Wintzell's Oyster House

Beardy, Smalls, and I had a late lunch on a recent Sunday at the Wintzell’s Oyster House in Guntersville. We got there at about 2:00 in the afternoon, and there were a few other tables of people eating lunch, but the main excitement was the baby shower going on in the front dining room. The hostess assumed we were looking for the baby shower, and at first I thought, why would she think that? Then I realized we had a baby (sorry Smalls, a BIG GIRL) with us, and I was carrying Smalls’ snacks in a paper bag that could have been a gift bag. We should have crashed the shower for the cake. I bet it was good cake.

We sat down, and the waitress brought us a kids’ menu/coloring sheet with two crayons. Smalls started drawing balloons immediately, and the waitress was so patient when Smalls wanted to show them off to her. The kids’ menu consisted of popcorn shrimp, chicken or catfish strips, grilled cheese ($4.99) or chicken Alfredo ($5.99). The drinks were included in that price, and every meal came with fries. You can get free ice cream if you clean your plate. I mean, your kids do. There’s no reward for you if you clean your plate. We didn’t end up ordering Smalls anything because we really had enough food for her. The meal came with bread, and I’d brought applesauce and cheese with us because I wasn’t sure where or when we’d be eating lunch that day. Also, my shrimp and grits came with several choices for sides, so I ordered broccoli in the hopes that Smalls would eat some (she did—almost all of it!). She prefers broccoli fed to her with chopsticks (this really happens at our house sometimes. Maybe it's a bit indulgent.)

As Smalls gets older and we order off of kids’ menus more for her, I’m going to start asking questions like, can we substitute fruit or vegetables for the fries? I bet some restaurants will be ok with that. I’ll let you know what happens. At least until Smalls demands those fries… We’ll deal with that when it happens.

We had a good lunch at Wintzell’s. Entrees on their lunch menu (available 11 AM until 4 PM every day) are all about $10. You can look at the menus online here: http://wintzellsoysterhouse.com/menus.php. Try to use a real computer, though. The mobile version of their site is annoying. There’s also a Wintzell’s here in Huntsville near the intersection of University Drive and Wynn Drive, but the one in Guntersville is nice because it’s right on the lake. I know the Guntersville location gets the same seafood that they ship to Huntsville, but it’s nice to eat seafood and look out the window and see a body of water. It just makes the shrimp seem fresher.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.5 out of 5 booster seats

Food: 3.5 out of 5 booster seats (glad they have a kids’ menu, but I’d like to see a side other than fries)

http://wintzellsoysterhouse.com/co_loc_gun.php

Blacksmith’s Bistro and Bar, Chattanooga

So it’s Saturday, and we’ve survived a meltdown at the Tennessee Aquarium, calmed down during a relaxing drive up to Lookout Mountain, and now it’s lunchtime, well, actually way past lunchtime. I know almost nothing about where to go in Chattanooga, so I looked at Google Maps and noticed that there were several (non-chain) restaurants in the St. Elmo district, so we headed that way. This area is at the bottom of the incline railway, so you could ride down and have lunch there. There are a few restaurants within walking distance. We ended up at Blacksmith’s Bistro and Bar because it was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon and they had a nice outdoor seating area.

Tony’s Pasta Shop and Trattoria, Chattanooga

Beardy, Smalls, and I recently spent part of a weekend in Chattanooga. We drove up on a Friday afternoon, had dinner, spent the night at a hotel in downtown Chattanooga, and went to the Tennessee Aquarium and for a drive on Lookout Mountain Saturday. We went to Tony’s Pasta Shop and Trattoria for dinner Friday night. The restaurant is in an “arts district” on a bluff above the Tennessee River.

Big Ed's Pizza

Big Ed’s Pizza

Yes, Beardy, Smalls, and I eat quite a bit of pizza. I make a lot of pizza at home, and it’s often pretty high up on the list when we go out, too. On a recent Friday night, Smalls and I met Beardy after work at Big Ed’s Pizza in Huntsville. Big Ed’s had been in Huntsville since the 1960’s, and its current location is near the intersection of University Drive and Memorial Parkway. We’ve been there before, but I don’t think we’ve ever been there with Smalls. At least, not since she’s been able to sit up at the table with us and sample real food.

