Although I was born and raised in Madisonville, Kentucky, it never ceases to amaze me.

Since moving away, we’ve lived in the Henderson area, Louisville, Wichita (Kansas), Rantoul (Illlinois), and on Pensacola Beach, Florida.  We currently live in Owensboro Kentucky and have for some time.

We frequently visit Madisonville – the place, in the words of  Montgomery Gentry, “Where I was born…where I was raised… where I keep all my yesterdays…”

A few days ago, I was working online from our home when my husband called me from his office.  It seems he had to go to Madisonville to check a building site and wanted to know if I’d be interested in riding shotgun and eating at Foxy’s Barbecue.

I’ve lived in Owensboro (BBQ Capital of the world!) long enough to jump through hoops for barbecue, so I promptly threw aside what I was doing online and threw on a favorite sweater.

This was the first time I’d been inside the new restaurant and I was very, very impressed.  It looks fantastic – very cozy and very comfortable.

More importantly, the food was outstanding.  As a rule (in my experience – personal dining as well as dining out while reviewing restaurants), most barbecue restaurants have a weakness – whether it’s the potato salad, coleslaw, fries, onion rings, sauce, or pork.  You know – somewhere that they drop the ball and seem to not care if that item is as good as the rest or not.

I can’t find Foxy’s weak spot.  I suspect they don’t have a weak spot.

I’ve eaten barbecue from here to Kingdom Come – including infamous restaurants in Nashville Tennessee – yet just about every single one of them has a weak spot.  Then, here you have a barbecue restaurant in humble little Madisonville, Kentucky and they’re like, “Weak spot… what’s that?” Beautiful.

The pork is wonderfully smoky and full of delectable flavor.  It’s JUST how I want my barbecued pork to taste.  The pulled pork sandwich was sheer perfection.  The sauce was equally delicious.  In fact it was so good, I was searching around for things to dunk into it.

The potato salad was superb, exactly how potato salad should taste – like a summer picnic. If you read any of my writings on any of my sites, you know that I’m all about sides at restaurants.  Sure the meat is important, as is the bread.  The desserts?  Supremely important!  But I’m crazy mad about sides.   You know one of the reasons?  It’s where you can tell JUST how important a restaurant’s customers are to them and JUST how passionate the cook is about his/her food. Trust me, it’s in the sides.

Think about it – if a cook is only half-heartedly into what they’re serving, where will they slack off?  Not the meat – it’s considered the star of the show.  Usually not the bread (important co-star, you know) – and definitely not the dessert.  Most restaurants realize that the dessert is the last thing a customer eats and the last impression they’ll have.  That’s why so many desserts are so spectacular and why I have to walk each and every day. Sometimes twice.

If a restaurant is going to slack off anywhere, it’s in the sides.  Of course the great restaurants wouldn’t even consider such a thing.

And that’s what you must understand about Foxy’s – Foxy’s is a great restaurant.  Not only did the potato salad blow me away, my husband’s coleslaw was exceptional too.  When we’re eating someplace that I’ll be reviewing for this site – we’ll order a little bit of everything, so I can have a really well-rounded idea about what the menu entails.  I always order baked beans, if they’re on the menu – because they’re a personal favorite. LOVE baked beans!  These particular baked beans made me want to stand up and dance.  A lot of times you order baked beans in restaurants and they taste like someone opened a can of Pork ‘n Beans and heated them up for you.   There are a few where I’m certain they did just that.

Foxy’s baked beans taste like baked beans are supposed to taste. It’s as though they were made to be the star of the show.  Truth be told, that’s what makes Foxy’s so special – each item stands on its own, as though it’s the main event.  You can taste Foxy’s passion for food and pride in their name in each and every bite.

They don’t just say, “This is a BBQ place, let’s focus all of our attention on the barbecue… just throw some mustard in some potatoes and open up a few cans of beans.“  Fortunately for their diners, Foxy’s has too much pride in their food and respect for their customers for that.

The servers and the hostess could not have been any friendlier.  They were what I call, “Mayberry Friendly.”  I love  friendly, smiling, warm hostesses and servers – people who seem genuinely happy to be doing what they’re doing and happy to see guests.  That makes a huge impression on me.  These vital individuals also reflect well on the restaurant.   I’m convinced that workers actually reflect the managers and owners.  Friendly, warm people draw in and want to surround themselves with friendly warm people.  Grumps?  They don’t mind other grumps and people lacking personalities never notice if one’s missing in another person.

