We had beautiful weather Friday afternoon, despite every weather forecast saying it would rain all day. We got out on the boat again and searched out the Old 33 bridge, and found a little place just past there on the water and decided to stop in for a bite. Bubba Brew's is just as easily accessed from the water as it is dry land, sitting just off-shore and operating almost completely outdoors.
Having gotten carried away with our boat ride, we were now eating a very late lunch and decided to get some appetizers to share. Our server Zack (who we found out later had not waited a table at BB's up until we strolled in) came over to take our drink order. I was more than overjoyed to find out that in this dry county, Bubba's somehow found a loophole to have a full bar at this place. We all ordered cocktails, as well as buffalo wings, mini corn dogs, loaded nachos, french fries, southwestern spring rolls and chicken fries.

Everything was pretty much as we expected - nice, strong drinks and good bar food. The two things that stood out were the fries - which had been lightly battered - and the nachos. Those nachos were epic. They came out in a giant chip tray with the dip bowl hollowed out in the middle and it was brimming with tortilla chips covered in chili, onions, cheese and tomatoes. Basically, coney fixins reincarnated for nachos. Why haven't I ever thought of that!? We could have just ordered that alone and split it between all six of us.

Zack was a kick-ass server, even bringing my mom some tonic when he spotted that she'd clumsily gotten BBQ sauce on her sweater. Knowing that managers usually only hear about bad service, we asked Zack to bring her out so we could tell her what a fantastic job he'd done. Let's just say a very attractive, blonde twenty-something wasn't what I was expecting when meeting the owner of one of the larger restaurants in the lake area. Nancy Bass and her husband (Bubba, naturally) moved up here a few years ago from Arkansas and started Bubba Brew's to cater to the Norris Lake crowd, which it seems had been largely neglected up until that point. She also told me that they'd built the majority of the outdoor portion of the restaurant just this winter. As with any Bible-belt joint serving liquor to the unwashed masses, the Basses probably have just as many foes as they have fans. But as we like to say in the North, screw'em.

If you're ever in the Norris Lake area, this is a definite must. And even though the outdoor area is comfy and roomy, don't forget to check out the awesome lighting on the indoor bar. Clever!