1210 20th St. South (Southside/Five Points South)
918-0726
www.birminghammenus.com/26/
Lunch and dinner, full bar, no reservations accepted. From the same people who brought Birmingham the popular Ocean restaurant next door. Vey cool, industrial-chic decor, bistro dining feel. An eclectic menu features Asian, Mediterranean, Southwestern and other flavors, which enhance high-quality ingredients artfully prepared.
Click here for Bhamdining.com review

611 Doug Baker Blvd. (The Village at Lee Branch, off Hwy. 280, near Greystone)
995-1770
A 2007 City Scene review calls it "a fresh, comfortable place to dine on tasty food," family-friendly, with chicken salad "arguably the best in town." Extensive lunch menu, big on salads, plus sandwiches, thick milkshakes. Evening menu includes crab cakes, crepes, and northern Italian dishes. Pear salad, mozzarella caprese, Lobster ravioli got high marks. Beer and wine available; breakfast on weekends.

3028 Clairmont Ave. (Southside/Forest Park/Lakeview area), 254-9780
162 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, 941-9994
Darryl Whitfield, who took over the original Bogue's on Clairmont Ave. in 2006, owned Southside Cafe for 14 years before closing it to take over Bogue's. The restaurant still bears the name of the Birmingham family that founded it in 1938. Known for years for its homestyle breakfast, especially its blueberry pancakes, this diner-style restaurant also serves a meat-and-three lunch. Featured for "best breakfast" in "Where the Locals Eat." A January 2008 review in City Scene of the new Homewood location praised the homemade, fluffy biscuits, "perfectly fried" bacon, crispy hash brown potatoes, and the Yankee omelet for breakfast, but said the side serving of gravy was too small for the price. The steam-table-style lunch got high marks for country fried steak, boneless grilled chicken breast and carrot cake.

3719 3rd Avenue South, downtown
533-6288
www.thebottletree.com
Live music venue and bar as well as a cafe, with a funky and eclectic ambience. Serving soup, sandwiches, salads, quesadillas, tacos, desserts, heavy on vegetarian fare. Its vegetarian chili won the Birmingham News' 2007 chili competition. A City Scene review in January 2007 praised the "wonderfully inventive menu," including the Bread & Spread Plate with a walnut-green apple pesto, butternut squash dip and hummus; blue cheese slaw; grilled tofu Caesar wrap with pesto; green apple and havarti quesadilla; salads with locally grown organic greens; grilled pimiento cheese sandwich; dark chocolate tofu pie; and the award-winning vegan chili. However, there were service mix-ups.

2807 Cahaba Rd., Mountain Brook Village
879-8585
Jewish kosher deli meets Southern meat-n-three, plus bagels, breads and cookies baked onsite. Known for their fried chicken. Breakfast features omelets, grits, wafles, pancakes, blintzes, marinated herring, steak and eggs, and some egg-and-more breakfasts with some unusual meats -- nova salmon, salami, corned beef or pastrami.

1911 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook (English Village)
870-7011
www.birminghammenus.com/chezlulu
Funky European-meets-Southern-style cafe featuring the artisan breads and desserts of neighboring Continental Bakery. Crepes, soups, salads, savory tarts, sandwiches, pizza, gourmet cheeses; lots of vegetarian choices. Serves lunch and dinner, Sunday brunch; live entertainment some evenings. Continental Bakery offers baked goods, coffee and cold drinks for breakfast; sandwiches, soups and tarts for lunch, including classic box lunches.

3021 Cahaba Road, Mountain Brook (English Village)
871-2426
www.birminghammenus.com/ciao
Dinner Tues.-Dat. Live music nightly. Appetizers such as baked artichoke bottoms with feta, buffalo wings; salads such as spinach salad, Caesar, ribe eye steak salad; pastas from basic spaghetti to farfalle with pesto cream sauce; sandwiches, burgers, calzones, pizza.

521 Montgomery Highway, Suite 113 (next to Vestavia City Hall)
824-3655
www.cityhalldiner.com
Charming upscale diner atmosphere in a Vestavia strip mall. Breakfast includes traditional fare plus things like seafood omelettes, breakfast tortillas with chorizo and eggs, asparagus and mushroom quiche, and a "Redneck Bennie" -- biscuits and sausage gravy with fried eggs on top. At lunch there are salads, sandwiches, soup du jour, entrees such as shrimp and grits or fried shrimp, and daily specials such as chicken piccata, crawfish and andouille ravioli in vodka cream sauce, meat loaf with mashers. Dinner Thurs.-Sat. offers limited menu with appetizers such as baked oysters, entrees such as shrimp and andouille sausage in tomato risotto, pork tenderloin with turnip greens, and seared angus ribeye with roasted fingerling potatoes.

In a November 2006 review, City Scene gave it four out of five stars, giving high marks to the open-faced roast beef sandwich, as well as one with grilled asparagus, turkey, Muenster cheese and alfalfa sprouts, but complained about small portions on some items. A blackened lemon pepper grouper was an "excellent and well-prepared special," but "seemed a bit pricey." During our lunch visit in 2007, some things were done very well, like the hearty open-faced roast beef with brown gravy and skinny fried onions. Others weren't, like the watery mashed potatoes it was served with.

2721 18th St. South, Homewood (at Little Professor bookstore)
879-7891
www.cmycafe.com
Sandwiches, soups, salads for lunch; also specials served with two sides, such as meatloaf, shrimp jambalaya, apple-smoked pork loin or grilled fish. Breakfast includes traditional fare as well as items like a garden strata, chipped beef on toast, white cheddar grits, sweet potato cake, croissants, plus Sunday brunch with goodies such as French toast, frittatas, smoked trout. Dinner offers more substantial versions of lunch offerings. Wine and beer offered. A post on Chowhound.com (August 2007) praised the brunch, especially "the Duck Trap smoked trout with two poached eggs, sliced tomatoes, wheat toast, creme friache and wasabi. It comes with their sweet potato casserole, which is worth a trip in itself."

125 Inverness Plaza (off Hwy. 280 at Valleydale intersection)
408-0630
Lunch and dinner. Beer and wine available, outside dining. Casual, no-frills, intimate atmosphere serving Cajun food such as fresh crawfish, crab cakes, and pork Boudan. City Scene 2006 review gave good marks to crawfish and shrimp po'boys, Creole meatloaf; bread pudding was a disappointment.