Looking for a new favorite dish — or maybe a new Alabama restaurant to try? Us too.

That’s why we rounded up some of our favorite dishes we’ve eaten recently across the state. From fried catfish to whole duck, there’s a little something for everyone on this list.

As always, if you have suggestions for dishes we should try, let us know!

(Check out our April picks here and our March picks here.)

Baked pimento cheese at Blueprint on 3rd

3000 Third Ave. South in Birmingham

While we generally prefer our pimento cheese served cold on a Taziki’s baked pita chip or between two slices of Continental Bakery sourdough bread, the gooey awesomeness of this addictive appetizer from Blueprint on 3rd executive chef James Huckaby has made us rethink that position. It’s been on the menu since Birmingham restaurateur Dean Robb opened his bustling American brasserie in the summer of 2018, and we never go there without ordering it. The Blueprint kitchen crew bakes the house-made pimento cheese in a small cast-iron skillet and serves it with focaccia toast points for dipping and spreading. Add bacon to take it to another level. — Bob Carlton

A large pizza at La Trattoria

503 Cloverdale Road in Montgomery

Who doesn’t love pizza? At La Trattoria, a new restaurant in Montgomery’s Old Cloverdale neighborhood, you can get a wide variety of New York-style specialty pizzas with every topping imaginable as well as soups, pastas, salads and even homemade gelato. During a recent visit, I gave their meat lovers pizza, which comes covered in pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham and ground beef, a try and was in love at first bite. Something to note, though — their large pizzas are exactly that. I was full after a single slice, but was delighted to know I’d be getting to relive the meal via leftovers for the next few days. Also, if gelato isn’t your thing, they also have plenty of other desserts, including limoncello cheesecake, cannolis and more, to try. — Amber Sutton,

Tacos at El Azteca Restaurante

2723 Clinton Ave. W. in Huntsville

Welcome to the taco triangle: Bandito Burrito, the El Cazador taco bus, and El Azteca Restaurante . All long-running local joints located within about 550 feet of each other on Governors Drive and Clinton Avenue in West Huntsville. Bandito and The Bus are much more “Huntsville famous.” But in my opinion, smoky Azteca’s tacos are just as good or better. El Azteca anchors the small Clinton Center commercial space, also home to La Michoacana Ice Cream and the barbershop JJ Barber. The dining area’s festive and comfy, with a bar in the back and fast service. On a recent visit, I dug into Azteca’s asada, lengua, pastor and pollo tacos. Street taco style, double wrapped in small tortillas, and garnished with cilantro, onion, sliced juicy lime, refreshing cucumber and surprisingly effective radish. All four were excellent but the pastor’s my favorite. Marinated pork topped with pineapple chunks – a savory-sweet six-gun. Deft smoky sapor differentiates Azteca’s pollo taco from the typical flock. There’s something appealingly primitive about consuming cow tongue, and the lengua here’s homecooked stew tender. The asada taco’s aces, too. And don’t be shy with the avocado jalapeno sauce brought out to the table with tacos. It’s a tube of green awesomeness. — Matt Wake

Crawfish across the Coast

Spring is crawfish time on the coast. If you let Mardi Gras, Lent and Easter distract you from that tasty reality, it’s not too late. For my own personal crawfish fest, I turned to the Original House in Gulf Shores, where I could get savory Natchitoches Crawfish Pies (“A taste of Louisiana” with seasoned crawfish-and-rice filling served piping hot in a pastry crust, $12 for a half-dozen) as an appetizer course before my Crawfish Po-Boy ($17), a sandwich served with such a ridiculous portion of fried crawfish tails that you could barely see the “sandwich” part when it was served. There are, of course, a lot of ways to get your seasonal fix. If you’re lucky, the spirit will move a friend or family member to put on a boil with “all the fixins;” if not, many seafood markets will hook you up with a ready-to-eat bounty. If you seek the social experience of a boil, you’ll find plenty of community and commercial options. A small sampling: The Haberdasher, at 113 Dauphin St., has already had a couple of weekend boils, and they’re old pros at this: You can buy a wristband in advance. (Keep an eye out for details of the next one.) The Brickyard, at 266 Dauphin St., will be serving mudbugs along with Grateful Dead tunes from East LA Fadeaway on May 17. The Central Midtown community art center and Central Presbyterian Church will present a community crawfish boil May 18. The Grand Mariner, near the mouth of Dog River, is advertising regular Sunday boils starting at noon. Check your favorite seafood restaurant or watering hole for more. (If you’re at the beach, Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism has a whole guide to crawfish season.) — Lawrence Specker

Lunch buffet at Taj India

3028 Clairmont Ave. in Birmingham

Indian food lovers in Birmingham know exactly where to go at lunchtime. For decades, they’ve been lining up for the buffet at Taj India, a mainstay in Southside. Fans moaned when the restaurant, which dates back to 1986, announced it was moving in 2023 from its longtime home in Highland Plaza. But Taj India’s new location — on Clairmont Avenue, in a building that formerly housed Bogue’s Restaurant — has lost none of the charm of the original. And the lunch buffet remains a winner, weekdays at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can fill a plate (or two) with Taj India’s delicious appetizers, vegetarian dishes, meat entrees, salads and dessert. Spice levels vary, depending on the dish — a good thing for newbies — and everything on the buffet is well presented and enticing. Don’t forget to try the naan (yummy Indian flatbread). And remember: It’s perfectly fine to go back for seconds. — Mary Colurso

Whole Peking Duck at Current Charcoal Grill in Birmingham

1625 Second Ave. South in Birmingham

To celebrate Current Charcoal Grill‘s one-year anniversary, the restaurant’s executive chef and partner Luke Joseph has put this classic Chinese dish back on the menu. The Whole Peking Duck serves four guests and is paired with fresh lettuces and seasonal vegetables from local farmers, a trio of house-made condiments and a plate of scallion pancakes. It’s the ideal dish for sharing, with the pancakes serving as a soft blanket for guests to wrap around the crispy skins and tender meat from the duck and eat them like they would a taco. “The whole duck was one of the first concepts Adam (Evans, Joseph’s chef-partner at Current) and I discussed when we started planning this restaurant over a year ago,” Joseph says. “It was on the menu when we first opened, but we took it off. Now, after six iterations, it’s back and better than ever.” Joseph prepares a limited number of whole ducks each night, so early reservations are strongly recommended. Guests may also pre-order the duck 24 hours in advance by calling the restaurant at 205-829-1625. A Half Peking Duck, which serves two, is also available. – Bob Carlton

Fried catfish at Katy’s Katfish

1382 Main St. E. in Rainsville

Whenever people visit me in Northeast Alabama, they often insist on eating catfish, and Katy’s is where I take ‘em. The restaurant is located in a cozy log cabin that has a lot of history, and the menu is filled with cozy Southern comfort food at good price points. I always go for the fried catfish fillets — they’re flavorful and some of the best around. Another popular dish there is the homemade chicken fingers. Both of ‘em are so tasty that they made it on Alabama Tourism’s list of 100 dishes to eat before you die. – Haley Laurence