Salt International Bistro

Last night after my 9-mile run, I had a huge calorie deficit and was craving protein. I told Daniel I wanted a burger and wished that there was a decent local eatery that served burgers {a la Big Daddy's style}. I thought we were going to have to settle on Ruby Tuesday, but our friend suggested we try a new restaurant called Salt.

I tried looking it up on the internet before we drove to town, but being that we are in rural Alabama, there was nothing online* that mentioned anything about this new little bistro. When we arrived we discovered that it was actually called "Salt International Bistro." I think "International" is a stretch, if not a misnomer.

Anyways, we arrived around 8:00 p.m. and it was pretty slow. The prices for the fare seemed high for Scottsboro and our server was completely inexperienced to the point of making us feel awkward.**

We opted to try the only burger on the menu {also the cheapest entree at $10.50}. It was a good burger and the fries were excellent, but it felt like they skimped on the amount of fries. Besides that, $10.50 for a burger... really???

Upon leaving Salt, the general consensus is that we would rather drive to Huntsville or Chattanooga for a gourmet dinner. However we would consider going back during lunch when the menu had more sandwich offerings and the prices were more reflective of a small town.

*With a bit more research today, I did discover a link to the Salt International Bistro blog... 

**To be fair, they just started their dinner service and I am sure they are still working out the kinks. 

--Update: A little over a year after writing this review, my husband and I decided to give this restaurant a second chance. The night we went, we learned that it had closed its doors the previous night. I guess I wasn't off target when I wrote my review. I hate to see local businesses close, but you have to do it right to succeed.--

Project 52 Date Nights: Big Daddy's

 Photo via Charlotte Magazine

Friday night Daniel and I headed out to Big Daddy's to celebrate our last weekend together in Charlotte. We have been making an effort to eat at the places we love the most and it seemed like a good time to squeeze in a last trip to Big Daddy's.

We waited a little extra so that we could sit outside. Daniel had his favorite Cantina 1511 Burger with onions straws while I opted for the special burger of the evening with sweet potato fries. It was all yummy. We will miss all of our favorite local eateries, though we know we will find new ones in Chattanooga. 

This was Daniel's last trip back to Charlotte. It is sad that he won't be back. I am here to handle the last-minute work that is being completed before the sale of our house and then will be flying solo on closing day. I am anxious to get to Chattanooga to be with Daniel full time again.

Bike Commute Log

Yesterday Daniel and I rode our bikes to work together. Biking had been on hold for me because of teaching, but I am finally getting around to doing it.

We rode to the bus stop together, about a mile, and rode the express bus into downtown - this saves us from getting sweaty in the mornings. I went to the Y to shower and change and biked about half a mile from the Y to work.

Around 5 p.m. Daniel called to ask me what I thought about riding in lightening... we both looked at the radar and figured the storm was heading north and we were biking south so we would be okay.

I met Daniel at LandDesign and we started out of town. We meandered over to East Blvd and decided to stop at Big Daddy's to eat dinner. This was a good choice since it soon started to pour and thunder and lightening. We waited out the storm and once the lightening had passed, we got on our way.

Riding in the rain was cold, but thankfully the rain only lasted for about 10 minutes of the ride - enough for us to get soaked.

I had my first encounter with road rage. This was rather unpleasant. A guy in a vehicle screamed a bunch of obscenities at me as he drove by - something to the effect of "get out of the road." The guy must have been INSANE as the road had 2 lanes going in each direction and I was in no way hogging the road and there was NO TRAFFIC in the road. I pay my taxes for roads, just like he does AND that section of road actually had a bike lane. It is unfortunate that some drivers are so stupid.

Overall the ride went well. With all of our meandering, our ride home was probably just under 12 miles.

On a completely unrelated note, 7 engineers at Daniel's company were laid off yesterday due to the company not having enough work. Thankfully Daniel was not among the 7, but this has us a bit shaken.