Ollie Irene
Work once again brought me
to Birmingham, and my extremely gracious colleagues brought me on another
culinary tour of the Birmingham area. Our first stop was Ollie Irene, a
semi-finalist for the James Beard Best New Restaurant Award in 2012. Ollie
Irene is located in a shopping center in the little borough of Mountain Brook
(so yes, at first I was skeptical). The menu is filled with comfort foods that
make use of traditional Southern ingredients that are all locally sourced. The cocktails are classic, but the use of
pure, fresh ingredients elevates them to new stature. I am a sucker for herb
based cocktails, and the Basil Gimlet did not disappoint.
We started with one of the
daily specials – huge rounds of friend green tomatoes lightly coated in
cornmeal stacked with layers of thick, homemade guacamole in between. THIS is the way to eat friend green tomatoes.
I had the catfish for my
entrée, which was also lightly coated in cornmeal. The dusting of cornmeal on
the fish and the fried green tomatoes was perfectly light and not at all
greasy. Truly a culinary marvel. The catfish was served with a sauté of corn,
Cajun ham, lemon butter and scallions. The fish was cooked perfectly and it was
simply a remarkable dish.
We ended the meal with
another special, a galette of local stone fruits with vanilla ice cream. Warm,
sweet, tangy, and creamy all at once.
The service was
phenomenal. My colleagues frequent Ollie Irene pretty regularly, and were
greeted like family. For a pretty nominal fee, you can buy a beer for each
member of the staff. Trust me, they deserve it.
Saw’s Juke Joint
Determined not to leave
Birmingham again without good barbeque, we hit up Saw’s Juke Joint for dinner. We started with
some friend okra and fried green tomatoes (when in Rome and whatnot). Both were tasty with the addition of some salt and pepper, though certainly less
sophisticated that the FGTs at Ollie Irene. They were served with a house sauce
that was reminiscent of Russian dressing. Being the mayonnaise hater that I am,
I can confidently say ketchup was satisfying alternative. The star of my dining
experience was the pork and greens dish – a heaping pile of melt-in-your-mouth
pulled pork over a bed of cheddar cheese grits, turnip greens (you just know
they were cooked in bacon fat), and a few fat, crispy onion rings for good measure, drizzed with tangy barbecue sauce. Saw’s has a nice local craft beer selection and the servers are happy to walk you
through the list and help you find a good fit. The one thing that left me
feeling uneasy was the fact that EVERYTHING was served on Styrofoam and with
plastic utensils. Yuck. I don’t want that stuff leeching into my food, not to
mention the waste. My hope for Saw’s would be to green it up a little bit– this would be better
for the food and the planet.
