<p>Oh, yes, I forget about DD coming to Riverside. I hope that turns out better than Einstein Bros.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I think it’s coming to Lakeside…I think it’s going in where Lakeside Lattes was.</p>
<p>I don’t know if there are any plans for the spot of Einstein Bages.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think those places would do better if kids could use their meal plans there. I remember when the Food Court in the Ferg had designated meals that were “meal plans”. That was supposed to be a temporary fix until Lakeside Dining was built, but I liked that option.</p>
<p>Taco Casa has been redeemed. </p>
<p>We tried…</p>
<p>The Sancho…good</p>
<p>The regular nachos…good…and even tho the cheese looked like movie theater cheese, it was much better.</p>
<p>The taco burger…good</p>
<p>Their chips are surprisingly good for fast food. I think they accidentally gave us an extra order of chips and queso because we also ended up with extra chips and a small container of queso that had meat mixed in…quite good though.</p>
<p>I apologize for dinging Taco Casa. I wish I could remember what we had that other time that was so awful…I’m pretty sure it was a chicken burrito, but I don’t remember what the kids ordered.</p>
<p>Went to Sitar Indian Cuisine for lunch yesterday with H. The have a regular dinner menu for evenings, but at lunch they have a small buffet (not some huge one …this one is about 20 feet of various dishes). </p>
<p>Normally I dislike “lunch buffets” but theirs is really good. They have some amazing dishes on their lunch buffet. Their freshly baked bread is also very good. </p>
<p>Here’s some of the things they serve (they may change a bit each day…not sure)</p>
<p>Daily Buffet Update
chicken tika masala. <<<< This is super good…amazing! YUM!!!
chicken curry. <<< also very good
tanduri chicken. <<< bland…would skip that</p>
<p>They also had some kind of veggie curry (with peas and chick peas) which was very good.</p>
<p>Some of the below we may have tried, but not sure of matching names with the foods…lol</p>
<p>chicken pakora
gobi manchurian.
saag paneer.
navaratna korma.
paneer tika masala.
daal tadka</p>
<p>okra masala…this was very good and I’m not an okra fan. Don’t know if this was a salute to the South or if Indian cooking really does use okra. Anyway…it was surprisingly very tasty.
.</p>
<p>vegetable delight. — very good
plain nan bread…yum!!
garlic bread.batura bread…yum!!!.
vegetable sampler apetiger…yum …spicey though
basmati rice.
(they had a flavored rice as well) all good.</p>
<p>green salad.dessert rasmolai, gulab jamun,rice pudding,mango fruits cocktails.
papadi chaat
special blend indian tea and condiments and much more items available.</p>
<p>Try it for lunch sometime. The place looks like a dive from the outside, but don’t let that stop you. Wish it had sustained some minor tornado exterior damage so it would have had to “jazz up” the outside a bit. ;)</p>
<p>Shrimp Basket opening in T-town this summer.</p>
<p>Went to Steamers on Hargrove a few weeks ago. it was good with a tasty </p>
<p>M2CK, glad you had a better experience at Taco Casa this time! I am glad it was redeemed. I have never had any of their chicken dishes so I can’t comment on them, but I can say I have never been interested in trying them. I stick to the beef dishes that I know and love. :)</p>
<p>Meant to reply sooner but we’ve been swamped with senior events and graduation. Now graduation is over and we are getting ready for Bama Bound next week. Gives me another chance to eat at Taco Casa. 
Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Finally tried Edelweiss during our move-out stay. D spent every Sunday morning there during 2nd semester studying organic chemistry and gulping coffee.</p>
<p>The apple danish is to die for Everything looked delicious, and next time I’m going to fast the day before so I can try the pastry with the 3 inches of fluffy vanilla cream between slices of pastry. It was one of the most beautiful and intimidating things I’ve ever seen .</p>
<p>Oh, and they now have a lunch menu that looks pretty fabulous.</p>
<p>It’s FINALLY TIME for the BIG TOUR!!!</p>
<p>Do you think there will be anywhere open to eat?</p>
<p>I’m absolutely salivating for PULLED PORK, and I pray that at least one of the cousins will have their rib joints open Sunday or Monday…</p>
<p>Surely peeps eat out on a holiday weekend…</p>
<p>DD is so excited she’s actually preparing her own clothes and packing her own stuff. It’s a milagro!!</p>
<p>^^^
When are you touring?</p>
<p>The restaurants shouldn’t be closed this weekend.</p>
<p>Arrive Sunday, leave Tuesday. We had planned on longer, but it turns out I start a new job on Wednesday…</p>
<p>There are some restaurants that are closed on Sundays. The ones that are closed are usually the smaller family-owned kind of places. The bigger places are usually open on Sundays and holidays. </p>
<p>Are you touring on Tuesday?</p>
<p>Official tour on Monday…including campus tour, appointments all day, and lunch with NMF student and tour of Honors Dorm. Staying at Microtel, so breakfast is included…but hope to arrive Sunday by 7pm (10-11 hour drive each way) so have opportunities for dinner on our own Sunday and Monday nights. It’s really a shame that the new job cut what we had planned to be a week’s vacation centered on the 'Bama tour short, but they wanted me to start Tuesday and I could only put them off one day…</p>
<p>We’ll have to hurry back to Tuscaloosa again asap, but at least DD will FINALLY actually get to see the campus and meet faculty in her prospective majors, Honors College, scholarship office and Greek Life. As you would expect, the folks at 'Bama have done an extraordinary job providing DD with a day packed full with everything she could have wanted.</p>
<p>I’ve got DH salivating over ribs, so I hope we can find one of the Archibald’s open one night or the other…and, to be fair to DD, I guess we’ll let her pick the dinner spot the other night. (Sounds like something near the campus will be the likely winner. She’ll want to eat somewhere she can scope out the students…) It’s all about the VIBE with her.</p>
<p>Official tour on Monday…including campus tour, appointments all day, and lunch with NMF student</p>
<p>Wow…really? I didn’t know that they would have all that on a holiday. And I’m surprised that they could make appts with faculty that day as well.</p>
<p>* She’ll want to eat somewhere she can scope out the students…) It’s all about the VIBE with her.*</p>
<p>The semester ended a few weeks ago and it’s a 3 day weekend. I don’t know if she’ll see many students. Does she understand that???</p>
<p>Me too but Dean Hardin, Dr. Oneal, etc. are on her schedule for one-on-ones!!! How amazingly GREAT is THAT? !!!</p>
<p>If they can make time for her on Memorial Day, I am MORE THAN HAPPY to bracket that day with 11 hour drives to and from home to make it happen. I mean, really, WHAT SCHOOL DOES THAT?</p>
<p>Wow…</p>
<p>Just warn your D that there won’t likely be students around. School ended and it’s a 3 day weekend.</p>
<p>She knows, but her internship starts June 4th and then the summer is shot, so it was “Now or MUCH LATER” and none of us wanted to wait.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for the dinner spot near campus?</p>
<p>Bento Japanese on The Strip…west of Publix grocery store.</p>
<p>LOVE the Bento Chicken there…(and that dipping sauce!!! )</p>
<p>.AND LOVE the Sunday Morning Rolls (that’s their name, they’re not for Sunday Morning…lol). </p>
<p>Also…Ruan Thai on The Strip</p>
<p>SOunds great! DD loves Bento and we all love Thai!!! (Plus THAI is almost alway gluten-free)</p>
<p>Will post all about the tour upon return home. Can’t wait!!! RTR…</p>
<p>Mellow Mushroom open and Yummy. Driving tour of campus Did Not disappoint! Exhausted but pumped up for real tour tomorrow…dispite very light traffic from Houston, we saw two horrendous wrecks on the way. Be careful everyone!</p>
<p>Dixieland Ribs and BBQ tonight. Bama Bound students all over the campus today, and after meetings and tour…DD is…SOLD!!! What an Incredible Place …kinda like Brigadoon…rather too good to believe, but she’s all in. Roll Tide.</p>