stay in the shallow end

Welcome to a half and half episode of Last Week in Food. I start in Charlottesville, and finish in Alabama. Enjoy!

• Sunday: Dinner at St. Maarten’s: Michael briefly mentioned the appetizer-o-rama that we had at St. Maarten’s. The Jalapeno Bottlecaps were incredibly delicious, and despite what Michael says, the Tabasco only makes them better. We also got some Cheese Fries and Nachos, which were both very tasty. St. Maarten’s really knows bar food.

• Monday: Lunch at Tip Top: This was our second visit to Tip Top. Their pasta dishes are good, because they are simple, and the ziti this time around reflected that. I ordered the Chicken Shwarma with Onion Rings. The Onion Rings were delicious, but the Chicken Shwarma was average. I really don’t feel compelled to go back, but I’m sure it’ll happen eventually.

• Tuesday: Dinner at Wild Wings: I’d been to Wild Wings in Charleston, SC many times and always enjoyed it. My experiences at the Charlottesville Wild Wings have always been poor based on the horrendous service. My friends were already there and ordered for me this time around, so that wasn’t an issue. Also, who can argue with $3 pitchers of PBR. That was an excellent surprise. Their wings, however, are just too small. They’re also never hot (temperature wise), which is annoying. $3 PBR makes up for all shortcomings though.

• Wednesday: Lunch at Padow’s: When I was commuting to Richmond two summers ago, I ate at Padow’s down there about once a week. This was my first visit to the Charlottesville location. I ordered my deli standard, which is a reuben. My only complaint is that the bread was pretty soggy. Other than that, it was absolutely delicious. Combine that with some kettle chips and a Doc Brown’s cream soda, and I may have found my favorite deli in Charlottesville. That’s a good thing, since I really don’t like any of them.

• Friday: Lunch at Tony’s Little Italy: Welcome to Huntsville, AL. Tony’s Little Italy is a new italian place between Huntsville and Madison. One of my friends has been raving about it for months now, and I finally made it out with my dad and my brother. The pizza was absolutely incredible. The crust was thin and crispy and was so not greasy. I loved every bite and ate way too much. Another plus was the huge knots of garlic bread that they gave us for free while we were waiting for the pizza. I think it’ll be a regular visit whenever I go home.

• Friday: Dinner at Lakeview Oyster House: I drove down to Birmingham to hang out with friends and begin the real dining adventure. I wanted some slightly lighter fare to get things started, so the oyster house seemed perfect. I ordered a Lobster Caesar Salad and we got a couple dozen oysters. I couldn’t tell the difference between the types of oysters except that one of them was bigger. The salad was a typical Caesar salad. I expected chunks of grilled lobster, but I got big fried balls of batter that supposedly had lobster in them. Definitely not worth the upcharge.

• Saturday: Lunch at T-Bonez: T-Bonez is required eating when I go back to Birmingham. It’s a cheesesteak joint that has a unique method of mixing the chopped steak and cheese on the grill to make this delicious meaty/cheesy mix and just scooping that into a really chewy sub roll. It’s awesome, and they had a new Mexicali cheesesteak made with cheddar and salsa. I highly recommend it.

• Saturday: Dinner, Sol y Luna: Sol y Luna is a first time visit for me. It’s a new tapas restaurant in Birmingham that’s pretty fancy. They also have a large selection of tequila and a tequila sampler which combined with a few of their margaritas pretty much destroyed me. We ordered six appetizers between the five of us, and while I can’t remember a single one, they were all delicious, and the final tab wasn’t too bad for all we ate and drank. Highly recommended.

• Saturday: Late night snack at the Purple Onion: The Purple Onion is a 24 hour Mediterranean grease pit which was one of my staples in college. As always, it tastes best after midnight, so we went around 1:30 AM. I ordered the Gyro Platter which consists of gyro meat (not Kronos), tzatziki sauce, salad with a greek dressing, and some wild rice, which is supposedly just Uncle Ben’s. One of the best parts is their fresh brewed mint iced tea. The meal hit the spot as usual, and I was so stuffed that it was very difficule to orient myself in bed where I could actually fall asleep.

• Sunday: Brunch at V. Richards: I know nothing about this place. I ordered some french toast, bacon, and cheese grits. They were all above average. I’d never had french toast on wheat bread before, which was interesting.

Next week we’ve got one more meal in Huntsville, and then we head down to Charleston, SC for the rest of the week. I’m excited about Charleston, as it’s so full of good eating. I’m also excited to finally be all caught up. I’m excited easily.