Month: April 2017

Celebrity’s Soul Food of Gainesville… a New Favorite in downtown!

Okay, I know I usually blog about Craft Beer related bars, breweries and other related activities, but I wanted to take the time to give a proper shout out to a new business in town that not only delivers good food but great service.

Some of my coworkers have told me about a new place in downtown Gainesville that they have frequented a couple of times for lunch. And their rave reviews and an invite to join them more than once had piqued my curiosity.

Friday that curiousity was sated with a visit to Celebrity’s Soul Food of Gainesville. It’s located downtown right next to Mark’s in Union Station and worth finding a parking spot or going to the garage across the street to pay for parking. Luckily I was working downtown today so parking was not an issue and I walked there with a couple of coworkers at lunch time.

We were immediately greeted by a friendly hostess and seated at a booth not far from the bar area. The décor is not what you would normally expect. As my friend the Blarneyman would say, “It’s very posh!” Very nice color scheme and comfortable seating and an upscale atmosphere. Check out the chandelier behind the hostess station when you walk in (below). All of the tables had replicas of the Hollywood sign in on them, and the menus were replicas of the envelopes from an awards show, with the “Nominees” listed inside. And the music playing in the background was some great classic soul music from the 70s & 80s, which is some of my favorite music to chill to.

A hint of the interior décor
The menu cover – Can you feel the anticipation?!
Menu has a wide variety of choices.

Our waiter was “Mr. Hollywood”, was very friendly and knowledgeable of the menu and took our drink orders quickly, then returned and answers a coupe of questions about the menu and took our lunch orders as well.

We sat and talked for a short time, then a woman named “Lady J” came out and greeted us. I think she recognized my coworkers from previous visits cause she greeted them like old friends. They pointed out it was my first visit and she gave me a nice warm welcome and asked what we had ordered. When I told he I had ordered the buffalo chicken she said she would be right back with something for me. Then she asked if I liked the white meat or the dark meat. I said it didn’t matter as long as I had some hot sauce. She laughed and said not to worry about that. Not long after she came back with a small plate with a piece of fried chicken breast on and a small side of hot sauce and told me to give that a try. Then she was off to greet some more folks.

Fried chicken with a side of hot sauce – Yummy!!!

I have to tell you the chicken was great. I loved the seasoning they used in the breading and the skin had a nice crunchy texture. It was so good I ate everything but the bone.

While I was working on that Mr. Hollywood brought out our orders. The sandwich I ordered was huge and filled most of the plate, but still left enough room for a large helping of the truffle fries. Both were delicious. The sandwich had slices fried chicken with hot sauce on it, with tomatoes, lettuce and pickles on it, which were a great combo. And the truffle fries were perfect, light and tasty. My only problem was that with the fried chicken piece Lady J brought out for me I could only eat half the sandwich and fries and had to get a to go box.

My Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Truffle fries in the foreground and my co-workers Pork Chop smothered in gravy in the background.

My one coworker ordered the Pork Chop smothered in gravy served on a bed of rice and a couple of sides, all of which she enjoyed and, to me, looked delicious. My other coworker enjoyed her meal as well, but I can’t remember what it was because it was eclipsed by the order of Mac and Cheese Waffle she had gotten brought out to her (see below).

Mac and Cheese Waffle – The best way to eat Mac & Cheese!

She shared a taste of it with the other two of us and we all just loved it! It was nice and cheesy on the inside of the waffle with a lightly crunchy exterior on the outside. I will never eat Mac & Cheese any other way ever again after having this. It has ruined all other Mac & Cheeses for me for life!

I have to say this place hits all the right check marks on my lists.

  1. Good location
  2. Nice atmosphere
  3. Friendly and knowledgeable staff
  4. Great food

Check, Check, Check and Check!!!

I scoped the place out a little while we were there. It has a nice cozy bar area stocked with a variety of hard liquors and wines and beers on draft including some craft beers and at least one local brewery (Hah! tied it into craft beer after all!) I understand that on the weekends they will also feature some live bands. I can think of no reason not to go back to this place and am looking forward to the next visit.

You can find a little bit more about them on the website here.

Or just go and experience it yourself.

Papabear

 

Happy National Beer Day!!!

84 years ago on April 7th, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act, legalizing the purchase, sale and consumption of beer, for the first time since the start of Prohibition.

Since that dark and ominous day in January of 1920 when alcohol consumption in the U.S. was banned nationally, this day marks the first glimpse of sunlight for a nation that not only saw one of it’s favorite guilty pleasures being forcibly banned, but also saw the rise of organized crime and an uptick in unemployment as hundreds of distilleries, breweries and wineries were closed forcing thousands to be sent home jobless.

The only breweries that survived those tumultuous times were those could turn their breweries into producers of some other types of products. Very few were capable of doing that.

Before Prohibition there were over 4,000 breweries in the U.S. and after prohibition that number dwindled down to a few hundred, most of them being own by the large corporate giants, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors and Pabst Brewing. The entry of America into WWII helped to increase the production of beer because it was a morale booster for the troops as well as those at home.

The rise of commercialism in the 50s and 60s made sure that the big producers could keep their foothold on the beer market. And the introduction of light beer in the 70s was an obvious grab for the women of America’s purse strings, as more and more of them were entering the work force. America had an all time low of 42 breweries in operation by 1978 pushing out the watered down, low taste that American Lager had become. Then a little miracle happened.

On October 14, 1978, H.R. 1337 was signed into law, legalizing the home production of a small amount of beer or wine for personal consumption. With a pen stroke, then President Jimmy Carter, began the movement that has become known as Craft Beer today.

My owl little Catalyst Fermentation System with my home-brewed White Gables Pale Ale
The measuring of OG (Original Gravity). When compare to the FG (Final Gravity) this gives you the ABV (percent of alcohol).
Getting ready to bottle.
The finished product. And it tasted delicious!

As of March 28, 2017 the official number of breweries in the US has now reached 5,301 and continues to grow. Even if each of these breweries only produced five different styles of beer, that would be over 26,000 different beers in the US to choose from, not including the imports. And I guarantee the number of styles produced is far greater. These breweries have employed well over a hundred thousand people and this number should continue to grow. Craft brewers alone were responsible for producing over 23.5 billion dollars of income in the US in 2016.

So in honor of National Beer Day why don’t you and your fellow beer guzzlers drop on down to the local brewery, or micro brewery or pub and hoist a cold one. You certainly have enough to choose from.

Papabear