I freaking love BBQ.  There is no question about it.  People will always be like beef or pork, and I’ll be like, ummm, both?  I have no preference when it comes to the meat smoked.  I love cows and pigs equally.

Saw’s BBQ was just in the running to be voted best BBQ by Garden and Gun magazine.  They unjustly did not win, but that doesn’t stop all of us Alabamians from knowing the truth.  Saw’s BBQ is the best.  I did a post on the Saws in Homewood awhile back, but I had always wanted to go to Juke Joint just to check it out.

And, it was still delicious.  Juke Joint has a separate full bar area, and it has more room than the one in Homewood.  I just love driving up to a BBQ place and smelling the smoked meat goodness.

Take a look at the inside:

And then of course the food!  I’m a sucker for a good ole pork BBQ sandwich, and I always ask for white BBQ sauce.  Their white BBQ sauce is out of this world good.  And then of course with a side of collards.  Soo good.

B got a mix of the BBQ ribs with potato salad and fried green tomatoes.  I am really picky with potato salad (like really picky), but I love theirs!  Not too mustardy or mayonnaisey with anything crazy crunchy in it.  It’s good!  And of course their fried green tomatoes were on par with the rest of the meal.

If you are in Alabama, do yourself a favor and stop by one of the Saw’s locations.  I promise you need to try what the rest of us here are already talking about.

A couple weekends ago, B and I wanted breakfast.  We had headed down to Pepper Place Farmer’s Market for their first market of the year, but weren’t really super impressed with their breakfast offerings.  Or I was being super picky that day. Yeah, probably that one.

Either way, we were headed toward the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (which by the way if you have never been in one of these, you should go —  we got both our doors for downstairs for a total of $50 bucks), so we wanted something headed that way.

So we searched for something close, and Crestwood Coffee Co popped up, and we were like, why not?!  The food from their site sounded delicious and they had coffee.

So in we went.  We got a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit (this thing was huge and the biscuit was so good) and a cinnamon bun, and we both got café au laits.  Upon further inspection we did find out that they’ve got a bar too.  AND they were playing Scooby Doo on their TVs.  They’ve got art on the walls and books lined up everywhere.

They’ve got muffins and all sorts of other assorted goodness for lunch, as well.  Take for instance yesterday:  For lunch they had Jambalaya and pulled pork sandwiches, as well as delicious soups — plus on Tuesdays, they do hot dog Tuesdays.  I feel like I need to partake in that.

If you’re looking for a chill local place, this is definitely it.  The service was great, the food was great, and my café au lait was delicious!!

If you’ve been down in Lakeview, it’s no secret that there are some awesome places to eat.  You’ve got Jack Browns, Slice, Babalu, Moe’s… just to name a few.  So when BYOB Rocks opened up across the street from Slice, I was really anxious to try it out.

And we had a girls night coming up, so we figured why not.  It was a burger joint that was dedicated to the local music scene, so how bad could it be?

Well, I have to say that this is definitely not my most favorite place.  Besides one of the waiters being really rude to one of the girls there (walking away as she was talking to him), the food was really expensive for what it was.  The total bill came out to be $22, and that was just for me.  I had a burger, some tater tots and a Sprite.  Granted the burger was pretty big (big enough for me to bring home half to the hubs), and the taters were completely loaded, but it still just seemed a little much.

I got the Vallejo burger and the chili cheese tots.  The Vallejo had pepperjack cheese, caramelized onions, poblano pepper, aioli, and arugula.  It wasn’t a terrible burger, but it wasn’t the greatest either.  They had just been opened a week, and I’ve already noticed that they’ve added some menu items to their online ordering.

BYOB stands for Build Your Own Burger, and their entire premise is based on ordering online or with an app.  Which seems easy enough, but seems really inconvenient.  Ahhhh, that’s the old person in me, I guess.  Perhaps the younger millennials dig it — I don’t know.

I do know that the chili cheese tots were delicious, and so were the fried green tomatoes.  To learn more about them, visit their website here.

It’s no surprise that I love where I live — it is also zero surprise that I love to eat where I live.  Birmingham is so full of deliciousness everywhere (and hey Mojo and BYOB Rocks, I’m looking at you for my next eats!) and there’s new places popping up all the time.

One weekend, I was craving a whole bunch of different stuff and hubs indulged me.  It was amazing.  Fun fact about Makarios — B and I actually ate this the night we got engaged.  It’s a little Mediterranean place near Five Points in Birmingham that has amazing hummus.  I absolutely love their hummus — it is so smooth and they serve it with these amazing soft pitas.  Also, I don’t think they’d turn you down if you asked for more for your hummus.  I normally get the gyro (amazing — and the serving is huge!), and for this trip B got a rice dish with lamb, garlic and almonds. And he ordered it spicy, and it was just perfect.  The spicier the better for us!

Then, the next morning, I really  wanted breakfast food.  Usually I can survive with a bowl of cereal or toast, but I really wanted a breakfast full of biscuits and bacon.  We tried to go to Over Easy, but that place was packed out — it must be amazing, because this is the second time we’ve tried to get in, and we’re always just too hungry to wait.  So B was like, “I got this,” and we ended up at Bogue’s.  I have heard about this place, and only good things, so I was really excited.  This little space was amazing, and they have the most incredible black and white photos from their restaurant adorning the walls.  I would snatch one of those up in a heartbeat if it was for sale.  I am such a sucker for beautiful black and white photography.

Anyway, the food!!  You know how sometimes when you are at breakfast place and you order a glass of OJ, and they bring you this tiny little glass?  Not so at this place — they give you a giant glass.  For breakfast, I got the country scramble which was two open biscuits with scrambled eggs on top, and covered in black pepper gravy.  And not to mention the bacon on top, because if there is no bacon, what is the point of breakfast?  B was lame and got normal breakfast food, but his hash browns were pretty awesome.

Every day this city is growing and adding amazing places to eat and drink!  Aaaand now I’m hungry.  At 7am.  That’s not good.