Southern Hospitality Meets the Italian Countryside at Birmingham’s Bottega

"Set in Birmingham, Alabama, I found Bottega to be an elegant, nearly 40‑year‑old institution whose front‑of‑house receives four to six weeks of training so servers—sharply dressed in waistcoats and ties—shadow the kitchen and bar before taking the floor and learn to pace a meal and find creative solutions to tricky requests; Pardis Stitt, co‑owner and head of front‑of‑house operations, says they emphasize “gracious, informed, and efficient hospitality” that feels warm and effortless while being deeply knowledgeable. Winner of this year’s MICHELIN Guide American South Service Award, the restaurant occupies a 1926 stone‑fronted Beaux‑Arts building that once housed a department store, with dramatic tall ceilings and Palladian windows that give the dining rooms a grand air; two distinct sections offer their own menus and styles—a lively, casual Café and a Bottega Dining Room where the pace is tailored to each guest. Dishes like the Dining Room’s yellowfin tuna with fregola sarda blend local ingredients with rustic Italian recipes, reflecting Stitt’s view that the Italian countryside and the American South share heat, sun, fertile soil and respect for the land, and a service ethos that is unhurried, convivial, and rooted in hospitality rather than formality; her husband, celebrated Chef Frank Stitt, is the restaurant’s co‑owner." - The MICHELIN Guide