We're Trying 26 New Restaurants This Year

Are you a foodie looking to explore new culinary horizons? Look no further than Alabama’s Gulf Coast, where you’ll find a diverse array of delicious restaurants serving up everything from fresh seafood to Southern comfort food.

We’ll take you on a culinary tour of the Gulf Coast, highlighting some of the best restaurants and dishes the region offers.

So, our family was chatting about fun ideas for the New Year and…

We said, “hey, what if we tested out a restaurant each week that we’ve never been to?!?” (we’re looking to expand our horizons a bit)

Hey, want to join us and do your own local food tour? Join us below!

We don’t eat out a ton, and when we do, we typically go to our favorites (we’ll leave them unnamed here for the sake of this project).

So, we’re doing it.
This post will grow throughout 2023 as we add the new restaurants we try.

Our Rules:

We are eating our way through the alphabet.
So at the end of the year, our goal is to have tried 26 new restaurants.
We’re willing to drive up to 45 minutes from our home in the, located in the center of Mobile. (we might have to adjust this for certain letters — time will tell).
Most restaurants will be affordable enough that ‘Joe and Sally’ can go eat on their family night out.

Looking forward to breaking bread with my family.
Let’s Eat!

A is for… Azteca’s

Yes, I know, I can hear it now. “You guys have never been to Azteca’s?”

Surprisingly, no.

But dang, it was a really cool Mexican restaurant – the atmosphere was great – and we enjoyed the tunes (part of our fun).

I mean, have you ever had a ‘flowering’ avocado?

Me neither. Azteca’s scores a 5/5 tacos 🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮(*not a real scoring system…)

B is for… Big Bad Breakfast

Every time we drive by, the place is hopping (especially over the weekend).

The first place I’ve been to in a while where your ‘side’ can be a giant pancake.

We’ll be back for sure.

It gets a solid pancake rating🥞🥞🥞🥞🥞

We just recently added Big Bad Breakfast to our top brunch spots.

Big Bad Breakfast Restaurant in Midtown Mobile 1

Big Bad Breakfast Restaurant in Midtown Mobile 2

C is for… Catalina Restaurant

Catalina is in Bayou La Batre. We had heard good things about it, so we were willing to take a bit of a drive (and on a foggy night!) It didn’t disappoint.

One of my goals is to try new things, but… I always like to test out PoBoy’s when I go to seafood restaurants. How else can I compare restaurants if I don’t do this?

It was solid. Our table was raving about the freshness.

Crab Rating is off the charts 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

Catalinas Restaurant Bayou La Batre Alabama 5

Catalinas Restaurant Bayou La Batre Alabama 1

D is for… Debris

We’ve wanted to try Debris since it opened. In its previous location was a local bar called Boo Radley’s (the only bar I ever recall selling bottles of Boone’s Farm). If you visit Debris, you’ll even notice a bit of homage paid to ole’ Boo.

I’m a big fan of Poboys. The plan is to try new things, so I went with the Pistolette. The Pisto-what?

This was a deep-fried piece of tasty bread with crawfish and cream sauce inside.

Totally worth the calories.

Debris Poboys in Downtown Mobile Alabama 2

Debris Poboys in Downtown Mobile Alabama 1

E is for… El Milagro y Taqueria y Pupuseria

Thanks for the recommendation, guys!
We enjoyed testing this one out.
“Try some pupusas” is what I was told.
Pup-who?
One of my goals is to also try new food items in addition to the new restaurants.

They were awesome.
Like a fried pancake stuffed with meat and goodness.
Just a heads up. If you order water, it will come in a bottle and be $0.99
Some may not like that, but I thought it was fun.
It felt authentic – like I was a traveler.
And the music was authentic as well!

We ordered, and I swear it wasn’t 5-7 minutes, and we had food on our table.
Great experience!