• Spencer Clarke, owner and founder of Amizetta Vineyards, will be pouring his collection of Napa Valley wines on the patio overlooking the Cahaba River at the River Run Piggly Wiggly Saturday, May 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. Clarke will also provide the musical entertainment for the evening, playing a variety of tunes from his rock n' roll library stretching back to the 70s. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be matched with the five wines that will be poured. Tickets for the event are $35 each and can be purchased at any Piggly Wiggly or Tria Market.
  
• May 17 is the Shelby County Art and Wine Trail. The three Shelby County wineries team up for a  wine weekend event with music and local arts.
• Starting May 1 you can pre-buy your tickets for the Second Annual Magic City Brewfest at Sloss Furnaces, May 31-June 1. It's a celebration of the great beers of the world, paired with the finest food from the Birmingham area. Come and learn about beer while sampling some of the different brews! Learn more at MagicCityBrewfest.com.
  
• Looking for Mother's Day brunch? Satterfield's restaurant in Cahaba Heights is advertising a special Mother's Day menu featuring items such as spring pea and morel soup, Caesar salad, hickory grilled pizza, bacon-and-caramelized-onion quiche, house-smoked Scottish salmon, crab cake Benedict and hickory grilled hanger steak. Veranda on Highland is also advertising a Mother's Day brunch. Reservations are recommended for both.
  
• Table restaurant in Crestline village is now serving Sunday brunch, with offerings such as chocolate beignets, banana bread French toast, buckwheat pancakes, omelettes, blue crab Benedict, grilled salmon salad, shrimp and grits, steak and eggs, fried chicken salad, tempura fish sandwich, and the Table burger (with caramelized onions, bleu cheese and oven-dried tomatoes). 
• Prairie Fire Grille in Greystone has added more tables, new flowers and new umbrellas to its patio for outdoor dining.
• Crestline Village will be getting a new restaurant in May, the second location for fledgling Italian restaurant chain MAFIAoZA's out of Nashville. The restaurant will have an outside patio, a full-service bar with an extensive wine list and menu offerings including stone-oven pizzas and New York-style Italian dishes. The Crestline Village location is the first in Alabama and the fourth location overall. It will be modeled after the original Nashville location, which caters to families - offering kids pizza dough to play with and the opportunity to watch pizzas being made - and to young professionals. The Mountain Brook location will be open until midnight on weekends and until 10:30 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday.
  
• Whole Foods is now carrying our favorite local coffee from Primavera Coffee Roasters in Cahaba Heights. They also carry Higher Ground coffee, based in Leeds.
• Jefferson State Community College's newest building on Valleydale Road houses its Culinary & Hospitality Institute and a new endeavor, Bistro proVare, a cafe open for lunch Monday through Tursday 11:30-1 p.m. Dishes are planned, prepared and served by students as part of the curriculum. A three-course meal is $10; call 983-5214 for reservations. Also since the new facility opened, a series of single-session community culinary classes have been quite popular; for more information, go to www.jeffstateonline.com/chi or call 856-7719. 
• A well-known Bessemer restaurant that was forced to close to make way for a new Jefferson County courthouse has re-opened at a new location in Alabaster. Bevelle's Cafeteria is now serving home-style cooking at the CC Food Mart on Industrial Road, off U.S. 31 near Shelby Baptist Medical Center. The location is smaller than what owner Eddie Bevelle had in Bessemer, but he's expecting to do a lot of takeout business, reports the Birmingham News. 
• Taziki's Greek Fare is opening another location, this one in Liberty Park, next to Billy's on Overton Road. Opening date is targeted for June 15.
• Bellini's is a new Italian restaurant on Cahaba Valley Road, owned by Benard Tamburello, who also owns La Dolce Vita in Hoover. For more information call 981-5380.

Spring weather makes us want to eat outdoors (if we can stand the pine pollen, that is.)

The "Timetable" blog over at The Terminal earlier this week had an entry about dining al fresco. Their favorites were Rojo, Cantina, Bottega and the Garage Cafe. Definitely have to agree about Bottega. We were there last weekend (review to come soon, really!), and while it was just a tad too chilly to eat outdoors that evening, we loved the patio with its fountain surrounded by vines and the enclosing hedge. Veranda just down the street has a nice outdoor spot, as well, both in front of the restaurant (surrounded by a wooden fence, though) and the balcony on the second floor, which is even better.

Five Points South has several outdoor dining spots, including Mesa, the Grill, Cosmo's Pizza, and the soon-to-reopen Mellow Mushroom, and Cobb Lane and the J. Clyde just down the street. Also on Southside, in the Lakeview/Forest Park area, V. Richard's and O.T.'s.

In Homewood, SoHo has some good outdoor dining spaces, although we've heard mixed reviews on some of the food. There's Zoe's, which is always good for what it is; Jackson's Bar & Bistro, which we don't know much about; Salsarita's, which we have not heard much good about; Grey House Grill, where we had a very disappointing brunch. Also for al fresco in the downtown Homewood area is Dave's Pizza and DeVinci's, and Chicago Mike's Hot Dogs. Also in Homewood, over at Brookwood Village, Cocina Superior has a great outdoor space.

