Birthday Bookends

First, a very quick refresher, in case you’ve forgotten. (We all have a lot on our minds right now, don’t we?) I don’t just celebrate my birthday - I stretch it a week. A week both ways. The party begins a week before and ends a week after, and I might even tack on an extra day or so if the beginning or end falls in the middle of the weekend, because why not?

This year I for sure tacked on a couple of days at the beginning because we were on the road, and that’s yet another excuse for fun eating. Birthday eating is great. (No rules.) Travel eating is great. (Road rules.) Birthday travel eating is like 2+2=5. Impossibly delicious.

I’ve talked a bit about what happened in the middle, and now we’re going to hit the edges. A few days before birthday week officially began, we were in North Carolina, on the way to deliver Son to grad school. Younger Brother recommended several places near his house, one of which was CAVA, a sort of build-yourown dish Mediterranean restaurant.

Build-your-own meal places have a lot in common: you move down a line, eyeballing lots of individual ingredient options, and either make your own selections or trust the establishment’s “curated” combinations. I struggled. Some of their already-created plates looked really good, and to be quite honest, it was late and my brain was too pooped to whoop. But in the name of creativity, I took a shot and built my own.

At CAVA you start with a base: greens, grains, greens and grains, or pita. Then you add proteins, dips and sauces, toppings (veggies, mostly) and dressings. I started with black lentils. I don’t think I’ve ever had them before, and I was curious. Plus, they looked really cool. Turns out, I made a great choice: a little sweet, a little nutty, a little chewy, and they seemed to work well with everything else I chose.

The next choices were eggplant/red pepper dip (a modified baba ganoush, more or less), tzatziki sauce (very traditional), and Crazy Feta. At the time, I had no idea what Crazy Feta was, but it was by far my favorite. I’ve looked back and discovered they take red onion and jalapenos, cook them with Greek olive oil in a skillet, and add the feta. Apparently this is sold at Whole Foods now, so I’ll definitely be looking for it the next time I’m near one.

I chose two proteins. The first, honey harrissa chicken, which was a bit on the spicy side but tame enough for my taste buds. The second, falafel. I’ve had falafel in a lot of places, and these were different than any I’ve had. The ingredients were traditional: chickpeas and herbs. But these had a slightly different texture - maybe a little chunkier, but still tender. And a hint of sweet, somehow. They were really good - I’d probably skip the chicken next time and get all falafel. Fal-all-fel. The closest CAVA location is Nashville. What would Uber Eats charge me, I wonder?

On the trip back through Charlotte, we hit another recommendation of Younger Brother called Sugar Donuts. We got several to try, but I must tell you about the donut breakfast sandwich. This was an extra large “savory” donut, sliced like a bagel and stuffed with a slice of ham, muenster cheese, and an egg - then dusted with parmesan for good measure. This was a situation where travel eating was more of a challenge, as the egg turned out to be over medium. But The Wife helped navigate the cutting and there was minimal dripping while driving. Anyway, a little yolk in my lap would have been worth it.

Fast forward to the end of the week (the end of the two weeks, that is). The Wife and I took advantage of our newly-emptied nest and declared a birthday date night at The Camphouse. A couple of months ago I was having a conversation with someone who is wellconnected to this establishment, and I learned that they had a dish on the menu called Cajun Seafood and Grits. I know you won’t believe this (but maybe you will): around this same time one of those “Facebook memories” reminders popped up with a picture of a birthday a few years ago, also celebrated at the Camphouse. In it was a picture of a little cast iron skillet with barbecue shrimp and a little scoop of grits, and another picture of a steak with a side of Smash Hash. This year we went bigger and better.

Instead of just a side of Smash Hash, it’s now available as an appetizer. A big plate of gold potatoes, baked then smashed on the griddle to achieve a combination of velvety potato and crispy edges. Oh, and let’s

not forget the melted cheese, red onion, and chunks (not bits) of bacon. And instead of a few bites of grits and a handful of shrimp, I celebrated with a big bowl of sauteed shrimp and crawfish tails in a decadent Cajun

butter cream sauce with cheese grits. Despite all the mess that 2020 has brought us, it’s been a good year for shrimp and grits.

I need to also give a shout-out to Proof Bakery for an end-ofbirthday-week lunch that same day. The lunch special was a gouda and bacon grilled cheese with iced coffee. The bread was thick and toasted just right, the combo of cheeses was nice and melty, and I even got an extra piece of bacon. It was my birthday (sort of) after all.

From crazy feta on fancy falafel to top shelf shrimp and grits. Donut sandwich to gourmet grilled cheese. Birthday bookends to beat the band. And a little alliteration to boot.