A Birmingham landmark for 60 years, Cobb Lane is frequently featured in city and regional publications. Following are just a few recent comments, quoted from our friends in the media:
“Best Outdoor Dining”
2006 Readers’ Choice Awards, Birmingham News
Voted Among Top 3 Restaurants for “Best Ambience”
Birmingham Weekly’s 2006 Readers Poll
Voted Among Top 2 “Best Outdoor Patios” in Birmingham
Birmingham Weekly’s 2006 Readers Poll
"The fried catfish filets were among the best we've had from a restaurant." (The Birmingham News, March 2006)
"Best Outdoor Dining"
~2005 Readers' Choice Awards, The Birmingham News
"Best Sunday Brunch" Runner-up
~2005 Readers' Choice Awards, The Birmingham News
"...It's the perfect time to enjoy a leisurely al fresco brunch, and Birmingham's own Cobb Lane is the perfect spot for this indulgence."
~Birmingham Magazine (September 2005)
"Both friendly and affordable... Cobb Lane's shady patio is the new hot spot for a chilled glass of wine."
~Birmingham Magazine (May 2005)
Honored with the "Governor's Award for Culinary Excellence" (2005)
"If ever a restaurant deserved to be loved, it is Cobb Lane."
--Birmingham Magazine (September 2004)
"Three-and-a-Half Stars" (out of four)
~The Birmingham News (August 2004)
“Cobb Lane's She-Crab Soup is the best I’ve ever tasted.”
~Julia Child
“One of the Most Romantic Restaurants in Birmingham.”
~Birmingham Magazine (September 2004)
"Where's the film commission? What a movie set."
~The Birmingham News (August 2004)
"It tastes sweet, mellow, rich and satisfying--and you haven't read the menu yet."
~The Birmingham News (August 2004)
"The filet, we both agreed, was as good as either of us had experienced."
~The Birmingham News (August 2004)
"Chocolate roulage is the dessert, and unequaled over the decades."
~The Birmingham News (August 2004)
Named "Best Restaurant Rebirth" by Birmingham Magazine (2004)
"Best Courtyard" Nominee (Birmingham News 2004 Annual Readers Poll)
Cobb Lane's She-Crab Soup was Named One of the State of Alabama's Top 100 Dishes
Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel (2005)
Voted Among Top 3 Restaurants for “Best Ambience”
Birmingham Weekly’s 2005 Readers Poll
Voted Among Top 2 Places for “Best Grits” in Birmingham
Birmingham Weekly’s 2005 Readers Poll
Voted Among Top 3 Places for “Best Soup” in Birmingham
Birmingham Weekly’s 2005 Readers Poll
Voted Among Top 2 “Best Outdoor Patios” in Birmingham
Birmingham Weekly’s 2005 Readers Poll
FULL REVIEW:
Friday, August 13, 2004
By Tom Gaskin
Cobb Lane Restaurant
RATING:
Three-and-a-Half Stars (Out of Four)
A "Find" Redux
Cobb Lane's ageless menu enhanced by gracious staff
AMBIENCE:
Brimming with nostalgia, drenched in romance
PRICES:
Appetizers $4.95-$8.95; Entrees $10.95-$24.95
BRIEFLY:
Successful restoration of a Birmingham landmark.
HEALTH DEPT. RATING: 100
I have been told that you can't eat atmosphere or taste nostalgia. I don't believe that for the fraction of the minute it takes to put together a hot dog at Pete's Famous.
Cobb Lane ancestral home of she-crab soup, chocolate roulage, chicken supreme and the best buttery rolls ever is back. Where's the film commission? What a movie set. A cobblestone alley with a wrought iron fence, a canopy of huge cherry laurels with a sub-canopy of canvas, twinkling fairy lights and flickering gas lights and delicious food that has lingered in our subconscious for decades is the stuff that romantic films are made of.
