Meat And Three Southern Lunch appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Meat-and-three Southern lunch · Birmingham
The meat-and-three is the canonical Southern cafeteria lunch: one meat (fried chicken, smothered pork chop, fried catfish) with three vegetable sides and cornbread.
The meat-and-three Southern lunch grew out of Depression-era cafeteria service in the American South, codified across Alabama and Tennessee. Niki's West opened on Finley Avenue West in 1957 with steam-table cafeteria lines and remains the canonical Birmingham version. Eagle's Restaurant in Smithfield has cooked Black soul-food meat-and-three since 1951 and Demetri's BBQ in Homewood has run a Greek-American meat-and-three since 1973. The format is a daily-rotating board of meats and a steady roster of vegetable sides cooked from scratch.
Where to eat in Birmingham:
- Niki's West
- Eagle's Restaurant
- Demetri's BBQ