Huntsville’s Best Sandwich

(From http://thebestofhuntsville.biz )

      Looking for Huntsville’s best sandwich? You’ll find it at a hometown restaurant called Dallas Mill Deli. I seem to find a new favorite there on every visit.       The deli’s Southern Reuben is tops this week. Order it, and the kitchen staff is quick to explain that this is not the classic pastrami-and-sauerkraut specialty. The Southern Reuben cushions a thick slice of bologna between rye toast. It is dressed with a Thousand Island dressing, kraut, and American cheese. For about $5.50, it is delicious.       Of course, not every customer can appreciate the distinctive tastes of sauerkraut and rye. Worry not. You can still find your own favorite here.         Before the Reuben, the toasted pimiento cheese sandwich was tops. Order it on white or wheat bread. If you ask for it all the way, expect lettuce and tomato. It costs just under $4.        For about the same price, you can get what might be Huntsville’s best burger. It is pretty basic, but with a delightful taste. You never know what makes a cheeseburger special. This one is reminiscent of one served in the bar of Huntsville’s long-ago Boots Restaurant.        Dallas Mill Deli has become legendary as a hometown restaurant in only a few years. It opened in 2006 near the intersection of Pratt Avenue and Washington Street, just outside of the historic Dallas Mill Village. Its walls are covered with pictures and memorabilia from Huntsville’s past.       The deli became a neighborhood hangout for downtown office workers and professionals, as well as residents of the nearby historic districts. After several years in business, it stopped serving breakfast and put a lunch truck on the streets to hit the city’s research parks and construction sites.
      Another of the best choices at Dallas Mill Deli is its strawberry pretzel salad, which is listed as a dessert. It is a refreshing combination of strawberry gelatin and sweetened cream cheese on a pretzel crust. It’s displayed in a glass cooler with other desserts and salads. If you’re on the run, stop and grab a slice of it. You’ll be back soon.
      Dallas Mill Deli is at 500 Pratt Ave. N.W.; zip code 35801. It’s open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The phone number is (256) 489-3354.
Say hello to Kaki, who works there. She’s my daughter.

--November 8, 2012


Farewell to Pauli's
      One of Huntsville’s premier restaurants, Pauli’s Bar and Grill, has closed its doors. Owner Paul Thornton this week e-mailed his loyal patrons that this was “the hardest decision I have ever had to make.”

      Pauli’s and its adjoining tapas restaurant, Vinotini, closed permanently last Friday night. Thornton had planned to turn ownership of the restaurant over to his mother, but “her financing fell apart,” he said. That led to his decision to close.
      Thornton’s message went to customers who participated in his “Birthday Program,” an electronic messaging network that he said he plans to expand city wide. He said customers with gift certificates can e-mail him, and he will find another establishment to honor the offer or make other restitution.
      Pauli’s opened at the corner of Slaughter Road and U.S. 72 West in 1998. Thornton had earned a reputation on the staff of the Green Bottle Grill on Airport Road, which was Huntsville’s top restaurant of the 1980s and ’90s. Matt Martin, also from Green Bottle, had been executive chef at Pauli’s for nearly a decade.
      Thornton’s farewell e-mail thanked his family and friends for their patronage at Pauli’s. He lauded the loyalty of his staff and encouraged other restaurants to offer them new opportunities.

--October 2, 2012

Yesterday's Review

      City Café Diner in Huntsville is much more than its name implies. Neon lights create a retro perspective. All-day breakfast and black-and-white aprons are hints of a diner. Meatloaf, liver and onions, country-fried steak or catfish filets are standards at most Southern cafes.

     But what about chicken Marsala, Greek moussaka and Cajun jambalaya pasta? Who can imagine nearly half-dozen variations on the gyro?

     City Café Diner offers all of these without sacrificing quality for quantity. And helpings are plentiful.
     This restaurant has its roots in Savannah, Ga., and branches that reach as far north as New York. With more than two dozen locations, it still seems to have no official website. Google “City Café Diner,” and you’ll find thousands of choices.
     That’s much like the official printed menu soon to roll out in Huntsville. It has page after page of selections – enough to cover 24 hours a day, which will soon be the regular schedule. City Café Diner began opening at 6 a.m. this week.
     The restaurant is next door to Cracker Barrel off South Memorial Parkway at Drake Avenue. The building was first a Mexican restaurant called Tia’s Tex-Mex before being transformed into a Chinese Royal Buffet. As City Café Diner, it has become open and spacious, with a dineresque noise level and lively atmosphere.
     Business has been brisk during its first few weeks open, and repeat customers are becoming the norm. A huge dessert case is hard to miss coming in or leaving the restaurant. Expect to pay between $8 and $10, whether you have breakfast, a mid-day sandwich, or dinner. A few entrees range up to $15.
     RaeRay tried breakfast there about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Service was very good; pancakes and eggs-and-bacon were pretty basic. Grits had the texture of oatmeal.
     We’ll go back, though, for the gyros, the patty-melt, the Reuben, the liver-and-onions and the lasagna. City Café Diner has it all.

