Edelweiss

In downtown Tuscaloosa, there is a cute little German bakery. And, I still find tons of Tuscaloosa residents who don't know about it. Edelweiss has been open for several years in their location in Temerson Square. And, recently I have been stopping in more and more for coffee and snacks. They will soon show up in the blog post about wifi around town that I hope to post soon.

Recently, I joined friends for lunch on a Friday. We all had the special of the day, pork chop schnitzel. Each day they have a special and then they also have soup, sandwich, and bratwurst options too. The pork chop schnitzel was really delicious. We each received two pork chops and a German potato salad with a rye bread. It was plenty to bring home for a second meal. In case you haven't had schnitzel before, it is pretty much a fried pork chop. The potato salad was very different. It looked like it should be served hot, like a potato casserole. But, it was more like room temperature and not a mayonnaise based potato salad like we are all so familiar with having. Sorry, I don't really have any great ways of explaining the taste. Here is a picture of all the yumminess.

My friend had recently had one of the other daily specials and thought that it was better. So, I am anxious to get back in and try some more things! I know I love the pretzel rolls they have. And, they have been doing pretzel rolls since before pretzel rolls were popular (see Wendy's, Ruby Tuesdays, and Sonic).

I also love a lot of the pastries, muffins, and breakfast goodies. The crumb cake has always been a favorite.  And, I had a ham and cheese croissant for breakfast a few months ago that was great. I should have taken a picture. Here is a picture of my latte and white chocolate raspberry scone from a recent breakfast/work visit.

 And, earlier in the summer I had a latte with an amazing cherry and cream cheese Danish. Yum!

So, if you haven't visited Edleweiss I would suggest you do. They are only open during the day, so no dinner dates here. But, they have a front patio area, so as the weather gets cooler, it will be a great spot for coffee, a sweet treat, or a unique lunch. it is so very cool that we have a little touch of Germany right here in Tuscaloosa. 

Chuck's Fish

Chuck's is probably one of the most popular restaurants in Tuscaloosa.  It usually doesn't matter if its a weeknight, weekend, summer break, or football season, the crowd is happening at Chuck's. This is a sister restaurant to Harbor Docks in Destin and the also popular Five in Downtown Tuscaloosa. Chuck's focuses on seafood and had a wonderful sushi menu. Actually, sushi is almost always what I get when I go. Last year I did a post on the YPT sushi making class at Chuck's, but I haven done a post on the restaurant itself.

The location is perfect. The building is a multi level open feel downtown on Greensboro. It does get a little loud because it is so open, but last night didn't seem as bad. It's a great place for a date night, group dinner, or girls night, which is what Mollie and I had last night. Mollie was visiting from Memphis and was dying to have Chuck's sushi and says no where in Memphis has sushi this good. 

We started with the tuna dip. I forgot to take a picture but there is a good portion of dip served with toast pieces. Sometimes tuna dip can be too smoky for me, but this had a great flavor and like I said, the portion was good for the price. 

I ordered the Amazon roll and the Dharma roll. The Amazon was a tuna roll with avocado and crab salad on top. It is very similar to the Backdown Roll that I had gotten before only with tuna inside instead of on top. Both are delicious. These are filling rolls. The crab salad takes the roll to the next level. 

The Dharma roll has crab, shrimp, and conch. It is a simpler roll, the one in the picture without everything on top, but the favors are good. This roll is fully cooked so it can be a safe bet for the person who isn't a big sushi person. 

Mollie ordered the Backdown Roll and a special roll that isn't on the menu, the Screaming O. I already gave a little explanation of the Backdown, but it's got shrimp inside with tuna and crab salad on top. And, it's so tasty! I think it's my favorite on the menu. 

The Screaming O is a baked roll. I can't remember what is in the roll but it has smoked salmon on top with a really tasty sauce on it. 

The sushi at Chuck's is my favorite in town. On Tuesday nights they do $2 off sushi rolls for everyone and half price drinks for ladies. Things may get backed up and it may take a while to get your food, but that's a great deal! The prices at Chuck's aren't cheap but the atmosphere and food are worth it. 

