http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/07/andrew_zimmern_dishes_about_bi.html#incart_m-rpt-2
Some of the places he visits are actually my FAVES, like The Fish Market and Niki's West. Some I've been to only once, like Miss Myra's Bar-B-Que (the smell of the pit made me stop because I had to try it), and some are on my list to visit during my 52 weeks, like Hot and Hot Fish Club. Either way, it excites me that someone else might see eating around my neck of the woods as "exotic", and hopefully it inspires you to view places you may have seen your whole life in a whole new light and explore them as a traveler would.
I have lived in the same city, Birmingham, AL, all of my life. Well, unless you count my four years in college at The University of Alabama (Roll Tide, shameless plug) in Tuscaloosa, AL and the one year in New York City.
I remember when I first got to Tuscaloosa, though, I had no idea where to eat. I was tired of Chick-Fil-A, one of the common spots at our campus student center, because I had worked there my last two years of high school. Great place to eat when it's once a week, adds a booty++ when you eat it almost everyday. Since my first roommate was a T-town native, she volunteered to take me to a couple of places, and so began my journey of restaurant exposure. I mean, what college student likes to cook in the shared kitchen in the dorms? And since we could eat at places that surrounded the student campus I was like go for it. I got introduced to Taco Casa, mainly because I hated Taco Bell and my roommate worked there, Gutherie's with it's fried chicken finger boxes and "special sauce" (which I loved!). And, I found Ezell's Catfish because I was hard pressed to find some fried green tomatoes on someone's menu. Both of these places native to Tuscaloosa eventually expanded to Birmingham, and, I've kept the affair up. There were places that you could only find in T-town though and those were the fun ones. The diner just across the street from Bryant-Denny stadium, near my communications building, places in Northport and, the world famous Dreamland Bar-B-Q. I also found me some little hole in the wall 'hood restaurants. Needless to say, I became...an explorer. A food explorer.
My need to feed continued once I moved to New York City. I remember when people would ask me how I liked living there I would just go on and on about the food. On my block in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, I could step out my door and have a pizza slice with Jamaican food, or Puerto Rican beans and rice with Jamaican brown stew chicken, the authentic stuff. Then there were places that were more upscale, of course, near where I interned in Manhattan. Trendy places where all of the people from the magazines would eat, to which, since I was not working a "decent" job at the time, I was only privvy to on someone else dime, and they were often delish too. Once I moved to Harlem, I found some of the best fried fish and chips, and continued enhancing my Caribbean palate with Dominican food and Jamaican patties with Cocoa bread. I even got a taste of Egyptian, African and Thai dishes, which hooked me for life to felafels and Thai noodles. And yes I could get some "soul food" in Harlem, but it wasn't anything near the Southern soul cuisine I was use to, so, when I moved back to my hometown to "gain experience", I don't know why this development, this appreciation from food slipped from me. Until, that is, I made my dream of growing my own vegetable garden a reality.
I remember when I first got to Tuscaloosa, though, I had no idea where to eat. I was tired of Chick-Fil-A, one of the common spots at our campus student center, because I had worked there my last two years of high school. Great place to eat when it's once a week, adds a booty++ when you eat it almost everyday. Since my first roommate was a T-town native, she volunteered to take me to a couple of places, and so began my journey of restaurant exposure. I mean, what college student likes to cook in the shared kitchen in the dorms? And since we could eat at places that surrounded the student campus I was like go for it. I got introduced to Taco Casa, mainly because I hated Taco Bell and my roommate worked there, Gutherie's with it's fried chicken finger boxes and "special sauce" (which I loved!). And, I found Ezell's Catfish because I was hard pressed to find some fried green tomatoes on someone's menu. Both of these places native to Tuscaloosa eventually expanded to Birmingham, and, I've kept the affair up. There were places that you could only find in T-town though and those were the fun ones. The diner just across the street from Bryant-Denny stadium, near my communications building, places in Northport and, the world famous Dreamland Bar-B-Q. I also found me some little hole in the wall 'hood restaurants. Needless to say, I became...an explorer. A food explorer.
My need to feed continued once I moved to New York City. I remember when people would ask me how I liked living there I would just go on and on about the food. On my block in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, I could step out my door and have a pizza slice with Jamaican food, or Puerto Rican beans and rice with Jamaican brown stew chicken, the authentic stuff. Then there were places that were more upscale, of course, near where I interned in Manhattan. Trendy places where all of the people from the magazines would eat, to which, since I was not working a "decent" job at the time, I was only privvy to on someone else dime, and they were often delish too. Once I moved to Harlem, I found some of the best fried fish and chips, and continued enhancing my Caribbean palate with Dominican food and Jamaican patties with Cocoa bread. I even got a taste of Egyptian, African and Thai dishes, which hooked me for life to felafels and Thai noodles. And yes I could get some "soul food" in Harlem, but it wasn't anything near the Southern soul cuisine I was use to, so, when I moved back to my hometown to "gain experience", I don't know why this development, this appreciation from food slipped from me. Until, that is, I made my dream of growing my own vegetable garden a reality.
While it inspired me to start a blog about it (www.cadiebeasgarden.siterubix.com, another shameless plug), it's like food also took on a whole new meaning, a whole new flavor. I mean, yeah, I was pregnant, and perhaps that again enhanced the joy of food, but the freshness of the food from the garden made me long for that freshness when I went out to eat, and so I began cooking more at home than enjoying the pleasurable, often entertaining, engaging atmosphere of restaurants. Or, perhaps, what I did is what many of us do. Take for granted living in a place so long and get adjusted to the places we grew up eating and enjoying that we don't venture out in the same way we might if we had no preconceived notion of what was around our block, or, in our metro area to enjoy. Not finding those places with those fresh flavors because we are caught up in monotony. I don't consider myself a "foodie", but, seeing as how I do spend a lot of my time preparing dishes for my family with food from our garden, I do appreciate some good eating when we go out. And it got me to thinking, about exploring my own city for places that maybe I've heard of, or always wanted to eat, or have been tucked away under my nose and made me curious to explore. So I decided to challenge myself to eat at 52 restaurants in my city that peak my interest in 52 weeks. I'm excited about this because in my stomach I've been working on a list that I imagine to be so delicious. And, with no real expectations, I just hope there are no disappointments.
I'll share a modest list on my next post because I'm certain it will grow on it's own from there. If you care to, please share your thoughts about this, or, whether or not you've ever decided or thought to do something similar in the comments block.
2 Good Eating,
Jasmine
