Dining Out Southeast: Lulu's Place, Anniston, AL

 

We have heard promising reports about Lulu's Place in downtown Anniston.  I chose this restaurant to celebrate my recent birthday.

Granted, we did arrive for an early dinner around 5 p.m.  We were the only diners in the restaurant.  Instead of being a tad concerned that no one was there, I looked on the pleasant positive side that I didn't have to share my birthday meal with loud patrons, unruly kiddos who are being ignored by their parents and are allowed to be unruly, and delays in service and food due to a large crowd.  I had my own private dining room!  Win/Win.

Here's the menu.  Although touting themselves as Coastal Cuisine, there was a limited selection of seafood dishes as a main course.  I wish there had been a seafood pasta, crab cakes, or fried or grilled shrimp.  Maybe those will be added at some point.

The Birthday Girl chose a Lemon Drop Martini to start the celebration.

Sweet Harold went with his favorite standby:  Long Island Iced Tea.

We wanted to try something different (for us) for our appetizer.  Elaina, our server, helped in that decision.  We were really torn between the Deviled Eggs with Candied Bacon and Truffle Oil and the Crawfish Eggrolls with Cajun Remoulade.  We were regretfully informed that they were currently out of the eggrolls so the decision was made.  

The presentation was lovely.  The filling was smooth, creamy, and had a nice flavor with the addition of the Dijon mustard.  The candied bacon was a nice contrast and the truffle oil was present without being overwhelming.

We each selected a side salad as our next course.  Salad dressing choices were Ranch, Blue Cheese, and a Vinaigrette.  We both chose Blue Cheese.  The salad was a generous serving with spring mix greens, onions, tomatoes, and the previously mentioned Blue Cheese dressing.  The salad had been tossed in the dressing like you would for a Caesar salad.  But here is where I had to stop and ponder for a moment.  Freshly grated cheddar cheese as a topping.  Not a bit of blue cheese crumbles to accent the dressing, but shredded cheddar.  After I got over my puzzlement, I was surprised at how well it all worked together.  But it was different, nonetheless.

On to the main course.

Sweet Harold chose the Halibut:  pan seared fillet over sweet corn bisque, sauteed Swiss chard, and a corn salsa.  

He loved everything about this dish.  The fish was lightly breaded and perfectly cooked.  The corn bisque was indeed sweet and creamy.  The charred corn salsa was, in his words, "absolutely delicious."

I had my heart set on grilled snapper or grouper or maybe fried oysters.  Sadly, not on the menu.  So I went the opposite direction and ordered the New York Strip.

The Strip was topped with a peppercorn demi glaze (sic) and fried onion strips.  The steak was extremely tender and cooked to the exact medium that I had requested.

The demi glaze (sic) was delicious.  The menu listed the side as steak frites.  However, these were what I recognize as "sidewinder" fries topped with grated Parmesan.  They were served nice and hot.  I enjoyed them.

As we were finished our last few bites, another couple arrived to dine.  Maybe in our advanced age we are simply dining too early for the dinner crowd to have arrived.

Pluses:  The food was delicious, service was attentive, and the cocktails were well crafted.  

Ideas for improvement (although I wasn't asked):  more Gulf seafood options for dinner entrees, bread or crackers to accompany the salad, and some blue cheese crumbles to go along with the blue cheese dressing.

All in all, a nice birthday meal.