The third and last day of the 2025 Georgia Tour dawned while I was still digesting Day 1. Still, I arose with high expectations. After walking around the downtown core for a bit, I moseyed over to Hootenanny’s at 1708 Ellis Street where I met the redoubtable Keith McLendon for Meal 11 of the Tour. Hootenanny’s occupies an historic house, a pretty one in a nice setting across from the courthouse and amid gorgeous live oaks.
There’s a small interior where diners order at the old school takeout window with a conveniently placed list of the ever-changing and inventive specials.
Then you pick up and eat where you like. The choices include a few tables in the front yard and an opportunity for some front porch sittin’, a broad covered back porch,
and an uncovered patio canopied by graceful live oak trees called the Yard. What a beautiful view!
Keith and I chose the Yard . It was great before noon, and seemed like the perfect place to enjoy a cold beverage, maybe play one of those outside games, and listen to local musicians.
We missed Judd Foster, the pitmaster. He and wife Kate’ s union had recently been blessed with issue, and the new baby was appropriately demanding. We got right down to business. Here’s a brisket sandwich.
That deserves an action photo:
This brisket is wonderful. What do you want in a brisket? Tenderness? Meatiness? Succulence? Smokiness? Big flavor? The brisket at Hootenanny’s has it all in spades. This has to be one of the top five or six briskets that I’ve tried outside Texas, and I’ve tried a lot. (I’m pretty out of date in Texas, so I set those aside to avoid a fight.)
Keith suggested we try the bologna, which I have to say is one of my least favorite sausages. I always preferred salami when I was kid, and I haven’t changed my mind since. But I bowed to Keith’s wisdom. It was a special, the daily pork grind, and I like to try specials.
It was unlike any other bologna I’ve ever tasted, so much so that I question even calling it bologna. It had all the texture and flavor that bologna usually lacks. It was boldly seasoned, actually spicy, a marriage between bologna and andouille. You have to try this! And the accompaniments helped. The pimiento cheese was not overdressed, and the lightly pickled onions and the Alabama white sauce added that tang that goes so gracefully with pork.
We also received a complimentary sausage, the day’s special beef grind.
If you could read the Specials photo, this was a blueberry gouda maple bratwurst. As I said, the specials are interesting and inventive. Let’s get a good view of the interior.
I’l start by saying that I don’t like sweet elements with meat. I especially dislike maple on anything except pancakes and waffles, so the bratwurst started out with two strikes. It ended up with a ground rule double. The maple flavor was muted, a respectful back note, and the blueberries were, or seemed to be, actual fresh blueberries. Amazing. Those flavors blended well with the gouda, and the meat itself was outstanding. It was more assertively spiced than an ordinary bratwurst. It had a delightful peppery flavor that forgave the sausage’s sins. This was a good example of why it’s good to try things you don’t think you’ll like.
You saw glimpses of our sides. Here’s a closer look at the esquites.
The sauce and the cheese were quite good, but the corn itself was tired. This would be a must-order dish when corn is in season, but it was just okay. The corn also weighed down the Brunswick stew a little, but the other ingredients were fine.
Always order Brunswick stew in Georgia, just as you should always order hash with barbecue in Georgia.
And you should make a point to go to Hootenanny’s. What a great meal! And in such a lovely setting. Judd Foster is a genius when it comes to meat, cooking it certainly, but also in combining it with other flavors in his sausages, making silk purses out of sows’ ears. Is there anyone who’s making such a wide variety sausages with such success? (That’s an honest question, not just rhetorical. I’d like to plan a trip.) You should follow them on Facebook and Instagram to see the variety of preparations Hootenanny’s offers. And look for more detail when I update my Best Places to Eat near I-95 with a more selectively curated version. I just saw a special of beef cheeks! Beef cheeks, the food I loved so at Palmira! You have to try them at Hootenanny’s. So do I. It’ll probably be a while for me, so if you get there first, let me know how great they were.
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