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Media Kit – Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes Cookbook
Media Release:
Alabama Mom-and-Pop Restaurants Share Recipes in Local Cookbook
(Great American Publishers) Anita Musgrove (Brandon, MS) has released her first cookbook and the first book in a new state-by-state series. Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes is a cookbook and restaurant guide featuring everything from signature restaurant recipes to those family favorite recipes the owners and chefs cook at home.
As the first title in the State Back Road Restaurant Recipes Series, this Alabama edition is quickly setting a high standard for upcoming titles. “It’s the fastest-selling state cookbook we have released to date,” says publisher Sheila Simmons, who pointed out that the book sold out of its first printing in a matter of weeks.
What makes the book so popular? It’s the restaurants that have participated by sharing their favorite recipes plus information about their establishment. Opening the pages of this unique cookbook gives you an insider’s look at the locally owned, mom-and-pop restaurants that make Alabama so special.
The book presents this glimpse into more than 200 of the state’s back road restaurants in regions, making it easy to travel to each outstanding restaurant. When traveling the Mountain Region, you will visit Hickory Barn Bar-B-Que and LuVici’s Restaurant in Athens, on to Decatur for Libby’s Catfish & Diner and Simp McGhee’s, and finally on to Houston to visit Chef Troy’s Talk of the Town Restaurant, plus 41 more local favorites.
If you are visiting the Metropolitan Region of the state, you’ll find 49 favorite local restaurants, from Top O’ the River in Anniston to Rick’s Crossroads Grille in Lincoln, plus local favorites Dreamland BBQ and Ezell’s Fish Camp.
In the River Heritage Region of the state, don’t miss The Old Barn Restaurant in Goshen and in Enterprise, Annie’s Cafe, Cutts Restaurant, and Southern Broadway Dinner Theatre. In total, 33 restaurants are featured from this area.
And, finally, if you are traveling along the Gulf Coast Region, you’ll want to visit People’s Corner and Gaston’s Grill in Thomasville, and in Foley, Down South BBQ, The Gift Horse Restaurant, and Lambert’s Cafe, as well as Street’s Seafood in Bay Minette. Those are just a few of the 38 restaurants from this region featured in Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes.
No time to travel? No problem. Each restaurant provides one or more recipes. Some are restaurant recipes you can prepare at home, others are family favorites they prepare when cooking at home, and still others are local favorite recipes. All are delicious and presented in a way that makes each dish a joy to make at home.
Why write a cookbook that focuses on locally owned restaurants? Musgrove says, “My late husband, Leonard, and I loved to travel back roads just seeing what we could see. Invariably, as we traveled, we would stop at small, hole-in-the-wall restaurants for a great meal. We preferred these quaint diners and unique dives for their personality and atmosphere over the same old same old chain restaurants. Many times we would have the opportunity meet the owners and always we would meet the friendly locals of the area.”
After losing her husband to lung cancer several years ago, Musgrove began a labor of love, researching, documenting, and contacting these unique restaurants and eventually compiling the Alabama restaurants into this unique new cookbook. As an Alabama native – born in Bessemer and spent her childhood in Healing Springs – the Heart of Dixie was a natural first choice for the series. “In this book, it is my goal to capture my love of Alabama, especially her food. I want you to enjoy traveling the back roads as much as I always have and, of course, to have the opportunity to stop in at a locally owned diner for a great meal.”
Musgrove found a perfect match for her project with Great American Publishers, who publishes two other successful state cookbook series – The State Hometown Cookbook Series and Eat & Explore State Cookbook Series.
“We are excited about this new series,” says Great American’s Marketing Director, Brooke Craig. “We already know that state cookbooks are extremely popular with cookbook collectors, tourists, and people who love their state. Now we are seeing, through this book’s immediate popularity, how much these cookbook lovers enjoy their local restaurants, too. I’m looking forward to more books in the series.”
After reading this outstanding cookbook, we are all looking forward to more books in the series. Musgrove is currently working on editions for Kentucky and Tennessee and promises more states will be coming soon.
