Tag Archives: restaurants

Tennessee

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It’s almost strawberry time here in the South, and I had a preview at the Tater Box in my hometown of Manchester, Tennessee, with this luscious piece of silky and sweet fresh strawberry pie. The Tater Box restaurant is in a former country store that stands at an intersection of two rural roads:  Fredonia and Hoodoo. It clearly used to be a bustling spot and today at mealtimes, it still is. You can order the meat-and-vegetable-plate special or get a tasty and delicious hamburger, hot dog. sliders or chicken or grilled bologna sandwich, with homemade desserts — the banana pudding is a crowd favorite — to reward yourself. The Tater Box folks also do catering, so they may be working on elegant wedding cakes and mouthwatering trays of appetizers while they’re dishing out your fried okra and fried squash. And don’t forget the fried pickles and the sweet-potato fries. Worried about that word, “fried”? Just do an extra mile on the treadmill and remember to take your Crestor, because it’s totally worth it. This is fried without greasy and crispy/crunchy without inch-thick batter — fried at its best. The Tater Box also serves breakfast, with everything you would imagine a Tennessee breakfast to be, and has music on Friday and Saturday nights and karaoke on Tuesday nights. Check it out yourself at http://www.taterboxcafe.com and especially read the fascinating history of this building, which has been a hub of its rural community for almost 100 years.

Restaurants

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You know I’m easily impressed, but I’m not the only one who’s a fan of Ichiban, an Asian restaurant that’s recently opened in Sheffield, Alabama. Now most of y’all probably have an Ichiban in your town. “Ichiban” is a Japanese word that means “the best” and many Asian restaurants use that as a name. Or that’s what I’ve read, anyway. Our Ichiban is becoming a popular spot for locals looking for something new. I love getting my food in these red lacquered bento boxes — sort of exotic, especially for someone like me who mainly eats out of Cheetos bags. Everything tastes fresh, the sushi bar is excellent and the service is friendly. And of course there’s green-tea ice cream in fried wonton shells. Better than Cheetos any day. Ichiban in Sheffield is open at 11 a.m. every day except Saturday, when it opens at noon. It’s at 1207 S. Jackson Hwy., phone number 25.389.9888.

St. Patrick’s Day

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Irish things I like:

1) Pretty much any sort of food that has any sort of Irish connection. Particularly if it’s chocolate and/or fried. Or bread. So I hit the jackpot this year at Kalou’s Corner Market and Cafe in Huntsville, Alabama, which was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with these treats. Who could resist a shamrock-shaped chocolate-covered chocolate brownie? And then there were two intriguing types of Irish beer bread — rye and cheddar. This bread was moist, dense, light and tender all that same time — and my bread-loving family did not let a crumb go to waste. Details at http://www.kalousmarket.com/

2) Guinness beer, but only for the first two or three sips. That’s about all I can handle.

3) McGuire’s Irish Pub in Pensacola, Florida. This is my favorite Irish pub ever. Okay — I know that you know this is the only Irish pub I’ve ever been in. But it’s still my favorite. It’s on my must-go list every time I’m anywhere close by. This is the place that’s papered in customers’ dollar bills. McGuire’s has its own brewery and serves wonderfully fresh-tasting beers,ales, porters and stouts. And for my dollar bills, the best dishes are on the appetizer menu — boxtys (fried mashed potatoes), seared fresh tuna over mashed garlic red potatoes and the Irish Bleu Chips, which is homemade potato chips with blue cheese. And if you detect a theme of fried and mashed potatoes here, you are so right. Check it out at http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com

4) Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. I knew this was a memoir of a boy’s Irish childhood, but I didn’t read it until recently because I mistakenly thought it was sweet and heartwarming and sentimental — sort of the literary version of “Oh Danny Boy.” It’s not. It’s spare and harsh and ugly — and I couldn’t put it down. You won’t be able to, either.