Mr. Chen's

Mr. Chen's is the newest Chinese restaurant in Tuscaloosa. The location is convenient but isn't much for ambiance. Mr. Chen's is in the Oz Music shopping center off 15th Street. Not only is this a restaurant, but there is an Asian market too. You actually walk through the market to get to the dining area.  For months, I had heard people mention (or post on Facebook) about this new restaurant, and I had been wanting to try it. We just got around to it a couple of weekends ago.

Wes, Abigail and I went for Sunday lunch and had a great experience. It seems to be well liked by the Asian community in town and that day was representative of that. We felt like that was a strong indicator that the food was going to be good. I will say Wes and I both ordered the lunch special, but it looked like the tables with Asian diners had a more authentic and family style service. So, we might be missing some great dishes by trying the things with which we are more familiar.

We started with the steamed dumplings. I think this was my favorite part of the meal. I am not always a huge fan of dumplings, but these were some of the best I have had. They were very fresh, had a good flavor, and we ate them all.

Steamed dumplings

I mentioned we both ordered the lunch special for our meals. That comes with a main dish, a soup, and either steamed or fried rice. Both of us ordered the egg drop soup. While the soup was fine, I didn't think it was anything to shout about. On my next visit, I tried the hot & sour soup and it was delicious. That is definitely the one I would order in the future.

Egg Drop Soup

 For my meal, I ordered sesame chicken and fried rice. While it was good, I almost immediately regretted my decision of ordering it. It is just one of those Chinese dishes that seems so safe and uninteresting. If you are a sesame chicken fan, this is a perfectly fine option. However, on my next visit, I ordered something different. It is a great amount of food. We easily had left overs to take home. The fried rice was really good. I don't like it as much as the Japanese fried rice you find around town, but had a great quality of rice that make the texture really interesting to me. And, the egg roll was delicious. It was one of the best parts of the meal.

Sesame Chicken, fried rice, and egg roll

Wes had the Mongolian beef. It was yummy! This is his favorite dish and the one he orders just about any time we have Chinese. He liked this version better than our regular Chinese place here in town. I had a bite and as I said before, it was yummy. I'm not sure how to describe the taste. It isn't really spicy or sweet but it has just a touch of both. He did a better job ordering than I did.

Mongolian Beef

If you are a Chinese food fan, Mr. Chen's is a must try. I definitely think there are lots more menu items I want to try. I went with a client for lunch and had the Mongolian Chicken. It was really good, but I still liked the Mongolian Beef better. Mandy had the Kung Pao Chicken and says it is great too. Again, the atmosphere isn't anything to shout about but the food is really good. The Sunday we went the service was quick and the waitress was very nice.

Epiphany and a weeknight out

If you are looking for a nice meal or even a great weeknight deal, look no farther than Epiphany in downtown Tuscaloosa. I consider myself pretty "in the know" about things going on in Tuscaloosa, but somehow I totally missed that Epiphany has half price small plates Monday-Thursday 5-7pm. And, if you aren't familiar with this restaurant, the small plates aren't boring, bland appetizers. Their focus on bringing fresh, local, and upscale food to Tuscaloosa. With the words Farm to Table on the building, you know they desire to provide fresh, local, food. And that's what you find with items on the menu from places like Buhl and Coker.  And, the menu changes often. In fact, the night we went, the bartender mentioned the menu would be changing the next night. I think we have been hesitant to  go to Epiphany because of the price. But, it really wouldn't be that far off some of the other restaurants we go to more often.  And, for a nice night out, I certainly think this would be one of the best options in Tuscaloosa.

For the half price deal, you have to sit at the bar, out front, or at one of the high top bar tables. We don't mind doing that at all. In fact, on this visit, we asked our bartender, Anthony, lots of questions about different menu items and we really enjoyed talking with him. They serve a lot of local Alabama beer and Wes tried one from Huntsville. The have a nice wine list but a limited number of them are served by the glass. It seemed there was at least one of each type of grape, but often times, just that one. All of that is good with me, though.

We started with the bread service. This is a freshly made brown sugar bread served with a homemade pork butter. The slightly sweet bread paired wonderfully with the slightly salty butter.

Bread service with pork butter

We then shared four small plates. We probably could have even done just three, but that would have meant we didn't try one of these dishes, and I have no idea which one was my least favorite. We had shrimp cakes, roasted mushrooms, stuffed squash blossoms, and a polenta dish.

