There are only two kinds of people in the world: The Irish and those who wish they were.

I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but my favorite holiday is St. Patrick's Day.  And not because I'm looking for an excuse to party or because I like gimmicky things like green beer (ew).  I'm actually half Irish, though I definitely take after the non-Irish side of the family.  As you can imagine, I'm also really into the musical aspect of March 17th....bagpipes are my favorite instrument behind only the banjo (and maybe the accordion).  I love the Celtic influences on bluegrass music, and I certainly will never say no to a good Irish drinking song.  Unfortunately, the Irish aren't exactly known for their cuisine.  And so, in my first attempt to make this blog about something more than just food, let's chat about Columbia's annual St. Pat's in 5 Points festival.

Senor O'Malley's - The Irish Pub Taco Shack

It's baseball season now, which means this Hungry Lady has one more thing she needs to attempt to fit into her absurdly busy schedule.  As a season ticket holder, I make it to just about every home game (except those that conflict with my classes...like the Florida / Carolina series.  Not happy about that).  Since Saturday games usually end right around dinner time, they're really the perfect lead in to trying a new place with the friends who share a group of tickets.


About a week ago, A, L, and I happily watched our Gamecocks beat Clemson in yet another sporting event.  Afterwards, we wanted to celebrate, so we headed to Five Points for some dinner and drinks.  Usually our go-to spot is Delaney's, but this time around we decided to try something new.  So we went to Senor O'Malley's, the Irish Pub Taco Shack.  


Wait.  What?  Yes, Columbia has it's first Irish / Mexican fusion restaurant.  At least that's what I was hoping for.  I had glorious visions of shepherd's pie served in a taco shell.  That wasn't so much what I got.  Instead, Senor O'Malley's offers traditional pub fare - burgers, sandwiches, fish & chips, shepherd's pie, etc. - and an assortment of tacos.  Still not a bad combination, seemingly designed for those people who can't decide what it is they want to eat.  Or really for those who may have partaken in a bit too much of an illegal substance.  Either way, it's an interesting concept, and in an area of town really devoted to college students (and those of us who, despite being out of college for several years, are still too broke to afford to go out in the Vista on a regular basis), it will likely do well.

Dianne's on Devine, Take Two.

You may remember that I took a trip to Dianne's on Devine during restaurant week.  You may also remember that although our food was beyond amazing, our service wasn't.  Obviously I wrote about it.  Well, the entry caught the attention of the lovely folks at Dianne's, and they encouraged me to get in touch with Dianne and talk through it.  So I did.  We had a nice little chat, with a lot of apologizing and some reassurances that the food was some of the best I've ever had.  It ended with Dianne offering to send me a gift card so that I could come in again and the staff could make it up to me.  Though I assured her that wasn't necessary, she insisted, and so a few weeks after my initial visit, I found myself in Dianne's dining room.

Meals in Photos

I'm playing catch-up today.  I have so many photos and meals to share with y'all.  I was going to give each one its own post, but for some I just don't have enough to say.  Surprising, right?  I think by now you are all aware that I'm a little wordy.  Way back in 2006, someone even nicknamed me "verbiage."  Annoying, but really rather accurate.  So.  Since I don't have much to say, y'all are going to get what essentially amounts to a pictures-only post.  Enjoy!  And if you have questions about any of the meals pictured, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'll give you more details.


And now, without further ado, please take a look at this Hungry Lady's somewhat questionable photo abilities:

The Hungry Lady's Travels: Gullifty's Restaurant

Have you ever heard of Rosemont, Pa.?  If you're reading this anywhere other than the Philadelphia area, the answer is probably "no."  And that's just fine.  It's a tiny town, that tends to be lumped together with it's slightly more famous neighbors: Bryn Mawr (where Katharine Hepburn and Betty Draper from Mad Men went to college) and Villanova (which also probably doesn't mean anything to you unless you follow college basketball or you're Catholic).    At any rate, Rosemont is about 15 minutes from my mom's house, so a few months ago when my sister and I were home for Christmas (have I mentioned how far behind I am in blogging?) my mom took us out to dinner at a restaurant that is pretty well known in the area, but not necessarily outside of the Main Line. For those of you not up on your suburban Philadelphia geography, the Main Line is a part of the western suburbs that runs right along Rt. 30, straight into Center City.  They built a train route parallel to this route, and ever since, the towns along this route have been referred to as the Main Line.


