Tag Archives: restaurants

Be Scene

Posted on by
Reply

huntsville-halloween-and-scene-005Yikes! I was wrong that this weekend is fall’s last stand, because winter has taken over already. It’s cold and windy here in northwest Alabama and the perfect Sunday for staying inside, wondering why LSU had to stage a comeback to beat Troy (Troy!) and contemplating the news that our president-elect believes in college-football playoffs. Or, you could start stressing about the upcoming holidays and desperately try to remember the place where you put the Christmas CDs this past January so it’d be easy to find them this year.  (The box of outdoor decorations? Wrapped up in the Christmas stockings? And speaking of the stockings, I wonder where…. ) Or, you could bundle up and go to the huntsville-halloween-and-scene-0031Scene Lounge at Monaco Pictures at Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville. This bar/restaurant adjacent to the movie theater is the spot to go if you believe that nothing new ever happens around here — the warm and sophisticated space is unlike anywhere else. With its plush banquette seating and sleek pedestal tables, Scene evokes the feeling of old-school glamour back when going to the movies was an event. This is where James Bond would stop in for a drink before saving the world. Conversely, it’s also where my daughter and I can take a baby and a stroller in and enjoy some of the best sushi this side of the Pacific. Go figure. The fun part is that you can order anything to go and then take into the theater. Or, claim a table on the patio where you’ve got a front-row view of Bridge Street shoppers. Everything I’ve had here is good, and I especially like the hummus, which comes with roasted vegetables and pita chips. The Scene rightfully has become a Huntsville gathering spot and offers wine tastings and theme parties coordinated with movie premieres along with other special events. Check out the Web site at http://www.sceneatmonaco.com/home.asp

Ketchup

Posted on by
4

huntsville-102908-010huntsville-102908-007One of my new favorite restaurants is Ketchup, in Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Ketchup’s cheerful red-and-white decor is an updated take on the classic American diner, and so is the menu, which features a fun selection of casual starters and burgers. The star, of course, is the French fry appetizer: Three flavors of fries andhuntsville-102908-011 five of catsup, with nice mixtures of sweet and savory. Genius! I’ll take two, please. Ketchup is part of the Dolce Group of restaurants based in Los Angeles that boasts celebrities such as huntsville-102908-012Ashton Kutcher as investors. And it’s certainly different than any other north Alabama restaurant — in a good way. It’s chic and stylish enough for a date night or business lunch and casual and low key enough for family or friends to gather. Grandson Nolan Thomas Behel, 7 months old, loves it! Ketchup is a huge space, and while the staff does recommend making reservations, I’ve never seen the restaurant full. My daughter has taken a large group there and says service is just as attentive as when it’s just two or three at a table.

Check out Bridge Street at http://www.bridgestreethuntsville.com and Ketchup at http://www.dolcegroup.com/

Tupelo Travels

Posted on by
Reply

If you’re hungry for pizza and you’re in Mississippi, look for an Old Venice Pizza Co. (There’s also one in Memphis, Tennessee, but we all know that Memphis is really north Mississippi.) My husband and I eat at the one in Tupelo, and it’s on our ever-lengthening list of favorite places. This is pizza with style. Old Venice began in Oxford, Mississippi, about 10 years ago. It combines Southern hospitality with Old World ingredients for an upscale yet friendly experience. One of the best things about Old Venice is its imaginative pizza menu. There are all sorts of specialties: Daddy Crawdaddy, with sweet red peppers and crawfish tails; the Mardi Gras, with andouille sausage; and a couple starring Memphis-style pulled pork. Or create your own from a list of almost 50 ingredients. You can order the lunch special of two slices from the four daily featured pizzas plus a salad. It’s a lot of food, but that’s a good thing, because my husband says Old Venice pizza is the best he’s ever had … cold — an important consideration for pizza lovers who look forward to leftovers! There are also pasta and sandwiches and a nice wine and beer selection (any place that has Blue Moon is a winner for me). Old Venice believes in wine with pizza and offers recommendations for your meal as well as wine tastings and other fun evenings in its sleek and stylish bar. And that’s the other attraction: Old Venice’s ambiance. The interior of the Tupelo restaurant is sleek and calming, with muted grays and purples — perfect for a peaceful mid-day break in the restaurant or a fun night out in the bar. Old Venice’s bars are called Burgundy Rooms. The Tupelo bar includes a high-tech-looking wine-dispenser that lets you sample 1-ounce pours of various wines for a sort of do-it-yourself wine-tasting. Now why did somebody wait so long to come up with that super idea? I love it! Visit the Web site at http://www.oldvenice.com to learn more.