All four of our small plates

The shrimp cakes were similar to the more commonly seen crab cakes. They were topped with a radish salad which didn't have a ton of flavor but gave a nice crunch to the dish. The sauce, apricot and pickled peach purée, had a great flavor with the shrimp cakes. In all, this dish was fresh, not too heavy, and delicious.

shrimp cakes

The roasted wild mushroom dish was probably both Wes and my favorite. It was served with crispy pork, which tasted like yummy bacon in the dish. It also jalapenos that had me a little worried. I am not a fan of things that are too spicy. But, we didn't outright eat the peppers, so the spiciness was not too strong and the dish as a whole had the best flavor, texture, and was just delicious.

roasted wild mushrooms

One of the specials that night was the stuffed squash blossoms. The blossoms were filled with goat cheese and ricotta, lightly breaded and fried. They were served with fried crooked neck squash, mustard greens and topped with a green goddess dressing. YUM! It was all amazing. I love greens and Wes doesn't, so I probably lucked out and got every bite of those.

fried squash blossoms

And, finally, we had the polenta dish served with crispy chicken skin, soft cooked farm egg, cheddar, and wild mushrooms. What can go wrong when you throw some crispy chicken skin in a dish? With the egg, cheese, and polenta, this dish had the taste and feel of an almost breakfast or brunch item. It wasn't too rich but had tons of flavor in every bite.

polenta

As I said before, all the food we had this night was amazing. You certainly have a higher quality food and atmosphere at Epiphany than you would at other restaurants in Tuscaloosa. With the uniqueness of the dishes, I think this is more on par with what you would expect in a bigger city. And, in general, Tuscaloosa just doesn't have too much of that.  And, with the half price small plates during the week, we were able to spend a reasonable amount for a nicer night out and enjoy special food.

On A Roll /Fifth and Main

On A Roll was formerly Fifth and Main in downtown Northport. What a quaint and adorable area downtown Northport is. I went to lunch last week with my friend Rebecca and we got lucky that this June day was cool enough (and not too humid) that we could sit outside. With a few tables out front, you are able to enjoy the small town feel of Main Avenue. This is a great lunch spot with a variety of salads, sandwiches, soups, and combos on the menu.

Sitting outside on Main Ave in Northport

For this meal, I had one of the daily specials. I had the caprese sandwich with chicken.  On the menu, you will find the caprese sandwich without chicken and I would imagine that to be just as good. I love anything with pesto and I'm likely to pick it off the menu. This flavorful sandwich had tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, pesto, and this day, chicken. It is served with chips.

Chicken Caprese Sandwich

 Rebecca had a salad on our visit. I believe it was the Cobb with chicken. You can see it looks great. The dressing was a vinaigrette and it and the salad got approval from Rebecca. 

The next time I visited On A Roll, I had the pimento cheese BLT and it was delicious. It was a part of my sandwich and salad combo. I got the Lewis salad that had avocado,black beans, yellow peppers and onions and a vinaigrette dressing. I'm not sure these two items were meant to be served together but it certainly worked for me. I was with a client and I convinced her to split the rainbow cake with me. This is their signature cake that has a layer of strawberry, key lime, and orange covered in a delicious cream cheese frosting. I really wish I had thought to take a picture. Hmmm, maybe I need to stop in just to get another piece (for the sake of the blog of course).  This cake was amazing. We kept debating which flavor was the best and had a terrible time deciding.

Another Broken Egg

If you are looking for a great breakfast or brunch spot here in town, Another Broken Egg is the place. About a year ago, Another Broken Egg opened their Tuscaloosa location at the new River Walk. Just off Jack Warner Parkway, this location has great views of the river, a patio, and the quality food that you get at all their other locations. Of course this is a pretty casual place since its breakfast and lunch only. But they also have a full bar which means mimosas and bloody marys. And they serve their coffee in these really cool mugs.

Menu with signature coffee mug

I have been several times for lunch and breakfast since they opened, but I always get breakfast food. On this last visit I had the veggie omelet with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and goat cheese. The omelet comes with their potatoes and English muffin. I love the way goat cheese tastes in the omelet.

