Finding the perfect summer tomato takes care, but the
reward can be mouthwatering. Photo by Ellen Riley.

By Shaun Chavis

Nothing tastes better than the perfect summer tomato. And nothing can be as disappointing as a faker. These three tomato experts shared their secrets for bringing the best ones home.

• Ellen Riley, manager of Oak Street Market in Mountain Brook’s Crestline Village, sources tomatoes from small growers who ripen them for better flavor by keeping them on the vine longer. She says larger growers may get tomatoes to market faster, but that denies them the chance to develop goodness. Just because they’re red doesn’t mean they’re ripe.

Another problem with tomatoes from some larger growers are tough white cores. “That comes from too much fertilizer, not enough water and picking too early,” Riley says. Her advice: “Buy from people who will cut a tomato open and let you see inside.”

Riley’s favorite kind? The Amelia, a new variety with old-fashioned flavor.

• Rod Palmer of Owl’s Hollow farm, near Gadsden, is partial to sandwiches made with pineapple tomatoes, bulging yellow-and-red heirlooms. He sells tomatoes to 15 Birmingham-area restaurants and markets, including Southside’s Hot and Hot Fish Club, home of a great heirloom tomato salad. (Find them at Murphree’s Market and Garden Center in Cahaba Heights in Vestavia Hills, Homewood Farmer’s Market [pdf], Pepper Place Saturday Market in Lakeview and Urban Cookhouse in Homewood.)

• Donald and Kelly Warren of Greenwood Farms grow 20 varieties of tomatoes in their back yard in Homewood. Their favorite, the black plum tomato, goes on Pizza Margherita that Donald grills on his Big Green Egg. (Find them at Pepper Place Saturday Market in Lakeview.)

• • •

Also:

• Recipe for tomato tart.
• Gilchrist Drug Co. and the old South rarity, tomato aspic.

• • •

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!

The patio at the Garage Cafe offers a setting
unlike any other. Photos by Eat Birmingham.

By Eat Birmingham

In the world of food, places are rated on food, service and atmosphere.

You can expect certain things every time you go to the Garage Cafe: a healthy collection of regulars, no shortage of places for your eye to land, a fully stocked bar, great bartenders and a cash-only policy. (You know this going in, so no complaining, especially with an ATM on site.)

Know that the food is sandwiches. You choose your bread, your meat, your cheese your toppings, and again, no complaining. We all go there because it’s like visiting another land in the middle of our city, and no one wants to hear your whining. The drinks are flowing and cold; the bar even has a nice selection of high-gravity beer.

The service is sassy, with one of our favorite servers being the 6-foot-9 bartender (we don’t recommend calling him sassy to his face).

You go to the Garage for off-the-charts atmosphere. From the motorcycle hanging above the front door to the collection of artifacts scattered around the open-air courtyard, you get the feeling that something really cool has been here, and it will be back.

Antiques, pots and assorted knickknacks fill the
nooks and crannies of the Garage’s courtyard.

• • •

The Garage Cafe

• 2304 10th Terrace S., Southside [map]
• (205) 322-3220
• Garagecafe.us
• Hours: 3 p.m.-2:15 a.m. Monday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-3 a.m. Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday and 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday

• • •

Also:

• Garage Cafe on Esquire’s list of the Best Bars in America.
• Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club considering restaurant near Garage Cafe.

• • •

Eat Birmingham (@EatBHM) writes about eating in Birmingham and the relationships people have with food, because of food and around food on her site, Eat Birmingham.

• • •

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

By Brian Heptinstall

Mention New Orleans, and many people think of Bourbon Street and the revelry that comes with it. For me, the city represents a never-ending search for the native foods that I crave so much.

On a 2005 trip just one month before Hurricane Katrina struck, I ventured with a friend into a restaurant in the French Quarter, where we ordered Blackened Voodoo Chicken made with Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager. I wish I had obtained the recipe from the chef, because the restaurant went out of business after Katrina.

