The South's favorite foods: Chicken, BBQ & Seafood
Some of the MVP’s in my world are locally family owned restaurateurs. Paul Gagliano has been operating Seafood & ChickenBox since 1972. His brother Paul worked along with him until he retired in 2016. But for 45 years they have been frying hand battered chicken and seafood in the Birmingham area.
I ate at the CenterPoint location almost 10 years ago and stumbled upon them again in their newest location in Trussville, Alabama. The chicken was still just as mouth watering & flavorful as it was when I first tried it. The secret to their chicken is homemade topping called Goo. They top all the meats with the special seasoning. You can request it with extra Goo or no goo at all, but it is the Seafood Chicken Box signature flavor!
You can even buy some to make your food taste like theirs.
Tuesday through Friday, they offer very affordable lunch specials when you dine in. The seafood comes from the gulf and that’s why it’s so fresh. All of the sides are home made by Paul every morning. Remember every meal comes with hush puppies. Besides delicious fried chicken & seafood, they also offer burgers, chicken livers & fried dill pickles. They do not cater, but will happy to cook up your large order for your next event and you can pick it up. Give them a call today at 205.655.7414 so you won’t have to wait 20 minutes for some juicy, hot chicken.
One thing my husband hates is when I like to taste his food, but when you try Dim Sum at Black Pearl Restaurant on Lakeshore, he shouldn’t get upset anymore. Dim Sum is small plates of food that you choose from a rolling cart that’s meant to be shared with family and friends.
It’s also a Cantonese version of American breakfast that usually served with tea. The food is served from bamboo baskets that has been steamed so it’s not only very savory but healthy. You can get everything from shrimp dumplings to desserts.
The bamboo baskets they cook the Dim Sum dishes in. Once they are steamed on the stove they’re placed in a steam cart and rolled to customers inside.
Sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf. It is very creamy on the inside and taste like a rice casserole. Please do not eat the leaf.
Chicken feet is very popular item there. As much as I love chicken, I could not make myself try it!
You can eat off the Dim Sum cart at Black Pearl on Lakeshore on the weekends starting at 10:30 an off the menu during the week. Each of the items are purchased al la carte. Black Pearl also served very traditional Chinese cuisine such as Hot Pot and American Chinese dishes which are both very delicious.
If you are in the Northport area and looking for some serious BBQ with an awesome sauce, you MUST try the Pottery Grill. Micheal Chambliss has perfect his craft down to a science. His sauce is so good that only he and his partner have the recipe, but don’t mind selling you a few gallons of it.
Pottery Grill in NorthPort, AL 3429 Highway 69 N.
The secret BBQ that’s sold to customers and used in house. It puts me in the my favorite honey BBQ sauce.
They specialize in grilling up tender buts, ribs and chicken 6 days a week. If you don’t feel like coming in, they also have a drive thru. Pottery Grill also does catering for any size events.
But something else that has been making my palate want to return to the Pottery Grill are the burgers. That was one of the most flavorful, juicy smoke flavored burgers I’ve had in a while.
This burger tho!
Many other customers also stopped in for a stuffed potato which you can add chicken or pork as your topper.
Which restaurant was your favorite segment today? I’d love to hear from you. Please write me here or on social media. Who else would you like to see on the show?