A. The Alabama Fusion we’re seeing at restaurants across the River Region. Wesley True has created something entirely modern, combining Southern ingredients like beets, greens, and pork with cutting edge techniques. Leo Maurelli mashes up Alabama’s finest ingredients with his Panamanian roots, creating masa out of hominy and ceviches from Gulf Shrimp. Rob McDaniel at SpringHouse follows the South’s seasons, putting together menus like a Master Gardener. David Bancroft explores the same themes at Acre, combining his Texas upbringing, love of technique, and massive onsite garden into a uniquely interesting place to eat. Four incredible restaurants, all featuring the best of Alabama, all within an hour of Montgomery.
B. The 280 Boogie in Waverly, Alabama showcases the River Region’s funkiest intentional community. Music, food, art, and incredible prints and t-shirts from Standard Deluxe. It looks and feels like a tent revival gone haywire, like someone spiked a watermelon with moonshine at a church picnic where all the parishioners wear engineer boots and irony. This year the final three acts were the Pine Hill Haints, Lydia Loveless, and finally, Junior Brown on the Guit-Steel guitar. Unbeatable.
C. Capitol City Oyster Bar is one place you can drink heavily on Sunday without anyone looking askance. Bloody Mary’s and NFL Playoffs in the Fall, limbering up with a gin and tonic before a Clarence Carter performance in the Summer. Spring on their patio, looking out over the Alabama River, Montgomery’s skyline in the distance, with a super-light, super-cold beer. It’s possibly Montgomery’s best watering hole. They also have oysters.
D. I eat fried chicken at Davis Café too often. There’s something about perfect fried chicken in a quiet booth, the yellow floors, the cracked green upholstery, a bit of home for Southerners of every race and class. We didn’t have places like this where I grew up, and it’s a shame.
E. The Eastbrook Flea Market brings chaos to the typically staid enterprise of shopping for home furnishings. So many people, so much looking, the digging, the bargaining. The Find. A Bizarre bazaar: confederate money and ‘70’s Soul records, duck decoys and ‘40’s era cookery; meticulously aged fauxtiques and ‘20’s deco lighting. A meal either before or after at Green Papaya makes for a great Saturday morning.
F. The quality of Fish served at Destin Connection is why Montgomery is such a seafood town. Raw: red snapper, flounder, day-fresh shrimp and oysters. Cooked: Shrimp Po’ Boy, Bream Sandwich, boiled Bayou La Batre crawfish and shrimp. If you like fish and are buying somewhere else, stop it.
G. I haven’t been to GT South yet, but it’s on my list. I want to learn more about any place where video games, South Park quotes, and all things Whedon get mixed with a full bar. I was always more of a preppy than a geek, but that didn’t stop me from playing hours of Super Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64. I’d like to get back into that. This seems like the place.
H. High Ridge Sprits carries on the spirit of classic Bullock County moonshining, but without the illegality. Jamie Ray and company distill Stills Crossroads ‘Shine about 30 minutes from Montgomery, in an area where you can buy 50 pound bags of sugar at the convenience store. It must be something in the water.
I. Indie Film Lab operates one of the last remaining photographic film development studios in the United States. Photographers from across the country send their film to Indie for editing, color work, and conversion from film to digital. Indie also employs some of the finest photographers in the Southeast, people whose love of film photograph shows up in the work they produce.
J. Jet-setting from the Montgomery Airport. It’s practically flying private. You walk up, get a ticket, clear security, and are seated in a bus-terminal looking concourse within five minutes of parking. The only problem I have is that the bar isn’t accessible from the terminal. You’d think they’d switch the doors around, but think again. Also, the early flight to Atlanta, right?
K. The Kress Building, key to economic development on lower Dexter Ave. Do the Kress building correctly, and all the remaining development dominoes will fall into place. A music venue at the Kress could support another bar and another restaurant on Dexter Avenue alone. It’s a magnificent building that needs a magnificent anchor tenant.
L. Leroy keeps getting better and better. The first time I went in there they were playing a Joe Strummer solo album and serving Palm on draft. I was hooked. Since, they have added outdoor areas, trivia nights, regular block parties, a Big Lebowski festival, and lawn games on Sundays. Leroy’s other strength? The consistently best bartenders in Montgomery. It’s not for everyone, but that’s the point.
M. The Meat Markets that are Alley and Aviator BAR. After dark, these bars host the only reliable singles scene in Montgomery, and boy are those places full of eye-eferry. It’s not just eyes either: Alley and Aviator have done more to boost the birth rate in Prattville than abstinence only education. While not always my speed, they are a necessary evil -- without Meat Market bars like Alley and Aviator, young singles will never stay in Montgomery.
