Troup’s is serving its Alabama community one slice at a time
Troup’s Pizza is about more than delicious pies. (Susan Swagler / Alabama News Center)
Troup’s Pizza in the Cahaba Heights neighborhood is a family business serving families while creating family, too. The husband-and-wife team of Terrill and Ashley Brazelton are known for their great food and genuine, warm hospitality, but they serve their community way more than that.
The two cemented their relationship and their shared passion for the restaurant business years ago when they had Open Door Cafe (ODC) in Crestline Park. The neighborhood gem was beloved for its eclectic, cozy atmosphere and jazz acts.
They brought that same casually fun and welcoming vibe to Cahaba Heights when they opened Troup’s in April 2020. It was hardly the best time to start a new restaurant, but in those early days, when there were few places consistently up and running, they endeared themselves to their new neighborhood with their friendly and delicious curbside to-go. “While restaurants were closing all around us, we were creating a new business and forging a path forward,” Terrill says. “We got a lot of support from the locals.”
“People love to come and visit and hang out and just support us,” Ashley says. “It’s rewarding, and it’s coming back two-fold because we just love to make people feel at home. That makes us feel good. And we still have a lot of new people coming in who’ve never tried us. I love that.”
Today, Troup’s is a thriving business serving hand-tossed pizzas; calzones and fried stromboli; fresh, inventive salads and sandwiches; soups and chili in season; and delicious surprises.
Terrill was born in Selma and raised in Southern California, and those places inform the foods he crafts. He learned early to love local ingredients while spending time with his Southern grandparents; his culinary horizons expanded in Cali. Now, that comes together in a chef’s approach to the humble pizza pie and everything else on the menu.
Ashley grew up surrounded by home cooking in her large Italian family and has more than 30 years of experience in the food industry, ranging from casual cafes to fine-dining restaurants and country clubs.
“When I was younger, they would always kick me out of the kitchen, because I’d be in the way,” she says. “So, I love to set the table. I would love to pretend to wait on them; that was what I did. I think I landed perfectly in this position because I’m good out here but not, in fact, in the kitchen.”
The two are a true team. And both of their kids, Carter and Asher, work alongside them when not in school, something Ashley says is one of her favorite aspects of owning Troup’s.
The entire family is attuned to their customers.
“One of the greatest things about being a chef is … watching a table that’s never eaten your food before. You can’t hear what they’re saying, but you can read their facial expressions and their body language, Terrill says. “It’s just that little moment where it validates all the work that you’re putting in and you know that you’re doing a good job.”
“We’re always here,” Ashley says. “Usually assume that one or the other, if not both of us, are here. We love to go out and talk to the tables. It just makes people feel good, you know? Like you’re home when you come in here. Terrill and I are both very social people, and I’ve always loved doing that. There are still some restaurants, like FoodBar, George (McMillian) is very good about that. He goes out and talks to the tables, but there are a lot that don’t do that anymore and the owners aren’t present. That’s something that’s very big to us; we just love to go out and talk to our customers and get to know them. A lot of them, we’ve gotten to know really well.”
Terrill gives Ashley credit for setting the tone at Troup’s. “It’s not easy living and working with somebody … especially a chef,” he says. “She is the absolute reason that this place is successful. Without a doubt. She talks to every table. She’s good at her job; she smiles. I’m most proud of her.”
The name of this place honors generations of Troups.
Terrill’s great grandfather, grandfather and father were all named George Troup Brazelton. You’ll see photos of the great grandfather on the walls here. He built a prototype race car, had hopes of turning Lakeshore Drive into a speedway and realized the dream, in the early 1900s, of bringing the streetcar line over from downtown Birmingham to Homewood (you can still see tracks in Edgewood). The Troup’s logo (a fuel gauge indicating full) and the table numbers, which look like race car numbers, pay homage to that inspiring, innovative man.
Troup’s mainstay is pizza, and, while there are seasonal specialty pizzas, Ashley says, “I just love veggie pizza. The Happy Hippie, which is the pesto base, and the Woodstock – that’s truffle oil based. Although I love our red sauce, those two veggies are my favorite.”
Terrill says the pepperoni and the simple cheese pizza are crowd pleasers. “Those are the two most popular dishes, probably in every pizzeria across the country,” he says. But the fairly new calzones are also popular, as are the homemade mozzarella bites and the grilled, then sauced and baked wings.
Terrill grew up going with his grandfather to buy fresh produce from the truck farmer parked in the bank parking lot. He shelled peas and snapped beans. He sat in the kitchen watching his grandmother cook and learned a thing or two.
“I’ve got some of her recipes in my repertoire; some of the stuff that we do here at the restaurant comes directly from her cookbooks and from her handwritten recipes.” Things like the pound cake they make for Sunday brunch. Other family recipes include Ashley’s mother’s (and grandmother’s) meatballs. (Chef Terrill reimagined Nana’s meatballs with lamb while keeping the sauce true to the original recipe.)
