Any Good Italian Restaurants, Bakeries, Deli's? (Birmingham, Homewood: home, neighborhood, school)

[GTO831]

Since we are moving soon and my husband is Italian I, of course, need to find these things out.
By good Italian Restaurants I don't mean the "Caraba's and Tony Roma's" types.
What about good old fashion Italian Bakeries or Deli type places?
Anybody know of any around the areas?

Also, what about little "mom and pop" type diners....any of those still around?

Thanks in advance.
Tracy

[cpg35223]

Let's see...Birmingham has great restaurants of every description. Where in town will you live?

These are my top three. Mind you, I'm not a purist, but we love eating at these four:

1) GianMarcos -- Homewood. Really great place. Not terribly formal. More like a bigger neighborhood restaurant.
2) Bongiorno -- Crestline section of Mountain Brook. Pretty darned good, too.
3) Bottega -- Along Highland Avenue on Southside. Frank Stitt's restaurant. More upscale with a ridiculously beautiful clientele. There's an informal cafe on one site and more formal place on the other.
4) Lovoy's -- Homewood along Green Springs Highway. More down to earth, but a fun, old-school place.

I'm not sure you're going to find any Italian bakeries per se, but there are some good places in town such as Savages, Continental, et al. Delis? There are a few such as Browdy's, but Birmingham isn't really a deli kind of town.

All that being said, as a foodie who avoids chain restaurants as a matter of principle, I can tell you that there are plenty of locally-owned resturants that are excellent, from Highlands (chosen by Gourmet as one of the country's Top 5 restaurants) to Hot n' Hot Fish Club to Ocean, Table, the Veranda, Little Savannah, et al. You won't be moving to a culinary wasteland, I promise you.

As far as Mom & Pop places, there are a million places such as the Irondale Cafe (the inspiration for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe).

I would start with the web site www.bhamdining.com. It is by no means exhaustive, but it's a good start.

[GTO831]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
WE, on a whole, avoid chain eating as much as possible too, but love to explore with more "original" foods and places. Love the little mom and pop stuff.
As for the Italian food places I am sure I will try those too.
Bakeries, that is a shame but Publix has pretty decent Italian bread so I can just use that.
Oh, you asked where we would be living. We just bought a home in Odenville, off Argo/Margaret Road. So very excited about that.

Anyways, thanks again for the wonderful advise and tips and the link.
Take care.
Tracy

[pvjd]

If you are looking for good pizza and pasta, there is Formaggio's, Giuseppie's, Salvatore's, and Tortuga's.

[GTO831]

Mostly we do the Italian cooking at home. My husband, whose father was the first in his family born in the US, loves Italian, however, once in a while we like to find good Italian out (me NOT cooking). It's very difficult, even here in Florida, because it all taste so "institutionalized, processed". My sauce takes 2 days to perfect LOL.....

I thank you all for the input. I can't wait to try some of them.

Also, and this has been quite a few years ago, there was a place on the Mountain called Baby Does and one off Greensprings called Spats......those still around?

Thanks again
Tracy

[pvjd]

Yeah, my wife is Italian and her and her family are all from Jersey. As you can imagine, there are not too many places that meet her seal of approval. There have been some good ones metioned, though.

[Southlander]

Now those are a couple of names from the past...the '70s! Both now long gone. But lots of great restaurants are now around to take their place. cpg is right, Birmingham has an extraordinary amount of excellent restaurants. And the Italian influence if still very strong. You won't starve!

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by GTO831

Mostly we do the Italian cooking at home. My husband, whose father was the first in his family born in the US, loves Italian, however, once in a while we like to find good Italian out (me NOT cooking). It's very difficult, even here in Florida, because it all taste so "institutionalized, processed". My sauce takes 2 days to perfect LOL.....

I thank you all for the input. I can't wait to try some of them.

Also, and this has been quite a few years ago, there was a place on the Mountain called Baby Does and one off Greensprings called Spats......those still around?

Thanks again
Tracy

Oh, those places are long, long gone. They've been replaced by much better fare.

[GTO831]

Well, LOL, like I said, it has been quite a while....I joined Navy in 91 and haven't been back to Alabama since.
Just now moving back this month.
Can't wait to explore new eats and places again.
Thanks to everyone.

[bluebeard]

Bettola is a great restaurant