Chelsea and Isaiah Parker rose from their bed on a recent Saturday at 6 a.m. to prepare for a 90-minute drive from Jacksonville to Birmingham to get food they cannot find in their part of the state.
Date bar from Abadir’s in Greensboro, AL. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
A Mediterranean vibe sandwich that features roasted sweet potato, little punches of garlic, cardamon golden pickled onions and zing from a preserved lemon kale salad on homemade bread. Date bars. And apple galettes that look like open-faced pies bursting with fresh flavors of roasted Lady Alice Apple, dates, sun butter frangipane on a sourdough olive oil crust.
“I love everything she makes,” Chelsea said. “It’s so fresh and healthy.”
Pita pockets filled with greens from Abadir’s. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
In late 2024, Armando Martinez wanted to bring a restaurant to downtown Birmingham, where people could experience elevated Tex Mex and his Mexican roots.
As he drove by a building with boarded-up windows at Second Avenue and 13th Street North, he took a deep breath and wondered, “What if?”
What if this spot could become his spot.
The blackened mahi mahi from De Nada restaurant in Birmingham’s Parkside District. It comes with black beans, rice, avocado lime dressing, guacamole and cilantro. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
At the time, there were no sidewalks and the brush was overgrown. But there was possibility.
“What I saw was Regions Field and Railroad Park,” Armando, 31, said, citing that the building is less than one block from both. “I said, ‘Those are two anchors that can sustain this place. And there were also a few apartments that were done at the time, and two apartments under construction.’ ”
The idea simmered within his soul for a few months. He even looked at another location a few blocks over. But there was something about the building in the Parkside District that pulled him back.
In 2025, he contacted the landlord, and they had several conversations about Armando’s vision. Eventually, Armando inked a deal for the location, which will officially open in late April 2026 for lunch and dinner. He calls the restaurant De Nada, which means “You’re Welcome,” in Spanish.
Armando Martinez, owner of the new De Nada restaurant in Birmingham, AL. (Photo provided by De Nada)
Last June as Jack Burke prepared to cook for Festa Italiana at Sloss Furnaces, the morning was bright and beautiful. But it didn’t take long for the weather to turn.
Rain came down in sheets and high winds blew tents everywhere. Jack and other vendors sought cover under a nearby viaduct, waiting for the worse to pass. And in that very moment, Jack wondered if his food had been ruined. Will people even come?
Eventually, the storm passed, and the sun came out again. So, did the people.
“Within an hour of opening up, boom! Thousands of people!” Jack recalled, adding that his food had survived. “We had a line wrapped around the tent. At 4 or 5 o’clock, it was as if half of Birmingham had decided to come to Sloss.”
Jack Burke’s focaccia bread from Molay Bros. (Photo provided by Jack Burke)
Hassan Gooden takes one bite of his three-layer seafood lasagna and jumps up and down like he’s struck gold.
In a way, he has. As the executive chef of Velvet & Vine BHM, a new restaurant slated to open in downtown Birmingham in March, he’s been testing recipes to get them just right before opening day.
On a recent Tuesday morning, he’s already cooked one lasagna full of shrimp, crawfish, fish stock, and a blend of Gouda, aged cheddar and Parmigiano Reggiano, placed in between his homemade lasagna pasta sheets. Fresh out the oven, the lasagna continues to bubble. Hassan takes a spoon and cracks the slight crust of cheese topping dotted with fresh parsley, thyme and rosemary.
The seafood lasagna by Hassan Gooden. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
He scoops out a serving, tries it and smiles. It’s good.
But in his mind, Hassan wonders if it can be better. He whips up another version and leaves it in the oven just a little while longer. The extra cooking time makes all the difference.
The flavor is even more deep and robust.
“This is it!” he exclaims while wearing an apron dusted in his rolling pin flour power. “This one was better than the first.”
As a youth, Hassan Gooden wanted to be an OB/GYN. But after growing his talents in restaurant kitchens, he found a different kind of delivery to make people happy. “For me, cooking is the only thing that matters,” he said. (Photo from Hassan Gooden)
Layoffs. Rising food prices. Unexpected expenses. They all came in like a fury the last few months of 2025, leaving wallets stretched for many. And as 2026 continues to unfurl, money remains tight.
To help ease the pain of what to eat for just one meal, Crystal Peterson, owner of On a Bun in downtown Birmingham, will give away 200 free hamburger and cheeseburger meals on Monday, Feb. 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. She’s also partnering with a non-profit organization to distribute 100 additional hamburger and cheeseburger meals to the unhoused in Birmingham.
“We want to care about the citizens just as much as anybody should,” she said. “Sometimes, you have to step in and be that person. It’s called good will.”
