Earth Fare’s Family Dinner Night

The health-consious grocery store Earth Fare advertises its Family Dinner Night pretty well on Facebook, so I knew that kids eat free every Thursday night. This Thursday was their Halloween event, including a costume contest and free stuff for kids, so we decided to take Smalls. Smalls is dressing up as an eggplant for Halloween, so I figured a health food grocery store would be the perfect setting for us to sweep a costume contest. Now, if she’d been an ORGANIC eggplant, that would have just been pandering to the judges, but we’ll call her a conventional eggplant, just so we’re not kiss-ups.

Anyway, I’ve shopped at Earth Fare several times (most often when I have a coupon for something free with a $5 grocery purchase. And I can get Smalls a gallon of organic milk for a little over $5, which is decent for organic milk, so I feel like I would buy that anyway.) Oh, and they have great samples. I’m a sample junkie.  I used to be a big fan of Sam’s Club’s samples, but they’ve cut back; I blame the economy. But I’d never paid much attention to the restaurant area at Earth Fare. Turns out it’s just tables where you can eat the deli/salad bar/bakery food that you’ve bought in the store. We were a little confused when we walked in. But the staff were pretty helpful; they hooked us up with a kids’ menu form and explained the steps to get our meals. I’m going to explain it to you, so if it’s your first time there, you won’t look like bumbling rubes like we did.

1.  Fill out the kids’ menu form.
2. Return the form to the employee at the table in the dining area. They’ll give you a number and a bar code for the cashier to scan when you check out.
3. Go to the deli/salad bar/pizza counter/bakery area, and get your grown-up food and drinks. 
4. Wait for the pizza counter cooks to put together your kid’s dinner sack and put it up on the counter. 
5. Take all of your food and drinks to the regular cashier and check out. This was the best part, because we all ate for about $9. (Beardy and I had pizza that was really good, but probably the least healthy food there… Next time we’ll know how it all works and explore the deli/hot food case more.)
6. Go find a table and a highchair in the dining area and sit down and eat.

The kids’ menu is great, with nine entrée choices (five are vegetarian), four choices of sides (no fries in sight), six snack choices, and three drink choices. And it’s free on Thursday nights. On other days, it’s only $3.99. 

Oh gosh, a villian called High Fructose Fred? Way to be subtle, Earth Fare.





Overall, a $9 meal for three people (or two and 3/4 people) seems like a good deal. And the food is good.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 3 out of 5 booster seats. Bustling around in the deli/bakery section with various take out containers, bottled drinks, and a toddler wearing an eggplant costume was awkward. But highchairs were plentiful, and it’s family night, so there were TONS of other kids there, so we felt comfortable.

Food:  4.5 out of 5 booster seats. Earth Fare is trying hard to provide healthy food that tastes good, and it’s pretty good.

Find info about Earth Fare’s Family Dinner Night here: http://www.earthfare.com/FamilyDinnerNight.aspx

Download the kids’ menu here: http://www.earthfare.com/FamilyDinnerNight/~/media/Images/Itty%20bitty/IBB_BWmenu_Nuggets%209-10.pdf

And make sure you look at the comic characters that are valiantly saving the world from childhood obesity here: http://www.earthfare.com/FamilyDinnerNight/IttyBittyBites.aspx They’re cringe-worthy in a Captain Planet sort of way.

1892 East-Sunday Brunch

Beardy and I have been married for seven years as of last Sunday, and to celebrate, we went to brunch at 1892 East. We felt like we were taking a chance because Smalls had not had a good day the day before. Her performances the day before included a complete breakfast meltdown at a hotel in Chattanooga, and a full-on writhing on the floor tantrum at the Tennessee Aquarium. We had been to 1892 East before, but for dinner, sans Smalls. For some reason, it didn’t seem to be all that kid-welcoming, even though their online menu included a kids' menu. That impression was wrong, and we were pleasantly surprised by the toddler-friendliness of the restaurant at brunch. We got there at about 10:45, and there were only a few other customers. By the time we left, though, there was a 10-20 minute wait, so I’d suggest you get there before 11. But we got a table right away, with a highchair and… wait for it… an ENTIRE box of brand new crayons and a blank sheet of paper. Smalls loves crayons, so we were very grateful. She also likes to play with the sugar and artificial sweetener packets, and those were readily available.

1892 East's business card plus Smalls's artwork with the crayons the hostess provided.

Beardy and I ordered coffee and readily accepted the mimosas that are included with brunch entrees. I got milk stout pancakes (made with locally-brewed stout) with bacon, and Beardy got the southern breakfast platter. The food was great, better than what we’d had for dinner during our previous visit.

