Dave's Deli - March 24th, 2012

This weekend's report is on Dave's Deli in the Hoover Commons shopping center.  This had previously been a Schlotzsky's but we had never dined there before last night.  We wanted a quick meal and nothing as heavy as all the rich food we'd had the week before in New Orleans.

Gina had the turkey sandwich on jalepeno bun and Jay had the Reuben on whole wheat bun.  We didn't get any chips or side items since we were getting this "to-go" and had plenty at home.  The sandwiches were reminscent of the Schlotzsky's sandwiches we'd had when we lived in Huntsville and had them near our home and work locations.  Gina especially loves a warm sandwich so this was a real treat. 

We'll be back to try their other menu items and see if they are as tasty as our sandwiches were.

New Orleans Cuisine ~ March 16th, 17th, and 18th

We traveled to New Orleans, LA this weekend, and ate at a wonderful variety of restaurants.  Rather than choose just one, Gina wrote up some quick tripadvisor.com reviews for some of the highlights.  Look for SunLovers731's reviews.  On Friday we arrived just after noon, and headed to Jax Square for lunch at Cafe Pontalba.  We saw some sights, and checked in to our hotel at the Omni Royal.  Dinner that evening was at NOLA.  This was nice as it was less than a block from our hotel.  Saturday morning took us to Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee (part of our package with the hotel).  After walking around the French quarter, we settled in for lunch at Napoleon House.  There was a buzz in the air because this was St. Patrick's Day and a parade was coming.  We decided to take solace back in our hotel until dinner that night at Mr. B's Bistro.  If you do go to New Orleans, make reservations and eat here!  After dinner we skipped Bourbon St. and enjoyed a quiet evening back at the hotel.  Sunday Morning took us to a Jazz Brunch at Muriel's Jackson Square.  A highlight was the Jazz trio playing right next to our table.  Dinner that night was probably our least favorite of the weekend at Crescent City Brewhouse.  The food there was fine, but the kitchen seemed to lose our order, and it took over an hour to be served a burger!  Monday was the drive home, and just a quick bite at the Chick-fil-A drive thru!  It was a great trip, with great food, and certainly great fun.  Highlights were Mr. B's, Muriel's, and NOLA.  We may just have to take another trip to try all new great places to eat!

Nahm Thai - Alpharetta, Georgia - March 10th, 2012

This week our new restaurant is Nahm Thai in Alpharetta, Georgia.  We were in Alpharetta to see a dear friend of ours who happened to be in town.   Knowing that we all enjoy Thai, Open Table guided us to Nahm Thai.  We got a 7:30 reservation and hoped for the best.  And we got it. 

Nahm Thai is in a strip mall but the food is great and the atmosphere is white table cloth elegance.  We started with an appetizer sampler which consisted of chicken satay, basil rolls, chicken dumplings, and shrimp rolls.  Tasty.  

The entrees selected were green curry shrimp, red curry shrimp and crispy duck.  Everything was just spectacular and the evening was topped off with Chef Nahm coming to our table to make sure everything was as expected.  She recommended the coconut cake but we were all stuffed.  We saw it and it did look divine.

If you are in the Windward Parkway area of Alpharetta, do yourself a favor and use Open Table to get a reservation at Nahm Thai and try it out.

The Purple Onion - March 4th, 2012

This week's new restaurant is one that we pass by many times but have never dined at - until yesterday!  The Purple Onion is a local to Birmingham, Mediterranean/Greek restaurant  that has several locations around town.  We went through the drive-thru at the location on Hwy 31/Montgomery Hwy in Hoover (near Ellis Piano.)

We searched for an online menu before we went so we wouldn't be at the drive through window too long and make others behind us angry.  Jay decided on the Gyro Plate (Lamb with Tzatziki sauce) and Gina selected the Kabob Plate (Chicken with Hummus).  The plates come with salad, rice and pita bread for dipping into the hummus or tzatziki sauce.

We had to wait a little while for our food to be ready and were asked to pull ahead and let others through the drive-thru so as not to stop their flow of traffic.  We only waited about 5-7 minutes for our food and were on our way back home anxious to try it.   The food smelled fabulous in the car and tasted even better once we got home to eat it.

