Big Lou's NY Style Pizzeria

Big Lou’s name isn’t kidding. Everything in this pizzeria is bigger. A slice of cheese for $2.75 is literally larger than my head. A small side salad, served with two garlicy rolls, is enough to feed three. Bringing home left overs is a must.

For a quick slice or a pizza party for 20, Big Lou’s NY Style Pizzeria caters to all. The no-frills tables are topped with dried garlic, Parmesan cheese and red pepper; the pizza is served on paper plates.

Pasta dishes and hot and cold subs go by the wayside to the calzones and pizzas, which can be topped with some 20 types of toppings, including mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers, fresh basil and even tempeh. Slices can add toppings too for a few cents more.

As one of the only places in Gainesville to serve cannolis, dessert is not to be missed. Just like everything else at Big Lou’s, the cannolis are larger than life (don’t listen when the waitress says one cannolo is only enough for one). The crunchy shells are overflowing with creamy filling and chocolate chips, just the way I love them.

At 8:15 p.m. on a Saturday night, every table is filled, and service is as it should be at a pizzeria, as fast as this post.

Big Lou's

5 S.E. 2nd Ave.

Gainesville, FL

352-335-7123

Tequila Moans and Groans

When it comes to tequila, you either get cheers or jeers. It’s a favorite of some, a nightmare for others, but it’s the only alcohol that has singers relentlessly singing its praises. Carrie Underwood blames not knowing her last name on the Cuervo. Cassidy is home and got the Patron for his drink and his two-step. After ten rounds with Jose Cuervo, Tracy Byrd loses count and starts counting again. The Champs like it so much that in the 1950s they created an instrumental song with the only word sung being "tequila" (for those of you a bit younger, think "The Sandlot," fair scene). Jimmy Buffet wastes away in Margaritaville. And Joe Nichols knows the secret to life for men – tequila makes her clothes fall off.

No matter what they sing, they all recite a universal truth: tequila makes us make bad decisions. If tequila is the drink of the night, we’re going out strong and probably not going to remember it the next day.

With Spring Break looming and sandy surroundings seizing my thoughts, tequila night in bartending class was highly anticipated.

Made from agave pinon, which is still harvested and tended to by hand, tequila considers itself the crème-de-la-crème of alcohol. If there’s a pretty bottle and a pretty package, you can bet there’s a pretty price. Tequila, more aptly a headache in a bottle, is so prestigious, in fact, that there are really only two drinks that tequila can make: a margarita or a tequila sunrise, both perfect for tiki bars somewhere tropical in the Caribbean.

For the heavyweights, however, tequila can be sipped straight or shot, with a lime in one hand and salt on the other. A celebratory chant (“arriba, abajo, al centro, para dentro”) may be in order, but watch out – one shot of tequila is enough to make a person legally drunk.

Mixto tequila, the type used in well drinks, such as Jose Cuervo or Montezuma, is artificially colored to mimic the more expensive, better tasting 100-percent-agave blanco, reposado and anejo types, which have all been aged for at least some time in oak barrels. No matter its age, all tequila comes from in and around the Tequila region of Mexico. Other alcohol made the same way as tequila but from a different region is called Mezcal and includes a signature worm that does nothing but add a fun gimmick.

Whatever the type, tequila gives us liquid courage to make infinite memories or lack there of, so sip on this while I search for my lost shaker of salt.

The Perfect Margarita

1 ¼ oz. of Patron

¾ oz. of Citronge

Sour Mix

Grand Marnier float on top

Margarita salt

Lime

Fill a margarita glass full of ice. Pour both shots over the ice (don’t be afraid of a heavy hand). Fill the rest of the glass with sour mix. Pour drink into a shaker and shake. Rub a lime around the outside of the glass and dip into margarita salt, being sure to only get it on the outside rim of the glass. Return the drink to the margarita glass and pour a little Grand Marnier on top as a float. Squeeze in 1/4 of the lime to top. And there you have it…disfruta!

Pad Thai in Gainesville

Life’s been quite busy lately. Between bartending class and working for some extra cash as a beer tub girl, I’ve been eating here and there, trying to be cheap and save a penny or two, but when a craving comes, there’s no denying it.

Thai food is my absolute favorite cuisine. I could easily slurp up peanuty pad thai noodles and chomp on mee krob, sticky, sweet crispy noodles, every day of the week. Nom sod, a spicy salad with ground pork (though I ask for ground chicken) topped with fresh with lime or lemon zest, finds its way to list of weekly cravings too. I have found “my thai place” in every city I have lived and in many of the places I have visited. My Gainesville Thai hunger pains led me to Bahn Thai.

Bahn Thai is attached to a motel, but don’t let that deter you. It has fabulous food. The dark interior, filled with an array of booths and tables, is not pretty nor ugly, but their food, specifically their pad thai, is superb. I order it to-go about once every two weeks, and the portion, piled into a heap in a Styro-foam container, can easily last me three meals.

The noodles are cut short, the peanuts are ground into crumbly deliciousness, the chicken is chunked into bit-sized pieces and the egg is mashed up so that you never have a bite full of fried egg. Bahn Thai’s pad thai stands out from all the rest in Gainesville because it is not soupy. The peanut sauce is flavorful and fully coating the noodles without also coating the plate.

Whenever I feel too lazy to cook or too tired to go out, I bring home some pad thai, sit in bed, turn on the television and veg. Bahn Thai has officially made its way into my feel-good, “you-worked-hard-this-week, you-deserve-something-delicious” routine. And I’m already delirious imagining when I’ll order it next.

Bahn Thai

1902 SW 13th St.

Gainesville, Florida