A Grill-e in Providence [On The Road: Huntsville]

My last meal in Huntsville/Decatur trip was probably one of the best ones. The place Grille 29, located in the Village of Providence, under the command of chef Chris MacDonald, and winners of Taste of Huntsville for 3 years 2007 to 2009, so I had to give it a try, even it’s one of 8 restaurants operated by a big company in Florida. European style décor, dark dimmed light dinning, relax, and soothing. 

Providence

The place

Got the menu and went immediately for the crispy calamari, light fried, some lovely fried peppers, srirachi aioli and spicy marinara dipping sauce, a success, great flavour, the aioli was great nice punch form the srirachi, the marinara nice, perfect light batter, loved the battered peppers, a bed of lettuce, which gave some crunchiness, light and nice. 

Calamari

Close up

For main I went for Filet 29, 6oz centre cut filet mignon wrapped with applewood bacon and topped with Gorgonzola, beautiful, it was perfectly cooked the Gorgonzola gave another dimension, nice touch, as side creamed spinach which was lovely and garlic mashed potatoes the weakest link of the night. 

Filet

Great place, relax, good food, plenty of options on the menu, sadly I found about it on my last day in the area. 

Great filet

29

Filet Mignon reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Movie” when Kramer while waiting for Jerry and starving stared at a sign that reads “100% pure fresh beef, tastier than Filet Mignon” 

Kramer: Could you do me a favour? If you see a guy that's five foot eleven, he's got uh a big head and flared nostrils, tell him his friend's going to be right back, okay?

Grille 29

T: +1 256 489 9470

Steakhouse/Seafood

Approx Damage: $60pp

Huntsville

Alabama

Twitter: Grille29Hsv

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Germans in Alabama since 63 [On The Road: Huntsville]

One of the oldest places to eat in Huntsville believe it or not is a German place. Ol' Heidelberg opened in 1972, family operated, the Schrader family also ran the Bavaria Delicatessen which was opened for service from 63 for 20 years. Décor pretty German, wood tables, checker red and white table clothes, greens and cream colours, staff wearing dirndl, quite authentic. 

Stube

Inside

Got to the place with a colleague, we shared a sausage platter, it came with sauerkraut and some bread, the kraut was nice, the sausages were pretty good, nice flavours, bread didn’t do too much. Then for main couldn't resist the assortment platter, a mini Wiener Schnitzel, a mini chicken cordon blue, and smoke pork loin. The Wiener was nice, a bit bland, Vienna style quite traditional, the cordon blue was great, nice flavours, stuffed with Jarsberg cheese and ham, well executed, finally the loin was quite nice as well. 

Blurry sausages

Platter

Nice German beers, good flavours, relax atmosphere, friendly service, and good comfort food nothing pretentious. 

Germans remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Stranded” 

Guy: You came all the way out from Manhattan for this? 

Jerry: Yeah, yeah I did 

Guy: So what do you do? 

Jerry: I'm a comedian 

Guy: Are you? Let me ask you something. Where do you get your material? 

Jerry: I hear a voice 

Guy: What kind of voice? 

Jerry: A man's voice, but he speaks in German so I have to get a translator 

Guy: How come you keep tapping your head 

Jerry: It's a nervous tic. I'm on L-Dopa

Ol Heidelberg

T: +1 256 922 0556

German Cuisine

Approx Damage: $40pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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Ruth’s not convincing [On The Road: Huntsville]

The options to eat in Huntsville/Decatur are quite limited, at least I struggle a lot to find more than a handful decent places to have dinner. One of my excursions was Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Located in the lobby of the Embassy Suites hotel, Deep rich reds with accents of teal and cooper predominate the dinning room, well that might have been when they opened, now cheesy old red décor, I thought I was in Mars. 

RCS

NOLA decor

Quiet night, as the hostess mentioned, only a couple patrons for dinner probably all but me were staying at the hotel. Ordered food, Louisiana seafood gumbo, quite nice, spicy, heat, full of flavour, that’s what Spanish call an Asopado, nice consistency, thick not watery, broth developed great flavours. 

Gumbo time

As a main I went for the cowboy ribeye, the plate cracking hot, they serve the steak on a sizzling plate at 500 degrees, and they cooked and sear the steaks in a 1800 degree oven, sadly my cowboy ribeye was not cooked properly, looks like they cooked it only from one side as you could see a degradation perfectly medium rare cooked in one side then on the other one completely well done, again seasoning was disproportioned, one side completely bland the other one nice seasoning, huge inconsistencies. 

