Folks pack in for breakfast at Busy Bee on the way to work or on the way to a fun Saturday.
Good Eats Story by David Meyers Photos by David Moore
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ou know you’re in for something good when you slide into a booth in a diner, but you usually don’t get a history lesson to chew on with your lunch. I promised my hard-working wife, Rose, I’d treat her if she’d skip out of work early on a Friday for a visit to Cullman. I’d heard about a diner there that has managed to keep its doors open for more than 100 years while other restaurants are folding faster than a cheap napkin. When Busy Bee Café opened in 1919 the owners came across a recipe from Corinth, Mississippi, for “slugburgers,” where ground meat is mixed with white bread, shaped into patties and then fried. Likely inspired by large families trying to stretch Great Depression-era meat dollars, diners in the South adopted the technique. Back then, a burger sold for a nickel, which was nicknamed a “slug.” 48
Busy Bee has fed Cullman for 102 years – diner style
Busy Bee still proudly serves the original burgers – along with a handful of other diners across North Alabama. “It’s what makes us different,” says owner Stevie Douglas. “You can go anywhere in Cullman and they’re all serving the same thing.” Well, I knew right then that I would be having a slugburger for lunch.
tomatoes and these crispy treats were not disappointing. The crispy fried dill pickles were hard to leave alone, especially dipped into a cup of fresh-made ranch dressing. The star of the appetizer show was the homemade chips, served warm and crunchy. They made a delightful accompaniment to our burgers.
he original is simply dressed with a mixture of ketchup and mustard with diced onion on top. The cheeseburger is a tad fancier with mayo, lettuce tomato, pickle and cheese. When I bit into the original burger, my mind whizzed back about 50 years because that is exactly how my mom made her patties. She always added a little white bread to the meat. It was just like sitting at her table in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, again. A sampler tray of sides brought me back to reality. I love fried green
reakfast is a big deal here, served 6-11 a.m. Busy Bee is one of the few places in Cullman that serves a big breakfast that includes platters of eggs with your choice of pork, grits, gravy, toast or biscuit. Also tempting are the omelets, breakfast sandwiches, biscuits and pancakes. “Customers are lined up outside before we open the doors,” Stevie says. “They gather outside and mingle.” Stevie is the third generation of her family to run the Busy Bee. The original Continued on page 50
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AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021
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