But I digress.  On to the food!  We went to Gullifty's, a place that has decent beer, pretty good food, and is relatively casual.  Gullifty's has been around for awhile - I remember going there in second grade, and that was about 20 years ago.  Their menu has a ton of options from apps to salads to burgers to grinders (hot hoagies, again for those of you not from the Philadelphia area) to handspun pizzas to full sized entrees to sandwiches.  There really is something for everyone, at a fairly reasonable price.  Clearly it was the perfect spot for my mom to take her two fabulous daughters whom she rarely sees because they live too far away.  Of course, she does always have the option to visit...

Open That Bottle Night at Terra

Even though I don't eat there very often (between grad school, work, and a limited budget, it's takes all I have to even remember to eat), Terra is one of my favorite spots in Columbia. Terra was the first restaurant in SC that I reviewed for this blog, and it really set the standard for restaurants in town.  Needless to say, when the lovely PR folks at Terra emailed me about an event, I happily agreed to convey the details to y'all.

Mark your calendars for this Saturday (February 25) night and call to make your reservations, because Terra is hosting Open That Bottle Night.  What does this mean?  It means that on Saturday, you can grab some friends or significant other and the bottle(s) of wine you've been saving for a special occasion and head to Terra.  You'll be able to enjoy some spectacular food and not have to pay the corkage fee for your wine.  Sounds good to me.  Terra won't be featuring a special OTBN menu, but you can bet that there will be some pretty spectacular food.  No really.  Check out the menu. Tell me that you don't want to order one of everything.  I would highly recommend the lamb mac & cheese, quack madame, quail, and cannelloni.  And anything off of the dessert menu.  Or really anything on the menu in general.


You can read the full press release for the event after the jump.  If you go, definitely make a reservation.  And, since wine doesn't last long enough in my house for me to have a "special occasion" bottle, if you go and want to review it for me, just shoot me an email.

Restaurant Week SC, part 3: Villa Tronco

Better late than never, right?  The last stop on my Restaurant Week journey was Villa Tronco.  Like so many other places around town, I had often been told that I should go to Villa Tronco, but I had never had the chance, until RW presented itself.  Villa Tronco, of course, had a special RW menu, featuring four courses. I happily ate my way through all four delicious courses, and then promptly fell into a food coma when I got home.  Definitely the sign of a good meal.

Blogger Lunch Date: Momo's Bistro

Last week, I had the chance to take care of two things that have been on my to-do list for much longer than they should have been: check out Momo's Bistro and have lunch with fellow blogger extraordinaire, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is the mastermind behind Gastronomy (By a Wanna Be Chef), and the two of us have been talking about grabbing lunch since this summer.  Things finally worked out in our favor, and we met at Momo's last week to discuss food, families (on her end), grad school (on my end), and all kinds of other randomness.


Momo's lunch menu isn't terribly extensive, but it still manages to have a great selection of classic sandwiches, salads, and larger entrees.  It took us a little while to order because we were spending more time talking that looking at the menu.  Oops.  Anyway, when we finally did order, E went with the French Dip.  I know what you're thinking: How boring.  Let me tell you, this sandwich was anything but boring (at least that's what I heard).  See, Momo's makes their French dip with pot roast instead of roast beef.  I know, right?  Amazing.  And they top it with Gruyere cheese, instead of the more conventional provolone or Swiss. E was a huge fan, especially after she tried the au jus, which reportedly had a really rich flavor that just made the sandwich.


Please note that I have borrowed the pictures in this post from Elizabeth, as hers turned out infinitely better than mine did.

Look at all that cheese!  And you can just tell that the roll is crunchy.

Since I peeked at the menu before I left work for lunch, I was pretty positive that I was going to get the fish tacos.  These, like the French dip, were not your run-of-the-mill fish tacos.  These were made, not with mahi mahi or tilapia, but with grouper.  I love grouper, so you can just imagine how excited I was about these. The two tacos were served on corn tortillas and stuffed, and I do mean stuffed, with red cabbage, pineapple salsa, guacamole, and of course, grilled grouper.  Each taco was double wrapped - two tortillas per taco - probably since corn tortillas are a little more fragile than flour tortillas.  In this case, they were still delicate, but the extra two tortillas allowed me to split up some of the insides so that I could get the taco down to a more manageable size.  The fish was utterly divine.  It was tender and just perfectly done.  The cabbage added a nice crunch, and between the pineapple salsa and the lime served on the side, there was just the right amount of acidity.  Side note: I love that this was served with a lime instead of a lemon.  The entire plate was just gorgeous, but it tasted even better.  And, it was light and refreshing, which was perfect for the sunny, 75 degree weather that we were having in Columbia (in February.  I love this town).

