Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Some of the best locally owned Birmingham Restaurants!

Birmingham Alabama has earned quite a reputation in the past decade not only for its amazing food but the incredible choices available to diners.  Just about any style of food that you could possibly want is generously represented here.  Here are my top 10.

 Of course, I can't possibly write about Birmingham food without mentioning Pepper Place!  Located in historic Avondale, this area is full of great restaurants, coffee shops, antique shops and one of the best farmer's markets in the state!  





BETTOLA'S

 One of the restaurants in Pepper place is Bettola's.  James Lewis, who was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s 11 best new chefs in America in 2011, began serving his oven-fired pizzas and house-made pastas at this Italian trattoria in the Pepper Place complex a decade ago. Lewis is always coming up with new and creative takes on traditional Italian dishes, but our favorite remains the classic Margherita pizza, with San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil. On a nice fall or spring night, we highly recommend that you dine out under the stars on their roomy patio.
Address: 2901 Second Ave. South, Suite 150, Birmingham
Phone: 205-731-6499



BOGUE'S
The original Bogue's in Highland Park has been replaced with a Walgreen's.  However, Bogue's bought and renovated an historic fire station next door and now that Bogue's is larger,, even more folks can enjoy the incredible food at this historic Birmingham restaurant!  Pat and Mildred Bogue opened their namesake diner in downtown Birmingham in 1938 and eight years later moved to the Highland Park area, where it became a neighborhood breakfast institution for decades. While the location may have changed, Bogue’s remains an old reliable for omelets, pancakes and its famous sweet rolls, as well as daily lunch specials that include turkey and dressing, country-fried steak and baked spaghetti.
Address: 3028 Clairmont Ave. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-254-9780



BOTTEGA
Frank Stitt’s Bottega, offers diners the option of sitting down to a formal meal in the main dining room or enjoying the more casual atmosphere of the adjoining café. Either way, it's an amazing dining experience. Stitt opened Bottega in 1988 -- six years after launching Highlands Bar and Grill -- in the stately, sturdy Bottega Favorita building on Highland Avenue. The setting is both elegant and comfortable. On the café side, guests may dine inside or outside on the gorgeous patio, choosing from such dishes as baked feta, chicken scaloppine, risotto with gulf shrimp, and fennel sausage-and-pancetta pizza. The menu changes nightly in the dining room, but a mainstay is the parmesan soufflé with prosciutto and mushroom. And save room for one of pastry chef Dolester Miles’ delicious desserts, including tiramisu and bamboloni.
Address: 2240 Highland Ave. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-939-1000



BRIGHT STAR
Bessemer’s Bright Star is generally recognized as the oldest restaurant in Alabama, and these days, brothers Jimmy and Nicky Koikos carry on the family tradition that their father’s cousin Tom Bonduris began in 1907, not long after he immigrated here from Greece. Alabama coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant had his own private booth here, and Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock treated her dad to a Father’s Day dinner here. Signature dishes include seafood gumbo, Greek-style beef tenderloin, fried snapper throats and baklava cheesecake.
Address: 304 19th St. North, Bessemer
Phone: 205-426-1861






DEMITRI'S BBQ

While Demetri’s BBQ has been serving barbecue in downtown Homewood for 55 years now, breakfast is the reason the parking lot is packed almost every morning. In addition to your traditional rise-and-shine favorites such as bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits, we suggest the barbecue omelet, which we like to think of as the best of both worlds -- barbecue for breakfast.
Address: 1901 28th Ave. South, Homewood
Phone: 205-871-1581



DREAMLAND BBQ

Dreamland Bar-B-Que started in Tuscaloosa, where John “Big Daddy” Bishop opened the original Dreamland Café (as it was then known) in 1958. But Birmingham can lay claim to Dreamland’s fame, too. It’s here that Dreamland opened its first branch outside of T-Town in 1993, and it’s where out-of-towners come in droves to gnaw on Dreamland’s “ain’t nothing like ’em nowhere” ribs slathered with that fiery, addictive sauce and served with slices of Sunbeam bread.  But don't think it's only a rib joint.  Their pulled pork is out of this world as is their homemade banana pudding.
Address: 1427 14th Ave. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-933-2133





THE FISH MARKET

If it swims in the sea, it’s a safe bet that chef George Sarrris has it on the menu at his Southside seafood emporium The Fish Market. There you’ll find amberjack, clams, crab, calamari, flounder, lobster, oysters, octopus, salmon, snapper, shrimp and scallops, as well as fresh-water catches such as catfish and rainbow trout. In addition to the traditional grilled and fried seafood dishes, some of the specialty items include redfish etouffee, a Mediterranean shrimp salad and George’s Special Oyster Stew – as well as a few dishes from Sarris’ native Greece, including a Greek pizza and the Big Fat Greek Salad.
Address: 612 22nd St. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-322-3330





HIGHLANDS BAR AND GRILL

Birmingham’s most decorated and influential restaurant, Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar and Grill first opened its doors in 1982, sparking a dining renaissance in the Magic City that has evolved into a full-blown movement. For the past eight years in a row, Highlands has been one of five finalists for the James Beard Foundation Award as the country’s most outstanding restaurant, and although it has yet to win, there’s much to be said about remaining relevant and maintaining a standard of excellence. Highlands’ seasonal menu, sourced from regional farmers and fishermen, applies classic French cooking techniques to indigenous Southern foods – no better example of which is the restaurant’s signature dish, stone-ground baked grits with country ham.
Address: 2011 Eleventh Ave. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-939-1400



IRONDALE CAFE

Fannie Flagg made the Irondale Café famous with her 1987 novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café,” which was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated movie four years later. But this venerable meat-and-three café down by the railroad tracks dates all the way back to 1928. While no trip to the Irondale Café is complete without an order of fried green tomatoes, you’ll also want to try the buttermilk fried chicken, turnip greens, creamed corn and a slice of chocolate chess pie for dessert.
Address: 1906 First Ave. North, Irondale
Phone: 205-956-5258




TAJ INDIA

Birmingham’s oldest Indian restaurant, Taj India has been around for 30 years, and it is as permanent a fixture in the Highland Plaza shopping center as the nearby Western Market. The vast menu features traditional Indian dishes such as tandoori chicken, lamb tikka masala and vegetable dhansak – prepared mild, medium, spicy or hot. (Some of the spicier selections come with such disclaimers as “not for the faint-hearted” or “not for sensitive taste buds,” and that advice is not to be taken lightly!). At lunchtime, a buffet offers diners a variety of dishes from which to sample. A great time to visit is during Taj India’s annual observance of the Indian celebration Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights. The restaurant is illuminated with candles and lights to celebrate the festival, and the dinner buffet features dishes not typically on the menu the rest of the year.
Address: 2226 Highland Ave. South, Birmingham
Phone: 205-939-3805
Website: www.tajindia.net






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