There’s something amusing about going on a foodie day trip during a pandemic to a town known as the location for a zombie apocalypse TV show.
Senoia is the small Georgia town where part of the AMC series “The Walking Dead” is filmed. I’ve been hooked on the show since I met some of the cast at a horror convention in 2011. The town is only a three and a half-hour drive from Savannah. And there’s the added perk of eating at a restaurant owned by Greg Nicotero, who is the Executive Producer and the mastermind behind the special effects makeup on the show, and Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon.
Nic & Norman’s opened in 2016 and offers fun options for both vegetarians and omnivores. There are gourmet burgers, delightful cocktails, and entrees that vary from Coca-Cola braised pork shank to brisket mac and cheese.
While my college vegetarian days are long gone, I do still enjoy a good meat-free dish. When I saw the release of a new vegetarian entree, Sloppy Norman Sliders, I knew that was what I was going to order.
Sloppy Norman Sliders are made with Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat alternative that saw a boom in popularity after everyone started panic-buying meat in March.
“Norman had asked me to try to get the Impossible or Beyond Burger on our menu, but he didn’t really have an exact menu idea for it,” said Gail Belliston, Administrative Director and Social Media Manager for Nic & Norman’s.
“Since we typically try to do things a little different, we didn’t want to just do a standard burger. My boss, our VP of Operations, David Valentine had the idea to make vegetarian sloppy joes. We played around with a couple of different recipes. I’ve never eaten more sloppy joes in my life! The one we settled on was created by our Kitchen Manager, Miguel Valle, and then we, of course, added our N&N Sauce to give it that signature flavor.”
I’d have to say all of Belliston’s taste-testing and Valle’s work paid off. These sliders are delicious!
Even if you normally aren’t a fan of vegetarian food, give these a shot. The sliders come with house-made chips on the side and also inside the sandwiches. The sloppy joe mixture has corn kernels in it giving pops of sweetness. The saltiness of the chips combined with the sweetness of the corn makes it seem more like a dessert than a meal.
Belliston told me that while the Sloppy Norman Sliders are a specialty item right now, they expect to add them to the regular menu soon.
If you’re like me and doing your best to socially distance while also supporting small business, I recommend going on a Tuesday in the late afternoon. The restaurant is closed on Mondays for deep cleaning, which made me feel safer eating there.
Nic & Norman's
20 Main Street
Senioa, GA 30276
