Preparing the sunny side portion of
Eggs Birmingham. Photo by John-Bryan Hopkins.

By John-Bryan Hopkins

The pantheon of civic foods includes Buffalo wings and Chicago deep-dish pizza. But what of Eggs Birmingham?

Watching the 1956 Tennessee Williams movie, “Baby Doll” [aff. link], a friend had heard “Birmingham egg” mentioned several times. He asked me for the recipe.

I had never heard of such a dish, but discovering lost recipes and food histories is my specialty.

A Google search turned up vague references to an Australian dish: boiled eggs battered, deep fried, then covered in a curry sauce. One site featured a version of Toad in the Hole, toast with a hole cut out, then cooked in a pan with an egg fried sunny side up in the center.

I then turned to my secret weapon, my grandmother. I asked about the mysterious breakfast dish. “You mean Eggs Birmingham?” she replied.

“I guess so, sure,” I said.

It was indeed a winter version of Toad in the Hole.

Eggs Birmingham is a plate of greens stewed with cured ham, topped with a thick piece of potato bread, fried egg and red-eye gravy. Sounds good to me.

Let’s see which local restaurant will be first to put it on the menu. Birmingham deserves a dish named after it.

• • •

Also:

• BirminghamMenus.com list of breakfast restaurants.

• • •

Birmingham’s John-Bryan Hopkins loves talking about food facts, their origins and, most of all, what food means to us.

His site/blog is Foodimentary (@Foodimentary).

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

The yellow monster
that devours children throws
them back up at school.

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Taqueria Guzman serves corn tortilla tacos in the
Texaco parking lot on West Valley Avenue. Photos by Brad Daly.

By Glenny Brock and Brad Daly

There are tacos, and then there are tacos.

For instance, along Alabama 79 in Tarrant stands a chain restaurant serving the same combination of greasy ground beef, shredded iceberg lettuce and processed orange cheese in crunchy corn shells found in thousands of locations across the nation.

But across the street, Taqueria Pineda, a taqueria on wheels, serves the real deal: asada (beef), carnitas (pork), chorizo (sausage) or pollo (chicken), plus diced onions, fresh cilantro and hot sauce, all piled on to two warm corn tortillas. And those are just the standard offerings: Adventurous eaters can select cabeza (head), sesos (brains) or lengua (tongue) for their tacos.

The menu at Taqueria Pineda in Tarrant.

It’s one of two taco trucks in the Birmingham area. Like Taqueria Guzman on West Valley Avenue in Homewood, it’s still a best-kept secret, even after 2 years in business.

In addition to tacos, both places serve burritos, ceviche and tortas, the massive Mexican sandwiches with meat, cheese and peppers.

Neither has much in the way of seating, so eating on your feet is just part of the off-the-chain experience.

Tacos at Taqueria Guzman include
shredded pork, left, beef and chicken.

The ice-cold drinks at Taqueria Guzman.

Mural on the side of Taqueria Guzman’s truck.

• • •

Taqueria Pineda

• In the Marathon station parking lot, 1818 Pinson Valley Pkwy., Tarrant [map]
• Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday

Taqueria Guzman

• In the Texaco station parking lot, 215 West Valley Ave., Homewood [map]
• Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday

• • •

Also:

• Birmingham Magazine feature on Taqueria Guzman
• Alabama Eats photo essay on Taqueria Guzman
• Birmingham News: “Where to find a good taco in the Birmingham area”

• • •

Writer Glenny Brock (@glennybrock) and photographer Brad Daly (@bwdaly) launched the Birmingham food blog Stay Hungry (@stayhungrybham) in June. He cooks, she writes, and they both eat, thoughtfully.

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

Fabric clings to skin
with perspiration as glue.
No rain, no relief.

• • •

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Café Dupont started in Springville in 1994,
before moving to its downtown home in 2003.
Photo by Virginia Jones, Birmingham Daily Photo.

By Deborah Lockridge

Like other — and perhaps more famous — Birmingham chefs/owners, Chris Dupont combines classic cooking techniques with local and regional ingredients. But you’ll find a couple of things you’ll find at his timeless downtown restaurant, Café Dupont, not found elsewhere.

