Birmingham

I had another great business trip to Birmingham last week filled with lots of great people, food, and beer. Strangely, on my connecting flight home, I ended up seated next to a former boss of mine. The other odd part of my trip was something I heard on the radio while sitting in traffic one morning: "When you go to the Cracker Barrel, don't order the wheat toast, or folks'll think you're from Ohio." Is that really an Ohio stereotype?

Superior Grill
My buddy and I discussed sports and work at the bar all night before being absorbed into the group of regulars. Southern people are so nice and chatty. Given how little I go out in Ohio, I guess I do not really know enough to say people are any different here. I had a burrito, my friend had a quesadilla, we split a queso dip, and we both had a few happy-hour margaritas. I'm usually all about beer, but the margaritas were amazing. I would definitely return to Superior Grill for dinner and/or drinks.

Superior Grill Margarita - Source

Superior Grill Bar - Source

Maki Fresh
I've been wanting to meet up with the guy from the third-party recruiting agency who found me on LinkedIn and recruited me for my position, but it's just never worked out until now. We had lunch at a great little sushi place where I ended up having chicken instead of fish because I couldn't pass up trying something called The Vulcan, which was amazing. I was kind of afraid when they brought out chopsticks, but I did alright (but did not finish my lunch - so bad with chopsticks). Unlike most of my Birmingham pals, this guy has a young family, so it was nice to hear about what it's like to raise a family in Birmingham.

Maki Fresh - Source

On Tap
One of my buddies knows how much I like wings and beer, so we went here to have some good wings and beer. We started with the fried ravioli appetizer and hardly touched our wings because we were so full. He and his daughter enjoyed our leftovers a few days later, and I heard that the wings were pretty good. I had some Abita beer and two Alabama beers. I love traveling and drinking different beers. This was a really neat little place, and I'd definitely go there again (and maybe skip the appetizer so I can actually eat my wings!).

On Tap Wings - Source

On Tap - Source

Taziki's
I has lunch here my first time in Birmingham, and it was great. All I remember about that is I had lamb. This trip, Taziki's catered our seminar. We had tea, salad, rice, potato, chicken, taziki sauce, pita chips, and hummus. I was all about the rice, chicken, and taziki sauce. It looks like Taziki's is opening more and more locations, so I hope they make it to Ohio in the near future. Our seminar was for both accountants and actuaries. I thought accounting continuing education drew a lively crowd... Jeez. One of the speakers made a few really funny jokes ("death <boring stuff>, but it may have an adverse effect on the policyholder"), and our crowd of 60 remained silent.

Taziki's - Source

Twenty-Six
One of my friends invited me out to a Nashville songwriters music night, and we stopped for dinner and a really great, hip seafood place downtown before heading to WorkPlay. I had a Westbrook White Thai, one of my favorite Southern beers, and shrimp with cheesy grits. It was amazing. It's the kind of meal that gives you a nice, warm feeling in your belly when you think back to it. I need to have shrimp and cheesy grits again soon.

Twenty-Six - Source

Westbrook White Thai - Source

WorkPlay
There were three lovely ladies from Nashville sitting on stage with their guitars, taking turns singing and playing songs they'd written. It was really neat. I had a Strawberry Abita and a Good People Coffee Oatmeal Stout, and I bought my favorite Nashville songwriter's CD. World, watch out for Stephanie Lambring.

WorkPlay - Source

WorkPlay - Source

Stephanie Lambring - Source

Do I seem really enthusiastic about everything in Birmingham? I would totally move there.