The new proprietors became engaged at Cobb Lane and when it became available, made one of those life-changing decisions. There are several tables on the terrace, which is elevated above the main setting level. This is all outside. These tables afford some privacy and allow peek-a-boo views of the other diners in the adjacent Monkey Bar. The fountain murmurs and the conversations bubble to the accompaniment of subdued tones from an acoustic guitar. It tastes sweet, mellow, rich and satisfying--and you haven't read the menu yet.
The lunch menu is traditional Cobb Lane with a few modifications, mainly some of the nighttime additions. Ovetta's famous chicken salad ($7.95) has chicken, apples, celery, almonds, datenut bread, and poppyseed dressing, and Cobb Lane classic club ($8.98) bookend the salads and sandwiches. Chicken supreme ($8.95) is a bone-in-chicken breast with mushroom sauce over rice pilaf. Chicken Divan ($8.95) is an old favorite with chicken, broccoli, creamy mushroom sauce awakened with a dab of curry over rice pilaf. Fried chicken, rice and gravy, and black-eyed peas (9.95) and shrimp hoppin' John (11.95) are strong reminders that this is a southern kitchen.
Updated, still elegant:
The dinner menu is updated but retains the simple elegance associated with the history and mystic of Cobb Lane. She-crab soup is recommended and not just by me but Julia Child. It is $5.95 a cup, $7.95 a bowl and is sufficiently rich to make a cup just the right amount. It is accompanied by a cruet of sherry.
Fried green tomatoes ($6.95) are crusty on the outside, firm and piquant on the inside. They, too, are exceptional and recommended. Shrimp and grits (8.95) are grilled shrimp around a lightly browned grits cake. Artichoke dip (7.95) with focaccia is a casserole of artichoke and Parmesan in a creamy seasoned base. It is a far cry from the "dump" recipe for artichoke dip--mayonnaise, artichoke hearts, Parmesan--that is such a quick mainstay on many tables. Get an order for the group.
On a tired, tense Tuesday a last-minute fried shrimp salad ($11.95) and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc helped dissipate the discomfort. The shrimp are fried just enough to barely gild the batter and to allow the shrimp to retain their fresh taste. Black bean and grilled chicken salad ($11.95) has been recommended. It has a grilled chicken breast with black beans and yellow and green peppers.
While she-crab soup and shrimp and grits or a salad may be (and has been) enough, the entrees are worthy of a hardier appetite. They are well prepared and presented attractively. A carnivorous friend on a low-carb diet and I could not decide between tuna ($19.95) or filet ($24.95) so we split. The tuna was just seared and the filet, we both agreed, was as good as either of us had experienced. The combination of the two was complementary.
The fried catfish filets ($12.95) were like the fried green tomatoes and the fried shrimp, crusty on the outside, moist on the inside. A group of female friends eat out together on a weekly basis (they even have a name--never to be disclosed) and reported that lemon tiger shrimp ($15.95) over linguine was well liked as well as the ever-popular crab cakes ($17.95). Seafood casserole ($16.95) was off one night. Too much panko made it more like seafood dressing, which is not a bad idea in itself and may be an inspiration for some experimentation. Still, it did not meet the standards of the rest of the menu.
The extras:
Chocolate roulage ($4.95) is the dessert and unequaled over the decades. Creme caramel ($3.95) and blackberry cobbler ($4.95) are delicious as well.
The wine list is well selected and varied. A California sparkling wine called the Unholy Marriage is distinctively Californian and a worthy choice.
The service is informal, attentive, enthusiastic, helpful and ever present. Crispness will come as the newness wears off. We benefited from an overabundance of attention on one visit and a guest remarked "they are on to you" and retracted it later after she returned with friends, "we were treated as honored guests." It is already becoming rediscovered. A "find" redux. We saw a judge and other notables among the patrons on a weeknight.
Cobb Lane could suffer from too much success too rapidly. Part of the charm is the graciousness of the staff, the subdued pace and background noise of the patrons, and the attention the cook staff gives to the preparation and presentation of each dish makes for a fragile ecosystem and a very comfortable, relaxing special experience right now.
It has indoor dining, but you only get good food with that.