Veggie omlet

Another one of my usual items is the skinny omelet that also has goat cheese, asparagus, and tomatoes but is made with only egg whites. Both omelets are delicious. And there is a lot to love about the potatoes and English muffin. The English muffin is denser than one you might buy in the store. Oh, and it comes with whipped butter that is light and fluffy. The potatoes have always been fresh with just enough crispiness but aren't overdone. They have a light seasoning on them.

I went with two girlfriends this trip after we visited the farmer's market one Saturday morning. Deidra got the black bean sliders. I didn't try them but they looked really cool so I wanted a picture for the blog. She said they had a little bit of a kick to them. I think it was the "slaw" topping that had some peppers in it.  The black bean burger was between two small pancakes and topped with the slaw.

black bean sliders

It has been great to add a breakfast spot to the mix here in T-town. And, it is even better that the food has been delicious each time I have been. The only complaint, or more of an issue, is the wait that you will often find, especially on a Saturday morning. But, that is a good sign and of course you can't really do much about that.

Manna Grocery & Deli

There is no better place in Tuscaloosa to get food with fresh ingredients, healthy options, vegetarian options, and all natural products than Manna Grocery & Deli.  I often tell people I had lunch at Manna and get the response, "I didn't know they served food". Yes, the deli in the back is open for lunch Mon-Sat and has really delicious food. The grocery part of the store is open all day and offers vitamins, snack foods, cleaning products, frozen foods, and much more.

The deli has daily specials that range from a sandwich, salad, or "burger" to salmon or crab cakes. The Monday crab cake special is delicious and I hear the salmon is really great too. I am not a salmon fan so I haven't tried it. I went for lunch twice in the matter of a couple weeks and I had the special both days. One day it was a turkey burger and one day it was a black bean burger, but some of my favorites on the menu are the portabella mushroom panini, any of the hummus plates, and the veggie and goat cheese pizza. You can see the menu online.
On the first trip, I had the black bean burger with guacamole spread.  This burger had a Mexican flair to it. It was very flavorful. I love anything with guacamole and this was no different. You also get a side and as you can see below, I went with the fruit cup. Your other options are a side salad, chips, or one of the soups of the day.

I had never tried the dessert at Manna, but seeing as I was eating for two this day, I decide to try one of the daily specials. I had the blueberry and goat cheese pound cake. And, wow, it was delicious. It came with homemade whip cream on top and a blueberry sauce. You could tell the goat cheese was there, but not in the way you would in a salad. It was a subtle flavor that just kicked the pound cake up a notch. It was certainly enough to share, but I didn't. I ate the whole thing!!

If you are looking for a great lunch spot, Manna Deli is a perfect place. The healthy, flavorful options will make you feel good about any of your choices.

Pie Lab

Wes and I finally made it to Pie Lab back in December after talking about it for months. Pie Lab is a quick drive down 69 South to the quaint town of Greensboro. It has a really cool ambiance. With just one big open room, with exposed brick walls and tables and benches, the place feels like small town meets cool hip city place.
The concept of this pie shop is pretty cool. On Facebook, they say this:
PieLab is a pie shop meant to gather communities together. It’s founded on the idea that simple things, like delicious pie and good conversation, can bring us together and spread joy.Pie+Conversation = Ideas.Ideas+Design =Positive Change.

The menu is different everyday. They offer a couple of lunch options and several pie options. If you follow them on Facebook you can see the selection for the day. We went on a Saturday when there was a sandwich option and two quiche options and about 5 pies.

Wes went for the pimento cheese  BLT. How can you go wrong with a BLT that ads the yummy goodness of homemade pimento cheese. You can always tell homemade pimento cheese, it is nice and creamy and not thick like the store bought kind. You can see in the picture, it was so good we barely stopped to take a picture. As a side, he had pasta salad. It was really flavorful and fresh.

