Slawburgers

In 19 and 23 Mr. Weston J. Stubblefield opened a pool room on the court house square in Fayetteville, Tennessee. There was a small menu where Mr. Stubblefield perfected the house specialty, the "Original Pool Room Slaw." A mustard and cabbage slaw that is sweetened with sugar.

By the time World War II rolled around Mr. Stubblefield had put slaw to burger and thus invented the "Slawburger." With military installations all over the Fayetteville area it wasn't long before young men in uniform would come to town to satisfy their food and billiard cravings. These men (and women) would return to base and spread the word about the unique offering.
After the war, veterans would settle in the area and regale residents with tales of their military heroics, settle bets with a pool stick and introduce the baby boomers to the slawburger.
Today, be they farmers, doctors, lawyers or visitors, a new generation of customers enjoys the food at what is now known as Honey's Restaurant and Billiards. Weston's great grandson and his father, Melvin and Lee McAlister now carry the torch. The pool tables are gone but the charm and friendly vibe remain. You can even take a decade by decade photo tour of how the diner has changed. They've done a nice job chronicling it and the photos are on display in the dining area.
Before I was able to post this I bumped into a guy from Fayetteville. He'd moved away and since moved back. He was raised on the slawburger and could never find them anywhere outside the town. Let alone the county.

Just about everything is made in house and served up by a smiling and friendly staff.
First things first, the slaw.
When I say sweet, make no mistake, it's almost enough to send a person into sugar shock. My first taste of it on it's own I couldn't stand. A few more bites and I was really starting to like it. It's more condiment though I think.

We had an order of chili. It was very reminiscent of the Texas Tavern "Chile" in that it was bean heavy. This one had more heat (though not a lot), more meat and more cumin. It was good.

The house specialty, the slawburger. It's fantastic. The sweetness of the slaw, with onion and pickles on a cheeseburger were a perfect balance.

There was another house specialty as well. The hamburger steak. This, once again is an over sized burger done on a flat top, topped (this time) with sauteed onions, bell pepper, mushrooms and American cheese. It came with choice of potato which we chose (cheese) tots. They didn't have mashed. The tots were fine. They were out of a bag but their was nothing wrong with that.
It's hard to say if it beat the Chuckwagon HS but the addition of cheese and mushrooms make it hard for me to not call it the winner. Chuckwagon had it beat on sides though.

You can find Honey's on the court house square in Fayetteville, Tennessee.


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Well that's all for today.
Davwud