Little Miss BBQ Butt

Just a warning, this is my first installment of many restaurant reviews to come. In Athens, everyone is a little bit of a foodie, or at least we pretend to be. So I apologize if this makes you hungry - you might want to grab a snack before you read any further.

Butt Hutt BBQ. The name of this fine establishment should be enough to make your ears perk up. Whether it was the "butt" part that made you laugh, or the "BBQ" part that made you drool, I know I have your attention. Butt Hutt BBQ is off Macon Highway and features a bar, moose heads on the wall and a mini John Deere tractor hanging from the ceiling. This restaurant used to be next to a gas station on Baxter street where its iconic status was established by UGA students. The new location, while a little farther away from campus, offers more seating, which was needed for the full house they had on Friday night.


Sidekick Tyler has a soft spot for BBQ, so we ventured to Butt Hutt to expand our culinary palette. See, we are on a mission to eat all of the BBQ in town before we graduate, thus gaining a certificate in BBQ Connoisseur-ing as well. We both ordered the Buttwhich Basket, which includes a barbecue sandwich and a side. I got macaroni and cheese (duh) and he got stew, although I wish one of us would've ordered the pig tails (curly fries). When our food came the owner brought out three different sauces for our buttwhich. Our food was delicious; tender BBQ, sweet and savory sauces, cheesy mac and cheese, and the lack of conversation between us while we were eating meant it was some good BBQ.

BBQ in Athens is a staple for this college town, but there are those few BBQ places that are frequented by college students. Butt Hutt is one of those places and I'm glad I was finally able to experience it firsthand. Now, I'm headed to work off my buttwhich.

Little Miss Funnies

Reading comic strips used to be a Sunday tradition for me when growing up back home in Maryland. I'd grab a glass of milk, open up to the funnies and spend the next few minutes giggling at Family Circus, Zits, etc. Comics fulfill a narrow niche of readers, but those who occupy that space are passionate people. And that's where Bizarro-Wuxtry Comics and Stuff comes into the picture, the underworld of comics in downtown Athens.

This store sits on top of Wuxtry Records and prides itself on the best collection of comics, zines, art and "crazy crap" you can find. Walking into the store, my eyes were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of colorful (in more ways than one) comic books. Wall to wall boxes, with everything semi-organized alphabetically. Sidekick Tyler was with me and was very excited to discover the Superman section. I wandered a bit and struck up a conversation with the owner. I was inspired to ask him if they had any Ziggy comics - my grandfather, Pops, loves Ziggy so I thought I'd check. Sure enough, he was able to find a paperback Ziggy book for me with ease and proceeded to give me the author's biography and juicy information about the author's ex-wife too. All unsolicited, yet another reason to love the people of Athens.

Clutching our new purchases (Ziggy book for me, Super Friends Edition 14 for Tyler), we made our way to Starbucks to flip through our treasure. As we sat there reading and laughing, coffee in hand, our afternoon as little kids was a treasure all of its own. 

Little Miss Luck 'o the Irish

Ahh, the first day of the semester. New classes, old friends and lost freshmen on overcrowded buses. I decided to celebrate my last first day of school by visiting a historical landmark on campus - the Lumpkin House. This house was built  by Georgian Commissioner, Congressman, and Governor, Wilson Lumpkin in 1844. The house sits on UGA's South campus and is currently used as a science building. What makes this house so special is the bequest the family attached to it. In 1907 the university purchased acres of land from the Lumpkin family with the provision that the house be kept intact or the property would revert back to their family. The merit of truth to this is a bit fuzzy, but it makes a great story for a funny little house that sits on top of Ag Hill. 

So to cross off the first item on my Athens Bucket List, my boyfriend Tyler (he gets to be my sidekick a lot this semester) and I ventured to "knock the rock" of Lumpkin House. Many students don't know about this old tradition on campus, but according to UGA lore if you "knock the rock" of the house as an undergrad you will achieve all the best while at UGA. I might be 3.5 semesters in, but better late than never. However, once we arrived there we found ourselves in a conundrum. There is a giant rock that sits in front of Lumpkin House (see photo), and then there is the rock that Lumpkin House is actually made of. So we just knocked on both. I figured that would cover us, and combined with the luck my Irish heritage provides, we are golden. 

Little Miss Inspiration

Little Miss is a sassy and classy collection of adventures in the Classic City. This blog has been on my mind for quite some time, but with a New Year comes new promises, and this is one of mine. To myself. Or for myself. Or whatever. It's to document my last semester of what has been an incredible college experience and to help me keep my sanity as I jump feet first into the real world. 


The name of this blog is inspired by Sugarland's "Little Miss" single which inspires me to dream big. Every day I look in the mirror and I see a work in progress - so my Little Miss blog is to capture moments along the way to who knows what. The biggest story this semester is going to be my Athens Bucket List, which is going to be the focus of my posts. I have created a list of roughly 100 things in Athens I want to do before I graduate. The list is a compilation of things I've wanted to do, things I want to do again, suggestions from friends, and mainly inspiration from my friend, Sam. He came up with this idea for his last semester at UGA and I followed his blog throughout the spring of 2011. I was motivated to do the same, so here I am the night before my last first day of school writing my thoughts in the blogosphere. I invite anyone crazy enough to take on this journey with me and feel free to join in on adventures along the way. Happy reading!