Pimento cheese BLT

I had one of the daily quiche special. It was a spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese quiche and it was delicious. Of course, they are great at pie crusts, so the crust of the quiche was perfect. I had the side salad instead of the pasta salad and it had homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing. And, in the picture below, you can see the drinks come in mason jars.

quiche and salad

But, of course, the main course isn't why I wanted to go to the Pie Lab. I wanted to try the pies!! We both got a piece of pie. Wes went with banana pudding pie and I had the honey pumpkin pie with whip cream. I watched as they made my whip cream fresh right then. And, it was the absolute perfect topping to the pie. In all honesty, it might have been my favorite part of the entire meal.

banana pudding pie & honey pumpkin pie with whip cream

The concept is great. The food is great. And, I can't wait to go back and try some more. It isn't a bad drive from Tuscaloosa and the place has such character, and cute shops nearby, that it is a must stop for Tuscaloosians.

Little Donkey

Ok, Little Donkey is such a fun name for a Mexican restaurant! It is so unique and stands out from your traditional Mexican names. Which is appropriate, because this isn't like your normal Mexican place.  Little Donkey is located in Birmingham, or Homewood more specifically. Now, I know this isn't in Tuscaloosa, but, Birmingham isn't that far away and we Tuscaloosians often find ourselves in Bham needing somewhere to eat.

Outside shot (I forgot to take a picture so I borrowed this one from my company) :)

I was in Birmingham for training this week and stayed over night.When planning dinner, I wanted to try somewhere I hadn't already been. I had heard that the food was extremely fresh, unique, and good at Little Donkey, so that was my pick. Wes joined me as well as a couple of our friends.

On their website, Little Donkey claims to be original Mexican food, inspired by Southern roots, with slow-cooked meats, and scratch made everything. You could tell that all of these things were happening on the menu. I have already said it was unique, or as they say, original. The variety of meat was really cool. They offered tacos with steak, chicken, fish, brisket, and pork all with different fresh ingredients. And, you could tell the tortillas weren't store bought.

We started with guacamole. This is one of Wes and my go to items at Mexican restaurants, especially those that seem to be using more fresh ingredients. My hope was that it would be made at the table. But, that didn't happen. It did end up being delicious guacamole. Topped with a little tomato and cheese, and the chunks of avocado brought extra flavor and freshness to it.

guacamole (half eaten)

I chose the enchiladas verdes. The fresh tortillas were filled with chicken and cheese and topped with the green salsa. I thought the cheese was a little thick and not as melted as I would have liked. I guess I was imaging the idea of traditional queso cheese in the enchillada, but this was more of a slice of cheese with the chicken. But, the flavor was great.

Enchiladas verde

This dish was served with two sides. The sides are unique too. You can choose from mexican rice, black beans, pinto beans, street style corn, fresh fruit, or la concoction. This last item was rice, with black beans, some sauce, and a poached egg on top. I tried the black beans and corn with mine. The corn had a seasoning on it that was really interesting. I am not sure what it was, but it wasn't spicy, it had a little kick of sweet to it, and the flavor of the corn, which was roasted on the cob, was yummy. The black beans seemed just normal to me; not bad, but nothing special either.

black beans and street corn

 

Wes got the tacos and tried a steak and a fish. His favorite of the two was the fish. I didn't try either of these but there wasn't a bite of either left! And, he had the la concoction as his side. It was really cool looking and definitely had neat flavor and texture. I did try this and it was tasty.

Fish and steak taco and la concoction

All in all, Little Donkey has a really cool atmosphere and vibe. The fresh ingredients and unique ideas make this a really awesome spot. I hear that we may be getting a Little Donkey in Tuscaloosa, which is really exciting. I think local places like this are exactly what we need in town.

Glory Bound Gyro Co

I was totally excited to hear about this new restaurant opening in Tuscaloosa. Glory Bound Gyro Co. is owned by the same people as Mugshots, a now very popular restaurant in downtown, so I had high hopes for the quality of food. And, they serve one of my favorite types of food, Greek. I like to give a new place a couple weeks to work out all their kinks. But, from what I hear, others have been having a great experience since it opened. Glory Bound is located on the corner of Greensboro and University in downtown T-town. This spot is one of the coolest in town, but, if you have been around for a while, you know that things have had a hard time making it here. After one meal, I certainly hope that this one is different. The feel is funky and casual.

Cool guitar art everywhere.

