Rockaways Athletic Club

Just a short thought if you are in the Columbia area:  you should try Rockaway's Athletic Club.  It's mostly a burger and fries restaurant, but it also has hot dogs.

Many say it has the best pimento cheese burgers they've every had.  There's one trick though: they don't have a sign so you have to know where it is to find it.

It's just a plain brick building with no sign from
the front, but it has an outdoor seating
area in the back.  

If you're wondering where you enter, look
 for this door.  Seriously, it's not that
clear, so look for this door.  

The no-sign thing makes you think it's kind of a
hole-in-the wall, but it's actually pretty nice inside.  

If you like pimento cheese (and don't get enough with the Pimento Cheese Burger), then get the Pimento Cheese Fries.  Yum.

Brioso Fresh Pasta

*This post is about a new restaurant in Columbia.  If you don''t live in Cola, or if you don't just like reading about new restaurants, keep on going.  You can come back tomorrow.  

If you didn't know, there is a new pasta place in Columbia by the USC campus (next to Yoghut).  Lindsay and I went to Brioso Fresh Pasta for our Friday night wind-down, and it was quite the interesting place.

First, it has a menu that's usually more at home in an upscale Itatlian restaurant.  For example, I had Gnocchi di Patate (potato dumplings) with Amatriciana sauce (Pancetta [Italian bacon] in spicy tomato sauce).  The price and style of service is more short-order though.  

Gnocci di Patate with Amatriciana
It was very good, and I
brought half of it home.  Leftovers!

The atmosphere was fun and different.  Instead of giving you a table number, they give you a unique pepper grinder that your server can match to your ticket.  

Our pepper grinder was named
"Snoop Dog." (Not by us.  By the servers.)

They also bring you this fun
chilled bottle of water for your table.  

The atmosphere is fun.  I felt like I was
in a NYC restaurant because it had
tons of ambiance yet seemed to
get you in and out really fast.

Linds and I decided that it's more of a place you go if you want to eat quickly/semi-cheaply and well, than if you want a nice meal out.  The food was really good though, and they pride themselves on making everything as freshly as possible.  

Also, if you have any room left you can just walk next door to Yoghut for dessert. Win-win.

Moe Monday!

If you aren't aware, many Moe's Southwest Grills run a special on Mondays call Moe Monday.  My roommate and I go every week.

On Moe Monday, you get any burrito, a drink, chips and salsa for $5.55.  Mmm, so so good.  If you think that eating a burrito every Monday could get old, there are many ways to mix it up:  get all different ingredients, drench it in queso, or get it streaker (in a bowl instead of a shell.  Add chips and you have a taco salad.)

Welcome to Moe's!

I feel like the salsa bar brings out the carnality
 in people.  I'm normally a patient, chill kind of
person, and then I get to the salsa bar, and
then all of the sudden we're all boxing people
out and huffing and puffing.  

Call me a creature of habit, but every Monday I get exactly
four cups of salsa, always the same combination:
Keyzer Salsa and Tomatillo.  (Thanks Mer for
introducing me to this combination.  It's a keeper.)

The Moe's in Columbia have a survey
at the bottom of your receipt, and they
give you a free cup of queso for filling
 it out.  Linds and I take turns doing it.  

My Burrito.

My Burrito Partner.  

The Hunter-Gatherer

Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer...

That's not the chant of a primitive society... it's what runs through my head every time I think about my favorite Columbia restaurant.

You can visit the H-G website here.

If you live in the greater Columbia area and have never eaten at the Hunter-Gatherer microbrewery shame, shame on you!  The H-G is downtown in an old mill close to campus, and is open for dinner most nights and for lunch on Fridays.  There's often live music on the weekends, and the food is all made fresh on the premise.  One of the best things about the H-G  is the menu, which has all kinds of fun and special twists on your favorite foods, and all are tried-and-true.  Its mix of unassuming atmosphere and accessible, yummy gourmet food just isn't matched.

I've been trying to go for months (seriously) and finally made it today with some of my friends from work. Pictures ensue.

Anna Claire got the Chicken Pot Pie, one of the current specials.  

I got the HG Burger.   You can pick from many cheeses:  cheddar, horseradish Favarti, feta, smoked Gouda, Gorgonzola, ESB Pimento Cheese.  I asked if I could get goad cheese instead, which is so good.  Their standard side is hash-browns (which are great) but I always substitute a salad because their dressings are tasty.   

  Kitty got the Bruce Pizza:  Applewood smoked bacon, Gorgonzola, and mozzarella.  

Lindsay got the HG Mac-N-Cheese:  Smoked Gouda, Cheddar, and Goldfish Cracker Crust.

Our dessert was here, but it didn't really make it long enough to be photographed.  Just picture a Molten Chocolate Cheesecake and you'll get the drift. 

Next time you are in Columbia and thinking of going to the H-G give me a call and I'll be right over.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer.  Hunter-Gatherer...