"Alabama's best cheeseburger lives here. So does the finest steak frites south of Paris."
Pardis and Frank Stitt opened Chez Fonfon in Five Points South in 2000, and the bistro has not needed to update its pitch since. Tile floors. Tables close enough to generate a sympathetic ambient warmth. Cabinets stacked with wine bottles that frame the room like a Parisian set piece. The cooking is comforting French bistro done with precision — escargots with garlic and parsley butter, steak frites with a properly caramelized crust, sautéed trout with brown butter that arrives tasting like it was caught that morning.
The cheeseburger requires special mention. Love FOOD, the UK food publication, crowned it Alabama's finest. Multiple local publications have agreed annually since the bistro opened. It is not a showy burger — it is a burger made with the same attention to ingredient quality and technique that Stitt brings to the rest of the menu. On the list of things Birmingham does better than you expect, this sits near the top.
The energy in the room is reliably good — the combination of proximity, noise level calibrated for conversation rather than performance, and a kitchen that moves at bistro speed creates the kind of evening that encourages second glasses and extended tables. Chez Fonfon has the rare quality of making a meal feel both effortless and considered at the same time. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
For a first date in Birmingham, the choice between Chez Fonfon and Automatic Seafood and Oysters comes down to mood: Chez Fonfon is warmer, slightly more intimate, and carries a sense of local cultural fluency that rewards those who know the city. If your date knows Birmingham, booking here signals genuine knowledge. If they don't, you'll earn the credit for the discovery.
The best first date restaurants make everything feel easy. Chez Fonfon achieves this through the reliable French bistro formula — familiar enough that navigation requires no instruction, distinctive enough that it says something about who brought you here. The room buzzes without overwhelming. The menu has enough variety to accommodate preferences without requiring a negotiation. Steak frites works for nearly everyone.
The pricing is the other advantage: at bistro prices rather than fine dining prices, a Chez Fonfon first date communicates taste and effort without the weight of excessive expenditure, which carries its own pressure. Order the escargots as an opener and let the steak frites do the rest. Stay for dessert if the conversation warrants it — the kitchen is patient.