About Me

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e. l . wood is a native of birmingham, alabama. he grew up on the urban streets of dallas, texas before attending college at houston baptist university where he earned a b. a. in english and psychology. after a year of teaching high school english in the public schools of houston, e. l. wood attended sam houston state university where he earned a master’s degree in english. after bouncing around the deep south for several years, he finished his ph. d. in american literature before 1900 at the university of southern mississippi. e. l. wood has been teaching in some capacity since 1992 and has taught for a local community college since 1995. in his spare time, e.l. wood enjoys reading, movies, and the outdoors. he is personally acquainted with several search and rescue teams around the southeast. he is married to the lovely and gracious a. c. they have a daughter (special k), and one dog. They reside in h'burg, deep south. in addition to being the sole proprietor of the gandy dancer billiard parlor, e. l. wood dabbles in folk art and the occasional cultivation of a handlebar mustache.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

what a babe!



over the forth of july week, i had a delightful trip to big d to visit my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and the nephews. one of the multiple highlights was to babe’s fried chicken house which is quite possibly the best fried chicken establishment in the free world. at babe’s you can clamber on and off a zebra striped fire-engine or peruse the walls which are adorned with jackalopes, zebra striped swordfish, license plates, and quaint quotes of local color. or you can simply watch in amazement at the bustle of the crowd while you wait for a seat. at babe’s, you can order one of three meats – fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, or fried catfish. after you order your meat, everyone at the table is served all-you-care-to-eat salad (which has the best vinegar dressing ever), black-eyed peas, cream-style corn, mashed potatoes, and biscuits with your choice of white gravy, honey, or sorghum syrup. while you wait for the meat to arrive, if you’re lucky, the hokie-pokie will come on the juke box and the waitresses and whoever else wants to join in will put various body parts in and out and, well, you know the rest. you can always tell which folks are eating at babe’s for the first time - their eyes look like five-year-olds on christmas morning and their mouths hang open exposing salavating tongues sorta like the dog on turner and hootch. no matter how old you are, you can’t help but smile in wonder and delight when the meat arrives. the golden goodness is piled high in an impressive, heavenly fried array of breasts, thighs, wings, and fillets. i’m pretty sure meal time in heaven will be sorta like going to babe’s, only no one will be counting calories or fat grams since we won’t have earthly bodies to worry about anyway. that said, i know the folks in washington are always looking for ways to spread democracy around the globe and i’m pretty sure that if we were to put a couple of babe’s fried chicken houses in say, iraq and afghanistan, and maybe one in the un building, the world would be a better place. maybe not everyone would convert to democracy, but i’m pretty sure most folks could come to some sort of consensus over the best fried chicken this side of heaven.

4 comments:

Steve Bezner said...

I think this post is incredible...hey, I love eating at Babe's!

But the best idea is putting a Babe's in the U.N. building. I think some fried chicken could loosen those folks up a tad!

laura g said...

too funny. i'd love to try it. on the rare occasions when i get to go home to mom & dad's, i ask mom to make her fried chicken/real mashed potatoes/squash/green beans/biscuits/gravy meal. she always gives me the look that says, "do you know how many pots and pans i have to get dirty to make that meal?" and then makes it anyway. so if babe's won't expand to the middle east, maybe my mom could go into business.

Cole said...

EMan, I didn't even know about this place...whereabouts in the metroplex is it? You know you'll never get rid of that certain nickname if you keep eating there...

By the way, the Democrats would never go for your plan as they're too busy outlawing transfatty oils...

e. l. wood said...

ah - indeed, cole. watch out. the thought police are coming after your food. and i do indeed imbrace my nickname - "fatty." and - i've been working hard to keep it in the realm of nick-names one thinks about when one sees a giant named "tiny" or a pig named "babe" (just to keep the theme alive, no?). my bro-in-law and i are working to hit the 180 mark for both our sakes sometime in the months ahead. so far we are both about 7 pounds off the mark. we ate at babes as a celebration for breaking the 190 barrier. by the by - a couple of locations - garland is the one we frequent. i think there is one in roaneoak and there is another location somewhere else, not sure where.