Newk’s Express Café

Once there was a Chinese/Korean restaurant on University Drive where a friend from Malaysia suggested that I eat food from the non-English menu. She ordered us kimchi and seafood stew. She held up a rubbery chunk and said, “I don’t know what you call this in English, but when it’s alive in the sea, and it’s scared, it throws up its insides.” I said, “Oh, sea cucumber. Yum.” Not the best way to describe something while you’re eating it, but good to know.

This sea cucumber story is only relevant because now the building that I always associate with the disgusting habits of the sea cucumber is a restaurant called Newk’s. Because its name on the sign is written in a colorful, crayon-y, tilty font, I always assumed that it was a kiddie restaurant (kind of how I think of Red Robin now), with crayons at every table and balloons for all. But now I’ve been to one, and while it’s more grown-up than I expected, it’s still pretty kid-friendly.

The kids’ menu is pretty good. They have toasted cheese, ham and cheese, or turkey and cheese. The sandwiches come with chips or fruit—yay.  On the website (http://www.newkscafe.com/index.php/menu/category/little-newks-favorites/) fruit isn’t listed as a side, but on the menu on the restaurant wall it is. They also have cheese or pepperoni pizza. The pizzas don’t come with a side. The kids’ meals come with a drink (whole milk is available) in a plastic kiddie cup with a tight-fitting lid and a big straw. For grown-ups, they have sandwiches, salads, soup, and pizzas. My mom and I both had the pesto chicken sandwich. It had a LOT of goat cheese on it, but was good. And they have Orangina. Mmmm.

While we stared at the big menu on the wall, I asked Smalls what she wanted, pizza or a choo-mop (choo-mop = sandwich. Yes, I shouldn’t encourage mispronouncing words, but it’s so cute). She chose pizza, and the cheese pizza is very good. It didn’t taste like a Totino’s frozen pizza; it’s possible they made it just like their grown-up pizzas. Sometimes that’s not the case with the kids’ pizzas. It was big enough for two meals for Smalls. And I asked her if she liked the pizza, and she said yes. But, just to establish a baseline for her truthfulness, I asked her if she liked wolverines and rabies, and she said yes for both of those, too. I think she was just in a yes mood.

One logistics note, when you walk in, you order and pay at the counter. Then you have to get your drinks yourself, and find your own table and high chair (there were plenty of high chairs), so try to have a free hand or to do this or bring a friend to help out. They bring your food to your table when it’s ready, though, so that’s a plus.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 4 out of 5 booster seats. Lots of high chairs available, and a very casual atmosphere.

Food: 4 out of 5 booster seats. Glad to see fruit as a choice, even though we didn’t get it.

Newk’s Express Café

http://www.newkscafe.com/index.php

We visited the one on Whitesburg Drive, near Airport Road (851 Whitesburg Drive), but there's also one on University Drive (4925 University Drive, Suite 190).

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Five Guys

1395 Enterprise Drive, near the Target shopping center on University Drive in Huntsville.

I just might be the last person in Huntsville to try Five Guys Burgers and Fries, but Beardy, Smalls, and I went there for lunch for the first time recently. Smalls and I were in Target, waiting to get a flu shot for me, and we got the call that Beardy could meet us for lunch. We’d heard that Five Guys had really good food (especially the fries), and the rumors were true. I liked the limited menu (only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese and veggie sandwiches, fries, and hot dogs). It seems like if a restaurant does just a few things, they do them better. Beardy and I both got hamburgers and, on the cashier’s wise suggestion, we shared a regular order of fries. Really, even that was too many fries. The hamburgers were really good; they actually smelled like hamburgers (maybe you have to go smell a hamburger to know what I mean). Smalls got a plain hot dog. Because this was an impromptu meeting, and I wasn’t familiar with the menu, that’s all Smalls had for lunch there. Next time, I’ll bring some fruit or something for her to make me feel better about the fast food lunch. The total for our lunch was almost $20, which seems high for burgers and fries, but I guess these are high-quality burgers and fries.

