Satisfy your sweet tooth

If you've ever visited Lyn's Gracious Goodness, tucked in a quaint spot under some trees on Whitesburg Drive, the first thing you notice is that it's wall-to-wall women. Women in nice work attire, women in casual wear, women in running attire. (Guys, are you listening?)

At first glance, it looks like a chick place. In fact, the most popular item on the menu is the chicken salad. There are other creative salads, sandwiches, soups and desserts, all homemade.

But can a guy find manly food here?

We recently made a return visit, four years after Lyn Wiginton opened the spot. After studying cooking through Maxim's Restaurant in Paris and with French chef Alain Senderens at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa, Calif., Wiginton decided it was time to fulfill her dream of opening a small restaurant.

During the last four years, she's made it a popular local spot, taking many of the dishes from local recipes and the Huntsville Heritage Cookbook.

"It's been a huge journey," she said.

We visited with a group of ladies who were talking about breast cancer awareness - Gwen Murphy, Barbara Hawkins and Lydia Cole. Hawkins had the beef tenderloin sandwich, Murphy the chicken salad and Cole a sandwich. All the food got good reviews, although Hawkins said the tenderloin was so tasty she would have liked a little more of it on her sandwich.

I got the special casserole of the day, chicken Boudine, a hot meal that's made of egg noodles, cream sauce, diced pimentos, almonds, sherry and cheddar cheese. I added a strawberry salad from one of the coolers, and it was more than I could handle.

Of course, we had to taste the popular fudge tart, chocolate chip pie and some cookies. Here's a fact: Lyn's sweets are to die for.

But back to the manly food. Wiginton said men like the fish tacos and Tod's Hot Horsey Roast Beef sandwich, named after local lawyer Tod Dodgen. It was so tempting it was time for a quick return visit.

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