Ashley Mac’s will please the entire family

The Little Cafe with Everything

Ashley Mac’s offers sandwiches, salads, to-go dinners, and plenty of choices for kids

BY STEPHANIE GIBSON LEPORE

Kid’s meal choices include chicken salad, PB&J, grilled chicken, and more, plus a side and a brownie.

The apple-havarti sandwich can be made with ham or turkey and pairs well with the crunchy, tangy broccoli slaw.

Don’t forget to grab a sweet treat! Mini cupcakes, cake by the slice, specialty cookies, and brownies are available.

Ashley Mac’s Café in Cahaba Heights

The gourmet-to-go freezer stays stocked with everything you need to make a meal and more.

By now, the little catering company that started

ASHLEY MAC’S LOCATIONS

Cahaba Heights: 3147 Green Valley Road 35242

Homewood: 1831 28th Avenue

South Suite N101 35209 Riverchase: 4730 Chace Circle #100 35244

Inverness: 5299 Valleydale Road 35242 Downtown: Pizitz Food Hall, 1821 2nd Avenue North 35203

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out offering frozen dinners to go has grown into a full-fledged café-and-catering business that spans five Birmingham locations. With restaurants in Cahaba Heights, Homewood, Inverness, Riverchase, and downtown at the Pizitz, you can surely find an Ashley Mac’s in a neighborhood close to you.

And you definitely should! With a variety of soup, sandwich, and salad options to mix-andmatch, you could eat here for a week straight and still not have the same thing twice. While I am partial to the apple-havarti sandwich with turkey on wheatberry bread—with just-right amounts of honey mustard and balsamic—I always sneak a bite of my daughter’s chicken salad, too. When it’s my turn for a chicken salad fix, I alternate between the classic scoop with crackers and the melt: a thick spread of chicken salad on a buttery croissant, melted with Swiss cheese.

Side options range from fruit to chips to specialty salads like Greek pasta, broccoli slaw with sugared almonds and a tangy dressing, macaroni and cheese, or fresh fruit. Seasonal soups are on rotation as well.

One of my favorite year-round salads is the mandarin orange, which comes with sugared almonds, green onions, and feta cheese. Add a portion of grilled chicken for a filling meal; it goes well with the salad’s Dijon vinaigrette. If you prefer a hot lunch, opt for a poppyseed chicken and rice plate or the spinach and feta tart. Both are excellent.

One thing I love about the South is our ability to make anything a salad, and Ashley Mac’s does it right. You can do a salad trio plate, choosing from chicken salad, pimento cheese, the Cahaba salad, fresh fruit, and more, served with crackers and one of their famous sour cream biscuits. And if that’s still not enough choice for you, go with the “choose two” option, where you can pick a half-sandwich, side salad, or soup of the day.

My daughter has been a fan of the chicken salad ever since she pushed away her grilled cheese in favor of mine before she turned 2 years old. But if your kids aren’t chicken salad aficionados, there’s still quite a spread for them, too: sandwiches like grilled cheese and turkey and cheese, chicken salad on bread, croissant, or with crackers, grilled chicken, or macaroni and cheese plus a side. All meals come with a decadent triple chocolate brownie (it’s enough for a mom tax bite!) and kid favorite WikkiStix moldable wax sticks. They’ll keep your little ones entertained while you eat in peace.

Perhaps one of the biggest and most delicious draws of Ashley Mac’s is their gourmet-to-go freezer, chockfull of casseroles, frozen sides, and breads. The favorite at our house is chicken and wild rice casserole, brown sugar bacon green beans, and sour cream biscuits. Other customer faves include poppyseed chicken and rice, baked ziti, chicken tetrazzini, baked beef stroganoff, and much more. The best-selling green beans are delicious comfort food; more side offerings are baked cheese grits, cheesy twice-baked mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and squash casserole. You can also grab quart sizes of soup (chicken noodle, tomato basil, white chicken chili) and pints and quarts of chicken salad, pimento cheese, pasta salad, fruit, and other prepared salads—the kind with a lettuce base.

Hosting a brunch? Need to feed your fam on a cold Saturday morning? Grab a bag of sausage balls (3 dozen) and a pan of hot ham and Swiss mini sandwiches from the freezer. Super Bowl Sunday? Pick up the hot spinach and bacon dip and mushroom puffs. Frozen rolls and sour cream biscuits are also available. During holidays—Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas— Ashley Mac’s offers gourmet bundles that include all the trimmings and will make your feast a perfect ten.

Leave room for a slice of Ashley Mac’s famous strawberry cake or a mini cupcake—you can purchase a half or whole dozen in one or assorted flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry). Cookie flavors rotate every so often, but you can always pick up a triple chocolate brownie or almond shortbread bar; both pair well with coffee for an afternoon pick-me-up. Ask me how I know.

Oh, and here’s a hot tip: Thanks to her husband, Ashley finally put a burger on the menu a while back. Named after her spouse, the Andy Mac Burger is only available Friday and Saturday, and it’s well worth the weekly wait. A double patty is topped with Havarti cheese, Poppy’s Pickles, and chop sauce and served on a brioche bun. Visit ashleymacs.com for more information.