Birmingham, Alabama: Garage Cafe - Junk-Filled Eatery

The Garage Cafe is still doing a brisk business despite the nation's economic recession. This neighborhood cafe -- sort of a poor man's Cheers -- has a large selection of beers in the icy-water cooler, as well as some on tap. We had a nice sandwich and soup during our visit. The place is a little hard to find, unless one is very familiar with Birmingham's hilly and convoluted street system. We simply let our GPS lead us to 2304 10th Terrace South (a small one-way street.)

There is a small restaurant/bar in the Southside of Birmingham, Alabama that is quite neat. It's called The Garage. It was a favorite after-dinner drinks spot for some friends and I. It's hard to describe the setup, but basically the inside is small and quaint, and the outside area in the rear is a 'museum' of junk. It is FULL of concrete statues (animals, urns, etc), old toilets and basins, wrought iron work, among other assorted stuff. Perhaps neatest of all, there is a series of "rooms" surrounding the outside area. They're locked - you can't go in the rooms, just window-shop. Each room is, once again, FULL of stuff. Lamps, tables, mirrors. Just about anything you can imagine. And lots of it. The Garage is especially nice in the summer, when the very old and gnarled wisteria vine is in bloom. The wisteria is the only shelter from the weather, so go on a nice day/evening.

I moved from Alabama in December 1998, so I don't know if The Garage is still open. It's very close to a classy restaraunt called Botegas (go down the side road next to Bottega, and you will see the one way road The Garage is located on).