The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar is just a little bit off the beaten path, but people keep blazing a trail to it. In 2013 it was Guy Fieri,
singing the praises of the fried flounder in curry sauce
; now it’s Southern Living, ranking its biscuits among the best in the South.
The hints keep piling up that The Hummingbird Way is worth finding. And it’s not exactly hard to find. It’s smack in the middle of the Oakleigh Garden District, about a block from the antebellum home that gives the neighborhood its name.
The address, 351 George St., is also very familiar to anyone interested in upscale dining. Since 1995, when the Oakleigh Market Bistro opened in a former residence, it has been the home of a series of memorable restaurants. The question of how someone refers to the site, like the question of where they place the western boundary of Midtown, is one of those things you can use to gauge their age, or at least their history as a Mobilian. If you call it the former Kitchen on George or the former Cortlandt’s, you may not be ready to accept AARP membership. If you call it the former Guido’s or Bella Koozeena, you’re no spring chicken.
However you think of the spot, there’s a legacy of elevated cuisine there, and The Hummingbird Way fully lives up to that. Chef Jim Smith – former executive chef for the state of Alabama, “Top Chef” competitor and Great American Seafood Cook-Off winner — opened it in early 2020 and has been exploring what he can do with “the best local seafood, ingredients, and food traditions that make Mobile such a special food destination.”
The biscuits – served as an appetizer, or atop the oyster bisque, or in lieu of a crust in the cold-season chicken pot pie – are indeed excellent. But there’s a lot more to the menu. So much more, in fact, that on a recent visit I opted to roam through the appetizer menu rather than have an entrée.
After starting with the Biscuit Service ($10, four biscuits served with whipped butter, dark can syrup and smoked sea salt), I ordered the seasonal Chilton County Peach & Heirloom Tomato Salad ($20). It was not what I had expected, and that’s probably a good thing: I wasn’t sure how well super-ripe, super-sweet peaches would pair with tomato, and I’m still not.
That’s not what Smith does here. He selects peaches that are barely ripe, with a firm, almost apple-like texture and a mild sweetness and flavor. This works very well as a counterpoint to the bigger, sweeter, riper tomatoes. Mild spring onion and cucumber contribute additional crunch. Basil, sherry, mint and saba (a relative of balsamic vinegar) add a mix of top notes that seem to shift with every bite.
Next up was the Oyster Bisque ($18), topped with a few “petit biscuits” that are a delightful alternative to oyster crackers. On the Gulf Coast it’s common to find bisques that are rich to a fault: The first bite makes you say “wow” but by the fifth you’re thinking “whoa.” Again, Smith departs from the norm: While obviously made with a good deal of cream, it’s not thick or heavy. Herbsaint, fennel and hen of the woods mushrooms keep things interesting without overpowering the flavor of the oysters, which ware as fresh as if they were just plucked from the water.
The Iberico Flank appetizer ($18) brings a slate of darker flavors to the table, the steak augmented with tangy-sweet red tomato pepper jelly, salty ricotta salata, arugula and crunchy marcona almonds.
The flank and the peach-tomato salad made for a study in contrasts. Together, they also illustrated the depth that Smith brings to his dishes. Back when Fieri visited, his show published a recipe for Smith’s Creole braised rabbit with grits. The level of prep labor that went into the dish was borderline insane: It called for chicken stock, roasted tomatoes, a black roux, a lighter roux, house-made blackening seasoning and pickled cabbage chow chow.
“There are recipes and sub-recipes and different parts of the dish that come together at the end to make it one composed plate,” Smith said at the time. “The rabbit is a good example of kind of what we do here every day. You know, there’s always stock being made. There’s always something to be done, always something to be done.”
That’s obviously still the case.
My nominal entrée was yet another starter: the Grilled Oysters Casino ($23). The half-dozen oysters were certainly rich enough to hold their own as a main course, thanks to a topping of bread crumbs absolutely loaded with bacon sherry butter sauce and given some complexity with fennel pollen. How you keep the bread crumbs crispy-crunchy without drying out the oysters seems like wizardry, but as with the bisque, the oysters themselves retained their character.
While all this was going down, my dining companion ordered an actual entrée, narrowly choosing the Alabama Blue Crab Cake ($42) over the Pork Schnitzel ($32). There were no regrets. In fact, she took one bite and immediately pronounced it the best crab cake she’d ever had. As with the bisque, the large crab cake departed from the norm: Most are on the dry side, but this one was somehow creamy yet still firm enough to hold its shape. While absolutely loaded with crab, it wasn’t fishy.
The crab cake comes with a pickled brown beech mushroom salad and sweet soy butter sauce and is served on a bed of rice grits. Are rice grits a necessary thing? I’m not convinced, but these had a creamy smoothness that might appeal to those who aren’t crazy about standard-issue corn grits.
Be advised that The Hummingbird Way also offers a five-course tasting dinner option, which on this night would have included North Carolina oysters, the bisque, pan-seared black grouper, herb tallow cured ribeye, Thomasville Tomme cheese with curried pecans and apple mostarda and citrus ricotta cheesecake.
Another time, perhaps. There will be another time, in part because the service was attentive and well-informed. This is one place where you can ask for a recommendation and get an impressively detailed response.
In the meantime, here’s some news that will perk up a few ears in Oakleigh. The structure at 351 George includes the main building used for the kitchen and dining rooms, as well as a smaller adjacent space that can work as a standalone, coffee shop-type business.
That secondary spot, which has its own front porch, has lain fallow for a while. Smith said he has plans for it, and those will soon be revealed.
He didn’t say exactly what he plans to put in there, or what name it might have. That’s okay. We know what you’ll call it: The former Cream & Sugar space.
The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar is at 351 George St. in Mobile. It’s open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday; lunch and dinner Friday-Saturday; and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for Sunday brunch. For menus, reservations and other information, visit
www.thehummingbirdway.com
.
More in Lower Alabama dining:
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This tiny Alabama BBQ shack has Texas tourists lining up for a reason
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How a tiny bait shop became one of Alabama’s most beloved seafood destinations
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Southern Living asked chefs for ‘the best biscuits in the South.’ One Alabama restaurant made the list
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Why is there an Arizona BBQ chain in Alabama? Hint: It involves Kenny Chesney
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Alabama’s best-kept seafood secret is hiding in the corner of a grocery store
