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Aug
20
Guess who’s back…
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Y’all, this is the dawn of a new, happy, happy era. Al Amir is back downtown! La famille Shop Tart was their biggest fan when they were on Devine Street. When they decided to focus on their Irmo location, the whole family wept. Occasionally, they would get a fortuitous text message from Mr. Shop Tart.
court in irmo-town today
The response? A takeout order.
labneh, grape leaves, shawarma, baba, bread
Then the rumors started: Al Amir was coming back downtown, though not in its former location. It took a while - there were permits to be gotten, that sort of thing - but downtown Columbians can smile again, because Al Amir is back. The new location is on South Main, a few blocks away from the State House near Blossom Street. Right around the corner from Varsity Billiards, where the Shop Tart used to shoot pool a long, long time ago.
Eating lunch there yesterday was like coming home. The Shop Tart started with labneh, a creamy, yogurt cheese doused in spices and olive oil. It comes with pita bread, but the Shop Tart asked for a side of cucumbers for dipping because she’s trying to lay off the carbs.
Speaking of carbs, Al Amir’s new location doesn’t have a wood-burning oven yet, but it will. When it does, they’ll be serving delicious Damascus bread like the other location. The Shop Tart doesn’t care how pious and anti-carb you are, Damascus bread is the bomb and you must eat it. Eat the cucumbers, too, because they are delicious and an excellent complement to the Shop Tart’s beloved labneh.
She and her lunch companion also enjoyed insanely fresh tabbouleh.
True, the Shop Tart doesn’t usually have appetizers at lunch, but Al Amir is an exception. It’s impossible to choose just one dish. Impossible! For lunch, she had her old favorite, a falaheen salad with chicken shawarma. The chicken is mad flavorful and tender, the salad a lovely crisp counterpart.
Her companion had lamb with hummus, also divinely tasty.
This is where the Shop Tart must admit that she’s a ditz. Earlier, in her excitement over the re-opening of Al Amir, she ordered the wrong thing. Well, there’s no real wrong order at Al Amir, but she didn’t order what she intended. The dish that arrived was chicken over rice instead of salad. The kind people at Al Amir offered to replace the meal, even though it was all the Shop Tart’s fault, but she insisted on taking it home, knowing how thrilled her middle-school aged son would be with a fabulous dinner. Predictably, his face lit up when he saw the white box in the refrigerator and he loved it.
Yesterday evening, even though the Shop Tart had already enjoyed more delicious food in one day than any person deserves, she went to Terra for Camille Maurice’s Summer Daze Cocktail party to benefit the Nurturing Center. So much fun! There were fab door prizes, gorgeous appetizers by Chef Mike and tons of fun people. Everywhere the Shop Tart turned, there was someone else she wanted to talk to. She missed some of you and hopes you will call her for lunch soon! The Shop Tart does love a party with a good excuse. The Nurturing Center is a great organization offering treatment and services for families at-risk for child abuse and neglect. Kudos to Camille for keeping the FUN in fundraiser*.
After the party, the Shop Tart slipped back downtown to keep a dinner date with a friend at Garibaldi’s. This friend is an expert on the wedge salad - seriously, she can talk about it for a while, with nuance - and she orders the Garibaldi’s version “minus cucumber, add bacon”. The Shop Tart thinks bacon is a fine, fine substitute for cucumber.
The Shop Tart ordered a salmon special with capers, mushrooms and asparagus. Instead of rice, she enjoyed a side of bok choy. Fancy restaurants seem pricey until you realize your leftovers will make a great lunch the next day, possibly for two people. Can’t wait for lunch!
Although the day had been more than pleasurable already, the Shop Tart arrived home to find a box on the doorstep from her favorite shoe store in Georgetown, Hu’s. For the record, they are located in Georgetown in Washington DC, not South Carolina. The box contained a lovely pair of Té Casan cracked-metallic purple box-toe pumps.
Happily, they were on sale. Sadly, they were on sale because Té Casan closed its doors last year. Kicks may still have a pair or two on sale. They are edgy classics and if you can score some, you’ll wear them for a long time.
Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!
P.S. Are you hungry? Today and tomorrow, you can pick up a BBQ kit from the Happy Cafe. The kit includes two pounds of their delicious barbeque, a dozen rolls and a quart of coleslaw. Why not pick up a bag of romaine and some sunflower seeds, beg for some of their dill dressing, and try to recreate the Happy Cafe Chicken BBQ salad at home? Why not invite the Shop Tart for dinner? Call ahead, just in case they run out.
P.P.S. Congratulations to Revente’s first Woman of the Month, Rachel Silver. She received a $500 check for her favorite charity, the Child Care Project of Richland County Foster & Adoptive Parents Association. Do you know a woman that shops and/or consigns at Revente that has made an impact on the lives of others? If so, please nominate her for Revente’s Woman of the Month. E-mail nominations to revente@sc.rr.com. She will receive a check for $500.00 made out to the charity of her choice. Congratulations, Rachel!
* Was that the cheesiest sentence you’ve ever seen? But it was fun and Camille rocks!
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2 Responses to “Guess who’s back…”
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The Shop Tart Loves...
Thank you! I’m so glad you came… a party just isn’t the same without The Shop Tart!
BTW, YUM, I can’t wait to go to Al-Amir. I could live off of just tabbouleh and hummus and wine!
So Al Amir is approximately where Stuffy’s was?
Amazon has some Te Casan shoes. I’ll have to look at them more closely. Amazon often has great deals on designer shoes, and I can sort by size and style…