Author: Ernie Seals

I love having a choice of fresh hot tea somewhere besides a coffee shop. I like hot tea when I eat Asian, and that definitely gives Chow Yum Phat extra consideration at lunch time when I’m in that mood. Today I had the Crispy Fish w/ Coconut Curry Noodles. The fish batter was crunchy, laced with peanuts and enough spice heat to really pop. The smoothness of the coconut curry almost balanced that pop, but not quite. I kept thinking it needed something crisp and cool and green to further offset the heat, but I still can’t think of what that might be. Celery, green onions, and cucumber pop right up, but really don’t fit. Not saying it’s not a good dish, I enjoyed it very much, but my mind started wandering to my alternate plan of trying their wings, maybe paired with the Phat Cow Bao. That’s the plan next time for sure.

Sometimes all you need to feel better about yourself, your day, the whole damn world is a hot sausage poboy with a side of fried okra.

I thought this might be more of a sit down restaurant with sombreros and caricatures and the bright colors all over, but turns out, it is just another excellent BR taqueria. The blackboard walls are a nice touch, but really, in a taqueria, it is all about the food. The lengua taco was very good but what really stood out to me was the salty, earthy salsa that came with hot chips and the outstanding rice and beans that came with the chicken enchiladas. All of this was so good, I could only come close to finishing the enchiladas which thankfully were not smothered in Wisconsin cheeses.

An Instagram post sent me barrelling over to Curbside Burgers on Government to get an Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger they were running as part of their third anniversary series of burger specials. It did not hurt that this might have been the last decent patio day of 2019 with the temp rising to almost 70 at lunch time. Curbside has a really nice outdoor area. Also a plus, an apple pie shake.

The history of the Fried Onion burger or Depression burger begins in Oklahoma in the 1920’s when times were tight and places started making patties that were half ground beef and half thin sliced onions then throwing them on the griddle. Curbside’s was definitely more beef than onion, but it was an excellent homage. To me it shows they take the history of the burger seriously, but are also prepared to have a very good time with it. They also pickle their own cucumbers at Curbside and pull them from the brine before they are truly sour. This was a good score, and I really hope they think about adding the onion burger to the regular menu.

I know Indian cuisine is supposed to be exotic, but it has always seemed like comfort food to me. While it is true that the spice profile is different from what we’re used to in Louisiana, the level of flavor and heat is pretty close to our food. Tandoori chicken isn’t that much different from what comes off our grills, and tikka masala and palak paneer and the many different dals are all slow cooked, deeply flavored dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, and étouffée. Not saying they are exactly the same, but I like naan as much as I like garlic bread, and I can draw a similar comparison with every dish I find on the lunch buffet at India’s. Ya’ll might think I’m crazy for thinking this way, but maybe it isn’t about logic so much as how a meal makes you feel. I’m always full and happy and satisfied after lunch at India’s, and I love being able to make a different plate every time I go there.

Arctic blasts drive me pretty predictably down the gumbo/ramen/pho path so I hit Bao last week. I’ve never tried their soups, though I’ve enjoyed several vermicelli dishes there as well as their banh mi. I was going to go straight pho, but again found myself chasing the delicious won ton soup I had in Huntsville, Alabama. I will probably have to learn to cook it for myself instead of driving all the way to Huntsville to have it again, because so far I’ve been unsuccessful in finding a similar rich, deep pork broth. The Bao soup was good in every other aspect–the wontons were spicy and wonderful, the unexpected slices of rare beef were good as well, but the pork broth was barely deeper than the normal pho broth. There’s no real way of knowing whether the broth is tamed down for the BR market or just traditionally not as intense as the one I encountered in Huntsville, but I’m thinking of taking a smoked ham hock and a quart of Swanson’s beef broth with an onion and some garlic cloves and letting it ride in the slow cooker all day for me to do something with when I get home from work. Until then I’ll continue to beef up all Vietnamese soups with the condiments provided on the table. The servers really hustle at Bao, but their green tea, while an attractive service, is just a tea bag in hot water. The interior has interesting wall art and is not as traditional as most Vietnamese stores. All in all, very good place to hit when the mood strikes.

I got really excited about this salad when I found it on the new Phil’s menu online. The description sounds so close to the incredibly famous shrimp remoulade at Pinetta’s that didn’t make it back on the menu when that store reopened. I even sold myself a little conspiracy theory that maybe the old men were related, or one stole the recipe from the other, but alas, despite a very similar list of ingredients, this salad, while nice, comes nowhere close to the legendary Pinetta’s remoulade. Too bad, but Phil’s has added a number of interesting new menu items so it’s probably worth a cruise by at lunch to check it out. And there’s always free saltines and butter at the bar. Very definition of old school.

I’ve encountered my share of 3 or 4 napkin roast beef poboys, but I’ve rarely had a hamburger turn into such a hot mess in my hands. The way the patty falls apart definitely means real ground beef loosely pressed before hitting the griddle, and the butter grilled onions add to the sloppy joe factor. I liked being able to add bibb lettuce and smoked gouda to the burger, but the spice profile didn’t really work for me. I can easily see how it would work for other people, and I applaud them for being so bold with their seasoning. There are a couple of other really interesting things on the menu I might try someday, but when someone names a menu item after the place (Smith Burger), you have to go there first. Not a huge fan of table service at sandwich joints, especially if there’s no bar or you can’t see the bar, and the interior here is kind of stark. Maybe things are better in the bar, but it was lunch, so I didn’t make it that far back. The butter garlic fries were very good, and of course, Abita Root Beer. Not a bad place at all, just not a go to for me.

You know, I can smother pork chops at home. Bake off cornbread, cook down sweet cabbage, put together mac n cheese. But the reason we spend our time and money on other people’s cooking is because they are very, very good at it. They do it every day. Their lives and lifestyles depend on how well they do their job, and they take it very seriously. At first, this place reminded me a bit of the old Silver Moon, but once the food arrived, that changed because their food is simply better than I remember the Silver Moon’s being. Even more grounded in tradition. Even richer in flavor. The spaghetti style mac n cheese really hit the spot. The cabbage was just as sweet as the sweet tea. Cornbread? perfect. And those chops. There is a thin, thin line when smothering between being just tender enough to eat with a fork, retaining all that wonderful pork flavor and dragging everything down into indistinct, dry stew meat. Dorothy’s gets the most out of this dish. Now leave yourself some time if you are going for lunch. When I went, it was a one man dining room with a whole lot of customers in it. That one guy was very nice and very engaged with everyone and the food was definitely worth the wait.

Zippy’s food isn’t going to blow your mind, but on a pretty day, the patio is a nice place to hang. The staff is super nice and the whole place has that thrown together Flora-Bama feel. In fact, I could see Zippy’s doing pretty well in Orange Beach. They have daiquiris at the bar, the salsa isn’t horrible, and while the food isn’t great, it is super quick and everyone engages when you get to the front of the line. I can see how someone might want to catch a game there, or get together with friends to down a few on the patio when the weather is right. I got the Hombre burrito, which was pretty much a Taco Bell gringo style concoction wrapped in a nice warm tortilla. The regular size was plenty for lunch. I’m not going to go on and on, but I’m not going to say stay away either. It’s the kind of place that has its moments.