Riding Around Mobile in the Automobile

Just off the Cathedral Square lies a small restaurant with several outdoor tables, a gift shop, and dining area all in one called Spot of Tea. The little shop has been in business for about 13 years now. The uniqueness of the restaurant is that you can order from a variety of teas. The dining room is set up with pink tablecloths, glass tabletops, and a Victorian feel with the old-time wallpaper, and pictures of elegant ladies in Juliet dresses.

Across from the dining room, you have a gift shop with magnets, soaps, Yankee candles, jewelry, cards, little stuffed tigers that say LSU, and the new cards that when opened either play a tune from the '80s or '90s. The magnets say "Mobile" or "Mardi Gras", which is pretty funny because of its origin.

Back in 1823, the Mardi Gras revelers of New Orleans were causing chaos in the cobblestone streets by getting into rough fights, and throwing rocks at people. Mardi Gras was about to be canceled forever! Until six brave Mobileans, who were once from New Orleans, came to the rescue by planning the super krewe Comus. Their theme was 'The Demon Actors of Milton's Paradise Lost'. People were dressed in vivid and wonderful costumes, and extraordinary floats graced the narrow streets, which saved Mardi Gras.

Spot of Tea is a little tea place that has Pecan and Belgian waffles, Sweet Belgian pancakes, sandwiches including a grilled Philly cheese steak and a Hawaiian melt, Caesar salads, and omelettes. On the kids' menu, there is ham and cheese, grilled cheese, and even peanut butter and jelly!

The A& M Peanut Shop not only sells peanuts, but also candies and popcorn! When you step into the doorway, there is always someone to greet you, even if it's the 90-year-old peanut roaster in the corner.

The A & M Peanut Shop has been a local business in the newspaper that has graced Cathedral Square, farther up the street from the Spot of Tea and across the street from the Three Georges, a chocolate shop. They have sugar-free candies, too.

Mobile's oldest candy shop sits across from the A & M Peanut Shop and further down from the Spot of Tea. There are special candies, pralines, divinity, fudge, cakes, and the gummy alligator candy you can eat. There are also jelly beans and an old fashioned soda machine.

Plus, they added a lunch counter that resembles the diners of the early '50s and '60s. You can get anything from a muffalatta (from the Central Grocery recipe in New Orleans) to a chicken salad, to gumbo, and more southern favorites.