There’s a special Alabama football room dedicated to Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, and in sincere sportsmanship, an Auburn table sits under a photo of a grinning Cam Newton. Sandra Bullock takes her father, Jimmy, here. Nick Saban has a sweet spot for the pies, as he wrote in a framed letter on one of the many walls of newspaper clips, photos and celebrities singing The Bright Star’s praises. Lemon icebox pie, strawberry shortcake and bread pudding top reviews and palettes for dessert. The establishment’s bestselling dishes are the snapper and the Greek-style beef tenderloin, which won the honor of “best steak” in the state from the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association in 2012.įor lunch, diners’ top requests include the Fried Snapper Almondine and Fried Snapper Throats. Fresh fish and aged steaks are trademarks at The Bright Star. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner and closes an hour in the afternoon to shift to heavier dinner fare. Fresh fish including snapper, delivered twice a week from Panama City, and aged steaks made the menu famous. The Bright Star claims it is “America’s oldest family owned experience,” dating back to 1907. Back then, the chicken noodle soup cost a nickel at this meat-and-three, and 110 years later, regulars drive 40 miles to eat here every day. If you moved it, it wouldn’t be the same.” “There are a few empty spaces,” said longtime owner Koikos, “but we feel real good about the future of Bessemer. Old neon block-letter signs for jewelers and furniture stores anchor streets filled with empty storefronts, many of which left in a mass exodus in the 1980s.īut build a star, and they will come - in droves - for lunch. To walk through downtown Bessemer in 2017 is to take a walk through a faded Pleasantville, filled with the occasional bicyclist and city bus. Jimmy Koikos believes in downtown Bessemer so much that he insists his family heirloom of a restaurant, The Bright Star, stay in this town sandwiched between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, continuing to beckon the 3,500 patrons that visit each week. The Bright Star continues to shine in Bessemer
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