Anyone who knows me, know that I am a hummus freak! I seek it out, order it just about any time I see it on a menu, and always have some in the fridge at home. So, when I say to you that this was literally some of the absolute best hummus I have ever had, you should know it is a big deal.  They offer quite a variety of flavors and you can order them individually or as a trio. I went for the trio so I could taste a few. After the recommendations from the waitress, I decided on the original, roasted red pepper, and the garlic basil. All of them were phenomenal. The original was a little salty but that doesn't bother me. You could tell the roasted red pepper was made with fresh ingredients and just plain fresh. And, the garlic basil was my favorite. It will be hard for me to visit again and not get all the hummus I can eat!!
Oh, and everyone at the table agreed with me. Great hummus and the pita bread is just as great.

Hummus trio

I was almost stuffed after this, but of course I was trying one of the gyros. On Tuesday, they have a special where all the gyros are $5 and the steak and shrimp gyros are $6. What a deal!! They come with cottage fries, which are homeade potato wedges, and are amazing too. I went with the surf and turf gyro. This came with steak and shrimp with mushrooms, peppers, and onions and their come back sauce. This sauce is similar to the shrimp sauce at a Japanese restaurant. So, if that means anything to you it should mean deliciousness.  This was way too much food, but I couldn't stop eating. It was amazing!

Surf and Turf gyro

This was book club night, so I had 5 other girls with me eating. Glory Bound and its food was well received by all! I can't wait to go back and try some of the other meals. Apparently their signature sandwich is the Pepperjack which is a traditional gyro with pepperjack cheese, bacon, and come back sauce. What! I think I will need to split that one.

Birmingham food

Saturday Dinner

Ok, so for the final round of birthday fun, we spent Saturday night in Birmingham and did dinner Saturday night and brunch Sunday morning. Birmingham has really become somewhat of a food destination. I have been hearing all kinds of great things about lots of different restaurants downtown. We were excited to have a night out and then follow up with something yummy on Sunday too.

I had gotten a gift card to Ocean and we had saved it for out birthday celebration week! I had heard great things about their food and it was all true. Everything we had was fresh, unique, and delicious. Everyone gets bread with olive oil and a cucumber, tomato, red onion, feta, and olive oil salsa type spread. I must say the fresh tomato topper was one of the best parts of the meal. Even Wes, who isn't a big fan of anything like that, really enjoyed it. I tried to take a picture but I just couldn't capture the real essence and deliciousness with a picture.

Our first item ordered was the calamari appetizer. This is always one of Wes's favorite starters, so when I see it on the menu I usually want us to try it. This was perfectly breaded and tender! One of the worst things is getting really chewy calamari. Of course, this one was perfect. And the sauce!! It was described as a remoulade. You know I have a hard time waiting to eat until I have taken the picture. As you can see, this one was no different.

Calamari appetizer

I followed this up with the Ocean salad. This was the best part of my meal! Imagine a Greek Salad topped with fried feta cheese. Yes, fried feta cheese. In the picture below, the piece of cheese look like croutons, but no, it's cheese.

Ocean salad- with fried feta

For my entree, I ordered pan seared scallops. Not only do they offer several special meals, they also offer a list of meats cooked in a variety of ways (pan seared, greek, fried, etc). All of these came with sage mashed potatoes and root vegetables. I chose the scallops with mashed potatoes and vegetables instead of doing the special meal with risotto. I know I would have like the risotto better than the sides that I had with mine. But, the scallops were perfect.

scallops, mashed potatoes, and vegetables

Wes went with the grouper. His sides were white cheddar cheese grits and a crawfish cake. Everything on his plate was delicious. It all has lots of flavor and as I mentioned before, you could tell it was all fresh.

Grouper with cheese grits and crawfish cake

I find that no real dinner is complete without a dessert. And I especially feel this way at restaurants like this with specialty desserts that I can't find just anywhere. So, I politely asked the waitress to hold off on bringing us the dessert menu until I was a little less about to pop. And, we were so glad that we did. The strawberry shortcake was spectacular, mainly because of the tempura battered pound cake. Neither of us were sure about the basil whip cream. It was wonderful consistency, but the flavor just wasn't my favorite. It also came with white balsamic sorbet. I thought the tangy, crisp, and fresh flavor was really interesting. Wes did not.

strawberry shortcake

All in all, this was a great night out at a really delightful restaurant. I told Wes I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. I think a big reason for this is the fact that I didn't order the risotto. Risotto is always my favorite. When I didn't really like the sage in the potatoes, I knew that the risotto would have made all the difference.But what we had still made for a wonderful night out on the town.

