Food For Thought

(We got SUBSCRIPTIONS in the house! Hit the subscribe button if you don't like my blog, smash that subscribe button if you do like my blog. Win-win?) A cozy Cuban cuisinitarium (ok, not a word, but I wanted it to alliterate), Mojito’s is named after some alcoholic drink and serves legit Cuban food in a way accessible to even gringos. Atmosphere: Every time I come here it seems there is construction going on, and while that is nice to see in a university, I’d rather not see restaurants do the same. I went to a restaurant in China where there were only 5 rooms to eat in because everything else had no floor tiling. The bathroom had exposed wiring BETWEEN your feet and the urinal, meaning I could’ve been in for a nasty death… Anyway, Mojitos. A very small area inside, and some tables outside in the back. It nearly rained on us, and we were not in the balcony’d area also outside. Paper covered tables + the foresight to bring a pen meant everyone was kept busy with group activities...

Surprises make memories stick, and nothing is more sudden and exciting than realizing you’re driving straight into a supercell thunderstorm that has just shut down the entire block of the restaurant you were on a 40-minute drive towards. Fitting that I am listening to Nice For What while writing about a Louisiana restaurant, but more to follow;  Atmosphere: You get there. It looks dark cause the power is out. But they’re still open; there’s candles and iPhone flashlights, organic and harshaficial lights blending so you can at least see what you’re eating. Two baked cashiers, and one girl with a crop top that just displays her hip bones. I think everyone in there was very high. Drinks are free cause the power’s out. The front of the restaurant is traditional glass, but plastered with signs from other local Lexington restaurants, like Chevy Chase, the oldest bar in Lexington (open since 1933). There’s a saxophone in the front window, along with various New Orleans parapherna...

Imagine a wonderful Mexican fusion/experimental restaurant, filled with fun, themed decor and cute tables made of recycled license plates. Now imagine sitting in a wonderful, high-top table, next to people you love. Now, add this DJ who wants to pimp his DJ skills, RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR TABLE. AHHHH. Atmosphere: Good, besides the music (or should I say NOT beside the music). It had a very temporary vibe; something about the light aluminum chairs and the license plate table-top covers that made our meal seem transitory. There was a cyan car door hanging behind the host's podium too. We were elevated on a table which was SO far removed from the booths and the bar that we were nearly out the door. There was a garage door that seemed like it was there just for aesthetics, and a guy playing badly remixed club music to ruin it. Tater tots in a tin Some more tins, but this time with tacos Actual Food: Like a memey type of Mexican/American focus. For an appetizer, instead ...

I’ll be upfront with you. I don’t remember this restaurant. Me and my squad arrived in Boston, MA on below freezing night and, being used to Alabama weather, our brains immediately kicked into survival mode. There was no time to notice the hypnotically large Citgo sign, nor to appreciate the extensive, heated bus and train system that saved us from death and allowed us to find the nearest restaurant that was A. heated and B. not sketchy. Welcome to the neighborhood pub of Brighton, Devlin’s Restaurant. Atmosphere: Cozy. Pretty dim lighting with fake candles that were actually LEDs. I don’t mean like “look into your date’s eyes and feel time slip away” dim, I mean “I cannot see my date’s eyes” dim. They do have some nice fire-pillar-tornado things from the indoor pictures on their websites, but I can’t confirm that personally. Their tables were wooden, I think, and were easily forgettable. Their cups were kinda funny, like stout wine glasses. They had a thick stem and were stret...

Chinese food in an area surprisingly sparse in good Chinese food, MDM Noodles offers good seating and a calm environment to recover from tiring events with a nice steaming bowl of wontons. And noodles, of course. Atmosphere: The first thing you see is an ice cream cart modified to hold boba tea additives. Boba pearls take about an hour to cook, and must be done before the customers arrive or they will just have the tea that the pearls belong in. Past the protective wall of boba are the seats. On the right is a mix of booths and chairs, which is standard enough. But in the middle is an elevated counter top like the one McDonald’s usually has. Love me some elevated seating. Everything is wood and fantastic, doesn’t feel like its faking anything. There is a huge Chinese quote on the right wall behind the booths along with a picture of some noodles. Sadly, I cannot read Chinese, but I am sure it is deep and poetic in ways untranslateable. It is cold outside this time of year, a...

Lemon on the left, 2 color on the left Athan’s Bakery is a quaint and teensy storefront that hides a large amount of beautiful pastries and cream and anything else you’d expect out of a bakery and more. Their old-fashiony open-air space make me realize I’ve used the phrase open-air too much for it to mean anything, but they beat their nearby competitor Daniel’s Bakery by being open on Sundays and being cozier. Atmosphere: Huge space above the tables. Yea I think I just failed to come up with a synonym for open-air. The storefront itself is plain glass, and my group actually passed by it without noticing that we had passed it the first time, even though I had noticed it before. In the mornings it is hard to find. Once in, there is a loooong glass display of pastries and chocolates and a big blackboard with prices for other things like coffee. On the left wall there is a big table with glass cake dishes that aren’t filled with cake. I wasn’t sure if they were sample plates or ...

Legs pictured with the Blackberry Bramble are not mine.  Simple homemade ice cream in a minimalist building painted white located next to a street which had a deadly drive-by shooting not more than a week ago, Big Spoon has a grapevine lattice which only grows christmas lights of warm color and plenty of seats to sit and talk it out. Atmosphere: A wide open space outside near a bike shop adds an element of handyman to standing in penguin circles huddled for warmth. This mechanicality gives a feeling of just finishing a project at a big tech company and enjoying lunch with your friends. The inside is white, with a constantly changing menu. The workers are all visible, and like any store, allow tasting. The tasting occurs on wooden spoons which can flex back and forth with an amazing max angle before they break. Actual Food: Making your own ice cream sounds amazing considering the amount of variety and the texture you desire can be precisely engineered. Also, calories...

An Aerial View of Tip Top that I did not capture. Enjoy. You’ve never seen a more niche locale. Tip Top Grill is literally a reconfigured mini gas station on a cliff. Past their fancy black gothic fence is a rocky death slope. But right behind it is an affordable and cool local American diner. You know how it goes. Or you’re about to, at least. Atmosphere: Imagine an old-school college dorm for 2. That’s the space. The division between worker and consumer is a high, tiled bar where the workers are probably grillin’ it up. I dunno, I’ve never been back there, but the cooks make convincing burger-flip motions. There is a freezer with local business stickers all over it, which establishes them as a local locale. Above the bar is 2 feet of space to see their operations then a big menu sign. It is readable from outside, helpful thanks to the limited space inside. Against the right wall in the back is probably a french fry frier. French frier? Again, never seen it. All I know ...