Dining Out Southeast: Ole Gin Steakhouse, Section, AL

August is my birthday month and I've learned with the passing of time to celebrate the entire month. We should all celebrate ourselves!

So last night we took about a 45 minute drive to Section, Alabama to dine at Ole Gin Steakhouse which is aptly named because it is located off the beaten path in a former cotton gin!

They're open Thursday-Saturday, 4 - 9 p.m.  When we arrived at 4:05, the parking lot was almost full and people were steaming inside.  We knew then we were definitely at our kind of place.

The interior is decidedly rustic which is exactly what you would expect, right?

How about an old Western on the big screen TVs instead of sports?  Yes, please!

And how about these impressive awards??

I loved the set ups on each table!

Here is the menu!  Trust me, there is something for everyone here.  The biggest problem?  Deciding what to order...but more on that a bit later.

We wanted to try everything.  I left the appetizer choice to Sweet Harold.  He chose wisely with the pimento cheese dip! When we were served, I immediately noticed those chips were hot!  As in freshly cooked hot.  I inquired of our server, Shanna, if the chips were prepared fresh.  She told me yes, they are actually prepared to order and seasoned with their special spice mix.  No packaged chips that were cooked weeks ago here at the Ole Gin Steakhouse!  They were as delicious as you can imagine.

The pimento cheese was the perfect consistency and had a great flavor.  I'll admit, this pimento cheese is as close to mine as I've ever eaten.  Kudos to the pimento cheese chef.

If this wasn't enough, they add smoked sausage as well.  This appetizer could be a meal.  

Now we'll move on to our salads:  fresh spring mix, cucumbers, shredded cheese, tomatoes, and croutons.  This is a very generous portion of salad, but they up the ante here by offering flavorful homemade dressings.  I chose Ranch; Sweet Harold had the 1,000 Island.

While we're thoroughly enjoying the first portion of our meal, Shanna arrived with a basket of fresh and hot cheesy herb biscuits.  Oh my....y'all will love these.

Now time for the main event.  We knew we should follow my rule.  The first time you dine at a restaurant, you really need to order whatever is in the NAME of the restaurant, right?  But then I saw pork chops, shrimp, salmon, mahi mahi, and catfish on the menu.  What to do?  Well, you decide to take advantage of the menu option to "add on."  I mean it IS my birthday month so I ordered the New York Strip, a baked potato, and added on a skewer of lemon pepper grilled shrimp.

I ordered my steak cooked "medium" and it was nicely cooked.  There's a great deal of seasoning on the exterior the steak which added a nice flavor to the amazingly tender Strip.  Here's a picture of interior.  Maybe a tiny tad over medium, but absolutely wonderful.

The shrimp were large, nicely cooked, and the lemon pepper flavor wasn't overwhelming.  

And sometimes, the side dishes get lost in the mix.  I was impressed with my baked potato (butter and sour cream added) that I wanted to share.  No hard pockets of not quite cooked potato, no bad spots to eat around, just a perfectly cooked baked potato.  I know that seems like it's no big deal, but trust me, I've had some BAD baked potatoes before.

Sweet Harold ordered the same meal, but ordered his medium rare.  Here's the interior shot of his steak.

And because he couldn't let me have an add on without having one himself, he requested a piece of catfish.  Oh my, I know what I'm ordering next time!  Lightly breaded, well seasoned and delicious!

At this point, we were discussing how many to go boxes we were going to need.  I can't imagine any diner leaving this restaurant hungry.

But we only thought we were finished.  Remember, it's Birthday Month!  Shanna, my new best friend btw, magically appeared with the dessert menu.  

We decided to share the hot fudge brownie.  The brownie was hot and topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge, and a cherry.  This was a perfect ending of a wonderful meal.

Service was wonderful, the husband of the owner regularly made the rounds of the restaurant checking on everyone and taking pictures of diners, and the owner was there working the register and making sure all was well.  I'm so thankful for followers of my social media who recommended this spot for us to try.

Here are a few more pictures of the exterior.  This is definitely a "Lolly" kind of place.