by Benjamin Nunnally
A
nniston’s Rack and Roll Billiards has
all the hallmarks of a good sports bar.
Televisions line the walls above booths
and tables, where guests can catch a live
football game, with a handful of pool tables
in the front of the house and near the bar
in the back. Muhammad Ali is frozen in
time throwing a punch in a black and white
photo as tall as a person. Inside the men’s
room is a photo of half a dozen guys in
their underwear holding golf clubs in an
alleyway, just beneath a sign that advertises
free golf while your pants are pressed. It’s
a good metaphor for Rack and Roll: sports,
any way you can get it.
The place isn’t all sports atmosphere,
though; the food is something else entirely.
Rack and Roll’s menu has the American
fare you’d expect — burgers, sandwiches,
chicken — but many of the meals either
have a unique spin, or they’re their own
animal. Literally.
“The crazy thing about alligator sausage, it
really gets people interested,” said manager
Brandon Butler, explaining a dish that’s
served with shrimp, rice and a sausage
made from alligator that looks fairly
unassuming, origins aside. “When they see
it, there’s no kind of yuck factor.”
Not everything unique comes from an
atypical animal. The cabbage rolls, for
instance, are a recipe passed down to
owner Rebecca Robinson down the line
from her great-grandmother, a Polish
immigrant who left her homeland to avoid
occupying forces in World War II. The rolls
are a burrito-like, with rice, beef, onions
and seasoning wrapped up in a cabbage
leaf and covered with tomato sauce. Butler
hadn’t expected them to take off with
customers the way they have.
“I fought her on it and fought her on it,
and finally, three months after she first
mentioned it, we gave it a go,” he recounted
with a hint of a smile. “Sure as sh*t,
people love ‘em. I don’t fight her on things
anymore.”
The restaurant is in the process of
revamping their menu, introducing a
16
April 2016
INSIGHT