Tuscaloosa is branded as the town where legends are made. And, especially to Crimson Tide football fans of a certain age, few figures are more fabled than Paul William “Bear” Bryant.

Born during football season (Sept. 11, 1913), he played end for the University of Alabama, including on the 1934 national championship team. He was an assistant coach in Tuscaloosa in the late 1930s. Most famously, he mentored and led a generation of players as multiple-championship-winning head coach there from 1958 through 1982.

Like those “George Washington slept here” signs around the mid-Atlantic region, you can still find placards in and near greater T-town that proudly proclaim, “Bear Bryant ate here.”

With a new football season underway under another legendary coach, here are a few places to eat around Tuscaloosa and neighboring Northport with connections to Bryant.

The Waysider in Tuscaloosa has been pleasing diners for more than seven decades — including regular breakfast customer Bear Bryant. (Ben Flanagan)

The Waysider

1512 Greensboro Ave., Tuscaloosa

This historic landmark is a shrine to Alabama football, down to the life-sized cardboard cutout of the current coach, Nick Saban, and an exterior painted in a hue that locals call “Mal Moore red” in honor of the late player, coach and athletic director.

But The Waysider, which opened roughly a decade before Bryant took over as head coach, is most strongly associated with him. A two-seater table, with a bust of Bryant topped with one of his signature houndstooth hats, marks the spot where the coach regularly ate breakfast, lingering over coffee and the newspaper after finishing his country ham plate.

It’s open for breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Sunday, closing at noon on Saturdays, 1 p.m. on Sundays and 1:30 p.m. the other days. Expect a long wait on game weekends.

City Café in Northport has long been a favorite for University of Alabama students and others looking for a taste of home. And, yes, the Bear often ate there. (Ben Flanagan)

City Café

408 Main Ave., Northport

About once a month, Bryant would stop in at City Café for breakfast or lunch while chatting with the lucky fans who had come in for a meal or coffee. Sometimes, according to a 2017 report on al.com, he’d even sit down and break biscuits with someone he saw eating alone. Another Bama figure, Ray Perkins, was a near-daily customer at City Café after the former Tide player (under Bryant) succeeded his former head coach.

City Café, which dates back to the Great Depression, serves a standard breakfast menu with eggs, biscuits and breakfast sandwiches. Lunch is a classic meat-and-three. The restaurant, which opens at 4 a.m. on weekdays, is tailor-made for early risers. But don’t sleep until game day to visit. City Café is closed on weekends.

Former Alabama player Bob Baumhower opened the state’s first chicken wing restaurant in 1981. He now has a wings empire, including 10 locations of Baumhower’s Victory Grille. (Baumhower’s Victory Grille)

Baumhower’s Victory Grille

400 Harper Lee Drive, Tuscaloosa

4251 Courtney Drive, Tuscaloosa

Bob Baumhower lost only four games and earned All-SEC honors while playing defensive tackle under Bryant in the 1970s. But after a distinguished career as a pro football player, Baumhower made another significant mark for football fans throughout the Yellowhammer State: He opened the state’s first chicken wing restaurant in 1981. For trivia fans, that was Wings and Whiskers on the UA campus.

Baumhower is now “CEO and head fry cook” for Aloha Hospitality, an umbrella company that includes upscale restaurants and bars, a food truck, another chicken concept called Wingfingers and the 10 locations of Baumhower’s Victory Grille.

Billing itself as “Your big game headquarters” and “Alabama’s No. 1 sports-themed restaurant,” Baumhower’s hits all the bar-food basics (plus creative additions like sandwiches made with Indian-style naan bread). Numerous televisions show games both big and basic.

Full Moon Bar-B-Que, which now has 17 locations, was founded in 1986 by Pat James, a longtime assistant to coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. James sold the business in 1997. (Full Moon Bar-B-Que / Facebook)

Full Moon Bar-B-Que

1434 McFarland Blvd. East, Tuscaloosa

When Bryant made the jump from coaching at Texas A&M to Alabama, Pat James was at his side. Bryant’s former player and longtime assistant helped lead the Tide to national championships in 1961 and 1964. After retiring, James opened Full Moon Bar-B-Que on Birmingham’s Southside in 1986, running the pit-pork restaurant until selling it to the current owners, brothers David and Joe Maluff, in 1997.

Full Moon now has 17 locations, mostly in Alabama. In Tuscaloosa and Opelika, the Gameday Menu includes bulk packages ($369–$799) featuring ribs, pulled pork, wings with white sauce and Full Moon’s famous Half-Moon cookies. Local pickup and delivery to your tailgate tent are available.

Taco Casa, founded by former Tide player Rod Wilkin, is a Tuscaloosa tradition that turns 50 next year. (Ben Flanagan)

Taco Casa

Multiple locations

Ever wondered what’s in those letters of intent football players sign with colleges? Rod Wilkin shares his letter from the University of Alabama on the website of the Tuscaloosa-based restaurant chain he founded in 1974, Taco Casa. It also depicts the Tide’s varsity roster from 1968, where the junior education major from Wichita, Kansas, is listed as a 6-foot-1-inch, 204-pound kicker.

One thing Wilkin missed about home was the Tex-Mex food, and he dreamed of one day opening a restaurant. That ended up being Taco Casa, and he cites the tenacity and toughness he learned from Bryant as factors in its establishment and success.

Taco Casa has six locations in Tuscaloosa and Northport (plus one in Homewood). It is such an institution to UA students and fans that Taco Casa now ships its burritos to locations from coast to coast.

This story was originally published on the Soul-Grown website.