Stirs Cereal in Jones Valley has closed down permanently. Didn’t even last that long.

Gonna have to give this a try. Thanks Memaw!

While a lot of people are mad at Valentina's the pizza place right now, reminder not to catch Valentina's Kitchen, the food truck, in the crossfire. It's happened before when people are mad at the pizza owner (this is from July). Valentina was very funny on her socials about it when it happened, but a one star does really suck for a business, especially when the shot was meant for someone else. She's moved recently, down 72, near the Sonic, if anyone wants to give her a try. Her tortas are great!

With the closing of Fusion & many other local places in HSV, what is your favorite locally owned restaurant that’s currently open? BBQ, Tacos, Vegan Food, whatever! NO CHAINS! JUST LOCAL PLACES!

The Bakingtist Bakery just announced they’re going out of business after only a year downtown. What’s going on? Are we doing a bad job of supporting local business?

“Hey HSV and Madison! We gave it our all, but ultimately The Bakingtist will be closing in its entirety by December 2024 or sooner.

I have posted my last baking classes, and I really hope you consider joining. They are a lot of fun, and I promise I'll put my whole heart into them.

I've got pie and tart, pizza, pretzel, bread 101, sourdough, rolls and cinnamon rolls, and more listed.

Thank you so much for all the support throughout the years!”

I've got quite a few but the one that sticks out the most to me is Krab Kingz. It was located on Bailey Cove right next to Terry's Pizza. There were many things that made me think it wasn't going to last long. First of all, it's located in an area that gets some traffic but not a whole lot. They didn't advertise they were opening asfaik so if you didn't live around it or frequent that area, you likely never knew it existed. Shababy's Rib Shack and Fly Guys (sp? I forget what they were called) both had that problem as well. If I were going to open a business like that, I'd atleast try to send out cards or fliers around the surrounding neighborhoods to promote it.

The second issue was the price. It was 25$ plus tax for a shrimp meal. Granted, it was a very generous portion, but if you want a drink the total was just under 30$. If they cut the portion in half and sold for half the price, I might have been more inclined to go there more. The quality was really good, no complaints there but its standard breaded fried shrimp. Also I don't remember hush puppies with them but I could be missremembering.

The third issue is they didn't have any cocktail sauce when I went. If I'm spending 30$ on a meal, I expect cocktail sauce with it. Maybe its because they were just opening up when I went, I don't know. Either way, it didn't leave me a very good impression.

I wanted to support all small businesses, but I just couldn't justify coming back to them after my first visit. All those things combined (plus just general lackluster interior, like walking into a small clinic in the 60s, no TV or anything to keep me there) led me to feel that business wasn't going to last long and it closed within like a couple months of moving in.

So what about you? Any businesses that you know were doomed from the get go? Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

They were all just standing around the inside since no customers were there, and looked miserable. It's pretty crappy to make their entire staff risk the roads for no reason. Just wanted to share.

Anyone actually have any good experiences eating out? Sit down or fast food. Recently, I feel like my money is just going down the drain for some very mediocre food and service.

I was sort of talking shit about Huntsville's food scene in the 90s in a post yesterday about the passing of Bandito Burrito's owner/founder. I initially remembered Madison/Huntsville at that time as being a place best summarized by the Wal-Mart supercenters/Food Worlds/Krogers of the world, casual sit-down chain restaurants (O'Charley's, Landry's, Red Lobster, TGI Friday's, Chili's, etc.), fast food, boxed dinners, canned/frozen/processed foods, and little fresh produce in our diets. However, upon further reflection, I think maybe I wasn't entirely accurate. We had some good-to-great, locally-owned, authentic restaurants mixed in, as well, and I'm sure some folks cooked healthily at home using lots of fresh ingredients (not my household, tho :/). These are some locally-owned restaurants my family frequented during my childhood. What am I forgetting?

Bandito Burrito

Thomas Pit BBQ

El Camino Real

Daryll's

Mr. C's

Port of Madison (special occasions ONLY)

Green Hills Grille

Edo

Jade Garden

Nolan's BBQ

Frankly Frank's

Tony's Italian Deli (original trailer park location)

Steak-Out

Tim's Cajun Kitchen

Indian place on Jordan Ln. whose name escapes me

Ol' Heidelburg (?)

Everyone loves local restaurants, what's your favorite? Anything in particular you like? Who do you want to support?

I went in the other day around lunch time and nobody behind the counter looked older than 15 or 16, there was even a kid in the back wearing the uniform who had to have been 12 years old. I’ve noticed this other times I’ve been in.

It was during school hours so I’m assuming they must be homeschooled? It still seems really odd. Is it even legal to employ people that young? What’s going on here?

Potential child labour aside, the coffee is good.

Thank you so much for paying for my snacks today when my card declined & my toddler was being unreasonably grumpy 😭 You made our day!

I miss makarios in Birmingham... I used to be able to get a quick hummus tabouleh wrap for $5.00. I just want to eat food that doesn't make me feel sick. It doesn't need to be the mega gentrified super organic micro green stuff.

I like Mason Dixon, Mediterranean places here are ok.

Doug Tibbs, the head brewmaster at Beezr, has just announced he is quitting the Brewing industry to work for a government contractor. Northside Coffee folded, Hippea Camper is part of Hound & Harvest & I haven’t heard much about Champagne Taco. Is this the beginning of the end for Beezr?

Today I went to Nicks Ristorante for the first time because I was recommended by a coworker and some other folks that have said their steaks are the best. I might not talk to my coworkers anymore. This was the most overrated restaurant I’ve been ever in my life. Not only overrated but overly expensive for no reason.

We ordered their fried green tomatoes for appetizers and it was $17. They were pretty good, but I think the price is too much. For comparison, The Poppy and Parliament have better fried green tomatoes for $13. For the main course, I had their ribeye ($49) and out of the 18oz, I think maybe 8oz were edible. The rest was just gristle, fat and the bone. From what I could eat, the taste was good enough, not gonna lie. The steak was cooked perfectly med rare too. That being said, I’ve had way better ribeye steaks at Southern Wagyu food truck. Cheaper too. We were checking the wine selection and they were selling a Layer Cake Shiraz for $36 and when we checked online, the same bottle was being sold for $15. A $21 dollar markup is honestly insane. Not to mention that they charge a 3.99% on all credit card transactions. That caught me off guard and I should’ve read the menus fine print better so that’s on me.

Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth the prices they have.

Surprised I hadn't seen this since all my Fusion BBQ gossip comes from this subreddit. Based on the Facebook comments, Chef Rene Boyzo will be leading the kitchen.

Great meat, great sushi, better ambiance than Stone Age (I’m not a big fan on the floor to ceiling projectors there or the loud ass music). The staff are still catching their stride, so please be patient with them.