FOOD

FOODIE NEWS

Two Birmingham Restaurant Families Collaborate to Open Doughnut Shop

Ryan and Geri-Martha O’Hara, founders of Big Spoon Creamery, have partnered with close friends Jim and Amy Watkins, who founded Steel City Pops, to launch a new doughnut concept in Avondale, Sons Donuts.

According to a press release, Ryan O’Hara notes that the doughnut shop will be a new doughnut experience, serving mini doughnuts cooked hot to order with choices of sugar dustings and handcrafted dipping sauces.

“We’ve been working on this concept for (more than three) years, and we’re so excited to finally be bringing it to fruition,” Ryan O’Hara said. “It’s a very interactive experience where guests can choose the perfect flavor combination from our unique offerings of sugars and dipping sauces. Doughnuts are then cooked to order and served piping hot, so you can enjoy watching your doughnuts being made right in front of you.”

In addition to doughnuts, Sons also will offer locally roasted coffee from Non-Fiction Coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice and a milk bar with housemade flavored milk shots.

Geri-Martha O’Hara, the pastry chef behind Big Spoon Creamery, has been responsible for developing the recipes and curating the menu.

“I am so excited to share these fluffy hot mini doughnuts with the Birmingham community,” she said. “The Sons doughnut is golden brown and crispy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside. One of my all-time favorite desserts is hot doughnuts or beignets with a side of creme anglaise for dipping, and we’re thrilled to share that type of experience with our guests.”

According to the O’Haras, their relationship with the Watkins family goes much deeper than doughnuts.

“We have been close friends since the early days of Big Spoon and Steel City,” Ryan O’Hara said. “Our families became fast friends through business in 2015, and we’ve been close ever since.

“Most people would have viewed us as competitors, but we just didn’t see it that way. We’ve always supported each other’s work, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally have the

See DONUTS, page 24

Ryan and Geri-Martha O’Hara, founders of Big Spoon Creamery, have partnered with close friends Jim and Amy Watkins, who founded Steel City Pops, to launch a new doughnut concept in Avondale, Sons Donuts.

Journal photo by Jordan Wald

Jeff Gentry saw an opportunity to fill a gap in his hometown of Vestavia Hills.

A Good Mix

Part Grocery, Part Restaurant, Backyard Market Caters to Neighbors’ Needs

By Sam Prickett

After spending 10 years working in the grocery business, Jeff Gentry saw an opportunity to fill a gap in his hometown of Vestavia Hills.

“I’ve lived in Vestavia my whole life, and on this side of town there’s just not really anywhere to go to get a cheeseburger, a beer, a bottle of wine, a piece of gouda — just the bare necessities,” he said. “There’s not a neighborhood market close by where you can go get things without having to go to a bigbox store … . And given the conditions of everything right now, who wants to get out in all that mess?”

Enter the Backyard Market, which celebrated its grand opening last month. It’s a combined grocery store and restaurant with a gourmet focus, located just off Montgomery Highway. Gentry based the concept on neighborhood markets he’d visited in New Orleans, which he said have flexibility that many larger retailers don’t.

“I’ve sold to retailers across the country, and I’ve been to different independent grocery stores all across the country, and the independents are the ones that have the ability to change and evolve, especially in this climate that we’re in,” Gentry said. “People shop where they live, and I think things are starting to turn even more that way. Being independent, you have the ability to carry whatever items you want to carry and just provide for whatever people need.”

Gentry worked at the supplier Gourmet Foods International from 2010 to 2014, when he left to start his own company, Bamawise, with business partner Bobby LeMoine. Bamawise connects small food producers with the larger retail market, and its local focus has carried through to Backyard Market.

“We’ve got a lady who lives back here, (Sally McKay) of Sally’s Confections, who makes frozen cookie dough that we’re selling in here for people to take home and bake their own cookies,” Gentry said. “We carry a lot of local products: Conecuh Sausage, Southern Organics. We’ve got cage-free eggs from north Alabama.”

There’s also a large wine selection — at least 100 different bottles, Gentry said, “that

you can’t find at Publix.” And there’s an unconventional selection of meats, including elk, rabbit and wild boar tenderloin. “We’ve got a lot of products you won’t find in normal grocery stores,” Gentry said.

The restaurant is headed up by two Birmingham chefs, Leo Oliver and John Williams, and will offer a menu of its own.

Cooking to Order at In-House Restaurant

If you’re unsure of how to prepare your wild boar tenderloin, or just not in the mood to cook it yourself, you can take it over to the in-store restaurant, where they’ll cook it for a fee for both dine-in and carry-out customers.

“If you and your wife come in, and you’re in a hurry and want to grab a steak, and she wants to get a salad or pasta or whatever, we can cook it for you here,” Gentry says. “You can grab a bottle of wine off the shelf and pay a corking fee and drink the wine here, or you can buy a bottle and take it home.”

The restaurant is headed up by two Birmingham chefs, Leo Oliver and John Williams, and will offer a menu of its own.

Oliver “brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that I don’t have on the restaurant side,” Gentry said, having worked at Jim ’N Nicks, Big Bad Breakfast and as a corporate chef for Mercedes.

“He was feeding 2,000 people a day when he was working with Mercedes, so surely he can feed the neighborhood over here,” Gentry laughed.

Williams, meanwhile, has a résumé that includes Satterfield’s Restaurant, OvenBird and Hot and Hot Fish Club.

“We’ve got a really, really good mix,” Gentry said.

The restaurant will feature “a pretty extensive breakfast menu,” a daily slate of lunch and dinner specials, and simple staples such as sandwiches, wings, chicken fingers and salads. They’ll also prepare grab-and-go options such as chicken salad and pimento cheese.