Foxy’s obviously knows more than the average restaurant… which is why they’re way above average.  After seeing AVATAR, I have a new favorite word – one that is my highest praise, and that word is “Outstanding.”  Foxy’s is Outstanding in every way.

I purposely saved the Loaded Potato Soup for last for a perfectly good reason.  If I got to thinking about this soup earlier in the review, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything except the memory of each bite.

How do I even begin to describe it?  I work with words all day, every day.  I string them together for Self Help articles, I  make them play nice together for reviews of restaurants, books, kitchen and office gadgets, office supplies, and kitchen appliances.  I write articles for 16 different websites and blogs and never, ever find myself at a loss for words.  Yet this soup has me stumbling and stalling, searching for adverbs that are up for the task.  It’s usually around this time that I make up words.  But I won’t do that to you this early in the year.

The Loaded Potato Soup at Foxy’s is stupid good.  Make that stooooopid good!  It’s ridiculously, perfectly, deliciously, amazingly perfect.  Stoooooopid good.  Thick and creamy with big chunks of potatoes, topped off with real bacon (not bits, pieces, or pebbles), chopped green onion, shredded mozzarella cheese and shredded cheddar cheese.  It’s mind boggling delicious and you simply MUST have some as soon as you possibly can.

Don’t wait until you’re in or near Madisonville, Kentucky to pay a visit to Foxy’s Barbecue Restaurant – just go. I don’t care where you live, it’s worth the drive.

Foxy’s is located at 301 East Center Street. Visit their website (Foxy’s Barbecue in Madisonville Kentucky) for more information as well as a menu. Best of all there are pics of a personal hero of mine who visited Foxy’s – Coach John “I brought the magic back” Calipari.

When you go to Foxy’s (and why haven’t you left yet), tell them you read about their restaurant on Genuine Kentucky and that the writer has a big ole crush on their restaurant.   Big ole stoooooopid crush.

I just read an article on A Sea of Blue.com that compares the top two college basketball coaches in the country – coaches we just so happen to call “ours.”

It’s a great read – see what you think: John Calipari and Rick Pitino: Twin Sons  of Different Mothers?

By the way, do you Tweet?!  Below are a few Twitter IDs you may want to follow:

Mike Sigers – Co-owner and photographer for Genuine Kentucky:  @mikesigers

Coach John Calipari’s OFFICIAL twitter:  @UKcoachcalipari

Mine! – @JoiTaniaSigers

I previously had a Twitter ID for another web site, but I got a new one with my very own name.  If you don’t Tweet, get yourself to http://www.twitter.com and sign up NOW.  It’s incredibly fast and even more fun.  Be sure to follow me, I’ll follow you right back!

We’re all excited about Coach John Calipari’s first season at the University of Kentucky. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE baseball season and want to enjoy every single inning – but I’m definitely looking forward to college basketball. Calipari and Pitino in the same state… wow!

Apparently, Coach Calipari is going to have to hit the court running because ESPN announced yesterday that UK will face the Huskies on Dec. 9 in the SEC/Big East Invitational at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The programs’ only meeting was an 87-83 UConn victory in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, but we really don’t want to talk about that, do we?

The game, and chance at redemption will be shown on ESPN 2. I have a feeling that Coach Cal’s Cats will be shown on television a lot. Let’s hope.

Tickets for the game are expected to go on sale early this summer. For information visit www.secbigeastinvitational.com.

In other University of Kentucky news, the UK men’s basketball program has been recognized for their APR score (Academic Progress Rate score).  The NCAA made the announcement yesterday.

UK received the award for placing in the top 10 percent of the nation’s Division I men’s basketball APR scores.

The APR marks are a four-year composite that measures academic eligibility and retention of student-athletes. The current APR covers the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years.

UK was the only SEC men’s basketball team to receive public recognition.

The University of Louisville received top-10 recognition in men’s indoor track and women’s softball.

Just a side thought, since I’ve mentioned the University of Louisville – I want to go on record as saying that my thoughts are with Rick Pitino and his University of Louisville program.  I’m sure you’ve read the whole soap opera-ish scenario.  Karen Sypher, estranged wife of Rick Pitino’s longtime friend and equipment manager Tim Sypher decided to air her dirty laundry in public (I’m assuming the laundry included another man’s pants).

So, she decides that the “burden” of her little secret is too much for her and she must go public.

