Best Restaurants in Auburn
A student or two has been known to pick Auburn University for the tempting local food. Just as students in this college town get to break out of their dorm-food haze at prized local eateries, you can dig into the tastiest plates Auburn has to offer.
That Southern dining experience can take your palate anywhere from juicy fried chicken to a modern update on classic comfort food.
Contemporary Comfort Food: Acre
Southern Living magazine lauds this warm, inviting restaurant as a "gem" and one of the top 100 places to eat for its creative spin on locally sourced ingredients. Menu items at Acre, like fresh Gulf fish, shrimp and grits with Gouda or pimento cheese with smoked paprika chips are sure to leave you wanting more of which this comfort food restaurant has to offer. Lunch and brunch are more economical times to enjoy the fruits of this kitchen. Try the fried green tomatoes with blue crab or the peanut brittle for a quick nosh. Get the brisket burger with charcoal onion jam or the bourbon chocolate pecan pie—it's all good here.
Local Flavors: The Hound
The family behind The Hound designed this restaurant to feel like a hunting lodge and the menu to feel like fresh-off-the-farm goodness. This sometimes includes wild game by season. Though the menu shifts with the seasons, some tasty tidbits you can expect to find include a BLT packed with a full pound of bacon and a bison burger smothered in tobacco onions and sautéed mushrooms. You can add pork belly and pimento cheese on the build-your-own-burger menu, and start off your eats with a pail of hot pork rinds. If farm-to-table is what you seek, The Hound is your destination.
Southern Favorites: Pannie-George's Kitchen
This Auburn favorite describes its food as "cooked with love," but another key ingredient is homespun hospitality that makes you feel like you've been welcomed to the dinner table. The owners of Pannie-George's Kitchen draw from their grandparents' recipes, using carefully selected ingredients for a menu that varies by the day except for one Southern constant: fried chicken. You can expect to see mac and cheese, collard greens, corn casserole or black-eyed peas on the side, completed with cornbread or a roll. Meats span beef tips, chicken wings or fried fish, and made-from-scratch strawberry shortcake and blackberry cobbler have been known to find their way onto the day's menu for dessert.
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