One is the tasting menu. You can choose a five- or seven-course tasting menu ($75 and $90), or a tasting of the entire menu ($110). If you opt for chef’s choice, you’ll receive smaller versions of appetizers (such as smoked rainbow trout Napoleon, or fried oysters and okra with cayenne butter sauce) or entrees (such as butter-braised scallops and shrimp with goat cheese flan, or grilled Georgia quail and seared duck breast).

Because we often order a meal just of appetizers to try more flavors, this is a dream come true. And unlike tasting menus we’ve seen in New York, this menu doesn’t commit the whole table to it.

We were also delighted to see coffee and espresso from our favorite local roaster, Primavera, on the menu. A wonderful ending to a classy meal.

For more, see the extended post on Bhamdining.com.

• • •

Café Dupont

• 113 20th St. N., downtown [map]
• (205) 322-1282
• Cafedupont.net
• Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m. Friday and and 5:30-10:30 p.m. Saturday

• • •

Also:

• Bhamdining.com guide to Café Dupont
• Recipes from Chris Dupont: oysters and okra | beignets

• • •

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!

The lone voices can
be heard when amplified by
angry followers.

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Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale is not only a soda,
but also believed to be a cure for motion sickness.
Photo by Andrew Brasfield, OkraCola.com.

By Glenny Brock and Brad Daly

Birmingham’s original local soda has its detractors; some people just can’t handle the powerful “Southern spice” of Buffalo Rock. The bubbly beverage is based on a ginger elixir developed in Selma in 1865, when pharmacist Ashby Coleman used the hot, fragrant spice to treat gastrointestinal complaints of Confederate soldiers.

In 1889, Coleman’s daughter Minnie married a Birmingham man named Sidney Word Lee. He helped create a soft drink dynasty in 1901 by adding carbonation to the recipe from his father-in-law. After 110 years, Buffalo Rock is still some of the most ginger-y ginger ale available anywhere.

At home, we drink it straight, or mixed with bourbon in a Sneezing Vulcan. We gave it that name because of the histaminic effects of the soda on some people. But after a few drinks and more than a few slurred tributes to the cocktail’s coppery color, we changed it to the Rusty Vulcan, a descriptive nod to the Magic City’s metallurgical history.

Soon we bragged to other Birminghamians about our clever combination of mixology and nomenclature. Our friend Nancy shook her head at our boasts.

“Bourbon and Buffalo Rock?” she asked. “That’s called a Burbalo.”

• • •

Rusty Vulcan

• Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 oz. bourbon
• 4 oz. Buffalo Rock

Stir bourbon and Buffalo Rock together, then pour into a highball glass filled with ice. Serve immediately.

P.S. Mountain Brook’s Dram Whiskey Bar serves an excellent version of this cocktail called the Alabama Gentleman, which includes Buffalo Rock and Gentleman Jack!

• • •

Also:

• Bhamwiki: Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale
• Okra Cola: Regional Tastes – Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale
• Product page at Buffalo Rock Company

• • •

Writer Glenny Brock (@glennybrock) and photographer Brad Daly (@bwdaly) launched the Birmingham food blog Stay Hungry (@stayhungrybham) in June. He cooks, she writes, and they both eat, thoughtfully.

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

The dinner menu
was littered with typos most
unappetizing.

• • •

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Roy Wood Jr., right, says his farewell after
host Craig Robinson announced his third-place finish.

So very close.

In tonight’s season finale of “Last Comic Standing,” Birmingham native Roy Wood Jr. finished third. Felipe Esparza beat Tommy Johnagin to win the title and the $250,000 grand prize.

“My journey is for every road comic (who) started in the South and the Midwest (who’s) doing this the hard way,” Wood said. “I just want to say thank you to America, my mom, the city of Birmingham, Florida A&M University.”

Wood will head out on tour with them and runners-up Myq Kaplan and Mike DeStefano. While the tour won’t come to Birmingham, it will play two other stops in Alabama — Montgomery on Feb. 19 and Mobile on Feb. 20 — as well as a New Year’s Eve show in Atlanta. Tickets go on sale in early September.

Landing a spot on the show, and then in the Top 10, was a small victory in itself, as Wood had tried out unsuccessfully for two previous seasons.

Each week, viewers votes by phone and website determined eliminations. The show concluded its seventh season tonight.

Video to be added.

Video: The moment of truth for Roy Wood Jr.

Video: The “Last Comic Standing” is announced.

“Last Comic Standing aired at 8 p.m. Mondays on NBC 13.

