Tomato season has arrived early this year at Birmingham’s Hot and Hot Fish Club.

The Hot and Hot Tomato Salad, a seasonal favorite at the restaurant, returns to the menu tonight, a week ahead of time.

Typically, tomatoes for the restaurant’s signature appetizer aren’t in season until the first week of May.

But this year, chef Chris Hastings had a premonition that was confirmed when he visited his “tomato guy” Shawn House of Farm House Produce at the Alabama Farmers Market on Finley Avenue.

“I had kind of a sixth sense like, ‘Hey, I need to get to the farmers market and talk with my guy Shawn at Farm House Produce and cut some tomatoes and find out what’s happening,’” Hastings said this morning.

“And sure enough, he had some beautiful tomatoes — exactly what you would hope would be happening right (around) the first of May, which is generally the start time.

“But after finding those tomatoes and having the fresh pinto beans there and the okra was looking beautiful, the corn was sweet and delicious — everything was 100 percent right.”

RELATED: Ode to an Alabama classic, the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad

One of the Alabama Tourism Department’s “100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama,” the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad has been on the menu since Hastings and his wife, Idie, opened their Southern-inspired fine-dining restaurant in 1995, and its arrival every year is kind of a big deal for the staff and their guests.

The salad features thick slices of tomato tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette and layered one on top of another. They are garnished with pinto beans, peaches-and-cream corn, and fried Chilton County okra; crowned with Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon; and then drizzled with a chive aioli.

The tomato salad is also available as an entrée that features two stacks of tomatoes served with Alabama Gulf shrimp from Bayou La Batre.

Both the appetizer and the entrée will be on the menu through the end of September — after which time you’ll have to wait until next year for tomato salad season to return.

Hot and Hot Fish Club is at 2901 Second Ave. South in Birmingham. The phone is 205-933-5474. Hours are 5 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. For reservations and more information, go here.

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