Several restaurants at Patton Creek in Hoover offer nice outdoor spots, including Cafe Lazio and Cajun Steamer.

In the downtown area, there's Bottletree and Metro Bistro. Over at Pepper Place, Bettola and Cantina.

Any great outdoor dining spot I'm missing? Leave a comment!

Iz Cafe is offering a four-course meal that can be picked up and taken home for your Valentine's Day dinner, with Caesar salad, corn and crab bisque, filet of beef and chocolate flourless torte; more info at www.cafeiz.com  ...  The Alabama Wildlife Center will host its fourth annual Wild About Chocolate Valentine Gala Saturday, Feb. 9; more info at www.awrc.org  ...  Makarios Kebab & Grill is now open at 940 20th St. South (in the building that once was home to a KFC), open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 731-7415  ...   Plaza III is offering special Valentine's Day prix fixe menus at three different levels -- silver, gold and platinum -- Feb. 14-17  ...  Icon has new breakfast and lunch menus; some of the features at breakfast include house-made granola, breakfast quesadilla, and an omelette with chorizo, mushrooms, caramelized onions and cheddar  ...  La Mesa Grill and Cantina in Five Points South will host a wine dinner for one of Spain's hottest wine makers, André Tamers, founder of De Maison Selections with a wine dinner Feb. 4, seating is limited to 30, so make reservations now  ...  Viva The Chef is now serving hot lunch at The Lunch Spot with a variety of meat & three selections plus a pasta menu and sandwiches, Monday thru Friday from 11-2  ...  The Wine Cellar in Vestavia is now doing wine tastings each Thursday where wines are paired with a dish from one of Vestavia's restaurants, 5-6:30 p.m., $5 per person.

Scott's Koneys has moved to the corner of 3rd Avenue South and Richard Arrington Blvd., on the back side of the Liberty National Building  ...   La Mesa Grill and Cantina is now open in Five Points South, where The Grape used to be  ...  Momma Goldberg's Deli, an Auburn institution, has opened a location at 2829 18th St. South in Homewood  ...  Silvertron Cafe in Forest Park has added music to its Sunday Brunch, beginning this weekend with Glenn Butts and/or Libba Walker from noon until 3 p.m.  ... Table restaurant in Crestline Village is offering late night eats on weekends, offering a bar menu plus specialty coffees and desserts Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m.-midnight  ...  Icon at the Tutwiler has added a Saturday brunch from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.  in addition to its Sunday Jazz Brunch, offering a lighter, more fun selection of dishes such as Jamaican Jerk wings along with classics like the Iconic Eggs Benedict ... Also new at Icon is order-ahead breakfast pickup for downtown offices, with trays of pastry, bagels, fruit and granola to feed 10  ...  Little Savannah in Forest Park is offering a chef's tasting menu on Wednesdays, including an appetizer, entree and dessert for $20 and up, as well as a smaller meal designed to appeal to children  ...  Cafe Lazio, owned by the same folks that own the popular Petrucelli's on Hwy. 280, recently opened in the Patton Creek shopping center, offering pizzas whole or by the slice, pasta dishes and other Italian entrees  ...  On Tap Sports Cafe is adding more than two dozen more brands of draft beer to its offerings, giving it the best selection in the state. New owners also have upgraded menu items in the past year with the goal of being known more as a pub or cafe rather than a "bar."

You'd better be making New Year's Eve restaurant reservations if you haven't already -- but how about a New Year's Day brunch? That's what the folks at Mudtown restaurant in Cahaba Heights are offering.

A few examples of what will be on the menu:

• Eggs Benedict Mudtown: two poached eggs atop ham wrapped in Andouille sausage and drizzled with Hollandaise sauce, on buttered English muffin halves. Served with fresh fruit and garlic cheese grits.
• New Merkle Chocolate Toast w/ Raspberry Sauce (pictured): egg dipped Texas Toast is layered in chocolate and cream cheese sauce. It’s topped with fresh berries and raspberry sauce and accompanied by a side of hickory smoked bacon and garlic cheese grits.
• Mudtown “Pick Me Up”: Bailey’s, Kahlua, Hot Fudge Sauce, Coffee, Whipped Cream, and Nutmeg
• New Year’s Mimosa: Orange Juice, Champagne, and a splash of Grand Marnier

Mudtown is accepting reservations for the brunch, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. You may make your reservation by phone at 967-3300,
or e-mail gary@mudtownalabama.com. Walk-ins are also welcome.

We were all set to do another Chef's Table with talented chef Anthony Marini at Local restaurant for the holidays, but were disappointed when we learned the restaurant had closed. Happily, though, it's only temporary -- Marini is going to be moving to a new location in Birmingham and plans to be open again in two months.

As Marini says on the Local web site, "As the saying goes, 'evolve or die,' so with that in mind we are taking (local) to a new level by moving to a great new location. I have been so proud of what we have accomplished and want to bring that same spirit with a whole new look in the city that I now call my home."

