A new winter dining series is coming to Birmingham. The January dining event will spotlight Magic City restaurants and their special culinary treats.
Joy King, a Birmingham TV personality and host of the show 'Dining Out with Comedienne Joy' on WABM 68, will run her own culinary series this year, and she's christened the event Dine Magic City Week.
At least 20 Birmingham-area restaurants will offer special prix-fixe lunch or dinner menus, according to a press release. King says she is still finalizing the lineup, but so far, participating restaurants include Black Pearl Asian Cuisine, Michael's Steak and Seafood, and the J. Clyde.
REV Birmingham's Winter Restaurant Week is on a hiatus this year. The organization decided to forgo its winter edition of Birmingham Restaurant Week to focus completely on its larger annual August event, which celebrates its 9th anniversary later this year.
That's where the TV host, already well-known in the Birmingham dining scene, says she stepped in.
"A couple of restaurants came to me and said 'Joy, can you help us out because we still need that event. We need people coming in our doors'," King says.
For King, picking up the winter event was a natural next step.
The TV personality has a blooming local food empire. In addition to her TV show and weekly food radio segment on The Joe Lockett Show, she launched a series of restaurant bus tours called Eat, Drink, Ride in November of last year.
King is friends with many local area restaurateurs and culinary talent, plus she'd assisted with Birmingham Restaurant Week in previous years as a social media host and blogger.
"So it kind of worked out perfectly," says King.
King says her event will also have two new additions: the series will be nine days and it will also feature a charity dinner.
Dine Magic City Week kicks off with the Magic City Bites preview party on Monday, January 22. A portion of the proceeds from the party will go to the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama.
Dine Magic City Week will kick off with the Magic City Bites preview party on January 22
The preview party -- sponsored by All South Appliances and Birmingham fashion brand Aviate -- is also a chance for restaurants in the Dine Magic City Week lineup to showcase dishes that won't be on the prix-fixe menus later that week.
Guests will be able to sample food, win prizes, and watch a live cooking demo from Clifton Holt, executive chef of Little Savannah Restaurant and Bar.
"It's important for us to have that fundraiser component and we've also heard about how our food banks are running low," says King.
Raising money for the community food bank is a cause close to her heart.
"I remember maybe... 13 years ago. I was a person who had to go to a food bank because I had fallen on hard times," says King.
"So this is my way of giving back to organizations that gave to me."
Now that King has taken the reigns of the winter dining event, she says her favorite part of running the show will be showcasing all of her favorite local restaurants at a time of year when people are watching their spending after holidays.
"I always want people to dine local. We have phenomenal, fantastic restaurants that are locally owned right here in Birmingham," says King. "So we need to support those restaurants."
Dine Magic City runs from January 26 to Feb 3. Meals range from $10 to $40.
For preview party ticket sales and more information on participating restaurants, visit https://www.diningoutwithcomediennejoy.com/.