Sunday Brunch

Sunday morning, we got up and headed over the mountain to Chez Lulu. Even though we had asked a few people their suggestions for brunch, we just used the handy iphone and asked yelp for some brunch ideas. We narrowed it down to 3 and honestly, I probably picked this one because it seems French-ish. I am currently all about anything French in preparation for our big trip. This quaint restaurant is in Mountain Brook. With cute little tables outside and Christmas lights up inside, it was an adorable spot for brunch.

The bakery next door is also a spot where you can pick up items like croissants, muffins, and pastries and I am sure that all their offerings would be as tasty as the things we had at the restaurant. They start you with a very European breakfast option, bread and olive oil. There was a variety of bread, of course we tried them all, and were quite pleased with this start to our meal.

Bread at breakfast!

For my meal, I decided to go with a crepe. It was a French inspired place, right? With a wide variety to choose from, I decided to go local and chose the Chilton county peach crepe. Light, flavorful, and yummy whip cream on top, made this a great selection.

peach crepe

I also ordered the white cheddar biscuits. This was to share with Wes, but, who can resist trying some cheddar biscuits.  My comparison here would be the asiago cheese bagel at Panera. I love the way the cheese is delicate in the bread and not overpowering. But, you still get such a strong flavor. They also served these with fresh jam which made these biscuits Amazing!!

white cheddar biscuits

Wes has the daily frittata special. I now can't remember what was in it, but the bite I had was delightful. And, I didn't take a picture of his either. Oops.

This is a really cute place for brunch and I can imagine their lunches are just as great. I wish I had stopped in the bakery and picked up a couple of things to go. But, the weekend of food had to stop somewhere.

Depalmas

Since my days as a college student, Depalmas has been one of my favorite spots to eat. So, it just makes sense, that when celebrating a milestone birthday, this would be my dinner choice. And, as always, it didn't disappoint. Here are a few of the things we had this evening, but honestly, I like almost everything on the menu that I have tried, and that is quite a bit!

The atmosphere is really cool. You are surrounded by wine bottles from special occasions with names and dates written on them. Posters, pictures, and art decorate the wall. And, you can see the hustle of the kitchen preparing all the freshly made meals.

To start, we ordered our two favorite appetizers, stuffed mushrooms and the antipasta platter. Half of the mushrooms are stuffed with pesto and half with sausage and cheese. For a few years, we ordered double sausage stuffed mushrooms, but I am glad we added the pesto ones too. Both of these are yummy!! Sometimes I forget to take the picture before we start to eat. Oops!

Stuffed Mushrooms (or half of them)

The antipasta platter is similar to any you will find. It has salami, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, and maybe asiago cheeses, artichoke hearts, olives, grilled zucchini, onions, and the best balsamic vinaigrette dressing in town. I love to mix and match the flavors on this plate!

Antipasta platter

Now, when it come to the main meal, you can't go wrong with any pizza or calzone. Of course there is the option to get a combination they have on the menu or make your own. But, I am a pasta fan. So, when at Depalmas, pasta is my usual main course. The pasta depalma is one of my favorites, and has been for years. It is a baked pasta with a light cream sauce. It has so much flavor and is very unique. I also really enjoy the Mediterranean pasta that is lighter and has feta, banana peppers, tomatoes, and I add chicken, all tossed with tri colored pasta and olive oil. I also have loved most of the specials I have tried like the chicken florentine lasagna, the lobster ravioli, and the gorgonzola filet. This is actually one of the best steaks I have had before. So, again, it is hard to go wrong!

This night, Wes and I both ordered the radiatore with pesto sauce. If you like pesto, this dish is for you! We add the chicken and sun dried tomatoes which really makes a difference.

radiatore with pesto (half of it)

radiatore with pesto and chicken and sun dried tomatoes

Happy Birthday week was a great success. We both enjoyed celebrating with friends at all of our favorite spots in Tuscaloosa.