Bates House of Turkey

Turkey is the only thing to eat at Bates House of Turkey: turkey dinners, turkey sandwiches, turkey salads, turkey tacos, turkey soup, and turkey chili.

The turkeys come from the Bates family’s free-range farm in nearby Logan, Alabama; and having very much enjoyed a Thanksgivingworthy plate of white meat, cornbread dressing, a sweet potato, green beans, cranberry sauce, and giblet gravy, I assure you that they are swell.

The meat is tender, juicy, and flavorful. It arrives mounded upon a large portion of downhome dressing with a stout, earthy cornbread taste. I was fortunate enough to get the last baked sweet potato of the day — a modest-size tuber cooked to a caramelized fare-thee-well. When sweet potatoes are not available, spud options include mashed potatoes and Tater Tots. Homey cream pies are available for dessert.

Service is eat-in-the-rough style. Place your order at the counter and pay. When it’s ready, you are called up to get it on a tray, which you carry to a table in the comfy, wood-paneled dining room.

In addition to restaurant food, Bates House of Turkey does a brisk business in oven-ready turkeys, hickory smoked turkeys (whole or boneless breasts), turkey sausage to cook at home, several varieties of turkey soup, turkey lasagna, turkey pot pie, turkey tetrazzini, and a sweet potato souffle to accompany turkey dinner.