What to Eat in Birmingham

Lately, I’ve been writing about places that are completely off the beaten path. Tonite, I’m writing about a place that everybody loves to love.

We picked up my father-in-law at the airport tonite around dinnertime. He’s here to help with some home improvement projects, so we wanted to take him to a nice place to eat. Although he’s been to the Ham before, we were excited to show off downtown, which seems to get even cooler by the month. So we went to, in my opinion, the most dependably cool place downtown-El Barrio.

El Barrio opened a few months after we moved to Birmingham. We ate there that first week and have been eating there often ever since. The food has always been good but has continued get even better. The menu has been through some changes and I’ve eaten there often enough to find several really excellent dishes that I come back for again and again.

Tonite, we started with my favorite appetizer, their chips and guacamole. Don’t forget to squeeze the lime on top!

Then, the chicken and rice soup. I always get a bowl of it. It is only a tiny bit spicy, and is finished off with a small amount of cream. It is probably my favorite thing on the menu. Pure comfort food.

Then, the shrimp ceviche. This is shrimp cooked by marinating it in citrus. This is some of the freshest tasting ceviche around, served with chips on top of their delicious guacamole. Not only delicious, but beautiful. And one of the only ceviches in town.

All three of those dishes are El Barrio favorites for me. Tonite, we tried something new: the pork loin. Served with brussel sprouts, apple mole, and sweet potatoes-all of my favorite things in one dish. They worked well together-adding this to my new list of go-to El Barrio dishes: