Saved from a Quarter Pounder by Delta Tamales in Paducah, KY

Planning for my return to St. Louis from Knoxville after Thanksgiving - through Nashville - I discovered that Bolton's Chicken, Hog Heaven, 400 Degrees, and Arnold's Country Kitchen would be closed on Sunday. Resigned to the prospect of bad road (fast) food, I set off. But as lunchtime drew near I remembered that Paducah, KY has a nice little renovated section down by the river with restaurants and shops. I took a chance, exiting I-24 where the road signs point to the old downtown and riverfront (I-24 Business Loop) and followed that around a couple miles to Broadway where I turned right, drove a block, and parked.

Lots of darkened doorways where businesses were closed, but on the corner was a welcoming restaurant: Doe's Eat Place. I went in, and ordered "world famous hot tamales" and chili, plus a nice mug of Hefeweizen:


Does Eat Place in Paducah, KY by raymond, on Flickr

The hot tamales were good and spicy - wrapped in butcher paper, and liberally sprinkled with chili powder. My best guess is that the filling was ground pork; there could have been more relative to the corn meal casing. The server told me the tamales were from the original Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, MS. She also mentioned that the paper wrapping was a recent innovation: I pleaded for a return to corn husks.

Little did I know till returning home and exploring past threads on LTHForum that the original Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, MS was visited by Pigmon as part of his Delta Tamale excursion. Here's the thread:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20867&p=214454&hilit=doe%27s+eat+place#p214454

All in all, much preferable to (fast) road food on a Sunday when so many places are closed!

Doe's Eat Place
136 Broadway
Paducah, Kentucky
Phone (270) 443-9006

Welcome to lth, raymond! As a fan of Delta tamales, you will be right at home here. We look forward to your future posts. If I remember correctly, there is not a great deal of information on the board about St. Louis eats, either.