded to order a slaw dog, until I overheard the woman talking beside me about a peach cobbler. A PEACH COBBLER? Is Maw Maw behind that kitchen window in the back? If not, I would love to compare. To my dismay, someone ordered the last one right before me and beat me to the punch. So I settled for a slaw dog and blackberry cobbler for dessert.

After spending my paycheck at Bunyan’s, I can proudly say it was worth every penny. The pork is slow cooked over wood smoked pits and out of this world when paired with white sauce. The slaw that came on the dog is a hot slaw that seems to be mixed with cabbage, carrots, onion, green pepper and a sauce that includes an array of different spices and everyday household condiments. When I took my first bite, it was an explosion of flavor, and it was very hard to pinpoint each individual flavor. One hotdog later, it was easy to see what made this dog to die for.

As far as the blackberry cobbler goes, if I had told them to add a scoop of ice cream, which they have in the store, I wouldn’t have been able to drive home. I have never left somewhere feeling so satisfied and full as when I left Bunyan’s. This place is sitting next to my grandmother’s house on the competition level, which is very surprising seeing that Maw Maw is sitting next to Betty Crocker and Paula Deen.

In the words of James Wesley, I call Bunyan’s “real,” and that is why I, for the first time in Flor-Ala history, rate this mouth-watering, finger lickin’ restaurant a six out of five stars.