Salads are taken seriously at this pizza place. They are fresh and hyper seasonal. So are the soups. The smoked brisket chili, served in cooler months, begins with brisket that is brined, dry rubbed and then smoked for 15 hours.
Then there are the surprises.
The khachapuri cheese bread is not listed on the menu, but those in the know do know. “It’s Georgian cheese bread; it’s kind of a big thing in the country of Georgia,” Ashley says. “We’ve actually had somebody come in who’s from Georgia and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you do this. I haven’t been able to get it, and I’m getting a taste from home.’”
It’s a boat made of pizza dough filled with cheeses, pesto and herbs and topped with a runny egg. “It’s delicious,” Ashley says. “You just pull it apart and dip it in the middle.”
A commitment to what’s fresh and knowing the people who grow and produce that freshness is a key part of Troup’s.
“We’re highly motivated to provide local ingredients. Fresh, seasonal ingredients. And we work darn hard to make sure our food is as good as it can possibly be. We pride ourselves on making just about everything that we can from scratch,” says Terrill singling out Ireland Farms, Habersham Farms and smaller local farmers like a guy named Jonah who grows figs and blueberries about a mile from the restaurant.
The goal, he says, is to do “the best that we possibly can with the ingredients that we’re getting – out of respect to the animal or to the farmer or to whoever along the line brought us that product.”
Chef Terrill’s philosophy is simple. “It’s honesty and simplicity in our food, the belief that what we’re doing is as good as we can possibly do it and holding each other accountable if it’s not as good as it can be done. And to be willing to be coachable, or teachable – even me, right? Not just the guys and the girls who work in the kitchen, but everybody needs to be held to that same level. And I’ve got guys in there who will call me on it. We go through a process before we put something out on the plate. We taste it, we test it, we talk about it. We think about the best way to do it. It’s a family. The kids that come and work here become family.”
That’s not just lip service. While other parents might have the fun game room where kids congregate, their restaurant became that place for the Brazelton family.
“It’s humbling, at times, when you see it,” Terrill says. “Not just as a restauranteur but as a family person with kids who went to school in Vestavia. It’s kind of what we’d always wanted – that kind of place where our kids’ friends would come and … be a part of it, that it would be special to them as well as to us.”
Troup’s has been a first-time job for scores of young people like Joseph Gage who is the friendly face you’ll likely see behind the counter.
“We put them to work,” Terrill adds. “My son was 12 years old when we first opened, so he’s been working here for four years. And he’s got buddies he goes to school with, they see him, and they want this to be their first job. The parents know that we’re going to take care of their kids. So, we’ve employed a lot of my friends’ kids for their first jobs. And that’s also humbling – that they’re willing to let me take care of their kids and give them their first job. That’s a special thing that I’ll always be thankful for.”
He says, “The kids that come and work here become family. When they go to college and come back, we get hugs. That’s a powerful, powerful thing. Because you kind of hope that something goes that way, but you’re never sure if it’s going to go that way; you’re never sure it’s going to be received. And I think that the family at Troop’s is one of the greatest things that sets us apart from everyone else.”
The couple is committed to giving back to the places that have given them so much.
They’ve recently opened their restaurant to local artists – a monthly revolving showcase that leads to sales for the working artists and adds interest to the Troup’s space. When we visited, several pieces of Jenny-Leigh Art were on display.
Then there’s an ongoing and organic approach to community service.
When the deadly tornado struck Selma in January 2023, they immediately packed up a truckload of supplies and went to help. They regularly sponsor the summer reading program at the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest as well as soccer at SHAC (Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex). Kids from the nearby Cahaba Heights Elementary School do classroom projects based on visits to Troup’s. (You’ll see their handwritten letters displayed on the counter.)
Being part of the surrounding community is “so important; it’s everything,” Ashley says. “And we’re just so blessed to be in such a supportive community, she adds, referencing the larger metro area and its many schools and neighborhoods. “We’ve always been involved. We love to be involved in the community and give back.”
“We can’t call ourselves a neighborhood restaurant unless we’re involved in the neighborhood,” Terrill says. “And it’s not just, you know, doing the ‘dough raisers’ and giving back 10% or 15% or whatever. It’s being a member of the community. And that’s where Ashley, again, comes in and is always right in the middle of it.”
3144 Heights Village
Troup’s Pizza in Cahaba Heights is a family restaurant that is part of the community. (Susan Swagler / Alabama News Center)
Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35243
Phone: (205) 536-6860
Hours:
Monday, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday brunch, noon to 3 p.m.
Sunday dinner, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Susan Swagler has written about food and restaurants for more than three decades, much of that time as a trusted restaurant critic. She shares food, books, travel and more at www.savor.blog. Susan is a founding member and past president of the Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a philanthropic organization of women leaders in food, wine and hospitality whose members are among Birmingham’s top women in food.
