This weekend, I went to Birmingham to judge a We The People /Frontiers civil rights competition. Sounds thrilling, right? It was, actually. I judged teams of middle-schoolers (can’t we just have junior high back? Pet peeve of mine. Anyhoo…) mostly, and a high-school team, on their thoughts on judicial review, due process, and equal protection. I would have felt a lot better about my abilities to judge others about the 14th Amendment had I been able to remember the difference between the two, but let’s not dwell on specificities. There’s food to talk about!
Needless to say, I completely destroyed my diet while I was down there. Friday night we ate at the Tutwiler Hotel . The food was pretty darn tasty. I had tortellini with fried asparagus and mushrooms. It was a bit salty for my liking – tasted as if the chef added salt to the dish, which was unnecessary considering the inherent saltiness of asparagus. Didn’t stop me from eating my whole meal, though. And dessert was even better. It was a chocolate torte served with fresh basil and balsamic vinaigrette. I highly recommend chocolate combined with balsamic vinaigrette.
Saturday’s lunch was courtesy of Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs . As I am not a fan of the hot dog (anyone else remember Jake Johannsen’s routine on white balls in hot dogs?), I opted for the cheeseburger. Well, let’s be honest. I opted for two of them. Folks, these were the best damn scary-diner cheeseburgers I have ever eaten. I had mine with mustard, pickles, and “sauce”. I have no idea what was in the sauce, and I can’t even fathom a guess, because it’s entirely possible that I swallowed these burgers whole. They were slap-your-Mama good. Seriously. I was completely stuffed, yet an hour later, I craved another one. I’m craving one as I write this right now. I don’t often recommend products, but if you get the chance, get your sweet self down to Pete’s and eat. And say hi to Gus for me too.
Saturday night we went to Dreamland . Dreamland is a barbeque institution in Alabama, and from what I hear, is really good stuff. This was not necessarily the best place for me to eat, as I don’t eat ribs or pulled pork. But my fellow diners nearly drown themselves in plates upon plates of ribs, and judging from the satisfied sighs and sauce-related wardrobe malfunctions I heard and saw, it was worth every bite. I had a grilled cheese. ‘Cos I’m a rebel.
Afterwards, we went to Dave’s Pub , which is a beerhaus in Five Points. Good atmosphere, decent music (except for the GnR Patience – really, morose drunken man?), and a fairly exhaustive selection of beers. This is because Alabama recently raised the alcohol limit on beer from 5% to 13%. Go, Alabama! Now can we actually serve the beer in the same establishment where it was brewed? No? Alrighty then, no microbreweries for us.
Sunday we went to the Original Pancake House , also in Five Points. We waited just slightly under forever to be seated, but that was to be expected considering that early service church had already ended and we were a party of nine. This left time for an awkward exchange of text messages between me and one of my exes, so there’s always a highlight. I had the egg sandwich, which was incredibly tasty and cheddar-y. Everyone else’s food looking amazing as well, and I seriously considered stealing one of Jayme’s pancakes. This would seem only fair since she snagged Kyle’s rye toast, but I wasn’t quick enough to get the pancake before she ate it herself. Next time I shall be speedier.
That pretty much summarizes my weekend in Birmingham. Suffice to say I will be avoiding food like the plague for the next month or so to repair the damage I did eating three meals a day (who does that?), but for the most part, it will be worth every biteful.
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