Step inside Niki’s West in Birmingham, Alabama, and it feels like the entire state showed up for lunch.
The line moves with purpose, the steam table glows like a Southern altar, and the smell of fried okra and fresh yeast rolls tells you everything you need to know before you even pick up a tray.
This is Alabama comfort cooking at its most honest—family recipes, practiced hands, and food that hasn’t changed because it never needed to…