Theodore, Alabama: Bayley's
Editor's note: Occasionally what looks at first glance to be a conventional guidebook transcends the genre in surprising ways. John T. Edge's Southern Belly is just such a read. Yes, you can use it like the discerning guide to eating in the South it most assuredly is. But Southern Belly is also a book filled with so much heart, soul, and good writing that it demands to be read cover to cover like some John Grisham page-turner. Edge blessedly doesn't shy away from discussions of race and class, and the result is a narrative that's compellingly thoughtful and real. That's why I'm pleased that John T. has allowed us to excerpt selected items from Southern Belly in our Eating Out section here Serious Eats. They'll appear every other week. So without further ado, here's the first of them. —Ed Levine
By John T. Edge | BILL BAYLEY was a big man. Big size. Big ideas. Said he was the inventor of West Indies salad, a layered assemblage of onions and crabmeat, cooled in an ice-water bath, beloved by coastal folk. Said he was the first man to batter and fry crab claws, too. During Bayley's lifetime, few people took issue with his claims to fame. I'm not inclined to argue, either, for if you go looking for good eats near the Alabama shore, you will find yourself on his trail.
Before he became a restaurateur, Bayley worked first as a steward, later as a chef for a shipping company. In 1947, along with his wife, Ethyl, he opened a restaurant south of Mobile on what is now Dauphin Island Parkway. They started out small. He worked the kitchen; she worked the front. But talent bears fruit. What began as a one-room grocery was soon a grand dining hall.
