Food

Updated May 2026 On September 11, 2010, a man from Hoover, Alabama named Ken Orndoff sat down at the oyster bar inside Wintzell’s Oyster House on Dauphin Street and ate 421 raw oysters in thirty-four minutes. His name is still on the wall. That’s the kind of place Wintzell’s is. The kind of place where…

Updated May 2026 The three things to know before you go: Mardi Gras started in Mobile in 1703, fifteen years before New Orleans existed. The modern shipping container was invented here. And you can walk the entire historic downtown in an afternoon. Mobile rewards visitors who know where to look, and after years…

Updated May 2026 The short version: Most visitors to Mobile see the USS Alabama, walk Dauphin Street, and head home. They miss the best parts. These ten spots are the ones I point out on the tour that make people stop and say, “I had no idea.” Some are hiding in plain sight downtown;…

Updated May 2026 Mobile was founded in 1702, which makes its downtown one of the oldest in America, older than New Orleans, older than the United States itself. You can walk the heart of it in an afternoon, and almost every building you pass has a story. This is a self-guided walk through that history,…

Updated May 2026 Quick fact: Alabama’s food didn’t come from cookbooks. It came from the Gulf, the cotton fields, the enslaved cooks, the Native peoples, and three centuries of French, Spanish, and British rule all layering on top of each other. Taste these dishes in the right places in Mobile, and you’re tasting history….

Updated May 2026 The short version: Mobile has the kind of weather that makes eating outside an event. From a rooftop with a 34th-floor view of the bay, to a patio right on the Mardi Gras parade route, to taco swings outside a coffee shop, here are twelve outdoor dining spots in downtown Mobile…

Updated May 2026 The short version: Each year, fifty high school senior girls from Mobile County are selected as Azalea Trail Maids, the official hostesses of Mobile, Alabama. The selection process is competitive and centers on a high-stakes interview where candidates are judged on poise, communication, and their knowledge of the city they would…

Updated May 2026 The short version: Mobile’s cocktail scene punches well above its weight. From a fifteen-year-old gin classic at Haberdasher, to a creamy boozy Bushwacker at Moe’s BBQ, to a champagne and squid ink concoction named for an actual Mobile governor, here are ten of the best cocktails in the city. Several…

Updated May 2026 The short version: New York drops a ball. Mobile drops a Moon Pie. The Moon Pie was invented in Chattanooga in 1917, but it became the signature throw of Mobile’s Mardi Gras after the city banned Cracker Jack boxes in 1971 for being too dangerous. Today, more than four million Moon…

Updated May 2026 The short version: The A&M Peanut Shop sits on Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile, where a roaster from the late 1800s has been turning out fresh peanuts since 1947. Originally a Planters franchise, it became a family business when Alfred Gibson bought it in 1963 and named it for himself…