There was a lot of food on each plate and neither of us could finish everything.  Jay said that the lamb was served in thinly sliced strips which were well seasoned and cooked to perfection.  Gina enjoyed the way the chicken kabob was prepared and particularly enjoyed the hummus dip.

Overall, we were definitely impressed with the quality of the food and fast service of The Purple Onion.  When we are in the mood for this kind of food, we'll definitely stop back by for take-out. 

Slice - February 25th, 2012

This week takes us to Slice - a wonderful pizza restaurant in the Lakeview area of Birmingham.  Slice takes pride in using local ingredients for their food and also serves up local beer on draft.   This restaurant is close to Gina's office but she'd never been there but had heard good things about it and noticed it seemed busy.

We were a little early for dinner but there were plenty of other pre-concert (Jimmy Buffett at the BJCC!) diners at Slice.  We opted for the Perfect Pepperoni pizza with Good People IPA (draft) for Jay and Shiner Bock for Gina.  They had an extensive beer menu with lots of choices at very reasonable prices.  There were some good appetizer and salad options but we thought pizza and beer was the perfect pre-concert meal.

The pizza did not disappoint.  It was straight out of the stone oven and cooked to perfection.  The sauce was a slightly sweet red sauce with plenty of pepperoni and cheese.  The 12 inch pizza was perfect to share.  They have a lot of other pizza options that we'd like to try such as the Old School, BBQ, and Super Cheese.  We'll definitely make it back to Slice when our plans take us to the downtown area again.  Gina is also planning to try Slice at lunch as their website recommends the slice of the day with salad.

Famous Fred - February 18th, 2012

This week we ordered take out from Famous Fred's here in Hoover off Hwy 31 in the Books a Million shopping center just behind Chick Fil A.  We got chicken tender baskets to go.  The chicken tenders are made fresh for you after you order.  Apparently there are some Greek food items like gyros and baklava but we ordered ahead without the benefit of a menu on the recommendation that we'd like the chicken tenders.  And we did!

The chicken tender basket has a HUGE portion of chicken tenders.  They are larger than nuggets and shorter than fingers.  The basket comes with fries, a biscuit and their sauce which seems like a mayo/ketchup mix and is a little zesty.  Gina could not finish the fries or the chicken which made Zuma (our Abyssinian cat!) very happy as she has a thing for chicken tenders.

We'll add this to the rotation when we are looking for good takeout chicken.  Not sure that they'll top Zaxby's as our favorite, but they are a close second.

GianMarco's - February 11th, 2012

This week we headed out to a nice dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day a few days early.  We picked GianMarco's in Homewood due to the rave reviews it gets from absolutely everyone.  Jay made reservations about a month ago so that we would be ensured of having a reservation before the Alabama Symphony Orchestra with Windborne and the music of the Eagles concert.

We arrived at 6 and were seated at a nice 4 top table with a great view of the rest of the restaurant.  GianMarco's is a fairly small, elegant, white-tablecloth, Italian restaurant in Homewood.  It definitely lived up to the hype. We started out with a bottle of Barbera which is our favorite varietal of Italian wine.  The menu was quite extensive and we'd peeked at it ahead of time and had a pretty good idea of what we were going to order even before arriving for the meal.  However, all of that went out the window when we heard the specials of the evening.  Just hearing about the specials was mouth-watering.  Gina decided on the Linguine Fradiavlo with seafood (lobster, shrimp, mussels, calamari) and Jay went with the Veal Osso Bucco.  We started with pan fried calamari and Jay had the tomato and fresh mozzarella salad.    Our entrees were heavenly!

We somehow managed to save a little room for dessert.  Jay had New York style cheesecake and Gina had chocolate bread pudding with chocolate gelato.  Jay had a tawny port with his dessert while Gina enjoyed a cappuccino.  All in all this was a fantastic meal with wonderful service.  This is a little fancier (and pricier) than we usually choose but for a special occasion, it was perfect.