Previous: Episode 9 — Five to go
Next: A 60-city tour across America starting Sept. 8 in Chico, Calif.

Also:

• Birmingham News recap and reaction from Wood
• Roy Wood Jr. official site | Twitter @roywoodjr | Facebook page | YouTube | MySpace | MP3 downloads on Amazon.com [affiliate link]

Are you planning to see Wood on the “Last Comic Standing” tour?

Cupcake varieties from Dreamcakes Bakery include
(clockwise from left) Curious George, Chocolate High (twice),
Curious George, Old Fashioned Caramel and Dreamsicle.
Photo by Jen Barnett.

By Jen Barnett

Cupcakes are yesterday’s news.

Despite still being the sweet, moist, single servings of frosted deliciousness you remember from 2005, or maybe 1975, fickle foodies have kicked them to the curb in favor of up-and-comers like macarons or milkshakes.

Screw ’em.

They can’t help it if they live in epicurean hot spots like New York, L.A. or San Francisco, far from the most divine cupcakes to ever spring from heaven’s hearth, found inside Dreamcakes Bakery.

Jan Moon opened the shop in 2009 in the Edgewood area of Homewood. She tested and developed recipes in the Southern Living and Cooking Light test kitchens on Lakeshore Drive. The display cases are stocked with trays of colorful cupcakes, but Dreamcakes makes wedding cakes and other delicacies, too.

Cupcake flavors include Chocolate High (tastes like a Hershey bar), Creamsicle (a dead ringer for the frozen treat), Curious George (peanut butter and banana) and Old Fashioned Caramel (a personal favorite). The clever flavors are only part of the allure; the cakes themselves are moister and denser, the icing creamier and more flavorful, than any we’ve ever tasted.

Nonetheless, if you can’t bear the faux pas of noshing on a passé pastry, Dreamcakes also sells macarons.

• • •

Dreamcakes Bakery

• 960 Oxmoor Road, Homewood [map]
• 205-871-9377
• Dreamcakes-Bakery.com
• 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday

• • •

Also:

• Eat Birmingham review of Dreamcakes
• Samford Crimson review
• Coverage in Birmingham Weekly | Black and White | B-Metro Magazine

• • •

Jen Barnett is the managing editor of VisitSouth.com, a travel hub with tips on where to stay, what to do and where to eat in the South. Her favorite dish in Birmingham is her mom’s fresh veggie plate, but she didn’t bring enough for everyone, so she won’t mention it again.

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

The new keeps popping
up to replace the old, which
used to be the new.

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Make summer last all year by canning fruits
in season. Photos by Amanda Storey.

By Amanda Storey

With all the work I do in food justice and recipes, you’d think I’d know how to “put something up.” In the South, it’s just another way of saying “canning and preserving.”

Younger generations are often far removed from growing their own food, much less canning and preserving or knowing the harvest calendar. As I began to discover how to eat locally, seasonally and sustainably, I needed to make the most of my bounty through canning.

Enter Angela Treadaway, who covers food safety, preservation and preparation as a regional extension agent for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in six counties around Birmingham. Her 2-hour class at East Lake United Methodist Church was only $5! And I walked away with a better understanding of techniques and equipment, plus two jars of peach preserves.

It’s imperative for folks to attend at least one class just to for hands-on practice. These regional resources can guide your preservation journey.

• Alabama Cooperative Extension System
• National Center for Home Food Preservation
• Be Food Safe

Learn how to make peach jam from Angela Treadaway. The class will be 10 a.m. till noon on Aug. 21 at the University Baptist Church in Montevallo. $5. To register, call Treadaway at (205) 410-3696.

• • •

Peach preserves
(recipe from Angela Treadaway, Alabama Cooperative Extension System)

• Preparation time: 5 minutes
• Cooking time: 45 minutes
• Makes five 1-pint jars

Ingredients

• 6 cups fresh peaches (about 7 to 9 peaches, depending upon size), pitted and cut into chunks
• Ascorbic acid (powdered vitamin C)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 package dry pectin, any brand of low- or no-sugar type
• 1 tablespoon butter

Also:

• Five 1-pint jars
• Water bath canner [affiliate link]

Clean out jars and fill them with scalding hot water. (Hot jars are needed for the final step.)

Wash your peaches in cold water. Remove the large pit and discard. Cut up the peach halves (skin on) into 3/4-inch chunks. Don’t cut them too small, because some of those nice hearty chunks should remain intact in your jam. Place peaches in water with ascorbic acid to prevent darkening.

