Pretty much ever since I’ve had a food list, Chez Fonfon has been on it (I added it from Southern Living’s list of the best restaurants in the South from August, 2014).  And this French restaurant, from Frank Stitt of Highlands Bar & Grill fame, open since 2000, was on the list for, oddly, what they called the best burger in Alabama.  So on a sunny Saturday in November, as we started our “new normal”, I made a dinner reservation.  And we made a road trip.

The interior reminded me of a classic French bistro and it made me forget we were just downtown in the Magic City, 90 minutes from home.  We started with a cheese plate:

From left to right: Colston Bassett Stilton – a bleu cow’s milk cheese; Moses Sleeper – a soft cow’s milk cheese, from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont, inspired by brie; Ossau Iraty – a twenty-month’s aged French sheep’s milk cheese (my favorite of the tray) and Capriole Sofia – a ripened goat cheese from Indians. The three on the right were all excellent (I don’t care for bleu cheeses) and we cleared the plate.

My beloved went with the trout amandine, which was beautifully prepared.  The crisp garlicy, buttery Brabant potatoes and haricots vert were perfect sides.

I ordered the burger, which was cooked to a perfect medium, topped with a crown of comte cheese.  It was an excellent burger – meaty, juicy and messy.  And the shoe string fries were crispy on the exterior and the interior melted in your mouth.

The only downside was that everything (after the cheese plate) was a little salt forward, but a delicious meal, all in all. Laissez le bon temps rouler!