--September 11, 2012

 

Yesterday's Review
     Zoe's Kitchen adds a new niche to Huntsville's restaurant scene. Zoe's is a fast-casual, Mediterranean-influenced restaurant founded in Birmingham some 13 years ago.
      The Huntsville location is on Whitesburg Drive, in the former Tony's Little Italy space at Village on Whitesburg. It adds a new dimension to this restaurant haven at the corner of Whitesburg and Airport Road, which features no fewer than eight eateries now and another under construction.
      Hummus, orzo, Greek salads, kabobs, pita chips, and wraps give the restaurant its Mediterranean theme. Potato salad, eggs salad, and pimiento cheese add a Southern flavor. The pimiento cheese differs from Mom's with its spicy kick.
      Someone's mom must have made it this way, though. The original Zoe's Kitchen was a mom-and-pop's eatery in Birmingham's Homewood subdivision, operated by Zoe Cassimus and her husband Marcus. In 2002, their football-star son John, a former running back for the Alabama Crimson Tide, joined the operation. Since then, more than 60 more Zoe's locations have appeared across the South from Maryland to Arizona. Huntsville's is the 13th in Alabama.
      Zoe's opened on Thursday, and the restaurant was spilling over at midday when RaeRay came to visit, needing to be at work in precisely one hour. The crowd seemed overwhelming, but once through the line, our food came in a minutes.
      As mentioned before, the pimiento cheese sandwich had a spicy kick, in spite of its claim as a "Southern favorite." It's listed as a vegetarian offering.
      Topping the list of grilled sandwiches is the Gruben, which is as good as any sandwich in Huntsville. It's a variation on the Reuben only replacing the corned beef, sauerkraut and Thousand Island with grilled turkey, slaw and spicy mustard. All of this on rye creates a robust savour. Even the roasted fresh vegetables -- boring at other restaurants -- burst with flavor.
     On this day, RaeRay could have tried Yaya's hand-made chocolate cake or house-baked cookies for dessert with time to spare. But, no, let's get on to work. Forty minutes was the total time -- not bad for the second day of serving.
      What other restaurants are on this corner of Airport and Whitesburg? Well, here's a list of just the northwest quadrant:
Ding How II
Jason's Deli
Panera Bread
Nothing But Noodles
Subway
Momma Goldberg's
Bonefish Grill
Shane's Rib Shack

                                                                                       --July 6, 2012

Today’s Review

I apologize to anyone who has looked here for a new review over the last few months. I’ve lapsed, but I plan to do better. Several things I could have pointed out here if I just took the time. A project called Raeray’s Great Adventure again proved to me how much I love writing. It filled some of the space in my mind that has been empty for some time. This renewed venture with thebestofhuntsville.biz can do the same.

My eating habits have changed drastically since I began punching a time clock. Years of setting my own schedule left me eating once a day at times—often just at lunch with friends or dinner with the family. Now I have a pastry or cereal for breakfast without fail. If I have a lunch hour, I come home for two sandwiches or leftover chili or meat and vegetables. When I can eat out, I make convenient choices.

Regular habits are difficult when you may work one day at 6 a.m., the next at 1 p.m., and then at 10 a.m. Quick meals on the way to work might consist of a Schlotzsky’s sandwich, a plate full of Krystals, or the $5 special from Hardee’s, which includes a burger, hot dog, fries, dessert, and drink. If I have time, I’ll stop at Mellow Mushroom, where a slice of pizza and salad – the Caesar is very good – is a reasonable lunch, minus the exceptional tip for my daughter, Morgan, who works there. My favorite noontime meal on mornings off is the toasted Pimiento cheese sandwich at Dallas Mill Deli, where my other daughter, Kaki, works.

During free evenings, my wife, Jenny, and I hit the special deals at nearby restaurants. Ruby Tuesday’s continues to prepare us its Parmesan cream sirloin from a previous menu. We do the Chili’s two-person deal with spinach dip and burgers, or we take advantage of Logan’s Roadhouse’s special that includes the mini –desserts in a pail. And practically every Wednesday, we order dinner to go at Bonefish Grill, where the famous Bang-Bang Shrimp is on special at $5.

These are a few of my current BESTs, but I vow to keep more coming in the future. Please join me in the journey.

                                                                                --June 26, 2012