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The Rama Jama’s BLT has 18 strips of bacon, one for every Alabama football title
You will get a few looks if you order it.
Alabama football teams need intestinal fortitude to win it all, but you may need more than that to finish the Rama Jama’s National Championship BLT.
It has a strip of bacon for every Crimson Tide national title. And we don’t just mean those recognized by The Associated Press -- we mean the 18 claimed by Bama. That’s right: Eighteen strips of bacon. And these are not flimsy, poor excuses for pork. We’re talking thick, long slices that stick out the edges of the bread and make you question existence when you dare to try and scarf down 18 of them. It looks like Pizza the Hut from “Spaceballs’ in bacon form.
The National Championship BLT will run you $17.99, so that’s about a buck per piece of bacon. Add the tomatoes, lettuce and several slices of toasted white bread topped off with a giant onion ring. So yeah, you’re looking at more of an event than a meal. And if not for the dynastic run under head coach Nick Saban, the BLT wouldn’t pack quite the punch it does heading into the new season.
Lewis, who sold the restaurant to Michael Hebron in 2017 and just retired this month after continuing to help run the place, introduced the sandwich to the Rama Jama’s menu after the 2009 season when Bama defeated Texas in the BCS Championship game, starting off with 13 strips. But five subsequent titles mean five more pieces, creating a new Mount Everest for those seeking a local food challenge.
“In 2009 when I started it, I said we need something that’s gonna stand out,” Lewis said. “Something that’s going to align with the program. I said what about a National Championship BLT, and let’s make it really impressive. We started with 13 strips of bacon. Each time we won a national championship, I added another strip of bacon.”
“We have no to-go boxes,” Lewis joked about anyone looking to escape the wrath of bacon in one sitting (Note: He was joking. They’ll give you a to-go box. We needed one.) He said he’s seen Crimson Tide football players “play right through it. “I’ve seen them take it down.” He said one customer, who did not play football, crushed it in one sitting -- and not only that, he added the National Championship burger, an 18-ounce behemoth this legend took down in the same meal. He also said an ESPN reporter gave it a shot but fell well short.
Be warned: If and when you order the white whale of BLTs in T-Town, you’ll get a few looks from the rest of the room. When we ordered it, the cashier didn’t blink, rang it up and served it with words of stoic encouragement: “Good luck.”
“It gets a lot of wow factor when it’s delivered, that’s for sure,” Lewis said. “That’s part of it. When somebody brings it out, all the cashiers like to be the one that takes it to the table.”
The sandwich has gotten national television exposure on the standard college football networks like ESPN and CBS, but they don’t see it ordered much during the season, certainly not on gamedays. “We don’t have space to cook 1,000 strips of bacon,” Lewis said.
Rama Jama’s remains a local favorite and a must-see stop for tourists in town for games or campus visits. Finally hanging up his apron, Lewis has had a blast with the restaurant that quickly became synonymous with Alabama football. “It’s been a lot of fun putting it together,” he said. “I didn’t hunt or fish with my children, I hung pictures on the walls at Rama Jama’s.
“But I told all my employees, the pictures don’t mean anything if they get a bad hamburger. They add to the experience. I’ve been very fortunate.”
