This Alabama restaurant takes pimento cheese to the next level
Nearly five years ago, as he was getting ready to open his American brasserie Blueprint on 3rd, Birmingham restaurateur Dean Robb bought a collection of Lodge cast-iron skillets that his executive chef, James “Huck” Huckaby, had been eyeing for the kitchen and dining room.
“We saw these skillets, and he fell in love with them,” Robb recalls. “But we didn’t know what we were going to do with them.”
Then Huckaby remembered the pimento cheese that Verba Ford — or “Miss Verba” as everyone called her — used to whip up for staff meals back when Huckaby was working for Frank Stitt as the chef de cuisine at Highlands Bar and Grill and Chez Fonfon.
Miss Verba’s pimento cheese was as good as gold — “so much so that she can use it as currency to purchase lawn mower repair, massages from one of our employees, and virtually anything else she might need from anyone who has ever tasted her simple but magical recipe,” as Stitt wrote in his 2004 cookbook “Frank Stitt’s Southern Table.”
“I worked with Miss Verba for a long time, and Miss Verba’s pimento cheese was kind of well known,” Huckaby says. “So, I wanted to kind of mimic that but not all the way.”
Instead of serving his pimento cheese cold with crackers or celery, Huckaby decided to take it to the next level by baking the pimento cheese in the cast-iron skillets and bringing it to the table bubbling hot in those same skillets — paired with charred pumpernickel bread for dipping and spreading.
“Cast iron and pimento cheese,” Huckaby says, “they (guests) can’t stay away from those two things. If you put that anywhere on the menu, they’re gonna gravitate towards it.
“It’s a great shareable appetizer,” he adds. “And it’s iconically Southern.”
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To no one’s surprise, the cast-iron skillet baked pimento cheese appetizer was an immediate hit, and it, along with the oyster shooters, is one of just two dishes that have never left the menu since Blueprint on 3rd opened in June 2018.
“The first night, I wrote a menu out, and I had warm pimento cheese on it,” Huckaby says. “I knew I wanted something like that because I knew how popular the baked feta was at Bottega (restaurant).
“I hate to say it like this because it sounds cocky, but I know my people,” he adds. “What I mean is, I grew up cooking in this town. So, I kind of know what these people like. I’m Southern. It’s what I like, too.”
Dean Robb, left, is the owner and James “Huck” Huckaby is the executive chef of Blueprint on 3rd in Birmingham, Ala.(Photo courtesy of Blueprint on 3rd; used with permission)
‘Simple is better’
Huckaby’s pimento cheese recipe calls for just four basic ingredients — extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise and pimentos.
“Simple is better,” Robb says. “Every time.”
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The pimento cheese appetizer — which is featured on AL.com’s list of “68 must-try Alabama dishes” — is accented with diced scallions and served with toasted pumpernickel bread from Corey Hinkel of Hinkel’s Bakery.
“The pumpernickel adds a whole level to it,” Huckaby says. “I think it complements it so well.”
In addition to the appetizer, Huckaby also serves his pimento cheese on the restaurant’s Blueprint Burger, which is topped with smoked bacon and dressed with charred onions and house pickles.
Blueprint on 3rd is at 3000 Third Ave. South in Birmingham, Ala. The phone is 205-479-3000. Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, go here.
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