On Thursday evening, June 21, 2018, Chef Rebecca Wilcomb, chef de cuisine of Herbsaint restaurant in New Orleans, and winner of the 2017 James Beard Foundation award for best chef, South, presented a lovely dinner infused with influences of her Italian heritage and her New Orleans home for the last ten years. Alabama Chanin, and Friends of the Cafe Dinners, are the brainchild of Natalie Chanin who is a rock star in fashion design and environmental causes related to the fashion and textile industries. These events benefit the Southern Foodways Alliance based at the University of Mississippi. Guests were greeted with a Summer Solstice cocktail to start featuring peach, mint and prosecco. An outstanding array of appetizers included toasted crab melts, marinated steak bites with anchovy and olives whose seasoning and taste brought to mind a New Orleans muffuletta influence, wonderfully seasoned grilled shrimp spiedini (on skewers), and chickpea fritters with caponata (a cooked eggplant salad garnish) . What made Chef Wilcomb's meal special was the sense that she was sharing a personal part of her heritage through the food she served this night. Like a great deal of Italian food, the highlight was on the ingredients, prepared simply and seasoned to perfection. The first course was a simple but I'm sure labor intensive bowl of chicken tortellini in a rich broth. The dish was dedicated to her Grandmother, Giannina, and was the first time she had ever served it outside a family setting. The rest of the meal was served family style. Entrees included roasted Bluewater Creek Farm pork belly and Open Blue Cobia with calabrian chilies. Cobia is a deep water fish being farm raised in ocean ponds off the coast of Panama. The fish was expertly cooked and the Italian calabrian chilies added a touch of heat without overpowering. A simple and very enjoyable Italian rice salad featured mortadella, cheese, capers and a light Italian dressing- another of the chef's family recipes. Marinated lunchbox peppers were surprisingly sweet and well seasoned but looked alarmingly similar to Habanero peppers. A nice New Orleans influenced dish of charred Okra with tomatoes was delicious and complimented the equally delicious sauteed Italian Porcini mushrooms. An assortment of hand pies from summer fruits including blueberry, peach, fig and others I may have missed, concluded the meal. While the meal was delicious and well done, the hand pies were extraordinary. Served with whipped cream, the pies were served warm and brought oohs and aahs universally around the table. Once again, Anne Ryan Cavin as wine steward did a wonderful job selecting wines and providing the provenance of each to enhance the dining experience. A Willamette Valley, Oregon, Brooks Pinot Noir Rose - 2017 was the first course wine and my personal favorite for the evening as well as others at our table. It was a delightful rose bursting with fruit flavors and a delicious taste. A Chateau de la Selve- Petit Selve- 2017, a red blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes from the Rhone Valley of France was served with the main course. With desert was a sparkling rose Alma Negra- Brut Nature from Argentina. Made from both Malbec and Pinot Noir grapes, it was a pleasant wine, crisp, with a hint of sweetness. Chef Ray Nichols and the staff of Alabama Chanin provided support for this outstanding dining experience with smooth, efficient and impeccable service. As always, Natalie Chanin was a charming and wonderful hostess whose sense of style and attention to detail is evident in every event. read more

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Food taste like butt cheeks I thought a fancy restaurant would be good no do not come here. The service is terrible and the place is so nasty never clean for someone help this place and me and my whole family got food poisoning. I am cops don't go to this restaurant. It is so terrible and they think that they can just be rude to me because I won't catch up, they are actually so rude. I think that should go to jail. I am about to sue them. I will go one more time and if the food is nasty and I get food poisoning and the workers are rude. They will get sued.DO NOT GO read more

I'll come back and leave five stars when they get this place fully up and running. Right now it's full of construction and dust, but the stores we visited were great. We hope to get to go back next year when things have really gotten better and some restaurants are open. read more

Ambiance: Really cute decor! It is part clothing shop, part restaurant and has a really calm, quiet, relaxing vibe. Service: The lady who was the chef was really nice. The daily menu is posted online. I think the link on yelp is broken but just google it and check their website :] Food: I really enjoyed the food especially the picked veggies. I liked the bacon jam a lot which surprised me because in general it isn't my favorite thing. read more

The Factory - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Florence, Alabama

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The food service closed here in 2019. Please update information on this site. Thank you. I had a great lunch here in 2017. Sorry i cannot repeat the experience. read more

