Hey Birmingham! We are coming to visit.
posted July 13, 2015 6:15 PM   RSS | iCal | +googleCal

Sat July 18 at 5:00 PM, Trim Tab Brewing
2721 5th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, USA (Map & Directions)
Cortex and I want to check out Birmingham and meet some mefites! The plan is that we'll meet up at Trim Tab Brewing, then head to Babalu for tapas.
We've never been to Birmingham! In fact, so far our experience of the South has been limited to North Alabama. We are living in Huntsville, AL for the summer, and google says we are 90 minutes away.
posted by Secretariat to Meetup (23 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

The beer at Trim Tab brewery is very very good. And it's just a couple of blocks from a decent tapas place. We will, of course, end up at The Garage.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:38 PM on July 13, 2015


We'll be at sloss fest Saturday and Sunday, so Friday would work best for me. I'm partial to the saws bbq/Avondale brewery route, but I'm good with trimtab too.
posted by wearyaswater at 5:34 AM on July 14, 2015


I'm always down for Saw's BBQ.

hollyholly & I would be driving up from Tuscaloosa (~45min). We're pretty clear on Friday evening & Saturday/Sunday.
posted by gregr at 7:01 AM on July 14, 2015


Damnit guys. The weekend I decide to stay in BHM you all holding a meetup in Huntsville, then the weekend I go to Huntsville you're in my neck of the woods :P
posted by isauteikisa at 11:47 AM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Where are you going next, isauteikisa? Just so we can plan to somehow go to the opposite of there.
posted by Secretariat at 12:49 PM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


I just found out I have a thing on Friday evening, unfortunately, so I think I will have to set this meetup for Saturday. Sorry, wearyaswater. I'm an intern, so I don't always get that much advance notice on things!

Does meeting at 5pm sound good? We'll probably aim to get into town earlier and do some sightseeing- I hear there's a Vulcan.
posted by Secretariat at 6:03 AM on July 15, 2015


As for locations, Trim Tab sounds good- but is the nearby tapas restaurant Sol y Luna? Google is telling me that it's permanently closed.
posted by Secretariat at 10:03 AM on July 15, 2015


5pm Saturday works for hollyholly & me. BitterOldPunk's suggestion of Babalu Tacos & Tapas sounds great. Trim Tab brewery is excellent also.

Saw's BBQ is really tasty too.
posted by gregr at 2:32 PM on July 15, 2015


No worries, we'll probably take a break from the festivities and try to have a beer, at least.
posted by wearyaswater at 3:38 PM on July 15, 2015


Five PM Saturday works for us!

Yeah, Babalu is the tapas place in thinking of. It's not going to change your life, but the tamales are good, the redfish tacos are good, pretty much everything I've eaten there has been good. It ain't Saw's, that's for sure. But Trim Tab's beer is so much better than Avondale's. So much better.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:05 AM on July 16, 2015


I'm in. You do owe it to yourselves to try Saw's while you're here, though. Their BBQ place in Homewood & their Soul Kitchen location in Avondale are both so, so good.
posted by elizard at 9:35 AM on July 16, 2015


Maybe we'll try to hit Saw's for lunch? It does sound really good. Or else we'll just come back next weekend.
posted by Secretariat at 1:06 PM on July 16, 2015


Alabama has excellent BBQ. I'm partial to original Dreamland & Archibald's in Tuscaloosa.
posted by gregr at 9:51 PM on July 16, 2015


Saw's is HIGHLY recommended for lunch.
posted by isauteikisa at 10:18 PM on July 16, 2015


Ahh, Saw's was really good!
posted by Secretariat at 11:12 AM on July 18, 2015


We'll see y'all shortly. I look like me and I'm wearing my red butts lol t-shirt.
posted by cortex at 2:42 PM on July 18, 2015


That was fun! It was great to meet everybody. Next time we are definitely going to The Garage, though.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:31 PM on July 18, 2015


Agreed, this was really great! (And would you believe this was my first MeFi meetup?) I'd love to go again next time you guys are in Birmingham, schedule permitting. The Garage looks super cool.

PS: I totally forgot to take any photos! I really hope the candid cortex took turned out semi-decent, instead of catching me with a mouthful of broccolini.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:42 PM on July 18, 2015


Thanks everybody for coming out, I had a blast. It was great meeting you all in person. We'll keep IRL posted if we're getting up to other stuff in the area.
posted by cortex at 6:41 AM on July 19, 2015


Yeah, I had a great time! Lovely to meet you all (plus a bonus non-mefite!) hollyholly or someone else- could you remind me what southern food website/group/cookbook we were talking about at the tapas place, regarding vegetables? I'm afraid I already forgot. Something like Southern Life, Southern Way....

If anyone is interested in travelling to distant meetups, you could temporarily extend your search radius for a month or so- we'll be doing another Huntsville meetup one way or another, and we'll probably try to call one in Mobil, AL. (BitterOldPunk, I think your search radius is already embiggened- your comment in the previous Huntsville meetup thread was what reminded us we should visit Birmingham)
posted by Secretariat at 7:56 AM on July 19, 2015


The Southern Foodways Alliance is what elizard and I were talking about. Also, here's the source recipe for mine and gregr's tomato pie, though our crust is the biscuit from The Joy of Cooking, and we do the goat cheese variation.

We had such a good time! Both of us have resolved to make a post on the blue. I also embiggened my meetup radius.
posted by hollyholly at 10:18 AM on July 19, 2015


I added that picture I took!
posted by cortex at 10:26 AM on July 19, 2015


Hey - sorry we had to leave early but glad we got to meet everyone. Totally down for more!
posted by wearyaswater at 3:09 PM on July 19, 2015



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