I am from the south, and I love some good ol’ home cooked country southern food. What reminds me of home the most is Cracker Barrel, located at 460 S. 2000 W. in Springville. It is right off I-15 at exit 263. The Wasatch Front has three locations: Springville, West Valley, & Layton. Of course, the closest one to Provo is the next town south: Springville.

I love home-cooked meals, and Cracker Barrel has home-cooked menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have lots of choices to choose from — you get a lot of great food when you order a meal. The majority of the meals on the menu come with three sides, such as turnip greens, okra or even grits.  The service is great — the waitress will sit you down, ask for your drinks and will come back with biscuits and corn bread with butter and honey. A little known fact is that they will also bring strawberry jam and blueberry jam, but you have to ask for the kinds of jam you want. The biscuits and cornbread will keep on coming throughout the meal — they’re free. While I was there, I got the chicken fried steak, which includes three sides. I chose macaroni and cheese, the hashbrown casserole and turnip greens for $8.99. You can get a lot of food for your money. I even added a salad, with ranch dressing. I liked it because it came with a lot of tomatoes and had bacon bits on it as well as crackers. The chicken fried stake was great. It was juicy and tender with gravy on top, and the hashbrown casserole was cooked well. The macaroni was a little runny but that is okay. It was still yummy. Plus the food is really a reasonable. I go out to eat for lunch and dinner most of the time, and I spend at least $10 per meal, and those meals don’t come with a lot — just a sandwich, chips and a drink can be around seven or eight dollars. So why not get some good, healthy food that will fill you up. I’ve noticed while being a college student at BYU that it is really hard to eat healthy — like eating the proper diet of whole grains, meats, vegetables, and fruits. We as college students usually eat more starches and sweets than anything else.

So I really like to go to Cracker Barrel to fill up on vegetables and a great cooked meal, which definitely brings back memories of being home in Texas. Plus, Cracker Barrel is a great family-oriented environment — they have toys and all kinds of candy for the kids, and they have decorative items for the home for adults. They even have BYU items for sale. In each Cracker Barrel there is a huge fireplace in the middle of the restaurant. The one in Springville has a deer mantel, and an old picture and advertisements from the early nineteen century hanging above it. By the fireplace they have two places to play chess, where a lot of the kids will go play.

After you finish your meal you can go look around in the store section. Then when you leave, they have a row of handmade rocking chairs outside on their porch for sale. It is nice to sit outside and rock for a bit after you eat and feel the cool breeze outside as you relax and rock back and forth.

It’s a fun, great place to experience southern food in a great wholesome environment. So drive 10 minutes south on 1-15 to try some good cooked food that will definitely fill you up and that won’t hurt the wallet.