Alabama's Steel City Pops makes list of food guru's favorite Southern places to eat

Jonathan Veazey, manager of Steel City Pops' Dallas location (Photo: Facebook) — Jonathan Veazey, manager of Steel City Pops’ new Dallas location (Photo: Facebook)

Alton Brown knows a thing or two about food. He’s the award-winning creator and host of Good Eats on The Food Network, and also hosts the channel’s highly successful Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen programs. Brown hit the road recently for his Edible Inevitable Tour, crisscrossing the United States in search of the best food and hosting a traveling variety show at stops along the way.

No such tour would be complete without a stop in Birmingham, Ala., a city that has emerged in recent years as a genuine culinary destination.

But when Brown came through, it wasn’t the city’s high-end eateries or world-renowned chefs that caught his attention: it was a popsicle.

“Getting my hands on these (dare I say, ‘artisanal’) pops was a surprise and I couldn’t be more grateful,” Brown told Garden & Gun about Steel City Pops, which was founded in Birmingham less than three years ago. “These guys are coming up with flavors way beyond chocolate, cherry and orange. Try, instead, Arnold Palmer, Sweet Potato Pecan, Buttermilk, Pineapple Jalapeno and Cherry Sour Cream. On a hot summer day … perfect.”

Brown loved Steel City Pops so much he listed its popsicles among his favorite “Southern road eats.”

Jim Watkins, the company’s founder and owner, explains how the dream of owning his own restaurant turned into the reality of Steel City Pops:

While on vacation with my family in Nashville in the spring of 2002, we stumbled across a unique shop called Las Paletas. It was a simple store, selling unique sweets called Mexican paletas—more commonly known as pops. But they were so much more than just pops! These delicious paletas were gourmet, brightly colored, all natural, and healthy, too—simply unlike anything we’d ever had. When we tasted these amazing pops, we decided everyone needed to know about this.

Fast forward 9 years. As I was turning 40, I found myself unhappy in my career and wanting to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a restaurant. So, I quit my job and began learning all I could about restaurant ownership… My mom and I developed all of the initial recipes…

So, after countless hours of praying, planning, working and taste testing, Steel City Pops was born! In early 2012 we started the build-out of our first storefront in Homewood, Alabama; from there, things began to unfold rather quickly. We opened for business in May of 2012, serving pops out of our store, as well as from vending carts at local farmers’ markets and various places around town.

Now you can get your Steel City Pops at any of our locations – off of Central Avenue in Homewood, at our Airstream trailer off of Highway 280, the Summit in Birmingham, The Pantry in Crestline Village, University Blvd in Tuscaloosa, Lower Greenville in Dallas and also Currie Street in Ft. Worth.