Birmingham | Alabama | A Tale of Two Menus

Alabama is best known for its barbecued meats, but with Gulf Coast waters abundant in marine life, it serves up superb seafood too. While many restaurants specialize in traditional fishy fare, there are new kids on the block making waves with contemporary takes on the classics.

Words and photos by Simon Urwin

As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” So said Scarlett O’Hara in the historical epic Gone with the Wind. It’s a line that regularly springs to mind on a day spent sampling the menus of two award-winning restaurants in the city of Birmingham, often referred to as the ‘Dinner Table of the South.’ 

I start with lunch at the Bright Star, Alabama’s oldest restaurant, located in Bessemer, some 13 miles southwest of downtown. Recognised by the James Beard Foundation – the Oscars of cooking – as one of ‘America’s Classics’, it was opened in 1907 by Tom Bonduris, a native of the farming village of Peleta in the Peloponnese region of Greece.     

“He came in search of a better life and found a safe -haven here,” says server Sonya Twitty in her honey-thick Alabama accent. “That’s why he called this place the Bright Star.”  Bonduris was one of thousands of Greeks who crossed the Atlantic at the turn of the century and ended up in the Birmingham area – for many, their -exodus was precipitated by the defeat of Greek forces in a war with Turkey, as well as thousands of families losing their livelihoods when the global market for dried seedless grapes disappeared. 

Serving Hearty And Honest Food

Bonduris arrived to find the city and its suburbs booming with industry and he – like many of his compatriots – quickly saw an opportunity to make money serving weary workers with hearty, honest food. “At one point, 95% of all the restaurants in and around Birmingham were owned by Greeks,” Twitty explains. “They served Southern dishes with a touch of the Mediterranean, something we still do to this day.”  

Twitty brings me a selection from their menu to try, starting first with a bowl of seafood gumbo, then a bright, leafy salad made with briny olives and tart, salty feta cheese. Next, comes a Southern classic: snapper throats (the succulent cut of meat from the underside of the fish behind the gills) which is grilled Greek-style with -oregano and olive oil. Fit to burst, she refuses to let me leave until I’ve had a dessert. I relent and pick the Lemon Ice Box – a creamy concoction of condensed milk, lemon and eggs that sits under a Graham cracker crust. “That’s the thing about Southern hospitality, it’s impossible to resist,” she says, delivering a vast slice to the table. “We’ll treat you good in so many different ways, you have to like at least one of ‘em.” 

For The Seafood Lovers

I drive across town to Birmingham’s Lakeview neighbourhood in time for dinner at Automatic Seafood and Oysters, for which owner and executive chef Adam Evans recently picked up a James Beard Award for ‘Best Chef in the South’.

“My love of food came about as a young kid picking okra, corn and tomatoes in my grandfather’s garden,” says Evans, originally of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “I can still remember the intense flavours of all that super-fresh produce. That’s what got me hooked.” Evans got his first paid job serving soft-serve ice cream at the local Dairy Queen before graduating to the world of fine dining; he learned his craft in kitchens in New York, New Orleans, and -Atlanta – finally returning to his home state to launch a restaurant in a converted sprinkler manufacturing -facility in the heart of Birmingham. 

“One important thing – I wanted it to be open seven days a week,” he says. “Many places take two days off, but I wanted folks to feel welcome all the time. I guess it’s a Southern thing.” He settled on a seafood menu – a -reflection of happy childhood summers spent on -Alabama’s beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. “The Gulf produces all this incredible fish and I really wanted to show it off as best as I could,” he says. So, Evans found a spear -fisherman based in Destin, Florida, to dive and spear-catch exclusively for the restaurant. “It’s his only job; I’m able to get pompano, amberjack, tilefish, and triggerfish – all these very different, very beautiful species. He brings me whatever he finds so I’m able to serve whatever’s in season.”

A Fast-Moving Food Scene

Evans invites me to sit and then heads to the kitchen to send out some of his personal highlights from the menu. First come Alabama oysters on the half-shell – their subtle saltiness offset by the sweetness of a perfectly made daiquiri cocktail. They’re followed by a bowl of crab claws in a punchy citrus-herb marinade that delivers an extra kick from some Korean chilli pepper. I pick a summery glass of Chenin Blanc to accompany the next dish: speared mangrove snapper on a bed of apple and radish and topped with an ingenious and delicious garnish: in an effort to avoid food waste, Evans has perfected a way of crisping up the fish’s swim bladder to taste like a marine version of pork crackling. The pièce de résistance though is his own take on snapper throat: an Asian-inspired, crispy fish collar with chilli butter, lime, and farm pickles, which is spectacular, as good as anything I’ve tasted on my travels throughout the Far East.   

“People have all these preconceptions – and misconceptions about Alabama,” says Evans. “But there’s way more to food here than your traditional chicken pot pie and meat-and-three. The food scene is exciting, it’s evolving fast and is getting better and better. I think if people come and try it for themselves, they’ll be surprised, not only by the quality, but by how much thought and love goes into our cooking.”  

Get the whole story and more in our issue #12.