Former Otey’s owner opens new restaurant in Vestavia

After close to 20 years of experience in the restaurant business, Doug Smith recently unveiled his newest concept, The Palm & Pig, in Vestavia Hills. 

Conceived as a seafood and barbecue restaurant and neighborhood hangout, Smith said The Palm & Pig is an amalgam of the various stops along his career in the food and service world, along with the kind of place where he’d like to hang out.

“The whole premise of this thing here is it’s taking a little of our backgrounds from all the places we’ve owned all kind of rolled into one,” he said. “We kind of open up places with the idea of where we would go to spend our time.”

After moving to Birmingham with his wife, Joy, in the early 2000s, Smith attended the now-defunct Culinard Culinary School. However, just before graduation, the Smiths purchased Otey’s Tavern in Crestline, a decision that came as a major shock to his parents for more reasons than one. 

“We brought my mom and dad up for a nice dinner and I said, ‘Well, we’re buying a bar,’” Smith said. “My dad said, ‘What are you going to do when your friends want free beer all the time?’ I said, ‘Free beer? I got a baby on the way.’ So, I told my parents I was buying a bar and having a kid in about 15 seconds.”

The Smiths ran Otey’s for more than 15 years, before moving on to other ventures including Smith’s Oysters & Steaks, also in Crestline, and a partial ownership stake in Saw’s Juke Joint.

Smith said The Palm & Pig is designed to be a casual, funky hangout where people can stop in for a beer and bite to eat on a whim or for a nice night out planned in advance.

“We don't really want to give anyone a reason to say ‘no.’ We try to have a diverse menu and a non-pretentious atmosphere that’s pretty laid-back,” Smith said.

The Smiths opened the doors to The Palm & Pig on July 4. As this issue went to press, the full menu is still being developed, however, so far it has included fresh seafood and Carolina-style barbecue. 

One of the featured barbecue sauces is the Carolina Gold Sauce, a mustard-based recipe that has already become popular among diners. It’s also an homage to Smith’s father, a South Carolina native who passed away a year and a half ago.

“My dad was from South Carolina and before he passed away he just loved me to feed them all the time, so this is a little bit of an ode to my father,” Smith said. 

“It’s a little twist on a Carolina sauce that we developed with the help of some recipes from family and different places,” he added. “It's actually become the favorite, from what I understand, because it's a little bit different than maybe what they're used to.”

While barbecue is a major part of the menu, Smith emphasized The Palm & Pig is not a traditional barbecue restaurant. As the staff gets their sea legs, Smith said diners will see more seafood options on the menu, including oysters, shrimp and fresh fish. 

As for the name, the Smiths drew inspiration from pubs across the pond with names featuring a juxtaposition, like the Lamb & Flag or the Dog & Bell in London, for example.

“My wife and I love pub names in Ireland, England and Scotland, so we always knew we wanted to call it ‘The Something and Something,’” Smith said. “We also wanted a name saying what we are without saying what we are.’”

With that in mind, the Smiths christened their restaurant The Palm & Pig, with the word “palm” evoking seafood and a beachy vibe and, of course, the word “pig” being a reference to pork barbecue. 

“The Palm & The Pig is a little bit of an enigma, but at the same time, the moment you explain to somebody how you came up with it, they’re like, ‘Oh, well that makes perfect sense,’” Smith said.

The Palm & Pig is located at 633 Montgomery Highway. Currently, they are open for dinner only but do plan to open for lunch in the future and feature live music on the weekends.