What to Eat in Birmingham

Hey Birminghamster foodies!

As you know, we typically try to fly under the radar when we are at a restaurant.  We never want to make any restaurant owners, servers, chefs, or other staff feel nervous or uncomfortable, or as if they have to perform for us.   We are really shooting for having the experience any other diner would have, and the only way to do that is to go unnoticed.  This philosophy is derived a bit from the experiences of Ruth Reichl, a food critic (which we are not, by the way) who famously received different service when she was in disguise vs when she was there as the famous Ruth Reichl.   Not that we go to restaurants in elaborate disguises, because we don’t, and not that we are famous, because we aren’t.  We just try to remain inconspicuous.  Also, we are both pretty introverted, so we enjoy having quiet dinners during which we are furiously taking mental notes (and lots of pictures) in order to create the best possible post.

By the way, I’m always asked whether we get noticed a lot at restaurants, and the truth is, we don’t.  (Except that one time at Bamboo on 2nd when a discussion with a server led to a long conversation and several other people joining in…. we met some really great people, and it was really fun.  And that time at Masaman when someone recognized me by my VOICE because he had listed to the podcast I was on …. which also led to us meeting some great people and was really fun.)  So it does happen occasionally, and we don’t resist it – it makes us feel really good when we get to meet and hear directly from our readers.  So if you think you’ve spotted us, feel free to say hi.  But for the reasons I’ve explained above, we certainly don’t seek this out at restaurants.

However, one thing we do seek out is the opportunity to interact outside of restaurants with other Birminghamsters about things that we love:  mainly, writing and other creative endeavors, and food.  So, uncharacteristically for us, we’ll be in the spotlight on Tuesday night at Birmingham Public Library’s Eat Drink Read Write festival.  I’ve never been before, and I’m so excited that this year Mr. Foodie and I were selected to attend as “Human Books.”  You can “check us out” and talk to us about anything you want!  We’ve done a few media things before (the Birmingham Shines Podcast, the Chef Jeff segment), but nothing quite like this.

Nothing would make our cholesterol-laden foodie hearts happier than to meet our readers.  Many of you correspond with us regularly, giving us tips and feedback on your food exploration experiences in the ‘Ham.   On Tuesday, come do it in person.

For more info on the event, click here.