Tip Top Grill
- This article is about the Bluff Park restaurant. For the former 20th Street South restaurant, see Tip Top Grill (Southside).
Tip Top Grill was a 600 square-foot breakfast and lunch eatery located at 588 Shades Crest Road in Hoover, with a seating area overlooking Shades Valley / Oxmoor Valley to the north.
The small restaurant was located inside a former Citgo gas station at the intersection of Shades Crest Road and Park Avenue in the Bluff Park neighborhood. Developer Ronnie Whitworth invested $40,000 to convert the building into a 20-seat eatery. Mike Wammack and his operating partner Bob Hoeferlin leased the space to open the restaurant in September 2003. In addition to the indoor seating, the outdoor cliffside terrace could seat 120 diners.
Wammack and Hoeferlin were inspired by Gus Koutroulakis' Pete's Famous hot dog stand downtown, an enduring landmark which thrived with no seating. They gambled that the views would bring customers back.
Tip Top Grill was named one of 10 best places to eat outside by the Birmingham News in May 2008. Curt Reamer bought the restaurant in 2016.
Forrest Smith acquired the restaurant property in 2013. In November 2021 the restaurant announced that it would close, having been unable to reach an agreement to renew the lease.
References
- Nicholson, Gilbert (August 8, 2003) "New Bluff Park eatery has Tip Top view." Birmingham Business Journal
- Harvey, Alec (May 23, 2008) "10 great places to eat outside in Birmingham." The Birmingham News
- "Tip Top Grill isn’t a hole in the wall, it’s a hole in a rock!" WBRC 6 Magic City Weekend