Green Acres at the DNC? Birmingham restaurant goes viral after mayor’s post

On Monday afternoon, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, posted a picture of Green Acres Cafe being a part of the “Taste of America’s Cities” in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. The post instantly went viral amongst Birminghamians.

People were confused because the branding that’s associated with the iconic restaurant — the brown paper bag, greasy fried chicken, and Black servers, were not present. Not to mention, the signage was red instead of green, and they were only serving fried green tomatoes.

“My Green Acres has never been served that way…Where is my greasy brown paper bag,” user Pasocca Simon’e asked.

“Where is the lady that yell out my number when the order is ready?!” user Mirandal Kendricks said.

“I’m confused, someone please explain,” user Kimberly Webster Grant said.

Charles Gratton, owner of Green Acres told AL.com that a representative from “Taste of America’s Cities” contacted him to let him know that Woodfin recommended the restaurant be a part of the lineup in the DNC event.

Once the post went viral, the mayor reached back out to Gratton to make sure he was still OK with the picture being posted.

“I looked at it, and I saw the Green Acres name on a red banner, instead of a green banner,” Gratton said. “So I told him to leave it up, because I felt like that would represent Green Acres in Chicago, from when Green Acres was first started in 1946. I wasn’t worried about the colors. But that’s when everybody started saying somebody bought Green Acres.”

Tomeka Bell, the CEO of Green Acres, took to Facebook Live on Tuesday night to address the comments and let the people know what was going on.

“Number one, we have not sold the legacy to anyone, nor have we franchised in Chicago, although the original location started in Chicago,” Bell said in the video. “No we have not gotten rid of the brown bag. We still have our whole fresh fried chicken wings, all the way, fried green tomatoes.”

The “Taste of America’s Cities” was an event held on Monday at the DNC as part of an event put on by the Democratic Mayors Association.

Green Acres Cafe has been a staple in Birmingham since 1950 known for serving fried chicken wings, fried fish, fried green tomatoes, and getting it served “all the way,” with fries, topped with salt, pepper, ketchup, hot sauce and white bread. Throughout the years, they’ve had several locations, but their most popular store opened in the Historic Fourth Avenue Business District in 1990.