For more information about Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes, visit the publisher’s website at www.GreatAmericanPublishers.com. The book is available locally at bookstores and gift shops as well as at many of the restaurants featured in the book. Get your copy today and start traveling Alabama’s back roads.
Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes Cookbook
by Anita Musgrove
$18.95 • paper • 256 pages • 7 x 9
full-color • ISBN 978-1-934817-13-1
This first book in the State Back Road Restaurant Recipes Series serves up a well-researched and charming guide to the state’s best back road restaurants. This is not your usual guide to high-priced, elite restaurants. These are hidden gems that most people would never discover unless they lived in these quaint Alabama towns.
This unique cookbook serves up a well-researched and charming guide to the state’s best back road restaurants plus favorite recipes from restaurant owners, chefs, and the best cooks in the state.
No time to travel? No problem. Each restaurant shares with you their favorite recipes. Some recipes are signature dishes, others are family favorites, but all are delicious. From Shrimp & Grits at LuVici’s in Athens to Lambert’s Cafe’s Fried Potatoes & Onions in Foley, from Montgomery’s Wagon Wheel Cafe and their outstanding fried chicken to Felix’s Herb Crusted Whitefish at Felix’s Fish Camp in Mobile, and from Gulf of Mexico Grilled Cobia at Ocean Restaurant in Birmingham to New Market BBQ’s BBQ Sketti, every back road leads to delicious food when traveling across Sweet Home Alabama.
You’ll discover terrific recipes plus a guide to every restaurant you won’t want to miss while traveling the back roads of Alabama. So crank up the car and join us.
Anita Musgrove (Brandon, MS) comes from a long line of great home cooks and grew up cooking for her family. She is author of the State Back Road Restaurants Cookbook Series, which currently includes eight editions: Alabama Back Road Restaurant Recipes, Kentucky Back Road Restaurant Recipes, Louisiana Back Road Restaurant Recipes, Missouri Back Road Restaurant Recipes, North Carolina Back Road Restaurant Recipes, South Carolina Back Road Restaurant Recipes, Tennessee Back Road Restaurant Recipes, and Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes. This series was a natural for Anita, who has always loved to travel by car along the back roads of the United States. She and her husband of 45 years logged thousands of miles traveling together, eating at many locally owned restaurants. After losing him to cancer, she decided the best way to pay homage to that memory is to produce a series of cookbooks promoting the best back road restaurants for those who also enjoy traveling. With five successful editions in print and the South Carolina edition coming soon, Anita has found her new calling. Anita, who was born in Bessemer, Alabama, currently lives in Brandon, Mississippi, and has two children, five grandchildren, and one great-grandson. She still enjoys traveling by car with her new traveling partner, Richard Shaw. She also enjoys family, cooking, serving at her church, and crocheting.
Sample Pages:
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Sample Recipe:
About the Series:
The STATE BACK ROAD RESTAURANT COOKBOOK SERIES is a collection of cookbooks that also serve as a restaurant guide for the state. Each book features information about locally owned restaurants throughout the state and includes one or more recipes from each restaurant. Current editions include Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The Oklahoma edition will be available in 2019.
Author Anita Musgrove and her late husband, Leonard, always loved traveling the back roads. As they traveled, Leonard and Anita would drop into little mom-and-pop restaurants along the way. After losing her husband to cancer, Anita decided it was time to capture their years of traveling into a cookbook series.
Within the STATE BACK ROAD RESTAURANT COOKBOOK SERIES, Anita’s goal is to present a list of favorite locally owned restaurants that make traveling the back roads delicious. Each book is divided into regions, making it easier to use in the car. At the beginning of each region, you will find a list of restaurants featured in that section. Throughout each section, the restaurants are presented alphabetically by city with a little information about what makes each of them special.
For those armchair travelers who don’t have time to hit the road, each restaurant shares some of their favorite recipes — either a recipe served in the restaurant or a family favorite. Every recipe is edited for clarity and presented in a way that makes preparation easy for the home cook.
Within this unique series, Anita takes us to every nook and cranny of a state and allows us to get to know these unique places intimately… especially the food.