The restaurant has a “neighborhood, laidback,” atmosphere, Gentry said, and includes a large patio and outdoor seating area. “We’re going to have live music on the weekends. There’s an awesome sunset off the corner in the afternoons. We’ve got a lot of TVs in here, too, so we’ll be ready for March Madness and football.”

The alleyway that Backyard Market shares with Bob’s Power Equipment will be blocked off in the afternoons to provide a play area for kids while their parents eat.

Opening a restaurant and grocery store during a pandemic has not been without its obstacles, though – particularly with regard to staffing.

“We’ve got an incredible staff, but we are hiring,” Gentry said. “That’s been the most challenging thing. We’re in about a 3,000-square-foot space, and for the amount of volume that’s coming through here, we need more kitchen help … . We’re just trying to feel through it, but every (problem) we’ve identified can be fixed, so that’s a good thing. We’ve got a great space and the community’s supporting us, so we’re excited.”

Considering Expansion

The pandemic also has opened up opportunities for expansion, something Gentry said he’s already started to consider.

“We’re in talks and discussions right now for some other locations in other areas,” he said. “We’re going to get everything ironed out and get this figured out and rolling on all cylinders, but we’re looking at a spot in Louisiana, maybe around the Birmingham area, and then maybe some Gulf Coast stuff, too … . We don’t need 20,000 to 50,000 square feet. We can come in with a much smaller footprint. It’s been extremely unfortunate that a lot of (businesses that size) have closed, but there’s some space available. We’ve got some feelers out there.”

From page 23 opportunity to work together.”

The Watkins shared a similar sentiment about their relationship with the O’Haras.

“We have such great respect for Ryan and Geri-Martha, certainly for how they have built their business but much more for who they are,” Amy Watkins said. “We are grateful for their friendship and couldn’t be happier to be collaborating on Sons.

Jim Watkins added, “It has been a fun collaboration, because each one of us has unique gifts that have made Sons better than it would have been if we hadn’t done it together.”

The Sons Donuts location will be in Avondale, next door to Big Spoon Creamery at 4000 Third Ave. S. It will operate seven days a week: Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.

“Birmingham has been such a great home to both of our brands. We take seriously the responsibility to continue, and hopefully enhance, the rich culinary experience in Birmingham. We hope Sons Donuts makes our city proud because we sure are proud of Birmingham,” Jim Watkins said.

Sons Donuts is slated to open this spring. Follow @sonsdonuts on social media or visit its website for updates, sonsdonuts.com.

Photo courtesy Sons Donuts The Watkins family, left, is excited about the opportunity to work with long-time friends Ryan and GeriMartha O’Hara.

Art by Garland Farwell

April 23-25, 2021 Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

2021 SPONSORS: Alabama State Council on the Arts & the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency • Bancography • Birmingham Coca Cola Bottling Company • City of Birmingham • Event Rentals Unlimited Birmingham • Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau • Joe Piper, Inc. • Kinetic Communications • Jemison Investment Company, Inc. • Unclaimed Baggage • Yarbrough Festival Foodservices

MEDIA SPONSORS: AL.com • Babypalooza • Bell Media • Bham Now • Birmingham Mountain Radio 107.3fm • B-Metro • EXCURSIONSgo.com • Homewood Life • Over the Mountain Journal • Starnes Media • This is Alabama • WBHM Public Radio 90.3fm KIWANIS CLUB OF HOMEWOOD-MOUNTAIN BROOK HOSTS DRIVE-THRU PANCAKE BREAKFAST

The 37th annual Kiwanis Club of Homewood-Mountain Brook Pancake Breakfast will be March 13.

This year’s event will be drive-thru only from 7 a.m. until noon at the Exceptional Foundation in Homewood.

Over the years, the fundraiser has raised money for the community’s youth, providing financial support to volunteer and community service organizations and their projects, such as Children’s of Alabama, Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama, Spring Park in Homewood renovations, local Head Start programs, The Red Barn, Homewood Public Library and the Barrett Elementary outdoor classroom.

The beneficiary of this year’s fundraising will be the Homewood City Schools Foundation. Money raised will support grant opportunities to educators with innovative classroom projects and professional development.

In addition, the organization sponsors youth organizations, including high school key clubs at Vestavia Hills, Homewood, ClayChalkville and Hewitt-Trussville; as well as the Aktion Club at the Exceptional Foundation; and the Homewood Middle School Builders Club.

Tickets for the breakfast are $5 and can be purchased online; visit the Kiwanis Club of Homewood-Mountain Brook Facebook page.

TACO MAMA’S FIRST VESTAVIA HILLS LOCATION OPEN FOR BUSINESS

It was a packed house at Taco Mama Vestavia Hills as the restaurant celebrated its opening day March 1.

This marks the first Vestavia Hills restaurant for the company. It is in the newly renovated Vestavia Hills City Center.

The newest location joins about 20 others across the Southeast.

Mountain Brook’s Will Haver launched the restaurant in 2011 in his hometown, growing to add multiple locations in the Greater Birmingham area as well as in Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Auburn, Mobile, Nashville and North Carolina.

At the Vestavia Hills location, Taco Mama’s signature garage door entrance opens to a green space, installed in late summer 2020.

According to the Taco Mama website, “the new green space at the Vestavia Hills City Center is the gateway to Mama’s vibrant atmosphere and fresh, delicious tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos and, of course, those hand-shaken margarita.”

The restaurant is at 700 Montgomery Highway, Suite 194A, next to Zoe’s Kitchen. Hours are Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m.

For more information, visit tacomamaonline.com. – Emily Williams-Robertshaw