A few nights ago I ventured into a small old house that had been converted into a restaurant. It was a neat find in Cahaba Heights. Mudtown serves Southern style bar food- expensive bar food, but extremely flavorful and excellent comfort food.
Mudtown is tucked into a small corner, one that I would have never happened upon had I not been researching for good southern eats. The first thing I noticed upon entering the restaurant was the atrocious parking, which on their menu they proudly say they have been voted worst parking by their customers. The hill was incredibly steep, and at night with limited lighting, it was definitely dangerous.
The restaurant offers a humble reminiscent atmosphere that inspires comfort. My friend and I were told to choose a seat and were promptly handed menus by our servers. There are outside tables on the porch which looked inviting, but it was too hot outside to enjoy. We instead chose indoor seating at the bench. I regretted that decision for a while. At 5'4", I am not the tallest person, but the benches I sat at were too short for me, and resting my arms on the table was very uncomfortable.
I ordered the Jamaica Smokehouse Press with Sweet Tomato Aioli with a side of Gouda grits, which the server recommended to me. The food arrived quickly, and I was impressed by how tender the pork was and the lightly smoked flavor was topped with perfectly melted Jack cheese and tomato chutney. The sandwich was a blast of flavor in my mouth and I was definitely impressed. The gouda grits were delicious as well, with the gouda flavor deeply penetrating in every bite and extremely rich. The meal was great.
However, after the first few bites, the sandwich started feeling very heavy and salty. My body was dying for some balance to the heavy flavors. When I told the server, he gave me a tiny cup of cole slaw. The cole slaw was different than most I have ever seen, and tasty. Besides the usual ingredients like cabbage and carrots, there were raisins and apple slices that really added to the overall taste. I poured the tiny cup of cole slaw into my sandwich and it made for a perfectly balanced and deliciously messy meal.
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| Jamaica Smokehouse Press with Sweet Tomato Aioli with Gouda Grits: $8.99 |
My friend ordered the Charleston Shrimp and Grits and was not so lucky. The dish looked great when it was brought out and my friend eagerly dove into the cheesy grits with shrimp, andoille sausage, and bell peppers. Like my dish, the flavor was amazing at first, and both of us couldn't stop shoving more of it into our mouths. However, around bite six or so, both of us felt the salt hit us hard. Suddenly, both of us had downed 64 ounces of water and were still craving for more. I'm not sure if this saltiness was an accident, or if it was how the chef intended, but the dish was definitely ruined by the heavy hand of salt. My friend only got about halfway through the dish before he decided to call it hopeless. It was a big disappointment.
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| Charleston Shrimp and Grits: $16.99 |
Service: 4.5/5
Environment: 3/5
Taste: 2.5/5
Food Appearance: 3/5
Total: 3.25/5 stars
Mudtown Eat and Drink
3144 Green Valley Rd
Birmingham, AL 35243
Birmingham, AL 35243
(205) 967-3300