Ribeye

The juicy side

Nice gumbo buy they didn't deliver with the steak, sporadic service in a huge empty dinning. 

Ruth reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Millennium” 

George: You wanted to see me, sir? 

Steinbrenner: I heard about what happened at the meeting this morning 

George: Oh, yes. I already packed up my desk, sir. I can be out of here in an hour 

Steinbrenner: And I have to tell you, it's exactly what this organisation needed. We want to look to the future, we got to tear down the past. Babe Ruth was nothing more than a fat old man, with little-girl legs. And here's something I just found out recently. He wasn't really a sultan. Ah, what do you make of that? Hey, check this out, Lou Gehrig's pants. Not a bad fit. Hey, you don't think that nerve disease of his was contagious, do you? Uh, I better take them off, I'm too important to this team. Big Stein can't be flopping and twitching

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

T: +1 256 539 3930

Steakhouse

Approx Damage: $80pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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Chinese Chain in Alabama [On The Road: Huntsville]

Most of our options to eat in Huntsville were nearby the hotel, a small mall with a couple restaurants most of them chains, one of the usual suspects was P.F. Chang’s. I'm not a big fan of chains or franchises, but have to say the story is remarkable. Philip Chiang moved with his mother Cecilia Chiang to San Francisco in the 60s. She opened The Mandarin, an upscale widely known place, Philip took place of the Beverly Hills branch, and got caught in the business, as a result he opened the Mandarette, simplifying the concept, smaller, café style, small dishes. One loyal costumer of the Mandarette was restaurateur Paul Fleming, who after moving to Arizona convinced Chiang to help him open a Chinese place there. The combination was the simplified Chinese cuisine Chiang created with American style service, wine list, and desert menu. As a result in 1993 P.F. Chiang opened for business in Scottsdale Shopping Mall now there are more than 200 places worldwide. 

The place

White horse

I went a couple times, the food is decent enough, I still prefer independent more traditional places, that remain truth to their traditional style and cuisine. As started got the crab wontons, they were nice, crispy, nice filling. Steamed dumplings ok. Then the Chang’s spicy chicken, nice sweet and sour. Singapore street noodles, good flavour, traditional take. Ahi tuna wasabi salad, the tuna wasn’t fresh, the flavour was ok. And finally the pepper steak, was nice, good flavour, the sauce a bit thick and gummy, but overall a nice dish. 

Starters

Chicken

Noodles

Ahi tuna

Beef

Food is ok, decent enough, but I’m sure I would enjoy much more the unique and traditional Mandarette rather than the impersonal P.F. Chang even when the menu was created by the same person. 

Chang reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Chinese Woman” 

Donna: Jerry 

Jerry: excuse me? 

Donna: Hi, sorry I'm late 

Jerry: Who're you? 

Donna: I'm Donna Chang 

Jerry: What do you mean? 

Donna: I mean, I'm Donna Chang. 

Jerry: You're Donna Chang? 

Donna: Did you think I was Chinese? 

Jerry: Oh, no! Oh, you mean because of the Chang? 

Donna: Actually, the family name wasn't originally Chang 

Jerry: I didn't think so 

Donna: It used to be Changstein

P.F. Chang

T: +1 256 327 8320

Chinese Cuisine
Approx Damage: $40pp

Huntsville

Alabama

Twitter: PFChangs

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A Mexican in Alabama [On The Road: Huntsville]

Huntsville wasn't an easy place to find good options to eat, so during my search I came across with a Mexican restaurant named Phil Sandoval’s. Colourful and friendly, I loved the décor, full of Mexican hats, friendly Spanish speaking staff, and a menu full of Mexican and Tex-Mex classics. 

We speak Spanish

Phil's

Fancy a Mariachi's hat?

We started with Queso Blanco, great flavour, the cheese completely melted, pretty nice. Add some Guacamole, nice to start. Then I got a combo, the Mexico City, a beef enchilada, a cheese enchilada, chicken tamale, and finally a chile relleno stuffed with beef, raisins, almonds, and top with Chihuahua cheese. The enchiladas were nice, the tamale had a pretty nice flavour, and the chile relleno a great spicy kick and nice flavour. 