WHY would anyone in their right mind place the scarlett letter on their own forehead?  Unless of course they wanted to draw a line down the middle of it – I don’t know, something like this:  $ or this: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

No amount of money is worth announcing to the world that you have as much class as a retired school teacher. Make no mistake about it, the same could be said for anyone else involved in this. I’m just saying, it isn’t the players’ fault and it’s a shame that the University of Louisville has to deal with this right now.  Rick Pitino and his family’s personal life should be able to stay just that -  personal.  He has, twice, brought programs in our state back from the brink.  (Have you ever wondered where either would be without Coach Pitino?)

The only good thing is that this is coming out now instead of later – maybe it can all blow over before next season starts.

The Louisville Courier Journal had a little write up about Coach Calipari and his practices at UK.  The paper reports that according to the workout that was open to the media last week, it appears that Coach Cal is stressing speed and is giving his players time to adapt to his system.  He told the guys, “It’s different.”

Can I insert a big, heart felt  THANK GOD right now?

In the workout, the Wildcats focused mostly on full-court transition and layups.  Don’t let word drift up to Tubby or he’ll pass out, but they didn’t spend any time on half-court offense or defense.

Coach Calipari wants a faster pace?  Bring it on!  He told his players, “Fifty layups a  game.”

He also told his players that everything he’s doing in the early workouts is to teach them to go “full-bore.”  He’d get onto players for taking short strides toward the basket and stopped the workout any time he thought a player had driven to the rim with the intent of passing.  He reminded them, “We are shooting layups.”

He also stopped practice when he wanted to praise his players.  Once when Darius Miller and Jodie Meeks had pleased their new coach, he blew his whistle and said, “That’s how we play!”

Is it too early to get excited for next season?  Oh, forget I asked.  It’s too late…. I’m already there.

I found the joke below in my inbox this morning and spewed coffee all over the place when I read it! Boy, let us UK fans get a new coach and just look at how feisty we get.

Here’s the joke:

Four college sports fans go rock climbing one afternoon. A Kentucky fan, a Louisville fan, a Tennessee fan, and a Georgia fan.

They had been arguing all the way up the mountain about who among them was the most die hard fan. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, the Tennessee fan proclaimed to the other three “This is for the Volunteers!” and promptly threw himself off the mountain as a form of sacrifice, screaming “Rocky top” as he fell to his death.

Not to be outdone by the Tennessee fan, the Georgia fan jumped up and shouted “This is for the DAWGS” and threw himself off the mountain barking “Woof, woof, woof, woof!” as he crashed on the rocks below.

Refusing to be out done by the Tennessee and Georgia fans, the Kentucky fan rose to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs “This is for THE KENTUCKY WILDCATS !” and without hesitation, pushed the Louisville fan off the mountain shouting “Fly Cardinal Fly!”

Disclaimer: No Cardinal fans, Bulldog fans, or even Tennessee fans were hurt during the making of this joke.

Unless you live under a mushroom – cut off from tv, radio, newspapers, web sites, and the loud celebratory singing I’ve been doing -  you know that the greatest coach in the country, John Calipari, is coming to the University of Kentucky!!!  In fact, the whole drama leading up to Coach Cal coming (Is he coming, is he staying??) is the reason I’ve been missing in action on this blog for about a week.

Sorry, but it’s hard to type when your nose is pressed against the tv screen while one ear is turned to sports radio.  There was also the issue of my laptop refusing to bring up any page except ESPN.

I bleed blue, you see, and this is beyond HUGE to all of us UK fanatics.

I’ve actually wanted Calipari at UK since Pitino left.  (Loved him too, you know.)  When Tubby left, I was screaming Coach Cal’s name from the mountain top – so when they went with whatshisname, I fell off of that mountain top and rolled to the bottom.   Kind of like we fell off of college basketball’s radar!  And the rankings, and the newspapers, and the tournament….

I remember back then, when the news was announced that they’d hired Gillespie, I kept asking my husband, “Who is he??  Why him??  Are they crazy??”  He told me where he came from, what he’d done, and that, yes, possibly they were crazy.

Eh, that’s all in the past now and the sun is definitely coming up on the horizon.  And the beautiful thing is, it’s blue!

Cue the dance music, baby.

P.S.  The dancing figure insisted that I create a category for UK Basketball again (yes, yes, I deleted it halfway through Gillispie Gate) AND he suggested I create a category for Coach Cal.   Check!