Chef Troy's Talk Of The Town

The food is excellent. The wait staff is very good and pleasant.

We have been there 3 times now and each time we end up paying an additional $10 for add-ons that are not clear in the menu. Some vegetables are included in the entree price but some are extra charges. The wait staff won't tell you when you are ordering but you see it in the bill.

Each time I felt just a little cheated or scammed. I don't know why they just don't add a couple of bucks to the main entree price instead of trying to slip it in on the bill.

Just outside the William B. Bankhead National Forest, on the corner of two county highways that is the town of Houston, Alabama, across the street from the historic Winston County log jail, is a plain rectangular cinder-block building, painted a shade of circus-peanut orange, crowned with a bold proclamation: "CHEF TROY'S TALK OF THE TOWN"

Many places claim to the "talk of the town," or "world famous," or some such hyperbole, but the first clue that this is no exaggeration is the full parking lot. Step inside on a Saturday evening, you will find the establishment packed to nearly capacity, with a line of people at the cash register waiting for take-out orders.

On Saturday night, I had the grilled trout special. Fresh trout grilled to flaky perfection with a lemon butter sauce, a side of summer squash and onion, and slices of baguette bread to sop up the butter. The salad is only iceberg lwith grape tomatoes and cucumber, but the lettuce and cucumbers are crisp, and the tomatoes ripe.

The next morning, I came back for breakfast. The beignet-like French toast would be worth selling your soul to the Devil for, if Chef Troy weren't so generous as to offer it to you at a reasonable price. Crunchy hash browns and bacon round out the best breakfast that can be had for a hundred miles around or more.

There are many things in life you can do that you may come to regret; dining at Chef Troy's will not be one of them.