I Found the Same Delicious Comforts at the New Location of Alabama’s Legendary Burger Joint

While it took years for me to try a famous C.F. Penn hamburger in the first place, I am happy that it happened at the restaurant's downtown Decatur, Alabama, home for almost 50 years. I am glad I got to dine inside that longtime location of this 97-year-old business, mainly because I can see how well its new place on Sixth Avenue captures the vibe everyone loved.

Full disclosure, the "new" location on the River City's main north-south thoroughfare opened in early 2020, which seems like yesterday when you're talking about a business that's been around for almost a century. C.F. Penn Hamburgers opened in 1927 in Hartselle, Alabama, adding a second location in 1936 on Moulton Street in downtown Decatur.

A fire in an adjacent business damaged the first building in 1971, so the restaurant moved to another spot on Moulton Street, where it stayed until 2018. That's when a major storm damaged the building's roof so badly, the business had to close. The building, originally built in 1903, was demolished a year later. A new Fairfield Inn & Suites stands on the site today.

Fast forward to 2020, and C.F. Penn owners finally opened this "new" location, which feels like it has been there forever. At least that's how I felt when I finally got around to checking it out last month, and I loved that comforting feeling. I admired the retro furnishings, booths, framed news stories, and other memorabilia lining the walls.

I arrived early around lunchtime, so I had my pick of seats and posted up at the counter to chat with the staff. I noticed a steady stream of pick-up orders start just after I placed my order.

They also had some orders called in, because one woman was fast at work, pulling the famous fried patties from a vat of grease, stacking them up, and assembling them into the restaurant's famous slugburgers topped with mustard and chopped onions—or "all the way."

And yes, I said "slugburgers" and "vat of grease."

At C.F. Penn, the burger patties are and always have been prepped this way. They're called slugburgers because they originally only cost "a slug," or five cents. Part of the reason why they were so cheap is because they're made with a mix of meat and filler (breadcrumbs) which made them less expensive to produce. They still are affordable: My entire meal was less than $10.

Also called doughburgers, these types of patties became popular in the the South during the Great Depression.

I first learned about slugburgers about 15 years ago when working with the Community Development Foundation in Tupelo, Mississippi, to capture the most unique aspects of their town and help share those stories. While there, I tried the famous slug burgers at Johnnie's Drive In, which opened in 1945. Native son Elvis Presley was about 10 then, and he loved those burgers as a kid and an adult.

Well, I've had my first slugburger right where Elvis did, I thought. Only that wasn't true: I had my first slugburger at C.F. Penn many years before. I just didn't realize because no one seemed to call them that here.

Everyone just talked about the grease, not the patty mixture. For what it is worth, the patties at Johnnie's are grilled. And furthermore, supposedly Elvis loved our fried slugburgers, too — maybe even more.

Longtime E.P. buddy and bandmate Charlie Hodge was a Decatur native and reportedly turned The King onto Penn burgers, running in and grabbing a to-go order sometime when they were passing through. I heard somewhere else he'd order them to be delivered up to Graceland for years after that.

I would bet that's true. Those burgers are certainly something I crave every now and then. I have been back to visit at least once since that first stop by the "new" place.

Everything is fine in moderation, as they say, and thankfully we have the walking trail at the beautiful Delano Park less than half a mile north!

Have you tried the food and visited the new location of C.F. Penn Hamburgers in Decatur? We would love to hear about your experience. And if you happen to be looking for a great place to stay while you're here, bring it all full circle by booking at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on the site of the last Penn location.