Dining on the road: Pannie-George's Kitchen, Auburn, Alabama

I've been told that I am a wee bit obsessed with my new uber-smart phone. It's perhaps true, but my phone is just so useful. For example, on our recent roadtrip to Florida we drove until we were hungry, then I pressed a few buttons, and voila.... restaurant recommendations.  Amazing.  And, we found a great restaurant in Auburn with absolutely perfect comfort food.  Four thumbs up for Pannie-George's Kitchen (that's my two thumbs and Mw's two thumbs, if you are counting).

Pannie-George's is located in a strip mall on the edge of Auburn.  There's nothing fancy about the restaurant:  food is served cafeteria-style, with a limited menu of two or three entrees, a few sides, and a choice of corn bread or a roll.  Naturally, we both chose the fried chicken, mine with fried okra and snap peas, Mw's with fried okra and sliced tomatoes.  We both had the corn bread.

I'll start with the chicken.  Wow.  Really, really good.  The chicken had a perfectly crispy exterior and moist meat, just like fried chicken should be.  Not as good as my mom's (nothing is), but I'll give it a second in my book.  Something about the chicken was similar to my mom's though, so I asked them what they fry it in. The answer?  'Grease'.  Well, that didn't help me so I told them how good the chicken was, just like my mom's and she fries her chicken in Crisco, but somehow that seemed to offend them.  So I can't tell you what they fry the chicken in, but it's darn good. 

The fried okra was about the best I've ever had, especially when topped with a mix of ketchup and the homemade hot sauce, a delightful vinegar-based concoction.  I'm not usually one to order snap peas but these made me a convert.  It was probably all of the butter.  I was so full from the chicken and okra that I barely touched the cornbread, but Mw devoured it for us both, he thought it was about the best he'd ever had (mine excepted of course).

The icing on the cake?  The whole meal, complete with sweet tea, came to $15.07. 

 My plate, pre-devouring it all...

The menu:  the photo is a bit hard to read but the down-home sensibility is clear.

We would have gone back to Pannie-George's on the way home, but they are closed on Saturdays.  So my phone took us to two closed BBQ restaurants before we finally made it to an open, and mediocre BBQ establishment.  I'll spare you the details.