Meat and three sides are a staple of cuisine all over the Southeast region. Take a decent cut of meat, fry or stew it and then adorn the plate with home-cooked sides. The recipe makes for a delicious and affordable meal that transforms dreary Sunday afternoons into something special.

You can find a few different meat and three options around town, but today we’re spotlighting T-Town Café on the corner of 15th and Hackberry. Relatively close to campus, the walk up Hackberry might just be your excuse to fill up on soul food goodness. No matter how you get there, neighboring businesses like Oz Music (your local record/CD exchange), the Book Rack (used book store) and Druid City’s taproom (one of Tuscaloosa’s excellent craft breweries) provide plenty of ways to entertain yourself while you digest.

The menu at T-Town revolves around mainstays like catfish and chicken tenders, while favorites like country fried steak, chicken and dumplings and poppy seed chicken casserole rotate throughout the week. The sides menu works in a similar manner, and you’ll find all the usual suspects like mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and mac n’ cheese. In addition, there are always daily dessert offerings like banana pudding or seasonal fruit cobblers available as one of your side choices. I’ve never been disappointed by the cobbler, but if you’re still feeling a bit gooey from the holidays, there are plenty of other choices. My personal favorites are turnip greens, fried green tomatoes and squash casserole. And if you’re lucky enough to wander in on pot roast day, it would be a sin to order anything else.

T-Town Café is open from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day except Saturday. Go fill up on Southern fried goodness. Then treat yourself to an afternoon spent lazing your way through the aisles at Oz Music or flipping through the pages of your new favorite read at the Book Rack.