Isn't that just beautiful?  It was crisp and light too.

I would go back to Momo's for lunch in a heartbeat.  I'd love to try them for dinner too.  Or maybe for brunch. Actually definitely for brunch.  I just looked at that menu, and now I'm starving.  I suppose that's an occupational hazard.  Anyway.  Y'all should head on out to Momo's when you get a chance.  It's definitely worth the trip, at least for lunch, but if dinner and brunch are anywhere near as good as our meal was, you'll be safe no matter what time of day you head out.

Final Rating

You can find Momo's on Facebook, Twitter, or on the web. Also, make sure to check out Elizabeth's post on our lunch date at her blog. 

Restaurant Week SC part 2 - A trip to Rosso

For my first restaurant week adventure about two weeks ago, L and I headed to Rosso.  Both of us had been wanting to try it for quite some time, but somehow and never managed to fit it in to our schedules.  Thankfully, RW provided us with the perfect opportunity.


First, let's talk about the atmosphere.  I pretty much fell in love with Rosso the second we walked in the door.  It's intimate and dark, but not overly so.  The walls are painted a fabulous garnet color (always a plus in Gamecock country), and the decor, at least around our table, appeared to be artwork from local artists.  The restaurant is a very open space.  The way our booth was positioned, we were actually looking out over the rest of the restaurant.  If only we had been gnawing on a giant turkey leg, it would have been very Henry VIII.  There was also a guy playing some rather Rat Pack-esque songs, which is always a plus in my book.  And he was actually good, so that helped.

Afternoon Delight - World Beer Festival Returns to Columbia

This is the first in what I hope will be a long line of guest posts.  The lovely April Blake, who writes her own awesome blog, The April Blake, was fortunate enough to win a ticket to the World Beer Festival held in Columbia this past weekend.  My beer drinking self really wanted to go, but already had plans.   Take a look below at what April had to say, and then make sure you pop over to her blog to check things out.  And April....next time, in order to keep track of your beers, may I suggest the use of the Untappd app?  It's kind of like 4Square for beers.

Imagine the guy that announces WWE wrestling matches saying this: "Are you ready for the Woooorld Beeeer Festivaaaal (recap)? "

According to the State paper, there were around 3,000 attendees at the early afternoon session of the WBF and I believe it. Despite cramming that many people into the two levels of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center with the goal of tasting as many two ounce samples of beer as possible, the crowd was a real delight. I wasn't stepped on, shoved, spilled on, or yelled at the entire time, which is more than I can say for a typical Saturday night out in the Vista. Upon entry, my friends and I received a miniature plastic souvenir beer cup, a perfect sampling size. We started on the main level and worked our way through the crowd to start at the Abita Brewery booth. Already a fan of their Purple Haze, I tried Turbodog, which was a bit thicker of a beer than I would normally try, but in a two ounce realm, I enjoyed it. A whole pint, on the other hand, might be a bit much.

Next up was the Sam Adams booth, where they had Alpine Springs brand new beer available for sampling, and an old favorite of mine, Cherry Wheat. I started with Alpine Springs and told a representative on hand my opinions on the beer, which was that "it tastes like fresh mountain air." It was a clean crisp beer that I would definitely enjoy an entire pint glass worth when it comes to bars in the area.

I pictured myself as a brewer, then went back for a hit of Cherry Wheat. After three beers in my glass, I realized that I needed to clean the suds out but didn't want to wade through the crowd to a beer rinsing station just yet. Pro tip:snag a handful of napkins to keep on your person to clean out your glass between samples, especially when the prior beer was very thick or flavorful.We made our way around the room, some beers were delicious, and some were not so much. Chocolate stout? Yuck. Absolutely not, not ever. My hits were on the lighter side- wheat beers, IPAs, a few brown ales. But since we were there, the beer was there, and they were just small samples, I did dive into a few beers I was pretty sure I wouldn't like, and confirmed my dislike of thick tasting and feeling stouts and lagers. Beers with coffee or espresso notes didn't sit too well with me either despite loving both of those things in their own elements.