Hungry Hungry Huntsville

One of the sweetest parts of having my platform for so many years is that they sometimes lead to really fun invitations, and I want to make sure my new Huntsville friends get included in the good stuff too. 💛

The Chop House recently hosted my family and me for dinner at its new Madison location, and now I’m giving away a $100 gift card so one of you can gather your own people around the table.

Head to the original reel below for the full entry details, and be sure to enter there so your comment counts. 🥩🧀✨

Hungry Hungry Huntsville may be new, but sharing meals, discoveries and a little generosity with this community is exactly why I started it.

(Giveaway is linked to my instagram post below!)

The fine folks over at Mozza (Huntsville, Alabama) always treat us right and we generally visit once a week. It's good to be a "regular" somewhere, everyone likes a title and everyone oughta like the finest carbonara in town. I also, as you may can tell, really enjoy the bread...

Some restaurants don’t live in your memory because of the fanciest meal you’ve ever had.

Sometimes it’s just… the salsa. With glass carafes flowing with it so you can refill it on your own time

Thirty years later, I couldn’t have told you what I used to order at La Alameda. I was an incredibly picky kid. this is not the same location we went to back then —it used to be The Mill and we’d always eat there before I’d rent my 🎻 violin for the year next door at The Fret shop.

But I remembered the salsa.

I remembered those little refillable bowls sitting on the table. I remembered scooping “just one more chip” and of course dipping it in the queso second — that magic layered temperature and texture sensation I loved early on.
Somehow that salsa flavor memory outlasted dozens of birthdays, report cards, softball, and everything else life piled on top.

Today, Dad, Carolyn, Ryan, and I went back. Ryan got to experience La Alameda for the first time, and there they were… those familiar little salsa bowls and glass carafes, still making the rounds from kitchen to table like they’d never left.

Funny how food works. We think we’re collecting meals, but we’re really collecting moments. A basket of chips. The sound of a busy dining room. The person sitting across from us. The comfort of realizing some places still taste like they did in your childhood.

That’s just a small sliver of why I love documenting local restaurants. They’re more than menus. They’re landmarks in people’s lives. Certainly in mine.

And this little trip reminded me why salsa is so much more than an appetizer

It’s a memory.
Thank you La Alameda ☀️🔥
🌶️ Stay tuned…