The grapevine passed along some good news today:
Scott’s Koneys has found a home on 3rd Ave South!
In two weeks, they will move to the street level floor of the Liberty National Insurance building. That is just half of a block further, from my work, than their present location. No withdrawal pangs here!
The ‘ham is gaining two new dining spots. Toast Bakery is locally owned and located on the corner of 2nd Avenue South and 24th Street. Which is within walking distance of where I work!
The other is out on 280 and is trying to light a fire under the resurgence of fondue. The Melting Pot is part of a national chain and is slated to open the first week of March out at Lee Branch.
Dolmathes, Souvlakia and Pasticho… oh my! It’s about that time of year, to start standing in line again.
The always popular (and spectacularly crowded) Birmingham Greek Festival is next week Sept. 21-23 at the Holy Trinity - Holy Cross Cathedral on the corner of 19th Street and 4th Avenue South. It’s a beautiful building that will be full of good food, colorful dancing/music and art.
Here’s a link to this year’s menu (it’s a pdf download).
Ralph & Kaccoo’s was one of our favorites eateries in town. The cajun menu and ‘blackened gator’ appetizer were worth battling Hwy. 280 traffic. For whatever reason, the food started to suffer, then the help started to suffer and then they closed sometime around 2000.
Pappas Partners, Inc. who run Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchens, bought the R&K property four years ago. They say they won’t even plan their restaurant until construction at the Hwy. 280/I-459 intersection is done. So I’m hoping my grandkids will get to eat their ‘blackened space gator’ there.
Does anyone know, was Papadeaux’s the big glass restaurant atop Red Mountain, that was destroyed by storms back in the early 90’s?
Only fellow Birminghamsters will care, but Silvertron will re-open sometime in September. Somehow I missed it when they announced this weeks ago. The Birmingham Weekly reports that it’s been bought by John Otey Hutchinson. He’s the same guy who owns Otey’s in Crestline Village. They say the menu won’t change much, which is good, since B gets the shakes without her fix of ‘hot bacon salad dressing’.
Also, the uber-expanding WineStyles chain now has a WineStyles store at Lee Branch in Hoover. The shop sells wine and some cd’s. Their hook is that they organize wine by some taste scale they made (silky, crisp, mellow, etc.) instead of by varietal or geography. On some scale, I think The Grape tries to do this too, it’s never appealed to me. The WineStyles site says they have ‘demystified’ the wine shopping experience.
Whatever.
Like anything else in life, I think if folks would just read up a little on a subject, they’re bound to enjoy it a heck-of-a-lot more than by subscribing to some marketing gimmick.
But hey their prices are low and they have agreements with some vintners that have never shipped to Alabama before, so I say ‘welcome to the neighborhood’!
The City’s latest plan for renewal…
Step 1: Pay $2.1 million for a small city block on 1st Ave. South. Step 2: Kick out the locally owned businesses that have been serving downtown for 30 years. Step 3: Lease that property to corporate developers for $10 a year so they can demolish the buildings and build new condos and offices. Also, leave the option open so the developers can buy the property in a few years and not have to pay to exorbitant lease amount of $10/ year. It just sounds ‘off’, doesn’t it?
I know this kind of stuff happens. And I know it happens in the name of “urban renewal”, but this time it’s personal.
They’re messing with Scott’s Koneys.
This Saturday, Frank Stitt, of Highlands Bar & Grill, Chez Fon Fon and cookbook fame, will be giving the 9 a.m. cooking demonstration at the Pepper Place Saturday Market.
It’s sad, but true. Brittany’s restaurant (home of tasty Texas Toothpicks and launching pad for Homecoming weekends) in Troy has closed it’s doors. B and I both cashed many a paycheck from there while in college, as did many of our friends.
In fact, it was the place that B and I met. I’ll never forget that first day. She walked up to me, in her Brittany’s shorts and green t-shirt, and said “Here are some more dishes. Table three needs cleaning, too.” Ahhhhhh, love at first sight. Isn’t it every busboy’s dream to date the waitress?
