Wayne Salem doesn’t know a stranger. In fact, he might be one of the friendliest faces in Homewood’s Old Curve Shopping Center where he runs the roost at Salem’s Diner.

The eatery is an ode, in part, to his father Ed Salem, an All-American quarterback and defensive back for the Crimson Tide in the late 1940s and early 50s.

A successful businessman, Ed Salem went on to open three locations of Ed Salem’s Drive-In. The lunch counters were Birmingham institutions from the 50s to the 80s.

Wayne Salem is steeped in the restaurant business. He ran a location of Ed Salem’s for 20 years and a deli in Avondale before opening Salem’s Diner, a small, cozy homage to his father’s beloved eateries, in 2006.

The restaurant has been an Alabama favorite since it opened, and Wayne Salem is always grateful for that fact.