Orange Rolls and Hay Bales

Posted on by
2

Yum — what about some orange rolls for Sunday brunch? The best ones, of course, come from All Steak Restaurant in Cullman, Alabama. These delicious creations literally melt in your mouth when they’re warm and gooey in the restaurant– and they’re sensational even a couple hours later when you dig into your to-go dozen on the way home. You go to All Steak for the rolls but you’re rewarded with a full menu of fresh and homemade food served with a smile. All Steak has been a Cullman tradition for years, and with reason: It’s good food at a good price made and served by some of the friendliest folks around. And while you’re in Cullman, wander around downtown for some fun shopping. Younger daughter Carolyn and I recently did that. After lunch (with orange rolls, of course), we paid a visit to Biggest Hay-Bale People Ever Made, who were hanging out on a Cullman sidewalk. You just never know what you’ll find! Check out All Steak at www.theallsteak.com

Scarecrows in Alabama

Posted on by
2

There’s enough to do at Huntsville (Ala.) Botanical Garden’s Scarecrow Trail for an all-day adventure. To see the “trail,” you walk through the gardens and admire dozens of scarecrows that have been decorated by businesses, families, groups of friends. and all sorts of folks. The ‘crows are scary, funny, creative — you name it. Of course, HBG is gorgeous on its own. There are acres of shady woodland trails, flower gardens, natural areas and beautifully landscaped formal spots. My favorites are the peaceful Asian-inspired Garden of Hope and the butterfly house at the Nature Center. For children, there’s a playground paradise with games, mazes and all sorts of fun nooks and crannies to explore. Grandson Nolan, at 6 1/2 months, isn’t old enough yet to appreciate all the fun things he can do there, but on a recent visit he did try to eat the ferns in the butterfly house — what a nature boy! Of course, the Botanical Garden is a prime destination for two of my other top activities: eating and shopping. Clemintine’s at the Garden is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and serves fresh salads, soups and sandwiches, including a yummy roasted veggie pannini plus wine by the glass. Many local folks go there for lunch since you don’t have to pay garden admission to eat there, and it’s certainly worth it. And the gift shop at the Garden is superb — all sorts of seasonal decorations, garden-themed gifts and Christmas-stocking ideas. But the best part of the Huntsville Botanical Garden is that it truly is visitor-friendly. The folks there want to do everything they can to make your experience a positive one. For instance, you can bring your own food and eat a picnic lunch, and if you pay the one-day admission and then decide to become a member that day, you can get your ticket money back. Plus, everything is clean and well-maintained and the volunteers and staff answer questions, give directions and offer suggestions cheerfully and helpfully. Check it all out at www.hsvbg.org.

Demos’ in the Shoals

Posted on by
5

It’s really going to happen! The new Demos’ (pronounced “dee-mus”) Restaurant going up in Florence, Ala., should open in mid-December, co-founder and owner Jim Demos said this week. This family-owned restaurant began in Murfreesboro, Tenn., almost 20 years ago and quickly became a Middle Tennessee favorite for its emphasis on fresh homemade food and exceptional customer service. It was the go-to place for my husband and his mom, who lived in Murfreesboro, and I knew I was an accepted member of the family when they invited me to come along. The Demoses are expanding and chose Florence for their first out-of-state location. Amazing! My husband and I cannot believe our luck in having one of our favorite restaurants open up practically in our backyard. Go to the Web site http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ to learn more. Now, I’m craving a Blackened Chicken Stuffed Potato.

Beer in the Garden

Posted on by
3

Miss Annie’s Rustic Park Restaurant and Beer Garden in St. Joseph, Tenn., finally is reopened! It’s been a long four years since the owners had to close and move their restaurant back from the roadway to make room for U.S. 43 widening. They took advantage of the break, though, and remodeled and redid so that Miss Annie’s has returned better than ever. Definitely worth the wait. The renovated building is spacious and gleaming, while the beer-garden courtyard is clean and welcoming. What is Miss Annie’s, you ask? Well, it’s a restaurant, with sandwiches, steaks, chicken, seafood, BBQ and pasta. It’s a bar, with plenty of beer and appetizers such as hush puppies, stuffed mushrooms and spinach/artichoke dip. It’s a landmark —  Miss Annie’s has been welcoming thirsty travelers and locals off and on since 1928. And it’s an unexpected surprise to find such a fun place in what everybody cheerfully admits is close to the middle of nowhere. Miss Annie’s is about 12 miles from Killen, Ala., — 1.5 miles north of the Alabama/Tennessee state line on U.S. 43. This is the sort of place that makes you happy as soon as you walk in. On the recent crisp fall evening my husband and I went, there were families, couples, groups of friends and folks getting off work, all enjoying a place to linger and relax. Now, this isn’t a place to explore new breweries since the beer menu is pretty limited or to worry about your cholesterol level — although the house salad is fresh. Just go and enjoy yourself. Check out the Web site first, at http://www.missanniesbeergarden.com/, and learn the history of the venerable and much-loved Miss Annie’s.

