Best Chef: Bill Briand
After the 2023 closure of Fisher’s in Orange Beach, fans of chef Bill Briand’s thoughtful approach to Gulf bounty, which earned him five James Beard Best Chef: South semifinalist nominations, wondered what was next. When he opened Fairhope’s Little Bird in 2025, hopes soared. Red snapper crudo swimming in local citrus and “Mom’s sweet cornbread”—celebrating Alabama’s farmers and fishermen and honoring his mom, Ginny—rise to meet the lofty expectations.
Bill Briand’s Recommendations:
Breakfast: Provision
I can walk over to fill up on great coffee and either the breakfast burrito packed with Conecuh sausage and avocado or a fried-egg-and-bacon croissant sandwich with chipotle aïoli.
Lunch: The Barn at Hope Farm
The short-rib French dip sandwich is actually my favorite thing on the planet right now. But if you’ve got a lot to do, don’t get it. With swiss and mornay sauce, it’s rich and makes me want a nap.
Dinner: Master Joe’s or The Ravenite
The sushi at Master Joe’s is outstanding, but the wings and pizzas at Ravenite are the best in town, so it depends what I’m in the mood for.
Drinks: Bucky’s Lounge at The Grand Hotel
The cocktails are always on point, but sipping while watching the sunset over Mobile Bay takes them over the top.
Best Mixologist: José Medina Camacho
At Adios, José Medina Camacho relies on his Mexican heritage to move the menu beyond standard margaritas. His use of tequilas, mezcals, rums, and bourbons, as well as lesser-known Mexican spirits like agave-based raicilla, blends with an international ingredient roster encouraging patrons to wave goodbye to preconceived notions of Mexican cocktails and putting Camacho on 2025’s James Beard finalist list for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service.
José Medina Camacho‘s Current Favorites:
ALABAMA PRODUCT
I love to sub Booch Buddies ginger kombucha for ginger beer to add spice to our ginger margarita.
BEVERAGE TREND
While Aperol spritz rules, I’m hoping to see some white port spritzes or something more out-of-the-box gain ground this year. And I’m looking forward to using Dolin’s new strawberry vermouth in some spring and summer drinks.
DRINK SOMEWHERE ELSE
In Birmingham, I enjoy the 50/50 martini with wings at Continental Drift.
The Best of Alabama
Best New Restaurant: Bayonet, Birmingham
The party at Birmingham’s Bayonet, a MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand restaurant, starts with fresh product, including whole fish broken down in-house, continues with taquitos stuffed with sweet Royal Red shrimp and bright salsa verde, and arrives at golden-seared scallops atop corn-mushroom nage. Chef Rob McDaniel’s ode to oysters—20 farmed varieties on offer daily and oyster-anchored martinis mixed tableside—amplifies the exuberant experience.
Best Culinary Hotel: The Laurel Hotel and Spa, Auburn
The experiential learning at this teaching hotel delivers a win for Auburn University’s hospitality management students. Its luxe rooms and rooftop cocktail and tapas bar score Alabama its only AAA five-diamond property. But The Laurel’s MICHELIN-recommended teaching restaurant, 1856 Culinary Residence, is the touchdown, where students serve tahini-sauced butternut-squash gnocchi and melting waygu short ribs.
Best Worth-the-Drive Barbecue: Alabama Rib Shack, Gainesville
Patrons from near and far seek out Alabama Rib Shack in out-of-the-way Gainesville to tuck into pitmaster Jamie Lee Mitchell’s palate-pleasing blend. of West Indies influences and comfort classics like slow-smoked pulled pork, cornbread, and candied yams cozied up to jerk chicken and oxtails.
Best Food Truck: Funky Forte, Montgomery
Chef Amber Bonds’ fine-dining background ensures the casual, fun fare of her food truck (think loaded buffalo chicken fries and big-beefy flat-top-crisped burgers) is perfectly executed. And she pours her creative personality into weekend brunch: spiced chia pancakes with candied pecans (and sometimes bits of smoky bacon) and fried pork-chop sandwiches with pepper jack and mushroom gravy.
Best Ice Cream: Big Spoon Creamery, Birmingham, Huntsville
Everyone screams for the cool treats at Big Spoon Creamery. Its ice cream artisans churn milk and cream from a local, fourth-generation family-owned dairy, seasonal fruits, and other quality ingredients into flavors like Earl Grey, dark-chocolate-flecked raspberry, and almond-peach-cardamom.
Best Comeback Story: Zack’s Family Restaurant, Dothan
In late 2024, when Benjamin Henderson rebuilt and reopened the eatery his aunt and uncle founded, the Wiregrass community expressed a collective cheer for the return of fried chicken, slow cooked turnips, and peach cobbler, all made from Henderson’s grandmother’s and aunt’s recipes.
Best Biscuit: The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar, Mobile
Biscuits remain a constant on the oft-changing menu at The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar. Owner-chef Jim Smith knows better than to deny diners his pillowy rounds embellished with condiments both familiar and unexpected—whipped butter, dark cane syrup, and smoked sea salt.
Best Caribbean Food: Tamarind Island Grille, Huntsville
Customers cruise in for chef Lauren Herbert’s spicy jerk chicken, fish and rice with plantains, and collards in the style of callaloo, an earthy spinach stew from her home country, Guyana. Even mac and cheese gets her heritage, honoring twist with a blend of Caribbean spices she won’t divulge (no matter how many times you ask).
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On the Road
Birmingham
Full of chef-driven menus and upscale dining options, Birmingham packs a punch.
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Jennifer Stewart Kornegay
Freelance writer and editor Jennifer Stewart Kornegay lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and writes about food, food culture and variety of other lifestyle topics for national and regional publications including Garden & Gun, Southern Living, The Local Palate, Conde Nast Traveler, Modern Farmer, The Bitter Southerner and AllRecipes.com.