There were plenty of clean high chairs and booster seats available, and it’s a fast-food atmosphere, so if Smalls had been a little noisy, probably no one would have noticed. She had a good time playing with a straw and eating her hot dog, though, so we were fine this time.

Allergy alert: The door is flanked by stacks of boxes of peanut oil and a box of actual peanuts for customers to snack on. It was almost as if they are there as talismans to ward off anyone allergic to peanuts. The peanut box displays a warning not to remove peanuts from the store. Because there are no peanuts in the outside world…? I guess they're just being careful. Anyway, based on the volume of peanut oil guarding the door, I assume the fries are fried in peanut oil, too. At least they don’t encourage you to throw the peanut shells on the floor. If they did that, they’d feel the need to have a footbath outside the door like they have on farms to control foot and mouth disease. 

The peanut warning.





Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 4 out of 5 booster seats. It’s a fast-food atmosphere, nothing special, but nothing toddler-UNfriendly, either (unless you’re allergic to peanuts, then I guess this is 0 out of 5)

Food: 2 out of 5 booster seats. The menu is very limited, and there are no side items other than fries. The simplicity of the menu was attractive to me, but not for a toddler. You’ll probably want to bring something healthy to counteract the hot dog or grilled cheese.

Gadsden Variety and Deli (Gadsden, Alabama)

If you happen to find yourself in Gadsden, you should visit Gadsden Variety and Deli. It’s downtown on Broad Street, and it used to be called Nelson’s. It’s a five-and-dime store, and they have a good variety of toys (from really cheap plastic toys, to classic Radio Flyer tricycles and wagons). They also have holiday decorations, craft supplies, Alabama and Auburn gifts, candy, and lots of other stuff, and it just feels very old-fashioned. It’s pretty neat.

They even have a lunch counter, but if you’re with a toddler, do not eat at the lunch counter. If you’re not with a toddler, go ahead and have lunch there (really, just for the experience--how often do you get to eat at a lunch counter in a five and dime?). The food is good; they have sandwiches and “salads.” I say “salads” because the salads are gooey tuna salad, creamy blueberry jello-type salad, and pasta salad; they're not lettucy, leafy salads. They use an ice cream scoop to serve these salads.

But, getting back to the toddler issues, there’s no kids’ menu at all. There are hot dogs and grilled cheese on the menu, but the only sides are the “salads” and chips. I ordered a ham sandwich for myself and a turkey sandwich for Smalls. I figured Smalls could eat cheese, bread, and turkey, but it came slathered in Thousand Island dressing (I think that’s what it was. It was pink). I was ok with that, but it might have bothered Smalls. She didn't eat much of it. If I had known there would be dressing, I'm sure could have asked them to leave it off. Smalls ended up eating mostly dried apricots and cranberries I’d brought with me. I got the pasta salad with my sandwich, and Smalls nibbled on that, too.

The dining area is definitely set up for business people on a lunch break, not people with small kids. There was not a single highchair or booster seat in the place (that I saw), and no one to ask. The two restaurant employees I saw were very busy filling orders at the counter, so I didn’t want to ask them about highchairs. So Smalls sat in the booth with us, and didn’t slip down under the table or anything, so it was ok, but not ideal.

But, if you are in Gadsden, go to Gadsden Variety and Deli anyway, just to shop in a neat store. Also check out Hicks Family Shoes a few doors down. This is another store that’s been there on Broad Street a long time. They have great kids’ shoes (good brands like Stride Rite and Willits), and really helpful staff.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 1 out of 5 booster seats (I just can’t give it a higher booster seat rating, considering there were no booster seats. It's just not set up for kids.)

Food: 2 out of 5 booster seats (No fruit or veggies choices as sides, and no notification about weird sandwich dressing).