Cheese

Guacamole

Combo time

Sandoval is home made food style, making you feel great. 

Mexican jukebox

Damas y Caballeros

Mexican food reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Cafe” 

Jerry: So, what are you up for? How about Mexican? 

George: Italian 

Elaine: No, Chinese 

Jerry: You know, what would be great?

Phil Sandoval's

T: +1 256 489 5711

Mexican Cuisine

Approx Damage: $25pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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Indian Cuisine in Alabama [On The Road: Huntsville]

A group of colleagues decided to go try some local Indian in Huntsville, you know Britons they love their curry. The place Sitar, not the typical restaurant in the US, simple décor, nice service, and straight forward Indian cuisine, no complication lots of flavours. 

Sitar

We got some papadum, crispy lentils bread, quite nice, addictive as usual, mint and onion chutney, pretty good one. Then some Pakora, mixed fried vegetables, the chilli fritters were nicely battered, not too spicy, the onion was nice, a bit too greasy, nicely spice, strong cumin flavour. We moved to some vegetable samosas, mildly spiced potatoes and peas, good flavour. I went for the mulligatawny, lentil soup, nice flavours, a tiny spicy kick. Finally some lamb and chicken curries, and a chicken tandoori. The curries were pretty nice, great spices and flavour, the chicken was quite odd, looked like a Martian as it had a reddish colour, it was completely overcooked. 

Papadum

Mulligatawny

Fried Vegetables

Samosa

Fried chillies

Curry time

Martian chicken

OK place to have Indian cuisine in Alabama, probably a must for my British colleagues when they are abroad having withdrawal symptoms for the lack of curry. 

Mulligatawny reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Soup Nazi” 

Elaine: Oh, Kramer! Thank God. I really appreciate you doing this 

Kramer: Yeah. Well, you ask for it, you got it 

Elaine: Do you need anything? 

Kramer: Well, a bowl of Mulligatawny would hit the spot 

Elaine: Mulligatawny? 

Kramer: Yeah. It's an Indian soup. It's simmered to perfection by one of the great soup artisans in the modern era 

Elaine: Oh! Who? The Soup Nazi? 

Kramer: He's not a Nazi. He just happens to be a little eccentric. Most geniuses are

Sitar

T: +1 256 536 3360

Indian Cuisine

Approx Damage: $20pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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Forrest Life is Like a Box of Steaks

One of my last destinations for work was Huntsville and Decatur in Alabama, who would have guessed, my first thought was looking for Forrest Gump, but not even a signal there, probably he was running somewhere. I asked for some recommendations to our work colleagues that live in the area, one of the options was a Steakhouse, so I guessed what could go wrong with a steakhouse, if I survived Toledo Ohio, this shouldn't be so bad right? 

Steakhouse

The place Connors, two locations, one in Tennessee the other in Alabama, fresh seafood, and premium steaks, pasta, sandwiches, and apparently a famous steak seasoning. 

Inside

Checked the menu and went for the safe option, crispy calamari, and a Delmonico Prime Steak with mash and mac & cheese. The calamari was surprisingly good, had a nice spicy flavour, and the battered was quite different to the ones I regularly have, not a light battered this one was more dark and peppery, some parmesan cheese on top which I never figure it out as didn’t work at all, and a zesty homemade cocktail sauce, overall good dish. The steak was good but not perfect, it was perfectly cooked medium rare, prime ribeye, good flavour for the meat, but the Delmonico was too sweet, at the beginning was interesting but later as I kept digging in the flavour became too sweet. 

Crispy Calamary

Steak, mash, and mac & cheese

I think the restaurant has potential, wouldn’t order the Delmonico again, I prefer the one I got in Capital Grille in Houston. 

Seasoning reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Pitch” 

George: Why don't they have salsa on the table? 

Jerry: What do you need salsa for? 

George: Salsa is now the number one condiment in America 

Jerry: You know why? Because people like to say "salsa", excuse me, do you have salsa? We need more salsa. Where is the salsa? No salsa?

George: You know it must be impossible for a Spanish person to order seltzer and not get salsa. "I wanted seltzer, not salsa"

Jerry: Don't you know the difference between seltzer and salsa? You have the seltzer after the salsa!

Connors

T: +1 256 327 8425

Steakhouse
Aprox Damage: $40pp

Huntsville

Alabama

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