This is About Town’s annual list of the top five best dishes in Birmingham. Do you know of a dish you’d like to see? D.M. us on Instagram, and let us know.
The top 5 from last year were: Hot and Hot’s Tomato Salad, Vegetable Chow Nian Fun from Red Pearl, Alle Vongole at La Fresca, Civiche from Dos Hermanos Taco Truck and Ocean’s Baklava Ice Cream.
Campanelle, or cacio pepe, is one of Rome’s signature dishes and served all over the Italian capital. It’s a simple pasta dish that includes a cheese sauce with parmigiano reggiano and black pepper. Luca opened in the past year, and is located in Homewood on 28th Ave South, just down from The Valley hotel.
How could we not include a dish from the best Chinese restaurant in Birmingham? Last year we included their Vegetable Chow Naan Fun. This year we’re going with their Cumin Lamb. Not a fan of lamb? Try the Cumin Beef. Both are spicy and incorporate all the things we love about Chinese food.
The winner of this year’s Best Pizza in our annual Reader’s Poll, Davenport’s has been a Birmingham fixture since 1964. The founder, Rex Hollis named the restaurant after his friend, Jim “Peanut” Davenport, who was a professional baseball player with the San Francisco Giants. They grew up together in Siluria, AL and was a well known local name after the Giants were in the World Series the year before.
Could the best Thai food in town really be located in the former Hoover Foodmart? Yes! In fact, it’s barebones ambiance adds to its charm and authenticity. The menu is minimal to say the least. Choices are limited and change depending on the day, but we’ve never had anything bad here. We chose the Friday special, Yellow Curry. It comes with chicken, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and coconut milk.
Joyland, which has another spot in Nashville, opened recently near Avondale where Rodney Scott’s used to be. Joyland is an imaginative concept from James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Brock inspired by the original fast-food restaurants of yesteryear. Their crust burger is similar to smash burger with a “fancy sauce,” which gives this burger a nice umami pop.
