Maybe it’s because the university is so close, or the Space and Rocket Center, but I’ve never seen such a string of ethnic restaurants as I encountered packed in a four hundred yard strip of Jordan Lane in Huntsville. Viet Cuisine was the one I chose, but I was torn because there was a Korean joint, an Indian place, and two taquerias right there as well. Huntsville isn’t a small town. They have a Whole Foods and a Chuy’s, and I did not realize that it is located in the Appalachian foothills until I left Natchez to go visit the Saturn 5 at the Space and Rocket Center. I hate not being able to check out the other places in that strip, but I was only there for one day so, Viet Cuisine. I at least walked a bit out of my lane and ordered the wonton soup and the seafood clay pot. Both very good moves.
The cilantro and green onion with the pork broth and minced pork stuffed wontons was wonderful, and I am immediately upon my return going to search for the best wonton soup in BR. Always good to gain a new focus in life. The seafood clay pot was very satisfying and although I ate it straight up, there were a number of condiments on the table I could have used to dress it up a bit if I so desired. The staff was quick and friendly. I either had two servers or a server and host/manager. Hard to tell, but they were both very polite and considerate. The store looked like it might have been a repurposed Burger King or some other chain, but they owned it with the decor.
The real beauty of driving two-lane asphalt highways across Mississippi hill country to reach the Interstate that takes you into the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama is that hills mean ravines, and changes in elevation produce magnificent vistas as you pass through the many national forests on this route. Even headed to study the fruits of one of this country’s most astounding technological achievements (the Saturn 5 rocket), I could not dismiss that niggling ambivalence regarding the European discovery of this beautiful continent. As invasive as kudzu and carp, European culture and religion and avarice and disease remade this land. One has to wonder who we could have been if the genocide brought about by disease had not preceded European immigration. What if the cultures and beliefs and practices that were already here had merged with the new ideas instead of those communities having already been decimated by smallpox and syphilis to name two enemies of the people. Some would argue that it’s pointless to speculate. It is what it is. But without dreams and imagination, would there be a Space and Rocket Center to visit? We re-examine. We re-imagine. And we move on. Another delightful aspect of the drive was the number of mimosas I could see from the highways. Invasive, yes. Also lovely.