Place the 6 cups of chunks (water drained) and lemon juice into a large saucepan on medium-high. Add sugar and stir slowly and steadily. (Trust me: Being consistent in your stirring is one of the secrets to amazing jam.) It will seem a bit dry at first, but as you keep steadily stirring, the heavy chunks and the sugar will break down into a beautiful golden-orange colored mixture. Keep stirring!

Once the mixture starts to bubble, add butter and keep stirring. Once the mixture gets to the rolling boil, where the mixture keeps bubbling regardless of stirring, quickly add pectin. Keep stirring for 1 minute after pectin has dissolved. Turn off heat.

Get one hot jar and pour out water. Ladle the hot liquid jam into the jar, and repeat for remaining jars. You may get five full jars or less depending on how the peaches panned out in the mixture. Place lids and screw bands on jars. Place them in a hot water bath canner, and process for 5 minutes.

• • •

Amanda Storey is project coordinator of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, a 4-year grant aimed at fighting childhood obesity in Jefferson County. In her spare time, she writes about her true passion: food as a connector to communities on her blog, Food Revival (@foodrevival).

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

No need to under-
value yourself, when others
will do it for you.

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Yum Brownies offers a dark chocolate sensation
that’s fudgier when cold. Photo by Shaun Chavis.

By Shaun Chavis

When you need chocolate that delivers — and I mean that in a liberating sense, as in, you need chocolate that makes torments vanish and brings bliss to your soul — these are Birmingham’s best fixes.

(My standard: Most candy-aisle fare and cocoas made from packets of powder rate as non-chocolate.)

• • •

Yum Brownies Dark Chocolate Chocolate

Studded with chunks of extra-bittersweet Callebaut chocolate. Find these treats at Pepper Place Saturday Market on select weekends, or e-mail eatyumbrownies@gmail.com.

• $3 for one, $15 for six
• Where to find: Pepper Place Saturday Market, 2829 Second Ave. S., Lakeview, 35233 [map], 7 a.m.-noon Saturdays.

• • •

Edgewood Creamery Extreme Chocolate milkshake

The ice cream is a blend of dark and white chocolates, and it makes a shake with an old-fashioned, rich taste.

• $4.50 regular, $5.50 large
• Where to find: Edgewood Creamery, 936 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, 35209 [map], (205) 874-1999, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Also available at Mountain Brook Creamery, 2715 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook, 35223 [map], (205) 870-0092. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon-9:30 p.m. Sunday.

• • •

Avo & Dram Derby Sundae

What sends you is the warm ganache made with Callebaut chocolate over boozy bourbon ice cream. Heady stuff, this!

• $8
• Where to find: Avo & Dram, 2721 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook, 35233 [map], (205) 871-8212, 4-11 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, 4 p.m.-midnight Wednesday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Sunday.

• • •

Askinosie Davao Dark Milk Chocolate Bar + Fleur de Sel

This splurge is meant for stashing: It’s a 62-percent cacao single-origin milk chocolate bar from Askinosie.

• $7.99
• Where to find: V. Richards, 3916 Clairmont Ave., Forest Park, 35222 [map], (205) 591-7000, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. seven days a week

• • •

Iz Café Chocolate Mousse Bomb

A mound of ethereal espresso chocolate mousse on top of devil’s food cake, dipped in ganache.

• $4 for large, $10.80 for a dozen minis
• Where to find: Iz Café, 2518 Rocky Ridge Road, Vestavia Hills, 35243, (205) 979-7570; Iz Cafe Too Bakery and Market (Iz Cafe Altadena), 4700 Cahaba River Road, Birmingham, 35243, (205) 262-9733; hours for both locations: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

• • •

Also:

• Stay Hungry: “Market Share: Yum Brownies”

• • •

Shaun Chavis (@shaunchavis) is the co-founder of Birmingham’s Foodie Book Club, and a food journalist whose work has appeared in “Cornbread Nation 4: The Best of Southern Food Writing,” eGullet and Friends Journal. In the fall, she will teach a course on food and literature at Samford University’s Samford After Sundown.

• • •

Hungry for more? Check out the menu of Birmingham’s Best Eats!

A shadow grows in
the cortex, banishing joy,
hope, faith and progress.

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