Restaurant Week & AU Event

Whew!  Hard to believe it's already Friday - this week has flown by!  This week was Birmingham's 2nd annual restaurant week - where several of the local restaurants get together and offer usually 3-course meals for a fixed price (in Birmingham's case either $10, $20, or $30).  It's a good opportunity for the restaurants to get some publicity and a good way for customers to branch out and try something new!  You can read more about Birmingham's restaurants here.  I first participated in a restaurant week with my friend, Jill, when we spent the summer after our junior year interning in New York - it was such a fun experience and I was excited to hit up a few spots this week (even if it was not quite so beneficial for my waist-line!)  For Tuesday lunch, I went with a few girls from work to Bottega Cafe where the menu included salads, pizza and cookies & ice cream for dessert (because who doesn't need a 3-course LUNCH).  We were highly disappointed to learn that due to the large demand the ice cream which had to be made on site daily was not available and had to settle for an olive oil cake instead (which sounds about as good as it was).  The pizza and salad were worth the trip, however - I had chicken pesto pizza and saved 1/2 so I could eat it for lunch for two days!  Delicious!  Bottega cafe isn't a new restaurant to me, but can't say I've often gone for a normal work lunch.

On Wednesday, I headed to Auburn after work for an event my Company was hosting which was pretty awesome.  Jay Jacobs, Auburn's athletic director, was the speaker and we got to sit in the room with all of the 2010 trophies (please excuse the picture quality - all I thought to bring was my phone):



BCS National Champions!



Emily Ann & I looking official with the trophy



Okay, couldn't help myself - "holding" the trophy

Heisman Trophy - WAR CAM EAGLE!

More Cam awards - Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback), Maxwell Award (best all around)

Nick Fairley's Lombardi Award

AP Trophy

On Thursday night, I met Tim and some of his co-workers at Chuy's.  Tim is actually starting a new job next week which we are both excited about, but of course he will be sad to leave.  We had a good time celebrating with them.



Chuy's - GVMG (Mary Beth, you made the blog!  :) )

After Chuys, I headed straight to Highland's Bar & Grill where my friend Caroline had made us a reservation for girls night out.  I have always heard great things about Highland's but for some reason had never tried it and thought Restaurant Week would be the perfect time!  I ordered the chilled corn soup with shrimp and cucumber, the hangar steak with ratatouille and the sweet and salty cake.  The soup was not exactly what I was expecting - the flavors were good (look at me...shouldn't I be a judge on Top Chef or something?!), but the temperature really threw me off - it wasn't just chilled, it was downright COLD - the bowl was chilled, the soup was chilled, my spoon was chilled, etc.  Maybe I just don't have a sophisticated enough palate - there goes my Top Chef dream  :(  Caroline and Emily Ann had the salad and said it was fantastic.  My entree was delicious - the hanger steak you could cut through like butter and it melted in your mouth just as easily! 

Hanger Steak at Highland's

But let me tell you, THE DESSERT.  It was off-the-charts amazing.   I did not have high expectations given the only description was "sweet and salty cake" and given my previous experience with the olive oil cake.  I wish I had snapped a picture for you, but by the time I stopped to breathe from inhaling this deliciousness, only crumbs were left!  The cake had a chocolate base and had the most amazing toffee-like sauce, the closest thing I could find on the internet is probably this:



Sweet & Salty Cake by Martha Stewart - Recipe found here

Just picture the above with a yummy gooey sauce.  Don't worry, I've already pinned that recipe to Pinterest and plan to try sometime soon!

Overall, it was a great week and I'm looking forward to the weekend!

Me, Caroline, Caroline, and Emily Ann at Highlands