Restaurants

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Next time you’re in downtown Tupelo, Mississippi, and you need a sandwich or coffee or just some friendly conversation, head into Cafe 212 on West Main Street. These photos show the coffee-shop part — you know it’s the most important to me! The lunch area is through the door and toward the front — it’s really the first thing you step into from the street —  and it also sports a fun and quirky vibe, with delicious fresh salads and sandwiches as well. If you don’t want to sit at one of the vintage recycled tables, you can hang out on some comfy retro couches or enjoy the best sidewalk dining in Tupelo. And don’t forget to admire the works by talented local artists. Finally, you know that bathroom style always is one of my top criteria for judging a restaurant — and Cafe 212 has a great one. The women’s room carries out the eclectic theme with an exuberantly painted mirror and an old curio cabinet/desk doubling as storage. Visit http://www.cafe212tupelo.com/ to learn more about this Tupelo treasure.

Food

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If you’re headed down to the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast — and a yet-again winter storm headed our way here in north Alabama makes me ready to go anytime — you’ve got to try Cobalt, a fairly new restaurant in Orange Beach, Alabama. Under the bridge on Perdido Beach Boulevard next to the Caribe Resort, Cobalt is a must-go especially during nice weather when you can stroll along the water and eat outside in the breeze. When I went with friends a couple weeks ago, it definitely was a cool and gray stay-inside-sort-of-day. But that was all right, because inside is nice, too. Cobalt is a huge space but it didn’t feel too big — just sort of light and airy but spacious enough to handle how every many we could crowd around our table. We were there for lunch. The menu featured seafood dishes, of course, with salads and sandwiches, too. Food was good, beer was cold and service was friendly — and I’m sure this place is hopping during prime time. There was a fascinating salt-water tank in the lobby that was less an aquarium and more of a sort of river where you could stand for a while and watch all sorts of fish swim lazily by. I didn’t take many photos because I was too busy eating and drinking and talking my camera batteries were weak but I did manage to shoot two of the most important features: the immaculate and sparkly women’s restroom and the wonderful array of goodies available for take-out. Check it out yourself at http://www.cobaltdining.com/ — and save me a truffle, please.

Food

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When winter is getting to you, isn’t it lucky to have friends with beachfront condos? Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mary Bonnie! She invited some of us to share one of her weeks at the Gulf coast condo she and her husband have — and just in time, too, since here in Alabama we’ve had enough snow and ice and cold to last us, thank you very much. We had a great time and I’ll tell you all about it, but first I want to give you a Florida wildlife report. No, not that kind of “wild life.” The nature kind — well, our version, anyway. One night we went to the Shrimp Basket in Perdido Key, Florida, when we all spied the most realistic statue of a blue heron ever and were in the midst of speculating why someone had placed such a statue so close to a parking space when suddenly the “statue” blinked its eye and we all jumped — and reached for our cameras. We got the distinct impression that the heron was posing for us and waiting for us to notice he (she?) had given us his (her?) best side for photography purposes. We didn’t see any dolphins/porpoises in the water while we were there, but we did spy an osprey perched high up in a tree next to its nest one day and walked along the beach with hundreds of twittering (in the non-online sense, of course) sandpipers. The weather was clear and sunny and gorgeous while we were there — too cold for us to get in the water although I did see a couple of energetic teenagers brave the waves one day. The sunsets were stunning — I caught a bit of the light in this photo. And the Shrimp Basket was great! Nothing fancy — just fresh good seafood and friendly service. It’s where the locals hang out and is about half the price of touristy seafood places (Crab Trap, we’re talking to you!). I had the blackened shrimp and fish with new potatoes, cole slaw (with shrimp in it) and hush puppies. Plus, I saved one of my oh-so-good raw oysters to show you. Other orders at our table were fried oysters, fried shrimp and tuna dip — everything was perfect. Check it out at http://www.shrimpbasket.com. There are locations all along the Alabama/Florida Gulf coast — just watch out for blue herons in the parking lot.

