Birmingham’s Best Eats: High on grits at Dyron’s Lowcountry
By ContributorCrawfish étouffée on white cheddar-Parmesan grits
at Dyron’s Lowcountry in Mountain Brook. Photo by
Virginia Jones, Birmingham Daily Photo.
By Deborah Lockridge
During a recent morning meeting at an Atlanta hotel, I watched a colleague from the Southwest slurp up the grits from the breakfast bar with relish. Looking at the thin, pale, watery gruel, I told him to come to Birmingham to enjoy some real grits.
Here, after all, is where this Missouri-bred girl learned to love grits. It started with the decadent baked grits appetizer at Highlands Bar and Grill on Southside. I learned how to cook grits at home, and I discovered McEwen and Sons’ stone-ground grits, which I now ship to out-of-state grits lovers.
Many local restaurants serve up dinner-worthy grits dishes, but Dyron’s Lowcountry in Mountain Brook has gone far beyond, featuring five grits bar selections on its menu ($9 to $16 for lunch, $14 to $24 for dinner).
Dyron’s version of classic Southern shrimp and grits includes fresh Gulf shrimp, applewood-smoked bacon, garlic and lemon. The crab cake sits atop roasted grits with beurre blanc, while the buttermilk fried chicken rests on roasted red pepper grits. And let’s not forget the slow-braised pork cheeks on blue cheese grits.
My favorite is the Creole-style crawfish étouffée with andouille sausage, both on white cheddar-Parmesan grits.
Diners can enjoy plenty more at Dyron’s. Favorites include West Indies salad ($14), house smoked trout ($13) and Peace Maker Po’Boy with oysters ($10).
For more, see the extended post on Bhamdining.com.
• • •
Dyron’s Lowcountry
- 121 Oak St., Mountain Brook [map]
- (205) 834-8257
- Dyronslowcountry.com
- Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday
• • •
Also:
- Ham-Wrapped Fried Oysters, recipe from Dyron’s Lowcountry executive chef Phillip Baio.
- Birmingham News Q&A with owner Dyron Powell
• • •
Deborah Lockridge (@DLinBham) is a freelance writer and editor who founded Bhamdining.com (with husband Evan) to offer an independent source of information on local restaurants, back before anyone had heard of blogs or social networking.
• • •
Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 12:52 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Wade Kwon, Sean Kelley. Sean Kelley said: RT @WadeOnTweets: Bham's Best Eats: What's good at Dyron's Lowcountry, Mt Brook? @DLinBham says grits! http://itswa.de/bbe-dyrons #bhameats […]