Rick and Bubba and Friends

Posted on by
4

Yes, this is my friend Bonnie. Standing on a car. It looks as if she’s miraculously balancing on top of a huge Rick and Bubba sign — and if anybody could do that, it would be her — but she’s actually standing on top of her car, which is holding up the huge Rick and Bubba sign with help from assistants Jana, left, and Cheryl. And this was 5:45 a.m. In the morning. I’m there, too, taking this photo. And why were we in this Birmingham, Ala., parking lot at 5:45 a.m. standing on a car holding a huge Rick and Bubba sign? Of course, it was all Bonnie’s idea — and it was a good idea. The whole thing was a surprise birthday party for our other friend, Cathy Layne. Cathy is a huge fan of the Rick and Bubba radio show, which is broadcast from studios in Birmingham, where Bonnie and Cathy live. So Bonnie concocted an elaborate scheme to surprise Cathy with tickets to a broadcast. She couldn’t get tickets for Cathy’s actual birthday — the closest was almost a month later — so of course she was hoping that would really throw the birthday girl off. Then she told Cathy that Jana, Cheryl and I were stopping in Birmingham to spend the night on our way to Florida and we had to get up early the next morning to make it to Pensacola by noon and we wanted to go to Panera Bread (love their Cinnamon Crunch bagels) for breakfast before we hit the road. Cathy was suspicious but went along with it. She met us — along with Angela and Karen, a couple of their other Birmingham friends — and by the time she walked into the parking lot, she said later, she had it figured out. But we all had fun anyway. Who wouldn’t with this crew? And the sign? It had hung at Rick and Bubba’s former restaurant, where Cathy’s son had worked. He rescued the sign when it was thrown out after the restaurant closed and kept it at his mom’s house. Bonnie thought it would be fun to take the sign to the studio and give it back to Rick and Bubba, but she was frantic when she found out Cathy’s son had taken the sign to Auburn for a recent ESPN Game Day, although it didn’t get on camera. So she had to devise some complicated maneuvering to secretly get the sign back so Cathy wouldn’t know — and, of course, she succeeded, because if Bonnie puts her mind to something, she’s going to do it. I’m so glad we’re friends! Actually, she and Jana are long-time friends since they practically grew up together. But Jana is so generous that she even shares her friends, so we northwest Alabama friends of Jana luckily get to be friends with her Birmingham bunch, too.

It was so much fun to sit in on the Rick and Bubba show. Even if you disagree with their politics, you have to admit that they are master entertainers and so good at what they do. I also admire Rick’s strong faith in light of the accidental death of his young son. They were hospitable hosts, and it was fascinating to watch the behind-the-scenes proceedings of a radio broadcast. Visit their Web site, http://www.rickandbubba.com/, to learn more about their show. I think they were tickled about getting their sign back, although they assured us that we really didn’t have to go to all that trouble!

Fire and Ice

Posted on by
4

Fire and Ice is a new restaurant in Birmingham, Ala., and some friends and I checked it out a couple nights ago. It’s in Five Points in the building where a Gap was several years ago — and it sure doesn’t look like the place where we used to buy blue jeans. Fire and Ice is a sort of do-it-yourself stir fry/grill restaurant. You don’t cook it yourself, but you create your own bowl of ingredients from a well-stocked buffet and then take it to a huge round grill where cooks sizzle your creation to perfection. That’s the “Fire” part. The “Ice” part is the bar, which is decorated in cool shades of blue to contrast with the red decor of the food part. Here’s how it works: When the waitress seats you, you get a complimentary bowl of chips and salsa and you order drinks while she explains the process and even takes you on a tour. The buffet has a salad bar with the usual items and then a section with ingredients for your entree, although you can mix and match. The entree bar has a wider variety of vegetables such as bok choy and sweet potatoes — some cooked and some not cooked — along with uncooked meats such as scallops, salmon, shrimp, BBQ chicken and tenderloin plus tofu. You can do your salad first and then go back for your entree, which you build in a bowl as high as you wish. Of course, we five experienced moms sort of cringed at the thought of adding raw meat to a pile of vegetables and letting it set for a few minutes, but our waitress assured us it would be OK, and of course it was. The really fun part, though, is figuring our your sauce. There are about 1o or 12 to choose from, with flavors such as Cajun, Asian and Southwestern. I really liked the Roasted Garlic with Honey and then a pineapple-ginger one. You can stick with one or mix some together. So you put your sauce in little cups and take your bowl of ingredients plus your sauce over to the grill, where the cooks deftly arrange your ingredients in a line, do their magic, add your sauce and in a few minutes you’ve got a hot and yummy personalized stir fry. You can take your drinks to the grill while you watch and go back as often as you like. It was lots of fun, but it can be a little intimidating if you feel pressured by the thought that a good meal is up to your own skill at combining ingredients. After all, relying on somebody else’s expertise is one of the reasons we go out to eat. But there are no bad choices, and the sauce redeems all. If you’re uneasy at first, start out small with only a few ingredients — although if it’s crowded and there’s a line at the grill, this approach might slow down your evening. And if you don’t want a stir fry at all, do a hamburger or veggie burger at the grill and get a big basket of fries to go with. Yum! The salad/entree bar is $15.95 for dinner and $9.9 for lunch. There are also appetizers and a dessert, including a fondue for more do-it-yourself eating, but these are extra. As long as you’ve got folks along who are willing to try something new, this is a great place. It’s also good for families like mine, where everybody likes different things. According to the Web site, http://www.fire-ice.com/, Fire and Ice is a chain that started in 1997 in Cambridge, Mass., and now is all over the world. It’s fun and different, so try it.

Your Table Awaits

Posted on by
Reply

This sign is on U.S. 72 west in Cherokee, Ala. I love the table and chairs -- what a great idea for a kitchen wallhanging!