BY STACEY WALLACE
OPINION —
As I’ve mentioned many times in this column, my husband Mike and I taught for 30 years in LaGrange, Georgia. For 29 of those years, I had the dubious pleasure of escorting three classes of 8th graders and 26 classes of 6th graders to lunch.
In 25-30 minutes, I had to walk my kids to the lunchroom, go to the restroom, check my mailbox, heat up my lunch in the microwave, bolt my lunch in about 10 minutes and escort my kids back to class.
Also, as I ate my lunch, I had to keep an eye on my students. Believe me, many interesting events happened during middle school lunch time.
For example, many years ago, one of my sweet 8th grade girls leaned back too far on her table’s bench and hit her head really hard on the concrete floor; that was really scary.
Another time, I was happily walking across the lunchroom to get a refill of sweet tea.
I didn’t see the spilled soup on the floor, but I surely found it. My right foot hit the soup; I went airborne and landed hard, flat on my back. To my surprise, my students didn’t laugh, which was really compassionate of them. Or maybe they thought I was dead.
I stood up, taking two bows, and told them, “Thank you, thank you! I’m okay; you can laugh.”
Unfortunately, most fights broke out during non-structured times, and that included lunch time. Long ago, two six grade boys were about to fight. Without thinking, I jumped up and grabbed one of them around the neck and said, “Don’t move!” Luckily, he was even shorter than I and did as he was told. In the state of Georgia, a teacher is required to say, “Stop fighting!” and buzz for an administrator if students are fighting.
In fact, after it was over, my good friend Sonya, one of the best English teachers I’ve ever seen, asked me, “Just what did you think you were doing?” Sonya was right to chastise me. Teachers who break up fights often get hurt.
These days, Mike and I are delighted to be enjoying our fifth year of retirement. Now, I have long, leisurely lunches most every day.
Recently, we had lunch at Acre, located in Auburn at 210 E. Glenn Ave. I loved what I would call the restaurant’s rustic elegance. The interior was very pretty; I admired all of the attractive light fixtures. Also, we sat on the enclosed porch. It had beautiful fruit trees, which had lemons and limes hanging from them in January.
Brittany, our server, was exceptional, being so friendly and helpful. Also, she patiently answered all of my questions.
Acre opened in 2013, and David Bancroft, the restaurant’s chef and owner, lives in Auburn. He came to college at Auburn and never left. He also met his wife Christin at school.
Bancroft won Iron Chef in 2017. In addition, he was a two-time semi finalist for the James Beard Foundation Awards for Best Chef: South. In addition, Acre has been written about in Southern Living and Garden and Gun magazines.
According to Brittany, Acre celebrates the plenty and history of our Southern land.
“We’re called Acre because we sit on an acre of land. Within the acre of land, we grow our own fruits, vegetables and herbs. We’re farm to table, so we try to source as much as we can from local farmers,” said Brittany.
For our snack, Mike and I chose Acre pimento cheese with paprika chips. Oh, my two times.
The cheese and chips were really delicious.
For his entrée, Mike chose the chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and potlikker green beans. Mike said, “My chicken was so tender, I could cut it with a fork.” I selected the original Acre burger with French fries. It was really great as well.
Now, at a leisurely lunch, there’s always time for dessert. Mike and I shared the s’mores brownie. Wow! It was slap your Grandma two times good.
Acre offers diners a large variety of starters and snacks, some of which include fresh shucked oysters, fried green tomatoes, lacquered cornbread, fried okra basket (with okra from Hornsby Farms in Auburn) and Conecuh corndogs.
Besides our delectable dishes, Acre serves cumin seared salmon, crispy fish tacos, brisket meatloaf and Gulf shrimp rigatoni, among other entrees.
If you haven’t tried Acre, you need to do so. Mike and I will see you there soon.
Acre is open Sunday for brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; on Monday and Tuesday for dinner only from 5 to 9 p.m.; on Wednesday and Thursday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m.
Acre makes the grade with an A+ from this retired English teacher. Remember, “Pooh-sized” people NEVER lie about food. Enjoy!
Stacey Patton Wallace, who retired from teaching language arts for 30 years, is a professional diner. Her column, “Making the Grade,” appears every other week in The Observer.
