![]() Conversation waned as we savored two beautifully prepared seafood dishes. ![]() Christina’s cobia dish was equally detailed. My main course was a simply roasted grouper that was prepared, seasoned, and presented to perfection. For contrast, I ordered Canadian oysters from Prince Edward Island and Murder Point oysters from Bayou La Batre, Alabama ( The briny, buttery Murder Points were the best Gulf oysters I’ve ever had, and possibly the best oysters I’ve ever had, period. Instead, our meal started off with crab claws and freshly shucked oysters from the large and beautiful oyster bar located in a corner of the room. Christina commented that she’d like to order a bite of everything. Servers are friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive and the menu is full of seasonal options. The restaurant is located in a transitioning neighborhood that still has an industrial feel, so the decision to put the main entrance off the street on the north side allows entry onto a terraced green lawn, away from the bustle and traffic of the street-side. Large floor-to-ceiling windows on the north and east facades add to the open feel. The interior, designed by Suzanne Humphries Evans, combines an open layout with furnishings that seem upscale and special while also recalling a seafood shack on the Gulf. With all of those points in mind, Automatic Seafood and Oysters is a new favorite to add to my lists. I still won’t eat seafood in land-locked states, but it is always fresh and available in Birmingham. Non-residents don’t realize that Birmingham is only about four hours from the Gulf of Mexico and trucks with fresh catches come into the city daily. But one of my very favorites is an urban seafood place with a comfortable vibe and delicious and imaginative food. I like any place where one can eat authentic and well-prepared food, whatever the price point and style, and where the ambience is warm and friendly. If you ask about my favorite types of restaurants, my answers will be all over the map. I was anxious to eat there as soon as possible but a good opportunity did not present itself until August, when my friend Christina drove down from Huntsville to join me for dinner during Sidewalk weekend. The SFA Winter Symposium 2019 held its opening night reception at Good People Brewing.Īutomatic Seafood and Oysters ( opened in April. Still, by January 2019, I was skeptical that there would be a finished restaurant in time for the symposium in February. ![]() There wasn’t much to see for several months, but then windows began to appear and a restaurant began to take shape at what used to be the Automatic Sprinkler Corporation factory. Now that I had a location, I drove past that corner of 5 th Avenue every weekend to check on the progress. Edge, SFA Executive Director, announced that the space where we had gathered for our opening night reception was the future site of Adam Evans’s new restaurant, and that the narrative begun that night would conclude at the 2019 SFA Winter Symposium with an opening night reception in the finished restaurant on that very site. The theme for that symposium was “Narratives that Transform” and John T. ![]() It was a delicious, charming, and bare bones affair. Chef Evans had grills set up off the loading dock and picnic tables were arranged for seating. The opening night reception was held on the loading dock of an abandoned factory on 5 th Avenue S. My diligence did not yield much information until the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) Winter Symposium in Birmingham in February 2018. That rumor put Evans’s Birmingham restaurant on my radar and I began to do regular searches for “Chef Adam Evans Birmingham.” The course I most remember from that night was perhaps the simplest – a garden salad assembled with ingredients gathered from the chef’s grandfather’s garden that morning.Įvans is a Shoals native and the rumor in Florence that night was that he was working on a new restaurant concept for Birmingham. It was a pleasure to experience his menu and see that he lived up to his reputation. Evans had just completed a successful run at The Optimist and other Atlanta restaurants, and, since I’d rather have a colonoscopy than go to Atlanta, I had only admired him based on his press from afar. Three years ago, Chef Adam Evans presented a dinner for Alabama Chanin’s “Friends of the Café” series that still ranks among my favorites of over two dozen meals eaten at that venue.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |