Elberta, AL’s claim to fame is their German heritage and their Sausage Festival. In this town of less than 2,000 residents their twice yearly Sausage Festival draws an estimated 30,000 visitors to each fest with about 7,000 pounds of German sausage being sold.
The Sausage Festival certainly has a following but that is not the only thing in Elberta with a following. In this small town there is a small diner with big food – Grits-N-Gravy. The name says it all. Some say the specialty is the cook’s pecan French toast. We wouldn’t know since both times we visited grits, gravy, and biscuits were our order. Just couldn’t bring ourselves to try something different.
Each time we enjoyed the Ultimate Breakfast – two open faced biscuits covered with scrambled eggs, cheese, hash browns, and gravy with a side of grits. Definitely better bring an appetite. On our inaugural visit John ordered the Ultimate Breakfast and Laurie ordered One Biscuit N Gravy (one opened face biscuit covered with gravy and a side of grits). We left with half of each breakfast in a go-box. The second visit wasn’t much different. We decided to split an Ultimate Breakfast and we still left with a go-box.
Ultimate Breakfast side of Sausage
Biscuit & Gravy side of Bacon
The diner is small with one table for two, a booth for four, and counter seating for maybe twelve. If the weather is nice, outside seating is also available. The place is local and patrons as well as staff are friendly. Many locals have their coffee mugs hanging on a rack inside the grill area. Both times when we arrived, there was only counter seats available and both times the single patron at the two top picked up his plate and told us to sit at the table. That would not happen at very many establishments.
Another unique feature at Grits-N-Gravy is Doug Stewart, the owner, has a 9mm handgun in a holster at his left waist. Doug is not in law enforcement in fact he is a retired air traffic controller. The diner was robbed on December 31, 2012 and the gun is for security. Stewart believes that seeing the gun at his waist will thwart any would be robber and also give his customers a feeling of security.
If you are visiting the Gulf Shores area of Alabama, head over to Elberta for breakfast. Grits-N-Gravy is open from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. each day and only serves breakfast.
Enjoy the great food and local flavor that only a small town locally owned restaurant can offer.
NOTE: Unfortunately Grits-N-Gravy is no longer open.
Ready for Breakfast
Grill Area
