Deb Veres, flanked by sons Jason,left, and Josh, love to serve up fresh food at Augusta’s Sports Grill ... along with a little beer and sports.
Augusta’s Sports Grill
Good Eats
Build it, they’ll come; cook it good and fresh, they’ll come back
Story and photos By Patrick Oden
“I
f you build it, they will come.” And that’s exactly what’s happened since one family’s love of food and sports collided in Cullman. But it wasn’t the voice of Shoeless Joe Jackson that drove Deb Veres to open Augusta’s Sports Grill. In fact, it had been a lifelong dream of the former Logan’s Steakhouse executive general manager to own her own restaurant. With the aid of her son Josh, a former college baseball player and seasoned restaurateur, as well as her other son, Jason, and husband, Jeff, the Veres family fielded Deb’s dream and in March 2015 Augusta’s Sports Grill became a reality. Her already busy daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Hutch Sutter, even pitch in to help. 46
FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL
Named for her grandmother and located on Graham Street, across from the Lee Avenue entrance to Heritage Park baseball fields, the park provides a consistent flow of ball players in town for tournaments. Location wasn’t a motivation for Augusta’s theme, though. “For me it’s about the food, and the boys love the sports … and the beer,” Deb says. With 16 beers on tap, another 30 bottled varieties and nearly 35,000 square inches of high-definition sports beamed to 20 sets from six different satellites, the clear-cut champion of Augusta’s, by knock-out, is … the menu.
R
egardless of what game is on, and there will be several; and regardless of the prowess of your favorite team, your taste buds and tummy will leave Augusta’s winners.
“Everything we’ve ever had here has been good,” says Randy Welshans. He and his wife, Jo, like the food and atmosphere at Augusta’s so much in fact, it’s their weekly date-night destination. Readers who’ve been to Augusta’s are surely nodding in agreement, but for those who haven’t it’s nearly impossible to anticipate the quality of the food. This isn’t your average sports bar. Everything is made fresh. Imagine all of the greasy sports bar favorites you love, but instead of being shaken into a fryer from a bag, they are passionately prepared by hand. Where else are you going to find homemade jalapeno poppers and a mouth-watering prime rib served daily? “You have to try the homemade spinach dip,” says Randy Welshans as he slides his wife’s appetizer away from her.