Beer

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It was my Dear Husband who’s taught me that beer is much more than frat parties and ballgames. Beer has flavor! And variety! And depth and complexity! Who knew??? One of our favorite beer-eries is Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, a franchised chain of beer pubs in Tennessee, Texas and the Carolinas, where the extensive menu is a fascinating textbook in beer-ology. We’d been to the one in downtown Memphis several times, so when we were in Nashville recently we checked out the Flying Saucer in downtown’s The Gulch, where the renovated Union Station has sparked an urban renewal of restaurants and condos. The night we were there, temperatures were sub-freezing and we had trouble decoding the parking layout — we are simple country folk and are used to being able to park right in front of wherever we want to go — so we were quite happy to get inside and enjoy. The place was lively and just-right crowded — enough for a party atmosphere but not so much that you can’t move your elbows — and we were not the oldest people there, which is always good. We tried out a couple new brews while my husband drew on his vast knowledge of 1980s pop culture for the ongoing trivia game and I tried to figure out which of the commemorative plates decorating the walls were actually Antiques Roadshow-worthy hidden treasures. If you ever find yourself close to a Flying Saucer, go inside. You’ll be glad you did. http://www.beerknurd.com/

Restaurants

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My Dear Husband is an adventurous eater but I could tell he wasn’t impressed when we first stepped in one of those Mongolian barbecue/grill places — too crowded, too many choices, too much work. I already had fallen in love with the concept of fill-your-bowl-and-let-somebody-cook-it-on-a-grill at the sadly now-defunct and much-mourned Fire and Ice in Birmingham, Alabama — and after his first taste, Husband joined the fan club, too. I mean, it’s like wandering through a grocery store and choosing your favorite ingredients for the best stir-fry ever and then letting somebody else do all the work, resulting in a bowl of pure perfection. Now Husband and I try every Mongolian place we come across, but our favorite is Genghis Grill, around the Galleria area in Franklin, Tenn. It’s on our must-eat list every time we head that way. In fact, Dear Husband starts talking about it days in advance. After all, who could resist the chance to create your own dish with its own can’t-be-duplicated flavors and the never-fail entertainment value of watching your carefully constructed bowl transform into lunch? Not us. Besides digging in to my freshly cooked bowl, one of my favorite Genghis Grill activities is matching other diners with their food choices as we all stand around the grill and covertly make sure nobody’s bowl is better than our own. Who, for instance, ignored all green items and went straight for meat and potatoes? Who’s the one who went heavy on the shrimp? And which liberal-leaning Greenpeace leftist went mainly with bok choy and tofu with a smattering of bean sprouts? Oh, yeah — that was me.

Etiquette — and Elvis

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Etiquette rules have loosened up considerably since the days when women had to make sure they had a pair of white gloves handy when they went out, but good behaviour never goes out of style. I thought, anyway. Recently Younger Daughter and I were at a popular local lunch spot in Florence, Alabama, and put our purses on a table to save it while we stood in line to order — only to find our table stolen and the thieves brazenly offering to let us sit there if we wanted. Uh, ‘scuse me??? We declined to share and plotted revenge all through our salads — spilling water and dropping plates of food figured prominently. Arrrggghhhh! Then later that afternoon, I posted about it on Facebook and got tons of responses and advice, plus the suggestion to write my next newspaper column about it. So I did: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100108/ARTICLES/1085027

Also, happy 75th birthday, Elvis! If anybody needs something to do this weekend, go to Tupelo, Mississippi, and pay homage to the king at his birthplace — http://tupelo.net/things-to-do/birthplace-elvis.asp. And there’s a party going on at http://www.elvis.com/graceland/calendar/elvis_birthday.asp

Recycling

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This past week I found these two examples of recycling — a past-its-prime Wise Man from a plastic outdoor Nativity set someone brought to the recycling center and these intriguing ceiling lamps that are part of the fun and funky decor at Urban Standard, one of my favorite coffee shops in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not sure what the lamps were originally — some sort of barrel or crate for some kind of food? — but I am sure that I’d take one home in a minute. But the real mystery, of course, is about the lone Wise Man: I mean, what happened to the other ones? Are there two Wise Men sitting in somebody’s yard somewhere, trying to do the job of three? And why was this one deemed ready for recycling? His beard was a little spotty, but that was all my husband and I could find that might be wrong with him. Inquiring minds … And, no, we didn’t bring him home. We’ve rescued abandoned kitties, dogs, chairs and filing cabinets, but I draw the line at Wise Men.