Finishing up our trip home from the happiest place on earth, we were going to hit Birmingham in time for a late lunch.  As close as home-base is to B’ham, I keep a pretty broad list of what’s happening food-wise there. By that I mean and I get several newsletters specific to food in Central Alabama.  One of the recent articles said that the Red Pearl “offers the best bet for Chinese and American-Chinese food in Birmingham”.  How could we not go there for lunch.  Located adjacent and attached to a Super Oriental Market, in a semi-industrial area, the interior belied the look from the parking lot (according to their web site, the interior was re-vamped in 2015).

The banquet (event) room

There are a couple of different dining areas (with combined seating for at least 150) that had none of the look of a typical strip-mall American-Chinese restaurants.  My beloved went with one of the American-Chinese classics – Mongolian Beef. Surprisingly, it was not served on a bed of crispy rice noodles, but everything else about it hit the every expectation for the dish – soy-forward with a bit of sweetness and very tender beef. 

This was everything I was hoping for.  The chicken was lightly fried and the combination of dry chiles and jalapenos gave it the perfect level of heat – where my head almost starts to sweat, without actually beginning to do so <g>.  I can see why it is a local favorite.