1892 East does have a kids’ menu that consists of French toast, bacon and eggs, or macaroni and cheese for brunch, and cheese flatbread, macaroni and cheese, or roasted chicken for dinner. All the kids’ items are $6. Smalls didn’t get to sample the kids' menu, though, because at 10:45, she had already had breakfast, and wasn’t ready for lunch yet. And we were too spooked by her behavior the day before to risk messing up her food schedule, so she just grazed from our plates a little and ate some Cheerios. I like the sound of the kids’ menu, though. And I like the fact that they HAVE a kids’ menu.

The best part was the way the waitress and hostess made Smalls feel comfortable, and made us feel welcome being there with her. There was the box of crayons, but the waitress was also careful not to set our hot coffee, drinks, and plates down within arm’s reach of Smalls (her reach is surprisingly long). That’s the kind of thing I would never have thought of before I had a kid. And I’m not always paying attention when a drink is set down in Smalls’s zone (recently, I was distracted by Beardy quickly rescuing HIS beer from Smalls’s right hand while her left was spilling mine in my lap!). By the time we left, we were one of several families with small children and babies in the restaurant, so we really did feel comfortable being there with Smalls. Maybe we could even brave it for dinner one evening. I want to try that macaroni and cheese off the kids’ menu—um, I mean Smalls wants to try it.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 booster seats. The waitress and hostess made us feel very welcome with a toddler.

Food:  I shouldn’t rate something we haven’t tried, but based on the menu, I want to give it a tentative 5 out of 5 booster seats. I’ll update/confirm this rating once Smalls tries that mac and cheese.

1892 East

720 Pratt Avenue NE, Huntsville, Alabama

http://www.1892east.com/

Sitar Indian Cusine

Sitar Indian Cuisine, Lunch Buffet

Sometimes Smalls and I meet Beardy for lunch. A few months ago, we tried the lunch buffet at Sitar Indian Cuisine on Jordan Lane in Huntsville, and we’ve been back several times since then. We (Beardy and I, Smalls didn’t exist yet) lived in England for a few years, where we became addicted to Indian food. But for some reason, we’ve been avoiding Indian food in Huntsville in the four years we’ve been back in Huntsville. Maybe we thought it wouldn’t live up to what we remembered in England, I don’t know. Anyway, the food at Sitar is wonderful, and the buffet is fresh and well-stocked with chicken and vegetarian curries, tandori chicken (you can smell it from the parking lot!), spinach and potato dishes, naan bread, and pickles and chutneys (I haven’t seen lime pickle yet, but I have hope.)

Smalls likes the naan bread, the orange slices, and the mango pudding. She also likes an extremely limited amount of gulab jamun (which, I’m sorry, Indian food purists, I refer to as “those sweet balls in syrup”). She knows her limit and stops at about ¼ of a ball. Any more than that would probably make her start making the crazy horse noise that signals sugar overload. She’s made the noise twice—once after a giant pink cupcake at a church “singin’” in Walnut Grove, and once after my birthday party at my sister in law’s house. Storebought icing was involved in both incidents.

I haven’t encountered anything extremely spicy on the buffet, so I expect I can start getting her to try some of the vegetable dishes and chicken curries soon.

There are plenty of highchairs at lunchtime because the crowd is mostly businesspeople on lunch break. We usually get there early, about 11 or 11:15, and at that time it’s not crowded, so we don’t have to wait around for a table. It starts to fill up a little more at about noon, but I’ve never seen every table full. The staff is always really nice. We are only charged for two buffets (obviously, since Smalls only eats a piece of naan and a few orange slices). But it’s nice to think she’s eating free anyway.

The only disadvantage I can think of, if you’re bringing a small child, is that it’s a buffet, so once you sit down and get your baby settled in the highchair, you have to get up and fill a plate. This is fine when Smalls and I meet Beardy for lunch, but if you were by yourself with the baby, do you want to leave her there at the table while you load up on delicious rice and curries? Probably not. Do you want to haul her up to the buffet with you, or try to corral her with your feet while you overload your plate, in an attempt to get all the deliciousness you need in one trip? Probably not. I guess this is an obvious issue with any buffet, but it's one of those things you just don't think about until you're dining out with a baby. 

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 booster seats (No complaints. Smalls seemed perfectly welcome.)

Food: 3 out of 5 booster seats for the buffet (You’ll probably need to bring food from home for kids to eat to supplement the naan bread and the orange slices to make it a healthy lunch.)

Sitar Indian Cusine

420 Jordan Lane, Huntsville