MY TOWN IS TASTY, ACCORDING TO SOUTHERN LIVING

Southern Living Magazine just held a competition to find out the "South's Tastiest Town" and my little town of Decatur made the list!

Here is how it worked, the editors came up with the top 10 and then opened it up for online voting to see which town would come out as number 1. Here is how they came up with the original 10:

"Editors selected the towns based on the following criteria:
• Food as a cultural identity: The unique food or ethnicity that defines a particular Southern region
• Growth of a culinary-minded community: The influence that the culinary industry has on the local community and tourism
• Diverse cuisine at a variety of price points: Accessibility to hearty, flavorful meals at any budget
• Local, sustainable food practices: The focus on sourcing products from local purveyors to geographically define where each meal comes from
• Hot chefs on the rise: The influence of the area’s culinary talent in the media and pop culture
• Abundance of buzz-worthy food events: The number of festivals in the area that celebrate all things food and drink"

Now 10,588 votes isn't a lot until you consider that we only have 19,000 residents within the city limits of Decatur.  And I will personally vouch for how tasty my town is. They listed a perfect eating day for each town and for the most part, I agree with what they said but I'd like to add my own with a vegetarian twist. (Side note: I could never do all of this eating in one day):

Breakfast: Coffee & A biscuit at JavaMonkey. It's a little indie coffee shop with mismatched furniture and wonderful, huge biscuits that you can get anything on: eggs, bacon, veggie sausage, muenster cheese. My go to is the veggie sausage & cheese biscuit.

Lunch: They were right on it to mention Farm Burger as the perfect lunch spot. Get the veggie burger with feta cheese, farm burger sauce and arugula.

Drinks: I'm a little torn on this one since there are quite a few great places to get drinks in Decatur but I'll go with my recent find. Get an Old Fashioned at Leon's Full Service. They are to die for.

Dinner: Again, I will agree with the article on this one. Go to No. 246, get anything and everything, it's all great. They even have half orders of pasta so you can get an appetizer, a pasta and dessert. (they have great signature cocktails too.)

Dessert: I know I'm supposed to take you to a new place for dessert but No. 246 has the most amazing tiny doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce that I have ever eaten. I may have even told people that they are "life changing". I stand by my statement.