N. The continued Need for delivery food remains my biggest complaint about life in Montgomery. Right now, I can order delivery from pizza places, Ala Thai, and Burger King (!?!). That’s it, and that’s bullshit. If you own a Chinese restaurant and you are reading this: make the leap and start delivering. I want Sesame Chicken and I don’t want to have to stop watching True Detective to get it.
O. The numerous Oscar nominated movies that played at the Capri Theatre in the last few months. Inside Lleywn Davis, Nebraska, Philomena. Not to mention other interesting movies like Bernie, Blue is the Warmest Color, Her and countless documentaries. When something works - like the Muscle Shoals documentary - the Capri will let it run for longer than originally intended. Local theatres have disappeared across much of America, replaced with Megaplexes that show nothing but movies for tweens. That’s the alternative. Treasure the Capri.
P. Pulley Bones, also known as the Montgomery Cut. If you are invited over to my house, expect to be served Pulley Bones. If you see my name on a list of speakers, assume the topic is Pulley Bones. I’m lobbying chefs and haranguing butcher shops. The Pulley Bone is coming back. Start demanding them yourselves.
Q. Adios Questplex, we hardly knew ye. Fundraising for anything but political office is tough in this town. Civic-mindedness is shot after years of us-v-them and flight to the East. When even the Mayor can’t raise enough money to fund a pet project, you know it’s lean times for Montgomery’s not-for-profits. People with money: I appreciate your occasional selectiveness, but please continue to make possible the things that make Montgomery better.
R. The Hannah Daye Ridling Bark Park where dogs in Montgomery get weird. Two separate sides, one for the big dogs, one for the little. The dogs socialize, their people socialize. Swans from the nearby lake gang up on the dogs creating a weird suburban safari. Make dog friends in the dog park, with an exhausted dog as your reward.
S. Soju tastes like a mixture of sake and vodka, but not unpleasantly. The Republic of Korea’s favorite liquor, where Soju costs less than water. At Arirang they serve Soju liberally, navigating requests for shots, bombs, and rocks with aplomb. You know it will give you a hangover from the first taste, but you will get caught up in the moment and decide you don’t care. This was your warning.
U. Sous La Terre (“Underground”) doesn’t open until midnight. Usually, the music doesn’t start until 1:00 a.m. That’s ok though, they have windex looking alcohol and popcorn to keep you occupied, and once the music starts, I dare you to stay off of the dance floor. Mr. Pugh is a Montgomery treasure, and if you haven’t been to Sous La Terre in a while, it’s time to go again. Just avoid the rooster tail in the bathroom.
V. Do you like Tortas full of lengua, carnitas, or barbacoa? A condiment bar for tacos with cilantro and onions, pickled jalapenos, and a half dozen salsas of varying intensity? Then you must visit Taqueria Vallarta in a Marathon gas station on the Troy Highway just beyond the Eastern Blvd. Working knowledge of Spanish is a plus, but you should be able to order so long as you are fluent in head nods, hand gestures, and charming smiles.
W. Hank Williams’s grave site has become a popular place for musicians coming to Montgomery to go for one last drink before leaving town. Unfortunately, its seems like only traveling musicians really think of Williams as part of Montgomery’s legacy. Williams is overshadowed by the more culturally relevant figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald, and more historically significant figures like Martin Luther King Jr. That’s a shame, because a Hank Williams festival could be a major tourism draw and bring a needed jolt to Montgomery’s live music culture.
X. I want to know how X-Mart has managed to stay in business despite the proliferation of internet access the River Region. I guess the margins on toys and costumes are higher than on DVDs. Please keep the pearl-clutching to yourself when I write an article on the economics of the adult bookstore business. So many questions I need answered.
Y. New Year’s Eve in downtown Montgomery was an incredibly successful evening. There were thousands of people, excellent entertainment, and even a stray four-letter word just before the ball dropped. Five years ago, a downtown New Year’s Eve party in Montgomery would have been unthinkable. Downtown New Year’s Eve is what progress looks like.
Z. Sundays at Sa Za, where all the appetizers and many of the drinks are on super special. I don’t really remember the exact details, mainly because the drinks were at least half price, but I do remember being well-fed on stuffed peppers, eggs in tomato sauce, and eggplant, and that my total bill was less than a typical entrée. My love of Sunday brunch has been well documented in the pages of this paper over the last 12 months, and Sa Za is slowly becoming my Sunday brunch favorite.
What an incredible 12 months it has been. It’s amazing what you can find in Montgomery if actually you look.