“We just hope that this one meal can maybe make your Monday.”
The plain cheeseburger from On A Bun. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
When Jennifer Smith’s best friend asked her to be in her 2001 wedding, Jennifer accepted.
But deep down, what Jennifer couldn’t accept was anyone knowing her true size: 18/20. Since the other women in the wedding were under a size 6, Jennifer ordered a size 12. She figured her dress order wasn’t a “lie” because she had five months to become that size 12.
She didn’t make it.
At one point in Jennifer Smith’s life, she weighed nearly 280 pounds. She never thought it was a problem until she couldn’t fit into a dress for her best friend’s wedding. (Photo provided by Jennifer Smith.)
The week of the wedding, a seamstress had to add an extra panel to the back to make it fit. And even though the alterations worked, the experience forced a then 24-year-old Jennifer to get serious about her weight, which had fluctuated since she was a child.
“More than anything, I was embarrassed,” Jennifer said. “And I just got tired of being sick and tired.”
First, she started walking in her neighborhood. Then, she tried fad diet after fad diet. The weight went up and down until she finally reached a size 22/24.
Today at age 48, Jennifer Smith weighs 160 pounds, a weight she achieved by remaining consistent with exercise and her diet. She’s a certified trainer now doing public speaking engagements about her weight loss.(Photo provided by Jennifer Smith)
As Jason Mezrano worked in the kitchen at the Birmingham Museum of Art earlier this month, everything felt familiar to him.
Real familiar.
The flourless chocolate torte from the new Cafe BMA by Kathy G at the Birmingham Museum of Art. (Photo by Chanda Temple)
He’s part of Kathy G. & Company, which once used to run the café at the museum. The company’s museum café closed more than 12 years ago. But this month, the company returned to run the cafe again, which is now called Café BMA by Kathy G. Within one hour of its soft opening, people were at tables, ordering house salads, angus beef burgers, chicken salad, quiche and more.
“It’s an honor to come back. I feel at home at the Museum of Art,’’ said Jason, executive chef. “We are so glad to be here.’’
On Jan. 21, 2026, it didn’t take long for word to spread that Kristen Farmer Hall of the La Fete French bistro in downtown Birmingham had been named a James Beard Award semfinalist for Best Chef in the South.
Her DMs, text messages and voicemails were full of celebrations about her shot at receiving the highest honor in the food industry. Finalists will be named on March 31, and the winners will be announced on June 15 at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony in Chicago.
The Steak Frites from La Fete. (Photo by Caleb Chauncey)
“It’s been a wonderful day for me, for La Fete and our city because of all the other nominations,” said Kristen, who is one of five Birmingham chefs/professionals/restaurants named as a semifinalist. Such news came two months after LaFete and 10 Birmingham restaurants/chefs were named in the MICHELIN Guide’s first-ever MICHELIN Guide to the American South. (La Fete made MICHELIN Guide’s Bib Gourmand List, which recognizes restaurants for “good quality, good value cooking.”)
“So, Birmingham continues to crush,” she said. “It’s been a big year.”
For almost three months, Tanesha Sims-Summers debated whether she would get real on social media about a big issue facing her company.
In late fall 2025, her Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co. food truck, stopped running. At first, she thought it would be an easy fix because she and her husband, Clem Summers, have faced truck challenges in the past. But this issue was different.
The mechanic told them that the part and labor to fix the truck, which is known as Ms. Poppy, would be $6,500. (The rear differential, which distributes engine power to the rear axel, was not working.) And to make matters worse, they would have to pay up front to order the part.
They didn’t have the money for such a repair, and Tanesha thought long and hard about what to do: Should she start a Go Fund Me?
The Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn food truck is a 2004 model that Clem Summers and Tanesha Sims-Summers bought in 2019 for $50,000 from Golden Flake. They outfitted it and had planned to put it in operation in 2020, not anticipating how the pandemic would impact the business. They pivoted with online sales until the world opened back up again. Today, the truck, which is paid off, has experienced vandalism twice and even a fire through the years. Still, the owners managed to get it rolling every time. Now, they are hosting a Go Fund Me to pay for a major repair. (Photo from company’s Facebook page.)
Five Birmingham restaurants/chefs have been named as semifinalists for a James Beard Award, the Oscars for the food industry.
From here, restaurant and chef nominees will be announced on Tuesday, March 31, and the winners will be recognized on Monday, June 15 in Chicago during the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony.
The Birmingham semifinalists are:
Outstanding Chef: Rob McDaniel, Bayonet
Best Chef (South): Kristen Hall, La Fête
Best Chef (South): Geri-Martha O’Hara and Ryan O’Hara, Pizza Grace
Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service: Eric Bennett, Continental Drift
