Edgar's Bakery [Birmingham, AL]

During our road trip last month to North Carolina, my family found a new place to not only stop and grab a bite to eat, but to seriously munch on some delicious baked goods.  Edgar's Bakery rivals any other bakery you may claim as your favorite, with fresh menu items for lunch and a delectable collection of treats for your sweet tooth.

The drive from our home near Jackson, MS to our family's residence near Winston-Salem, NC is a lengthy one, but do-able in one day (yes, even with two young kiddos).  If you check Google Maps, it will tell you it's about a 10 hour drive.  With the kids, tack on another 2-3 hours for stopping to feed the baby, run some energy out of the 3 year old, and actually stop to enjoy lunch and dinner somewhere better than your typical fast food joints.

This is how we found Edgar's Bakery.  We left home early in the morning so that we would be driving through Birmingham around lunch time.  On our way, I tweeted and posted an Instagram plea for lunch recommendations around the Birmingham area, specifically near the route we were taking and an easy on/off for the Interstate.  It still needed to be somewhat quick and definitely kid-friendly.

My blogging friend, Stephanie, came to our rescue!  Along with a few very tempting suggestions she had and from another blogging friend, Amanda, (I reserved those for later visits), Stephanie recommended Edgar's Bakery and it was right on our route.

Just take a look at the scenery right when you walk in the door!!  I was impressed right away.  Edgar's Bakery serves gourmet lunch and breakfast, while also specializing in cakes, pastries and other desserts for take-out, dine-in or catering.

For lunch, I had the Peach Chicken Salad Sandwich that was outstanding.  With chicken, peaches, pecans, bacon and then your usual chicken salad formula sandwiched in between a lightly toasted cranberry walnut bread, it will be hard for me to choose another menu item during our next visit.  SO good!  On the other hand, Ben had the Gourmet Egg Salad Sandwich and said although it was okay, he will choose something different next time.  The sides of fruit and salads were fresh and excellent, and even Judah's simple Grilled Cheese Sandwich was better than your usual kids' menu item.

Then there was dessert.  How to choose??  There were samples above the bakery counter that I surprisingly only chose one to try and can't even remember what it was!  I think I was just so in awe of the rest of the store that I forgot to go back and taste the rest of the samples!  Anyway, we ended up getting free treats because the manager noticed our food took a little longer to receive than normal.  It did take a while, but totally made up for it when he came over and offered dessert on the house! 🙂

I chose the chocolate cupcake by recommendation of the manager, and it was definitely the right choice.  Some cupcakes I've tried at various places lately have let me down on their chocolate selection, with dry cake.  Edgar's, though?  Delish!  A nice moist cake with bits of chocolate through-out, and topped with what I think was the perfect frosting.  Ben picked out a huge peanut butter cookie that he loved, and Judah wanted a fish sugar cookie (pictured above).  We also bought a few more of the sugar cookies to take to his little cousins in North Carolina.

I wish I could visit Edgar's Bakery on a regular basis, but for now it is going to be our place to stop every time we make the drive to North Carolina to see our family.  It's an easy on/off for the Interstate, and even if it isn't lunch time, we'll stop for a fun treat!

Edgar's Bakery currently has five locations.  This is the address to the one we visited:

Edgar's Bakery
The Shops of the Colonnade
3407 Colonnade Parkway.
Birmingham, Alabama 35243
Hours: Monday-Saturday 6:30am-6:00pm
Phone: 205-987-0790

Click here for information on the four other locations.