In Auburn, Alabama, a husband-and-wife team came home with a dream — a local watering hole built on bacon, bourbon, community, and family — and what they built instead was an Auburn institution that the whole state now makes pilgrimages to visit. 🐾🥃🥓
The Hound is the kind of restaurant that feels like it was always supposed to exist — a family-owned restaurant in Auburn AL where over-the-top American classics, heritage-breed bacon, and top-shelf bourbon come together in one gloriously warm, lodge-like room.
More than a decade in, The Hound isn’t just a restaurant — it’s an Auburn tradition. 🌟
How The Hound Won Auburn’s Hearts
In 2012, Matthew and Jana Poirier moved back to Auburn with a clear, passionate vision: open a space that embodied Southern hospitality, celebrated local ingredients, and felt like home to every single person who walked through the door.
Jana’s brothers Ben and Brian Caruthers, along with her parents John and Susan Caruthers — affectionately known as “Mama Su” — are all Auburn alumni who have poured themselves into making this restaurant a genuine community institution.
Even the family farm in Lafayette, AL, supplies ingredients to the kitchen — a farm-to-table commitment as literal as it gets.
Executive Chef Robbie Nicolaisen joined The Hound early and has been the culinary backbone of the restaurant ever since — guiding a kitchen that sources locally and regionally, cures its own bacon in-house, and elevates every dish with the kind of precision that keeps diners endlessly coming back.
The bacon program alone — a daily rotating flight of housemade and artisanally sourced bacons ranging from pecan-smoked to Jamaican jerk to duck bacon — has become one of the most celebrated and talked-about menu features in all of Alabama. 🥓
The Hound has cemented its place as the undisputed dining crown jewel of Auburn — a remarkable achievement in a college town full of competitive dining options.
Alabama Travel officially recognizes The Hound as one of Auburn’s premier dining destinations — a nod to the fact that this is not just a local favorite but a genuine destination restaurant drawing visitors from across the state and beyond.
From the first visit to the fiftieth, The Hound delivers the same thing every time: bacon-forward, bourbon-fueled, Southern comfort food Auburn Alabama at its absolute finest. 🏆
Food Highlights
- Shrimp & Grits: Blackened, domestically wild-caught shrimp over andouille cream sauce and McEwen & Sons heirloom grits, finished with fresh scallions. 🍤🌾
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Bacon Flight: Chef’s daily selection of different bacon variations — cured in-house or sourced from crafted artisans — ranging from pecan-smoked and black-and-blue to Jamaican jerk and duck bacon. 🥓🏆
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“Chicken Fried Steak”: Incredibly tender, deep-fried Wagyu beef cheeks served with mashed Yukon gold potatoes, roasted broccolini, and a rich peppered gravy. 🍖✨
- Berkshire Pork Chop: A thick-cut, bone-in heritage breed Berkshire pork chop — prized for its exceptional marbling, tenderness, and deep, rich flavor.
- The Hound’s Meatloaf: A blend of prime beef, heritage pork, and house-smoked bacon, glazed with a sweet chili-tomato sauce and served with braised collards, mashed Yukon gold potatoes, and rich bone gravy. 🥩
- Big Nasty: A buttermilk fried chicken breast, house-cured bacon, and pimento cheese piled high on a housemade biscuit.
Atmosphere
The Hound was designed to feel like a hunting lodge meets old-time Alabama barn — antler-pronged accents, warm wood tones, and the kind of bustling, convivial energy that makes every meal feel like a gathering rather than just a dinner out. 🏕️
It is simultaneously a local watering hole, a brunch destination, a date-night restaurant, and a game-day institution — one of those rare spaces in any college town that works beautifully for every occasion and every crowd.
28 rotating craft beers on tap and a top-shelf bourbon list anchor a bar program as serious and thoughtfully curated as the food menu — making The Hound just as compelling for a drink as it is for a full feast. 🍺🥃
Bottom Line
The Hound is a top Auburn restaurant for good reason — house-cured heritage bacon, Wagyu beef dishes, scratch-made Southern classics, a legendary brunch program, and a family story as warm as the room itself.
With 28 craft beers on tap and top-shelf bourbon to match, every visit is a master class in Southern hospitality. 🥃🥓
Address:
108 N College St, Auburn, AL 36830
📞 (334) 246-2887
🕔 Open Mon–Thu 11 AM–10 PM | Fri–Sat 11 AM–11 PM | Sun 10 AM–9 PM