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Dale's Hideaway - Dale's Cellar

 
Subject: Dales cellar and dales hideaway restaurant in Birmingham
From: Jane
Date: 8/11/2019, 5:47 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 8/10/2019 6:01 PM, Jane Russell wrote:
We had a combination drive in and restaurant in homewood Alabama in the 1960’s 
they had a hamburger called a hideaway special and a plain hideaway which was 
less money. I would love to know what the mayonnaise like sauce was. Dales is 
famous for it’s sauce / marinade which is still made by family members today. 
Hope you can help me thanks Jane

Hi Jane,

The only mention that I could find of the"Hideaway Special" and the sauce used on it is on this scan of a "Dale's Hideaway" menu from the 1950s: Dale's Hideaway Menu

It's just called "special sauce" on that menu. I could not find anything else at all about the sauce.

The last "Dale's Cellar" was in Florence, AL, and it became "Sperry’s Restaurant" in 2014 before it closed for good. There is a very good article about Dale's Cellar/Hideaway and Dale's Seasoning here: al.com

As for locating a recipe for the "special sauce," the best advice I can offer you is to:

1) Try to contact some of the owners' surviving family members. There are several names given in that al.com article.
2) Try to locate former employees of Dale's Cellar/Hideaway and contact them directly.
3) Locate, and post your request on, Birmingham nostalgia message boards. Someone who knows the recipe might see your request and respond.
4) There is a "Dale's Seasoning" Facebook page. You might try posting a request there:
Dale's Seasoning Facebook Page

Our index of old cookbooks shows that we do have a few recipes from Dale's Cellar in Birmingham. None for burgers or sauces or sandwiches, just these:

beets in port wine sauce
beef in sour cream
beef tips creole
cream of shrimp soup

I'll post this for reader input.

Phaed