We went here for the renown Saturday brunch. It was a bit of a drive and I mean, c'mon. You're eating brunch in a place that is a *clothing factory*. That also serves food. Should I be surprised that it felt really hipstery and the jersey-cotton unhemmed clothes were so expensive that one of the dresses cost more than my actual wedding did? (like, my WHOLE wedding. Like all of it. And yes we had a full ceremony, reception, and food.) No. But...still, when your silverware is brought to you tied up in what looks like one of my cut up old t-shirts as a napkin, you feel a little silly. I also got REAL nervous when I saw that several others were seated when we were in line...and none of them had their food. Not one. When had they ordered? how long were we going to wait? (Luckily I didn't have to worry about this because they started bringing out multiple plates soon afterwards.) I mean, I guess I should give this place another chance. The other options sounded really good, too, but I was just disappointed with what I ordered. I got the potato and sausage ''quiche''. This is in quotation marks because not only was there only one bite that actually contained potato+sausage ("I found it! Am I going to have good luck for the rest of the new year?"). But. I like crust. I expected there to be a crust. On the bottom, where it normally is. In fact, due to the description of "quiche topped with puff pastry" I thought it might even be a pie-style with crust on the top, too. And that would've been really yummy. What I got was a strange, small, rectangular piece of puffed pastry literally just resting on the top of the otherwise crustless quiche, looking very lost and alone. The sausage served on the side was just whatevs; not bad at all but a little overcooked. It wasn't all bad though. My husband liked his belgian waffle with whipped cream and sauce. I thought the waffle could've been crispier but the whipped cream was obviously fresh and delicious. I also got the sweet potato home fries which were amazing. Like, they were really good and I could've eaten a whole plate of just that. The atmosphere is kinda cool too, providing you with newspapers, magazines, cards and games to play while you wait. But all in all it was just a little weird, a little expensive, a little not-that-amazing-for-a-$30-breakfast, and we probably won't be back. read more

A must try,especially the Saturday brunch. Food was great. Get 1/2 size on the gravy so you can try both

The Gopher Burger doesnt have enough meat for charging $8 for it, they didn't serve martini's either

Went for the brunch they market so well on social media and was pretty disappointed..the food was unimpressive and the price was way too much for something I could have pulled together at home in less than 20 minutes.. their coffee was good but otherwise it really wasn't worth the trip.. read more

I drove past the place many times before deciding to follow the recommendations of fellow Yelpers and give it a try. Both visits have been very pleasant both with good food and pleasant (not your normal restaurant) atmosphere. Definitely an appeal to my gourmet side. Most recent visit had the grill pimento cheese sandwich with a side of grilled okra & squash with zucchini salad. read more

The Factory - Grilled Pimento Cheese Sandwich - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Florence, Alabama

I love to come here for Saturday brunch :) it is a little more pricey for Florence, but the food is sensational! The quiche is great, but my absolute favorite is the French toast always add the hot chocolate to round it out :) read more

I love this place! Aside from the fact I've never had a bad meal there, the creative space is so unique that it makes the experience a great one. Saturday brunch is awesome; I really like the quiche but the specials are good too. The friendly staff makes it always a pleasure. read more

"The Factory" at Alabama Chanin has a really nice lunch during the week and an incredible brunch on Saturday. Atmosphere is fabulous. Food is gourmet but always comfortable. Treat yourself to the chocolate chip cookies during the week. The specially cured bacon on the weekends is some of the best you'll ever eat. Love the grits -- they are coarse ground, meaty, almost nutty, and have a buttery texture that isn't a bit greasy. You won't be disappointed in this place. Don't miss it if you're in Florence. read more

Amazing food, and the best atmosphere you could ask for in a local cafe. I had the roasted tomato soup with a grilled pimento cheese sandwich...incredible. My wife ordered the brussel sprouts gratin, and loved it. Now we're ordering locally made Shirey ice cream for dessert. I can't wait to come back and try everything on their menu! read more

I am a huge fan of the aesthetic and attention to sustainable business practices. I have take a few workshops with Natalie Chanin and her staff, and I have been a mail order customer, as well. Each encounter makes me a bigger fan and instills a deeper appreciation of the work. The Factory was wonderful. I can't wait to return. read more

The Factory - Composite of photos from The Factory. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Florence, Alabama

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hey- go to lunch here- best $12 blt you will ever eat-leaves you thinking of your next trip read more

A hidden jewel! Absolutely amazing! Our continental lunch would have you feeling as if you were in a coastal Mediterrean villlage. Great lunch selections and Rose wine to boot! amazing designer, as well as restaurant. read more

Excellent lunch. I had the pick three: delicious white bean, tomato with kale soup and 1/2 pimento cheese sandwich plus salad with feta cheese. My sister had the pick three with the egg salad sandwich; she said the bread was delicious. We bought coffee to go after the tour; the Best. read more

Couldn't have asked for a better experience! Food was great, service was excellent!! Will be back to enjoy again soon!!

The Factory Cafe catered my wedding and was absolutely terrible. They showed up almost an hour and half later than setup time. My guests had to stand outside the reception space for over 30 minutes and wait for the food to be unloaded and set up. Guests and the bridal party actually had to assist with set up. Despite the fact that catering arrived 45 minutes after the dinner service time on the contract, they attempted to leave early and take the significant amount of leftover food and drinks with them that was paid for. It is far from ideal to have 2 hours left at your reception and no water. They also did absolutely no clean up on the backend. Terrible experience. Highly disappointed and would not recommend. read more