I tried my best to re-create this dish soon after. But I ran into one fundamental problem every time: the flavor of the substitute beer just didn’t measure up to Dixie. Because the hurricane heavily damaged the Dixie Brewing Co. also, it made Voodoo even harder to find.

Nowadays, several breweries produce Dixie varieties under contract, while the Dixie Brewing works to resume operations in New Orleans. Shoppers can find the brand at most high-end supermarkets and at Cost Plus World Market on U.S. 280 near Best Buy.

• • •

Photo by Brian Heptinstall.

Blackened Voodoo Chicken

• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Servings: 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 cup sweet onion, small dice
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, small dice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bottle Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager (available at Cost Plus World Market)
• 2 cans (12 ounces) stewed tomatoes, small dice (reserve the tomato juice)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning (we use Tony Chachere’s)
• 1/2 cup butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces and dusted with flour (beurre manié)
• Salt and pepper, as needed
• Hot sauce, as needed
• 4 cups cooked white rice (follow instructions on bag)

In a medium sauce pan over high heat, sear chicken, onions and bell pepper in the olive oil. When chicken is cooked, add in the garlic and sweat for about 1 minute, then add beer to deglaze. Let the alcohol cook off (about 2 minutes), then add tomatoes and tomato juice. Bring to a boil.

After a boil has been reached, turn heat down to a simmer and add in bay leaves and Creole seasoning. Allow liquids to reduce by half, about 30 minutes.

After reduction, turn off heat and add in butter dusted with flour, stirring until butter has melted. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference; adding any hot sauce should be done at the end.

Serve over bed of rice, or mix in rice to let it soak up the goodness. Leftovers should be refrigerated immediately and will keep for up to 5 days.

• • •

Other recipes using Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager:

• New Orleans Voodoo Jambalaya
• Voodoo Cheese Fondue
• Voodoo Barbecue Sauce

• • •

Gadsden native Brian Heptinstall (@bheptin) writes the AL.com blog Food and Farce and produces how-to videos featuring his favorite foods from Walt Disney World on A Taste of Disney. A classically trained chef, he has worked in several top kitchens including Mar-A-Lago, the Four Seasons, Il Cioppino Italian Restaurant and the PGA Resort and Spa.

• • •

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

Connie Blalock, left, and Paula Hunt Hughes.
Photo by Shaun Chavis.

By Shaun Chavis

Good home cooks fill our tummies and make meals memorable. They serve as stewards of local cuisine and culture.

Not only are these three women excellent home cooks, but they are also people who make an impact on foodways in Birmingham and across Alabama, creating food loved by many.

• Connie Blalock compiles cookbooks for Alagasco, 10 so far, filled with recipes from Alabama chefs and amateurs. (Many recipes appear on inserts in the utility’s billing statements.) “Once, we tried to take those recipes out; we thought people didn’t use them,” she says. “The phones rang off the hook!” The Bluff Park resident uses jalapeños often in her cooking, as in Cedar-Plank Salmon with Cilantro Pesto (recipe below).

• Paula Hunt Hughes loves baking cookies for friends. But she says her God-given passion is feeding Birmingham’s homeless. On Thursdays, she cooks enough meals at her South East Lake home to feed breakfast to 75 people in Linn Park downtown. (They love her sausage-cheese muffins, a recipe found on her food blog, Let’s Eat.) Later this year, she and her friend Lisa Latham plan to open Grace’s Kitchen, a pay-as-you-can restaurant. “We want to serve people with dignity and create a sense of community,” Hughes says.

• For Helen McEwen, selling packaged grits and fresh eggs is the family business at McEwen and Sons. The company plans to sell locally raised grass-fed beef in Birmingham soon. “Alabama’s got to be able to feed itself,” said McEwen, an advocate of local food. At home in Wilsonville, her husband Frank grows the produce she uses not only for family meals but also her fabled dinner parties. Her secret? “Start impressive, end impressive!”

