Birmingham Restaurant Week - Winter Edition, presented by Spire, has returned

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Birmingham Restaurant Week (BRW) has officially kicked off its Winter Edition event presented by Spire. Happening now through Saturday, Feb. 26, the 10-day event brings you the opportunity to indulge in two, three and four-course meals at a prix-fixe price at over 30 participating restaurants, bars, and food trucks.

From fine dining to down-home cookin’, food and drink lovers with a taste for adventure can enjoy special breakfast, lunch and/or dinner prix-fixe menus ranging from $5 to $50 per person – making it easy and affordable for everyone to enjoy a taste of Birmingham’s diverse dishes and sips.

Known as Birmingham’s premier culinary and beverage event, BRW aims to support local restaurants by giving individuals incentives to enjoy the South’s most vibrant culinary destination one bite at a time. BRW helps to stimulate the local economy and boosts local love for Birmingham’s award-winning restaurant scene.

To safely serve patrons who don’t want to dine in, participating businesses will again boast to-go and/or curbside options as well as the traditional dine-in option. Additionally, many restaurants have made special accommodations to safely serve diners during the winter and to allow for al fresco dining no matter the weather by offering outdoor high-powered heaters, firepits, cabana tents and enclosed patios.

“Birmingham’s culinary and beverage industry and its residents have been through a rough couple of years of heartbreak due to the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide labor shortage, and Birmingham Restaurant Week 2022 - Winter Edition is a high note for everyone,” said Bill Stoeffhaas, co-founder of BRW and owner of Style Advertising, the organizer of BRW. “BRW’s 10-day culinary affair provides an opportunity for the public to revisit old favorites or experience new restaurants in the new year while allowing local chefs to showcase delicious recipes that put Birmingham on the foodie road map.”

Organizers expect approximately 30 to 40 Birmingham-area restaurants, food trucks, bars and coffee shops to participate in BRW 2022 - Winter Edition and join in on Birmingham’s renowned food and beverage promotional blitz. Those currently registered include:

• Ash Neighborhood Bar & Grill
• Aww Shucks
• Bay Leaf Modern Indian Cuisine & Bar
• Blueroot
• Dread River Distilling Co.
• EATS Highland
• El ZunZún
• Farrelly’s Southern Bar & Kitchen
• Fat Charles BBQ
• Filter Coffee Parlor
• Iron City Grill
• Michael’s Restaurant
• Moon Shine Rooftop Bar at Elyton Hotel
• Ovenbird
• Red Mountain Crawfish
• Rojo
• Roots & Revelry
• Sabor Latino
• Slice Pizza and Brewhouse - Lakeview
• Slice Pizza and Brewhouse - Vestavia
• Sol y Luna
• Steel Gastropub
• The Fennec
• The Gardens by Kathy G.
• The Current at Cahaba
• The Yard Birmingham at Elyton Hotel
• Tropicaleo
• Vino
• Watkins Branch Bourbon & Brasserie
• Whole Latte Drip

Diners can search participating restaurants and their special menus on the BRW website at www.bhamrestaurantweek.com via the home page and the Eat/Drink page. Users can view participating businesses by neighborhood, meal, price point, service, or other desired option to aid in planning their BRW culinary plan of attack.

“At Spire, we understand the vital role restaurants and other businesses in the food and beverage industry play in a community,” says Joe Hampton, president of Spire Alabama. “That’s why we’re proud to continue our partnership with Birmingham Restaurant Week, support our local restaurants and provide the community with a way to connect through enjoying great food and drink. Restaurant Week has proved to be the perfect way to do that, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build an even stronger connection through the 2022 Winter Edition.”

Stoeffhaas also noted, “During the pandemic, many restaurants were able to avoid closing their doors by offering curbside pick-up, to-go and delivery services, but now restaurants are facing labor shortages that are making operating normally challenging. With BRW, our goal is not only to promote locally owned restaurants but to provide assistance to them where we are able to. Without our restaurants, the vibrancy of our culinary community will diminish.”

BRW 2022 - Winter Edition will also include its annual Wine-O-Logy event along with a cocktail-focused event known as Magic City Mix-O-Logy. Wine-O-Logy, a wine flight tasting and food pairing event with live entertainment, will be held Tuesday, Feb. 22 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at The Fennec (1630 2nd Ave. S., Birmingham, AL 35233). Event attendees will explore their palette for new wine favorites provided by United-Johnson Brothers while enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres from Sysco Foods. Tickets are $30 per person. A limited number of walk-up tickets can be purchased at the event for $35 each.

Magic City Mix-O-Logy, a fiesta-style cocktail flight and food tasting event, will take place Tuesday, March 1 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Events at Haven (2515 6th Ave. S., Birmingham, AL 35233). Attendees will be able to sample a variety of cocktails by local mixologists featuring Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Bumbu Rum, Dulce Vida Tequila and John Emerald Bourbon along with mixers from Red Diamond Coffee & Tea and Coca-Cola United. Beer from Birmingham Budweiser and wine from United-Johnson Brothers will also be available. Served alongside the cocktails will be Latin-themed hors d’oeuvres from Sysco Foods as attendees enjoy the fiesta with themed music and salsa dancing. Tickets are $30 per person. A limited number of walk-up tickets can be purchased at the event for $35 each. Tickets and event information can be found at bhamrestaurantweek.com/events/.

A portion of funds from these events will be donated to local nonprofits. Giving back to the community has always been an essential component of BRW with more than $80,000 raised for local nonprofits in its 13 years of existence. After Restaurant Week in August 2021, BRW and Tito’s Handmade Vodka were pleased to donate $2,500 each to Firehouse Ministries and the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama (CFBCA). Both organizations seek to diminish food insecurity in different capacities.

Since 1983, Firehouse Ministries is a men’s homeless shelter that has thrived on its mission to provide homeless men in the Birmingham area with a nurturing and caring environment that offers supportive services that break the cycle of homelessness and empower individuals to achieve their highest potential.

“It’s only with generous donations like this that we are able to serve over 5,000 homeless men every single year,” says Anne Rygiel, executive director of Firehouse Ministries. “Thank you to Birmingham Restaurant Week, Tito’s and everyone involved.”

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