Stacey Wallace

Stacey Wallace

Columnist

Stacey is a writer for The Observer

Stacey Wallace's Latest

Making the Grade: Mr. Gatti’s Pizza

Making the Grade: Mr. Gatti's Pizza

Get your money's worth at Mr. Gatti's in Opelika BY STACEY WALLACE / PHOTOS BY MIKE WALLACE Have you ever noticed that the food you love the most is usually the kind you’re not supposed to eat? As a diabetic, I am supposed to watch what I eat...

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Making the Grade: Foodies Gourmet Café & Bodega

Making the Grade: Foodies Gourmet Café & Bodega

BY STACEY WALLACE As I’ve mentioned before in this column, I am incredibly clumsy. In fact, if you still have a good, old 20th Century dictionary, and you look up the word “clumsy,” my picture will be there. I am always tripping, dropping or...

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Making the Grade: Amsterdam Café North Auburn

Making the Grade: Amsterdam Café North Auburn

BY STACEY WALLACE /PHOTOS BY MIKE WALLACE FOR THE OBSERVER Unbelievably, my husband Mike and I will soon celebrate our 8th year living in Auburn, and it has been such a blessing. As I may have mentioned before in this column, Mike, out of the blue,...

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Making The Grade: On the Road to Alexander City

Making The Grade: On the Road to Alexander City

BY STACEY WALLACE As I mentioned before in my last column, recently my much older brother Mike (As the youngest Patton child, I love saying that.) and my sister-in-law Sandi visited my husband Mike and me for a few days before they went back home...

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Making the Grade: A Taste of Asia

Making the Grade: A Taste of Asia

BY STACEY WALLACE / FOR THE OBSERVER PHOTOS BY MIKE WALLACE / FOR THE OBSERVER Spring rolls from Taste of Asia in Opelika, located at 3750 Pepperell Parkway. As I have mentioned before in this column, I have two much older brothers named Jim and...

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Making the Grade: Mr. Gatti’s Pizza

Making the Grade: Mellow Mushroom

The Chicken Jerk Hoagie served at Mellow Mushroom in Auburn.  Way back on June 8, 1990, I received my master’s degree in english education from Auburn University. Around that time, Dr. Terry C. Ley, my professor, adviser, and the best teacher...

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Making the Grade: Staks Pancake Kitchen

Making the Grade: Staks Pancake Kitchen

On Nov. 5, 2005, Mike and I were married at Orr Street Baptist Church in my hometown of Alexander City, (“Eleck” City to the locals). We married fairly late in life for most people: Mike was 46, and I was 42, almost 43. I may have mentioned this...

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Making the Grade:  On the Road to Orange Beach

Making the Grade: On the Road to Orange Beach

By Stacey WallaceAs I have previously mentioned in this column, my husband Mike and I love to travel, and visiting all 50 states is on our bucket list. Also, we wanted to take an Alaskan cruise because we had heard that it would be a lot of fun....

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Making the Grade: Mochiatsu

Making the Grade: Mochiatsu

Mochiatsu, located at 132 N. College St. in Auburn, opened last March serving Korean hot dogs, donuts and bubble tea. Mochiatsu's donuts and Korean-style hot dogs come in a variety of flavors. I am certainly a creature of habit in most things,...

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Making the Grade: The Auburn Draft House

Making the Grade: The Auburn Draft House

Food Columnist Stacey Wallace visited Auburn Draft House in downtown Auburn.  The restaurant offers traditional American food including hamburgers, fries, jalapeno poppers and more. Draft House is located at 161 E. Magnolia Ave. in Auburn....

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Making the Grade:Old Mill Country Kitchen

Making the Grade:Old Mill Country Kitchen

As I have mentioned many times in this column, I love to eat, but I don’t like to cook AT ALL. And my sweet husband Mike, my talented photographer and dishwasher, doesn’t like cleaning up after I cook because I tend to be messy, and whatever I’m...

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Making the Grade: The Backwaters at the Landing

Making the Grade: The Backwaters at the Landing

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE By the time you read this column, Mother’s Day 2023 will have come and gone. If you are a mama, I hope your day was the best. May 14, 2023, was the first Mother’s Day I spent without Barbara McEachern Patton — my sweet,...

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Making the Grade: Angel Fire Gourmet Nut Company

Making the Grade: Angel Fire Gourmet Nut Company

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE What is your favorite nut? If this seems like a weird introductory question, you will understand a few paragraphs from now. Without a doubt, my favorite nut is the pecan. Before my sweet Aunt Jenny (Virginia Patton...

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Making the Grade: Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux

Making the Grade: Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux

Walk On's Sports Bistreaux opened at 3041 Capps Way in Opelika earlier this year.  Pictured is Walk On's boom boom shrimp po' boy with waffle fries. The longer I live in Lee County, the more I grow to love and admire my relatively new home....

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Making the Grade: On the Road to Alexander City

Making the Grade: On the Road to Alexander City

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE As I’ve mentioned many times in this column, I was born and raised in Alexander City, Alabama (“Eleck” City to the locals). Therefore, I was very proud when I heard that “Alexander City is the second best Southern small...

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Making the Grade: Franky Junes Express

Making the Grade: Franky Junes Express

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE It has always amazed me that my sweet Mama Barbara Patton (not the former mayor of Opelika) could get everything done and done so well: 1. taking care of a husband and three children, 2. working full time in the main office...

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Making the Grade: Southern and Savory Café

Making the Grade: Southern and Savory Café

A few months ago, Mike and I left our church, Central Baptist of Opelika, and drove to one of my go-to restaurants for Sunday dinner… Veggies To Go on Glenn Avenue in Auburn. However, my heart sank at the note taped to the door of the restaurant:...

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Making the Grade: The Grille at Botanic

Making the Grade: The Grille at Botanic

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE As I’ve mentioned many times before in this column, I love living here in Lee County. Although I lived in Georgia for 26 of my 60 years, in my heart, I have always been an Alabamian. I love that as a Southerner, I was...

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Making the Grade: On the Road to Grady, Alabama

Making the Grade: On the Road to Grady, Alabama

By STACEY PATTON WALLACE As I’ve often mentioned in this column, I love to eat, but I dislike cooking intensely. Therefore, family and friends who love to cook and are talented at the culinary arts hold a special place in my heart. One such person,...

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