• • •

Cedar Plank-Grilled Salmon with Cilantro Pesto
(adapted from an Alagasco recipe)

• Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus time to prepare grill and planks
• Cooking time: 8 to 12 minutes
• Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for salmon
• 1 cup packed cilantro leaves and smaller stems
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
• Juice of 1/2 lime (or more to taste)
• Minced jalapeño (to taste; start with half a pepper)
• Salt, to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon)
• Ground black pepper, to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon)
• Four 4-ounce salmon filets

Also:

• Cedar planks

Preheat grill; use indirect heat, keeping temperature at 350 degrees or lower. Prepare cedar planks according to the package directions.

Blend olive oil, cilantro, garlic and pumpkin seeds in a blender until completely smooth. Stir in lime juice and minced jalapeño. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Transfer cilantro pesto to an airtight container; store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Brush salmon filets with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place salmon on planks, place planks on grill and close lid, turning it into a smoker. Cook until salmon reaches desired doneness. (Generally, allow 4 to 6 minutes for each 1/2 inch of thickness.) Remove salmon from the planks with a spatula.

Using tongs, plunge planks into a bucket of cold water. (They could be re-used, but check package directions.)

Serve salmon filets with cilantro pesto sauce.

• • •

Who’s your favorite home cook, and why? Tell us in the comments below.

• • •

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 lunchtime treat: Shaun Chavis of the Foodie Book Club and Jason Horn of the Messy Epicure will chat live at noon CDT about Birmingham’s Best Eats, including your thoughts on local dining, food, recipes and more.

We’ll be here for the full hour, so join us.

Full transcript, after the jump …

(more…)

By Elisa Muñoz

Panko-crusted chicken with arugula-basil pesto is my go-to recipe.

This easy meal impresses every time, with its powerful punch of flavors and textures from the breaded chicken and the spicy/sweet pesto. (The pesto can be made ahead to make things easier.) It’s also incredibly filling and satisfying.

The abundance of basil and spicy arugula makes this a great summertime dish. Add a bit of red wine, some crusty French bread, along with an interesting dining partner and good tunes for a terrific evening.

• • •

Panko-crusted chicken with arugula-basil pesto

• Preparation time: 30 minutes
• Cooking time: 20 minutes
• Servings: 2

Ingredients

For pesto:

• 1 cup fresh arugula (we used Jones Valley Urban Farm)
• 1 cup fresh basil (also Jones Valley Urban Farm)
• 1/3 cup pine nuts (toast for 2 minutes in the oven)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For chicken:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• Salt, pepper, basil, oregano to taste
• 1/4 cup oil (we used canola)

Optional:

• Pasta

For garnish:

• 1 cup arugula
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Pesto: Combine arugula, basil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until chunky and combined. Slowly add olive oil while processor is running until everything is combined, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the cheese, salt, pepper and lemon juice and pulse three to four more times until it is incorporated. (Unused pesto can be kept in the freezer or the refrigerator for later use.)

Chicken: Using a meat mallet, pound the meat to about 1/4-inch thick. (Instead, we covered the chicken with wax paper and slammed a heavy skillet against them.) Whisk the egg in a bowl and set aside. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese and seasonings on a plate or shallow bowl, mixing well. Dredge chicken breasts in egg, then the breadcrumb mixture, coating thoroughly. Heat a skillet to medium and warm oil until water pops in it. Carefully lower the chicken into the skillet. Cook on each side for about 4 minutes, until fully cooked.

Suggestion: Cook two servings of pasta (we used penne). Drain. Add 2 tablespoons pesto, stirring to cover pasta. On a plate, pile half the arugula, half the pasta and a chicken breast, then top with some Parmesan; repeat for second plate.

• • •

Also:

• Birmingham Bargain Mom’s list of area farmers’ markets, plus bonus list.
• Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners’ list of area farmers’ markets.

