Category: food
Back Forty Beer Company Birmingham: Where the Food is as Popular as the Beer
Invariably, whenever someone mentions Back Forty Beer Company at the Sloss Docks in Birmingham the talk turns to food. That’s because an award-winning chef with a fine-dining background helms this open kitchen (next to the open brewing production) and is turning out dishes that are delicious and inventive, seasonal and locally sourced and perhaps more [...]
Opa, y’all! It’s time for Birmingham’s Greek Festival
It takes a village to put on Birmingham’s beloved Greek Festival. For months before the event, now in its 47th year at Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Birmingham, hundreds of people from this city’s thriving Greek community work together to prepare. They cook, they bake and they practice centuries-old dances. They are [...]
One Cavernous Dining Room
The Rattlesnake Saloon, in a cavern under an enormous rock bluff in north Alabama, has been called one of the most unusual restaurants in the United States. The Duke Burger at this cave café is on the list of “100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die.” If you haven’t yet been there and [...]
Johnny’s Greek-and-Three and Much More
Johnny’s restaurant in Homewood is more than a meat-and-three. It’s more than a Greek-and-three, too. It is, in fact, one of the best places in the entire country to get this type of homegrown cuisine, and chef-owner Timothy Hontzas has three consecutive James Beard Foundation nominations to back that up. The restaurant specializes in local [...]
Lady Pea Hummus by Dinner.
Carey Thommason of Dinner. in Crestline Village did the chef demo today at The Market at Pepper Place. Carey made Lady Pea Hummus, which I missed tasting because I was sweating next door at Ignite Cycle. However, I know Carey's food is great, and I couldn't resist making a batch for my family's Sunday dinner. I [...]
Fresh, Bright Flavors at the Wildflower Cafe
Over the years, Wildflower Café has become a dining destination in Mentone, which is, of course, its own awesome destination atop Lookout Mountain. I traveled to Mentone recently for Alabama NewsCenter to spotlight this unique restaurant. You can read the entire story here. Café owner Laura Catherine Moon (just “Moon” to everyone she knows and [...]
Soul Food Saturdays and Tasty Thursdays
I went to Soul Food Saturday at Arlington House this past Saturday and loved every delicious minute of it. Pork wings and braised collards and perfect mac and cheese. Sweet tea and some chocolate cake made the visit complete. Here's some info from the home's website: Arlington is a fine example of Greek Revival architecture [...]
(Leftover) Barbecue and Sheep Milk Fresca Quesadillas
I was at the farmers' market at Pepper Place on Saturday, wanting tomatoes and peaches and hesitating about buying anything with all the leftovers still in my fridge from our 4th of July family dinner. Then Ana Kelly, owner of Dayspring Dairy suggested quesadillas made with our leftover Full Moon Bar-B-Que pulled chicken and sliced [...]
Automatic Hit
It’s easy to think of Automatic Seafood & Oysters as a singular kind of place: It looks and feels like nothing else in Birmingham, and the menu is filled with adventurous approaches to familiar (and perhaps unfamiliar) foods. But what really makes it special are a few important partnerships: between local and regional suppliers and [...]
Prost! Brät Brot is Back!
The biergarten has become a gartenbar, but those awesome pretzels remain. was popular from the start. The Magic City’s first German biergarten opened about a year ago to rave reviews and consistent crowds but then took a cold-weather hiatus to make a few changes. It reopened on April 23 and very quickly became popular again. I [...]