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Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Birmingham’s Central Business District

ORAL HISTORY

Tom Saab

Bistro Two Eighteen

Tom Saab grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960s and 70s. He remembers the Central Business District as a thriving city center. He and his family shopped at The Pizitz when it was a busy department store. Early in Saab’s career, he relocated to Colorado to attend culinary school and work in restaurants. He returned to Birmingham in search of a location to open his own place. Though downtown was not the destination it once was, he was inspired by early pioneers such as El Barrio on Second Avenue North and Café Dupont on Twentieth Street. Saab took a chance on 218 Twentieth Street North, a three–story brick building constructed in the late 1800s with towering eighteen–foot ceilings. He renovated the historic building and opened Bistro 218 in 2013.

Date of interview:
2022-02-10

Interviewer:
Michelle Little

Photographer:
Cary Norton

Download Transcript

“

“My mother was a great cook. Well my dad was too. And at family parties we would separate. The men would be in one room and women were in the kitchen. This was the [19]60s. Very old fashioned. But I was always in the kitchen with my mother because she wanted me to help, and I wanted to help. So she taught me a lot, and my grandmother, as well. And I’ve enjoyed cooking all my life. I like the tactile feel of it.” - Tom Saab

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Rob McDaniel

Rob McDaniel is the owner of Helen Restaurant in downtown Birmingham.

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Kristen Hall & Victor King

Victor King and Kristen Hall own Feast & Forest, The Essential, and other successful ventures in Birmingham, AL.

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Andrew Collins

Long-time restauranteur, Andrew Collins owns The Collins Bar in downtown Birmingham, AL.

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Chris Dupont

Chris Dupont owns and operates Café Dupont.

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Jesus Mendez

Jesus Mendez co-owns and manages The Louis Bar and Unos Tacos in The Pizitz Food Hall.

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Michael Pizitz

Michael Pizitz ran his family's department store Pizitz Department Store in Birmingham, AL and now heads Pizitz Management Group with his brothers.

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The Southern Foodways Alliance drives a more progressive future by leading conversations that challenge existing constructs, shape perspectives, and foster meaningful discussions. We reconsider the past with research, scrutiny, and documentation.

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