Chez Fonfon

Chez Fonfon sits on 11th Avenue South in the heart of Birmingham’s Five Points South district, a compact French bistro from chef Frank Stitt that has become one of the city’s most consistently praised restaurants since it opened. Where Stitt’s flagship restaurant leaned on classic French technique applied to Southern ingredients in a more formal setting, Chez Fonfon takes the same French foundation and presents it in a smaller, more casual room built for regulars who want a good bistro meal without an occasion attached to it.

The menu reads like a tour of French bistro standards, executed with the same discipline Stitt is known for. Moules marinieres et frites, mussels steamed in white wine and served with fries, sits alongside a steak tartare and a chicken liver mousse served with grilled baguette. A petite charcuterie platter brings housemade pate, rillettes, and cured meats to the table for sharing, and escargots arrive swimming in shallot and garlic butter, about as classic a French starter as exists.

Main courses keep the same bistro focus. A trout amandine is finished with haricots verts and brown butter, a roasted poulet rouge comes with lady peas, little squash, corn puree, and savory, and a hanger steak is served with maitre d’ butter and pommes frites. The kitchen’s own hamburger, made with comte cheese, grilled red onion, and pickles, has become a menu favorite in its own right, proof that even a serious French bistro can do a great burger when it wants to. Daily specials rotate through the week, from a Tuesday scallop brochette with corn and tomato relish to a Friday lamb shoulder simmered with tomatoes, garlic, and thyme, and a fish of the day appears with field peas, haricots verts, and pistou nearly every night.

Desserts close the meal in classic French fashion: chocolate mousse with orange liqueur and espresso, a coconut pecan cake with vanilla bean creme anglaise, and a Basque cake served with chantilly cream. The restaurant also stocks a serious wine list to match the food, available as its own separate menu for anyone planning a full evening around the pairing.

The restaurant is part of a small, tightly connected group of Frank Stitt restaurants in Five Points South, alongside the Italian-focused Bottega a few blocks away. That proximity means visitors can walk between the two in a single evening, and it has helped cement the Five Points South intersection as one of the true centers of Birmingham’s dining scene.

The wine list deserves particular attention from visitors planning a full evening, since it is treated as its own separate document rather than an afterthought tacked onto the food menu, reflecting how seriously the restaurant approaches pairing. Between the rotating specials, the classic bistro standards, and the option to walk down the street to Bottega afterward for a nightcap, Chez Fonfon anchors one of the most complete small restaurant experiences available anywhere in Birmingham.

The restaurant’s patio seating adds another dimension in warmer months, giving diners an option outside the compact main dining room when the weather cooperates. Chez Fonfon’s gift shop and store section, reachable through the restaurant’s website, sells items tied to the restaurant’s identity for anyone who wants to bring a piece of the experience home. Between the rotating daily specials, the standing bistro menu, and the connection to Bottega just down the street, Chez Fonfon gives visitors a genuinely full evening of French bistro dining without ever feeling like a stuffy, special-occasion-only restaurant.

Chez Fonfon is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 4 to 9:30 p.m., and it is closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations can be made through Resy, and they are worth booking ahead for dinner, particularly on weekends when the small dining room fills quickly.