The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

I'm in town for a Delta Sigma Pi Leadership conference this weekend.

Looking for advise on restaurants, night life, things to do? I'm a Florida boy so anything unique to Alabama would be awesome.

Here is a thread with a guide to Birmingham

http://csnbbs.com/thread-45191.html

Local attractions like Vulcan Park, the Botanical Gardens and the Birmingham Zoo are close to each other on Red Mountain. If you like bikes, get out to Barber Motorsports Park out in the Leeds area. If you like planes, check out the Southern Museum of Flight located near the airport. In downtown, check out Railroad Park, the Civil Rights Museum, and Sloss Furnace. If you are looking for large hiking parks check out Red Mountain Park, Oak Mountain State Park and Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. Parks are one of our specialties these days.

What area of town are you staying in? Not sure what will be convenient to you, but I recommend the following:

Food:

-Saw's Juke Joint has excellent bbq and wings
-El barrio downtown for Mexican (gotta get the queso)
- Post Office Pies in Avondale or Slice in Lakeview for pizzas
-FIVE in Lakeview
- Rojo in Highland Park is great for mexican/american food
- Jack Brown's in Lakeview for burgers
- there's also a bunch of fancy restaurants if you don't mind spending some cash such as Highland Bar & Grille (consistently rated top 5 restaurant in the country), Bottega, Cafe Dupont, Ocean, and Hot & Hot Fish Club

Drinks:

-J Clyde or World of Beer in 5 points for large selection of craft beer
-Definitely check out our local breweries (Good People, Avondale, Cahaba, and Trim Tab)
- Carrigans (craft cocktails, beer, and food)
- Collins Bar for craft cocktails
- Paramount (drinks and bar games)
- Dave's Pub in 5 points (craft beer, very chill)
- In Lakeview there's Tin Roof, Innisfree, and Nanafunks

For something fairly unique to B'ham, hit up the Avondale neighborhood. You can eat real Southern fare at Saw's Soul Kitchen & grab a great local craft beer at Avondale Brewery... better yet, get your food to-go at Saw's and walk it over to Avondale.

Also, UAB is hosting Ohio State in baseball at Regions Field (one of the nicest minor league ballparks in the country), which is next to Railroad Park - another cool place to visit downtown.

Continuing with UABslant... Birmingham has a flourishing beer brewery scene. Check out the different breweries if you like craft beer. Avondale, as Slant mentioned above, Good People which is right across from Regions Field, and Trim Tab, and Cahaba Brewing Company are all neat places to visit.

(02-27-2015 03:53 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  What area of town are you staying in? Not sure what will be convenient to you, but I recommend the following:

Food:

-Saw's Juke Joint has excellent bbq and wings
-El barrio downtown for Mexican (gotta get the queso)
- Post Office Pies in Avondale or Slice in Lakeview for pizzas
-FIVE in Lakeview
- Rojo in Highland Park is great for mexican/american food
- Jack Brown's in Lakeview for burgers
- there's also a bunch of fancy restaurants if you don't mind spending some cash such as Highland Bar & Grille (consistently rated top 5 restaurant in the country), Bottega, Cafe Dupont, Ocean, and Hot & Hot Fish Club

Drinks:

-J Clyde or World of Beer in 5 points for large selection of craft beer
-Definitely check out our local breweries (Good People, Avondale, Cahaba, and Trim Tab)
- Carrigans (craft cocktails, beer, and food)
- Collins Bar for craft cocktails
- Paramount (drinks and bar games)
- Dave's Pub in 5 points (craft beer, very chill)
- In Lakeview there's Tin Roof, Innisfree, and Nanafunks

Great list, but how dare you leave off The Fish Market!

For most visitors, B'ham has an advantage in city navigation in that nearly all roads are numbered. Downtown is centered on 20th street north, Lakeview is on 29th street & 7th Ave. South, Avondale on 41st street & 3rd Ave. south, Five Points area is on 20th street & 10th Ave.South. The BJCC is on 21st St and 10th Ave north and Bartow Arena is on 6th Ave. & 13th street south.

The railroad tracks divide north from south between 1st Ave. north and 1st Ave. south downtown. Underpasses at 18th, 19th and 20th street and viaducts on 21st street (one way north), 22nd street (one way south), 24th street (2 way), US 280 (elevated from 10th ave north) and 35th street (2 way) connect north and south sides. Downtown even ave.(2,4,6) are west bound and odd (3,5) are east bound.On the southside, 3rd is west bound and 4th is east bound.

The Fish Market Restaurant is on 22nd st and 7th ave south in an old warehouse bldg. with parking off 7th. A wide variety of seafood is well prepared and reasonably priced.