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Great Hospitality Starts with Empathy By Josh Miller “You don’t know what someone’s story is when they walk in the door,” says restaurateur Pardis Stitt. “Dig deep and take care of them.” The first thing you notice about Pardis Stitt is how her eyes read the room. As she glides through Highlands Bar & Grill, […]

Huge arenas, handsome rooms for seminars and unusual spots for social functions—all these and more are part of an interesting inventory of venues for meetings and conventions in the greater Birmingham area. The Largest: Alabama’s premiere convention facility is the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex campus, situated at the northern end of the city center. The campus, […]

Braises, Beignets and James Beard Birmingham, Ala. —– If there’s one particular activity that’s favored over any other for visitors to Birmingham, it likely is dining. Excellent chef-owned restaurants are plentiful around the area, from high-end dining to the long steam table at Nikki’s West. Of particular interest is the cluster of top-notch dining rooms […]

By Barnett Wright The Birmingham Times Birmingham will host the 2023 National Association of Black Journalists Convention & Career Fair, the NABJ announced recently. This is the first time Birmingham has been a location for the national convention. About 4,000 black industry professionals and journalists attended this year’s convention in Miami. “We’re grateful to our […]

Join us for the 2020 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk March 6 – 8 • Lake Guntersville & Birmingham, AL Question: “Where are the fish biting?” Answer: “Well, I don’t know where they’re biting just now, but come March 6th, they’re gonna be biting right here!” Birmingham is once again proud […]

Text by Stacey Lastoe, CNN; Video by Jeremy Harlan, CNN • Published 3rd January 2020 (CNN) — No one needs convincing that New York City is one of, if not the, best food city in the United States. Few would argue about Chicago, Portland (Oregon, though Maine is not too shabby either), San Francisco and […]

The Sweetest Road Trip In Alabama Takes You To 7 Old School Chocolate Shops Are you the ultimate chocolate lover? If so, you’re in luck! Alabama is home to several candy/chocolate shops that sell a variety of delicious chocolates. And these aren’t chocolates that are manufactured in a large facility and delivered to your local […]

When the James Beard Foundation named Highlands Bar & Grill as America’s Most Outstanding Restaurant, foodies everywhere took notice of what Birmingham locals and visitors have long known: Alabama’s largest city is a seriously delicious food destination. From sleek dining rooms to street cart counters, a spirit of relaxed refinement prevails in Birmingham, making dining […]

Imagine for a moment: you’re behind the wheel of a Porsche. You crank the engine and feel it rumble alive beneath you, like a beast awakened. With an instructor strapped in beside you, you begin to take this animal of a car through its gears down a long straightaway. By the time you pass the […]

“Written in tight script on one of those green-and-white guest check pads, her words account a surrealist barnyard: ‘gecko elastic, cookie armpit, giraffe crotch, zebra elastic.’ I had noticed Rachael working on the far end of the bar, pulling costumes from cubbies and then carefully refolding and restacking each one. But I hadn’t realized that […]