By Sarrah Peters
News Editor
On August 11, Southern Heritage BBQ had a ribbon cutting for the new restaurant located at 215 Gilbert’s Ferry Road in Attalla.
The business’s owners Craig Cantrell and Steve Cole met at work, where they took lunch breaks at the same time. When Cantrell asked Cole about welding him a grill, the two began talking about smoking meat and discovered that they both dreamed of owning a small barbeque restaurant. Cole found a building for the restaurant, and the rest is history.
Cole and Cantrell came up with the name of their new restaurant by looking to their pasts.
“As we became close friends we discovered that we had similar backgrounds in slow smoking pork,” said Cantrell. “His grandfather and my wife’s grandfather would often smoke pork for neighbors. This led to our choice of the name Southern Heritage. We named it that to honor our heritage and those who have lived in the south using wood fired smoke to feed others.”
Both Cole and Cantrell wanted the restaurant’s focus to be on good food at a good price.
“We talked about our ideas and dreams for starting a BBQ joint that was customer friendly, that we could serve hungry customers without them having to break their wallet,” said Cantrell. “We wanted our food to be the main attraction and not to get caught up in décor and atmosphere, that doesn’t fill the belly like good ole southern style, slow smoked BBQ.”
The menu reflects the simplicity of good barbeque with hamburgers, hot dogs, Boston butt, smoked chicken and ribs. Potatoes and salads can be topped with pork or chicken. The menu also includes classic barbeque sides including fries, onion rings, chips, baked beans, potato salad and Cole slaw. For dessert, the restaurant offers a Southern staple – banana pudding.
Sothern Heritage BBQ is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday, and closed Sunday and Monday.
For more information about Southern Heritage BBQ, visit the Facebook page or call 256-344-2897.