Tucked away in the heart of Mountain Brook Village is one of the city’s most cherished traditions. For nearly a century, Gilchrist has been serving up homemade sandwiches, and fresh squeezed limeade, and touching the hearts of the Mountain Brook community.
A favorite lunch spot of Mountain Brook residents, Gilchrist (also known as Gilchrist Drug) was opened in 1928 by Marvin Gilchrist. It’s a classic soda shop/lunch counter-style setup with chips, sodas, and candy lining the wall to the checkout line. Antique trinkets as decorations, mellow lighting, and an old-school letterboard menu make a visit to Gilchrist truly a classic experience.
It feels like opening a time capsule. It isn’t quite “vintage-inspired” (as many in the food industry have attempted), rather, the restaurant has simply retained its style over its many years of operation. You would hear the gentle buzz of the fluorescent lights above you if the place wasn’t packed to the walls during every lunch hour.
View this post on Instagram
The current location of Gilchrist is where it has always been, and not much has changed about its aesthetic. Mountain Brook Village’s iconic “cottage-style” roofing suits the style of the quaint little lunch counter. Being open for nearly one hundred years is quite an impressive feat and a testament to the love the community has for it—visiting during a busy afternoon will make that clear to you. The Mountain Brook community will always come together over a good, homestyle sandwich.
View this post on Instagram
Another highly impressive feature (of the restaurant’s already long list) is its fresh-squeezed limeade, which is spoken so highly of by Mountain Brook residents that you’d think it cures the common cold. This is all for good reason, as the Gilchrist limeade landed itself on the Alabama Tourism Department’s 100 Dishes to Eat Before You Die list. (I’d recommend asking them to add cherry, as it makes a great thing even better).
In addition to this, Gilchrist has created its own series of iconic sandwiches. My personal favorite of these is the pimento cheese BLT, but the hot beef and egg salad sandwiches are a longtime favorite of many. Their chicken salad, egg salad, and pimento cheese are all freshly made and nothing short of excellent.
Gilchrist, being open for as long as it has, is a cornerstone of Mountain Brook’s heritage and traditions. Even 100 years later, it still has a special place in the city’s heart as it keeps the nostalgia of its past alive.