Marini has been critically acclaimed for his creations at Local as well as his previous Birmingham restaurant, AMBA. Local won Best New Restaurant in 2006 and One of the Top 3 Restaurants in 2007 in Birmingham Weekly's Menu of Menus. In August, he and fellow Birmingham chef Clif Holt, of Little Savannah, were invited to prepare dinner at the Beard House in New York City.

He's still finalizing the deal, so he won't divulge the new location yet. After he has everything finalized, we'll bring you a Q&A with Marini on Bhamdining.com about the new location, why he loves his adopted city and more.

You can e-mail Marini at anthony@lislocal.com and he'll put you on an e-mail list for news about his restaurant. Also, check out his MySpace page at myspace.com/chefanthonymarini.

Geoffrey Slate, co-owner and chef at Icon Restaurant, has resigned his duties in the kitchen to pursue other opportunities, according to a letter I received last week from Alan Dobbs, co-owner and managing partner.

Dobbs says while he is disappointed to lose Slate's expertise in the kitchen, former Chef de Cuisine Ben Leingang has stepped into his place. "I couldn't be more excited about the direction he's taking us," Dobbs says. "Ben has an incredible synergy with the rest of the kitchen and is, in my opinion, nothing short of a creative genius. His strengths include Vietnamese and Filipino cuisine, which will keep us true to our Asian-inspired roots – yet his dishes will also reflect elements of French and Italian, among many others. Which is to say, our menu is going to be more dynamic than ever before – and it’s going to change often."

Slate was named one of the city's best chefs and Icon was honored as one of the city's best new restaurants in the Birmingham Weekly 2007 "Menu of Menus" recently. He and Dobbs are longtime friends and previously co-owned Restaurant G before opening Icon in the Tutwiler Hotel early this year.

(Photo by Chris "Mojo" Denbow, who shoots a lot of local events; go to www.photomojo.info.) 

Want to eat out on Thanksgiving? Here's a list of some of the restaurants that will be open in the area:

• Icon Restaurant at the Tutwiler Hotel downtown, www.birminghammenus.com/icon, call 251-2021 for reservations.
  
• Benedict's Restaurant in Oneonta, buffet with traditional holiday dishes, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., www.2benedikt.com; call for reservations, 274-0230.
• Deep South in Chelsea, traditional meat-and-veggie buffet, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 134 Foothills Parkway, 678-4701.
• Plaza III Steakhouse, Brookwood Village, 2 p.m.-9 p.m., www.plazaiiisteakhouse.com, call for reservations, 414-1411. 
• Buttermilk Hill, Sylacauga, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., traditional Southern gourmet dinner, call for reservations, 256-207-1011.
• Ryan's of Gardendale, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., traditional menu, 608-0194
• McCormick & Schmick's, Brookwood Village, www.mccormickandschmicks.com, 871-5171
• Mariott, 3590 Grandview Parkway (off Hwy. 280), Thanksgiving buffet, call for reservations, 968-3775 
• Veranda on Highland, www.verandaonhighland.com, call for reservations, 939-5551 (menu here)
  
• Brock's Restaurant, Ross Bridge Resort, call for reservations, 949-3051 (menu here)
  

When I traveled to San Francisco in July, I made online reservations at several restaurants using www.opentable.com. It was easy to use -- you can make reservations any time of the day, no waiting until the hostess gets in or leaving a voice mail and waiting for them to call you back to confirm. Plus, OpenTable members can earn Dining Rewards Points for online reservation they make and honor. Points are redeemable for OpenTable Dining Cheques which can be used at any OpenTable restaurant.

When I got back, I thought I'd check it out for use at home. There were only a couple of restaurants listed. Bummer. But in the months since then, an increasing number of Birmingham-area restaurants have signed on to the service. There are now about a dozen, with recently added ones including Cafe Dupont, Jackson's Bar and Bistro, Ocean, and La Dolce Vita.

Although OpenTable has been around since 1999, it really seems to be catching on. The service began in gourmet-conscious San Francisco, with a rapid migration to New York City. It offers free, online reservations for diners as well as guest and table management systems for restaurants and celebrated its 50 millionth reservation last month. The OpenTable network includes 8,000 restaurants around the world, which have replaced their pen-and-paper reservation books with the OpenTable computerized reservation system.

Birmingham Magazine's new issue features the "Top 50 Things to Eat" in the city.

In this second annual list, you'll find:

• Appetizers such as baked brie at The Wine Loft, lobster tempura at Fleming's, nigiri/sashimi at Jinsei, and the pate at Chez Fonfon
• Soups such as Tria Market's clam chowder and seafood gumbo from The Bright Star
• Brunch dishes such as Crab Benedict at Icon, Debris and Eggs at Veranda on Highland, and smoked trout at Crape Myrtle's Cafe
• Salads such as Anthony's Salad from Local and the Black and Bleu salad at Michael's
• Sandwiches such as the rib-eye steak sandwich at Billy's and the Piadines at Bottega Cafe
• Entrees such as pizza at Bettola, scallops at Cafe Dupont, seafood risotto from GianMarco's, and Pan Seared Black Grouper at Hot and Hot
• Desserts such as Bananas Foster crepes at Satterfield's, Prairie Fire's bread puddings, and peach cobbler at Little Savannah.