• • •

Elisa Muñoz is an avid cyclist and a food activist. In addition to founding and helping run the Bici Bicycle Cooperative, she is the program coordinator for Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners. Her thoughts on cycling and life in Birmingham can be found on Bike Skirt (@bikeskirt), a blog she co-writes.
• • •

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

As part of our special Birmingham’s Best Eats series, a couple of our bloggers will chat live with you the eating public. Join Shaun Chavis of the Foodie Book Club and Jason Horn of the Messy Epicure for a fun discussion on local food, restaurants, recipes and more.

We’ll take your questions and your suggestions for the hourlong chat. Join us at noon CDT Wednesday. (If you need an e-mail reminder, just drop your e-mail address in the form below.)

• • •

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

Crawfish 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!

Organic Harvest in Hoover has the best selection
of gluten-free groceries in the Birmingham area.
Photos by Sean Kelley.

By Sean Kelley

Finding gluten-free alternatives to breads and pastas hasn’t always been easy for Birmingham residents with celiac disease or wheat allergies. When our son was diagnosed in 2008 with a wheat allergy, we struggled to find gluten-free options, making most of his baked goods from scratch.

But going gluten-free in the Magic City is finally becoming easier.

Area supermarkets carry some gluten-free packaged and frozen foods as well as gluten-free flours and baking mixes from Bob’s Red Mill and Pamela’s Products. Often, we buy our pancake and bread mixes at Publix and rice noodles from Walmart.

For a better selection, we visit Whole Foods in Mountain Brook, which has its own selection under its Gluten-Free Bakehouse label. We also shop at two locally owned stores: Golden Temple in Five Points South and Hoover, for rice bread in the freezer and baking mixes on the shelves; and Organic Harvest in Hoover, with the most extensive line of products, including cereals, cookies and breads.

Gluten-free mixes for baked goods fill the shelves
at Organic Harvest.

Organic Harvest also offers gluten-free wraps in its cafe, one of a few restaurants with true alternatives. Several chains in town do offer gluten-free menus, such as Firebirds, Mellow Mushroom and P.F. Chang’s.

Mellow Mushroom offers a gluten-free crust on its menu.

We took our son to Mellow Mushroom’s Southside location recently for a Hawaiian pizza. The restaurant began offering a gluten-free crust this year.

“We’re all eating the same pizza,” he remarked.

For a kid who often doesn’t get to eat the same food as everyone else, having another option was quite a treat.

Have a gluten-free favorite in the Birmingham area? Share it in the comments below.

• • •

Also:

• Birmingham Celiac Disease Support Group
• Urbanspoon’s list of gluten-free restaurants in Birmingham.

• • •

Sean Kelley (@seankelley) is a Birmingham health writer and food lover as well as writer, editor and online content manager for Everwell.

• • •

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

By Celeste Ward

Before Giada, Ina, Paula or Emeril came along, one original stood out: Julia Child.

Her wit, her charm and that unmistakable voice: She was truly a force in the kitchen. In celebration of her 98th birthday today, we present one of Child’s most beloved recipes, Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream. Caution: You might find yourself unabashedly licking the sauce off your plate!

She taught me to never give up, no matter how difficult the recipe — or life in general — seems. While watching her TV show, “The French Chef” [aff. link], you can’t help but smile. Those early episodes aired unedited, so viewers witnessed a down-to-earth, endearing chef, mistakes and all! So many watching fell in love with her charming demeanor.

Video: Julia Child shows how to make an omelette
on an episode of “The French Chef.”

Child discovered herself and her love for cooking in Paris. The food, people, culture and joie de vivre completely enamored me on my first visit and continues to influence my cooking.

In her memoir, “My Life in France” [aff. link], she quoted one of her teachers, chef Max Bugnard. It reminds me of why I love to cook.

“You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made … Even after you eat it, it stays with you, always.”

• • •

Let’s celebrate Julia Child’s birthday with one of her
most incredible dishes, Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream.
Photo by Celeste Ward

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream
(Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons)
(from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I” [aff. link],
by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck)

• Preparation time: 15 minutes
• Cooking time: 30 minutes
• Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 supremes (boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Big pinch white pepper
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1/4 lb. diced or sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

• 1/4 cup white or brown stock or canned beef bouillon
• 1/4 cup port, Madeira or dry white vermouth
• 1 cup whipping cream
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rub chicken breasts with drops of lemon juice (save some for the sauce), and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Heat butter in a heavy, 10-inch oven-proof casserole, until foaming. Stir in minced shallots, and sauté a moment without browning. Stir in the mushrooms, and sauté lightly for a minute or two without browning. Sprinkle with salt.

Quickly roll chicken breasts in butter mixture, and lay a sheet of buttered wax paper over them, then cover casserole and place in hot oven. After 6 minutes, touch top of chicken. If still soft, return to oven for a moment. The meat is done when springy to the touch.

(Note: Although Child suggests to check the chicken after only 6 minutes, I cooked it for 30 to 40 minutes to ensure safety. Use a meat thermometer to check for correct temperature before serving.)

Remove the chicken to a warm platter (leave mushrooms in the pot), and cover while making the sauce (2 to 3 minutes).

Sauce: Pour the stock and wine in the casserole with the cooking butter and mushrooms. Boil down quickly over high heat until liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream, and boil down again over high heat until cream has thickened slightly. Off heat, taste for seasoning, and add drops of lemon juice to taste. Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

• • •

Also:

• Profile of Julia Child by Vanity Fair contributing editor and Birmingham native Laura Jacobs.
• Birmingham’s Plain Chicken tries Julia Child’s quiche recipe.
• Playing host to Julia Child in 1973 in Birmingham.
• Cooking Channel celebrates Child’s birthday all week, with a featured photo from Celeste Ward.

• • •

Celeste Ward is a Birmingham blogger passionate about food and photography. Her food blog Sugar and Spice by Celeste, founded in 2007, has been featured on the Cooking Channel website and AL.com.

• • •

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

Racks and racks of ribs at the ready at Golden Rule Bar-B-Q.
Photos by Eat Birmingham.

By Eat Birmingham

It was fun to watch someone experience Golden Rule Bar-B-Q for the first time.

We went to the original Irondale location for dinner with a first-timer in tow. This restaurant is the real deal, serving barbecue from the heart.

Our guest ordered pork ribs ($9.99), and I ordered the chopped pork sandwich ($3.39 for regular size). We both ordered fries as our side dish. Our companion confessed that she had never ordered ribs in a restaurant.

“Why now?” I said.

“Are you smelling what I’m smelling?” she said. “How can I not?”

She had never been wiling to commit to that amount of messiness in one meal … but on this day, her resistance was gone.

Pork ribs.

Chopped pork sandwich, with fries.

Our food arrived quickly. The ribs were perfectly prepared by first smoking, then moved to front of house where they were roasted over a hickory pit. The sandwich began as roasted pork butt then sliced and chopped after our order was yelled to the pit crew.

Fries are whole, skin-on potatoes sliced on the spot and cooked. We like dipping them in the white sauce, and we taught our guest the art of flavor layering by dipping the ribs in it as well.

Golden Rule’s current location of some 30 years,
after several moves in its 119-year history.

• • •

Golden Rule Bar-B-Q

• 2506 Crestwood Blvd., Irondale
• (205) 956-2678
• Goldenrulebbq.com
• Hours: 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday

• • •

Also:

• Southern Barbecue Trail: Oral history of Golden Rule from Michael Matsos, owner from 1969 to 2009
• Birmingham News: “Golden Rule owners sell name, most of their restaurants”

• • •

Eat Birmingham (@EatBHM) writes about eating in Birmingham and the relationships people have with food, because of food and around food on her site, Eat Birmingham.

• • •

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

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!

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!

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

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Also:

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

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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.

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

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.”

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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!

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Also:

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

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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!