Don Pepe's - April 28th, 2012

This week's restaurant is Don Pepe's at Greystone.  It comes recommended to us by a co-worker of Jay's who shares our love for Mexican and Tex-Mex food.  It is located at Lee Branch in the Publix shopping center which is definitely off our beaten path though oddly enough, still in Hoover.

Immediately upon sitting down at our comfy booth, Gina noticed that the menu was identical to that of the Iguana Grill on Lorna Rd that we frequent.  Another look around at the ceiling and we noticed that the same decorations (glittery stars) hang from the ceiling.  This was a good thing for us since we love Iguana.  We didn't ask anyone, but would be willing to bet that they are owned/operated by the same folks. 

We shared chicken fajitas for dinner.  They were great - and identical to what we get at Iguana.  There was a ton of chicken, peppers and onions and we only needed more tortillas.  Even after we each ate our fill, there was plenty of chicken & veggies left for at least a couple of fajitas.  The impressive part is that we didn't share fajitas for two, but fajitas for one....

We highly recommend Don Pepe's (and their cousin across town Iguana!)

Shonos - April 20th, 2012

Upon recommendation of my friend Susan R, we decided to go to Shonos for dinner Friday evening.  For some reason, Gina thought it was going to be sushi but a quick browse of their website indicated it was teppanyaki grill without the show.  That works for us since we prefer to dine privately rather than in a group of strangers.

Jay decided on the Eddie's Special (pictured above from their website) which is beef, chicken, vegetables and your choice of steamed or fried rice along with a salad.  Gina had the teriyaki shrimp bowl which is a small bowl of grilled shrimp and your choice of steamd or fried rice (pictured below from their website.)  The bowl is not huge but it is filling and the right size to fill you up!  For reference, we both had steamed rice.

For those of you in Birmingham, Shonos is located in Riverchase in the Hobby Lobby shopping center right next to Dale's.   We noticed that they do a brisk take out business. We are already planning our return!

Southern Legacy BBQ & Brew - April 13th, 2012

This week's new restaurant is Southern Legacy BBQ and Brew in Hoover off Hwy 150/John Hawkins Pkwy, just west of the Galleria and Patton Creek Shopping Center.  This restaurant has opened within the past year in the former Up the Creek location.  (We had never eaten there either.)

The atmosphere is part sports bar and part restaurant.  The bar looked huge and had a good following.  Jay had a Naked Pig IPA brewed just northeast of here in Gadsden.  Alabama has some great microbrews.

For dinner, Gina had the small pulled pork sandwich (It was plenty big - on a regular sized Sesame Seed sandwich roll/bun) with fries.  Jay got the half rack of short ribs.  The half rack was HUGE and was more than enough for a meal.  To go with the ribs, he selected the spicy mac n cheese and onion rings.  All of our food was great!  The ribs and pork came with their house BBQ red sauce.  On the tables, there were additional bottles of that sauce, along with a vinegar based sauce and a spicy sauce.  Ultimately, we liked the spicy sauce the best.

We are regulars at Jim n Nicks and enjoy Brother Zeke's BBQ via their drive thru but can foresee choosing Southern Legacy next time we are in the mood for great BBQ.

Surin 280 - April 6th, 2012

This week we decided to try Surin 280.  We both love Thai, and they bill the food as Authentic Thai Modern Thai?  Surin 280 is located on the west side of 280 just south of 459 in an old O'Charley's building.  We have tried to eat here before, but their hours are not the most customer friendly (and least for us).  We ordered the Crab Angels and Salmon Skin rolls for appetizers.  The Crab Angels are similar to a Crab Rangoon but they were a little heavy on the cream cheese, and a little light on the crab.  The Salmon Skin rolls were very good.  Gina got the Pad Prik with chicken, and Jay got the Masaman Beef Curry.  The Pad Prik was supposed to be spicy, and it was not.  The Beef Curry had tough pieces of beef, and the curry sauce had more peanut flavor than curry flavor.  The food was just "ok." for us.  We ate it, and wouldn't refuse to go back if everyone else wanted to go, but it is doubtful we will ever seek out going back on our own.  Makes us wish Nahm Thai (see March 10th blog) was local!  There aren't a lot of choices that we have found for Thai food in Birmingham - if you know of a place for us to try - let us know!

Jinsei - March 31st, 2012

This week our new restaurant is Jinsei, a sushi restaurant located in SoHo in Homewood.  We had a gift certificate (via one of those coupon sites like groupon, living social) for $20 of sushi  during  lunch at Jinsei.  We decided to use it this Saturday before running our errands.

There is some sort of construction going on at SoHo but Jinsei was open for business. I was surprised at how small it was walking in and wondered if there was another room I was missing (I don't think there was.)  Even though its a bit small, its very pretty inside.

We ordered 3 rolls to share - the Spring Roll (Salmon), Spicy Tuna and the Jinsei special (yellowtail tuna).  The rolls were all fabulous and we couldn't pick a favorite - they were all *that* good.  There were other rolls on the menu that looked great as well.  Can't wait to get back and try them!

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!