Corks & Cattle is a deliciously enterprising gem in Alabama’s Wiregrass

Corks & Cattle features creations from Chef Zaine Young. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama News Center)
The wide, open Wiregrass region of southeastern Alabama has known grazing cattle since colonial times. Fine wines, not so much. But Corks & Cattle Market & Café celebrates both in delicious, inventive, locally sourced ways.
This restaurant in Enterprise, owned by Dena Smith, with chef Zaine Young leading the kitchen, offers exciting foods (including great steaks) and a world of wines.
Located in the historic Rawls Cotton Gin building with original brick, repurposed tin and ironwork, and 100-year-old beams, the place bills itself as a café, but it’s much more than that.
It’s a butcher shop with meats cut to order; it’s a wine shop with well over a thousand bottles from around the world (there’s no corkage fee if you pick one to drink while you’re here, and there are frequent wine tastings and regular wine dinners); it’s a general store full of locally sourced ingredients such as honey, cheeses and Smith’s own family-recipe gourmet barbecue sauce. There’s a handsome bar with craft cocktails and mocktails (they try to cater to everyone) and a breezy patio festive with lights.
It’s a fine-dining destination that is changing the way locals eat and attracting foodies from farther afield, too.
It’s also one woman’s way of making her place in the world.
Smith, who was born in Enterprise, has worked as an accountant for years for her family’s business in Dothan. When the first of her three children left for college, she felt the need for a change, too.
“Motherhood defines us in a lot of ways,” she says. “Even though I’ve always worked, I worked part time to work around my kids’ schedules as much as I could. … With my child leaving home, I still had two kids at home, but I just felt like I needed to throw myself into something else. I knew they were all getting to the age to leave, and it didn’t sit well with me. I know we raise our children to fly – and mine have flown beautifully from the nest – but this was my baby. I threw a lot into this to create something new.”
She says she wanted her boys to see “that I was strong and independent. That I could do something on my own.”
She started by purchasing an existing wine and craft beer shop.
Smith moved the business into the former gin space about seven years ago, building out what was an empty shell. “We were just going to be small and simple, and that did not fly for long at all. So, we grew into what we are now. We need to be bigger than we are, but I can’t leave this building. I don’t want to leave this building. It will always be home.”
Today, the restaurant serves lunch, dinner and Saturday brunch. There are 40 seats inside and another 60 on the patio.
The butcher shop has always been a prime focus of this place with Certified Angus Beef (CAB) sourced from 1855 Black Angus Beef from Texas and locally from the Enterprise-based 3D Cattle Co. There’s all manner of pork, house-ground hamburger also from 3D cows, homemade sausages and local bison as well as local wagyu and Gulf-fresh fish.
The wine selection here is beyond impressive for any size restaurant and rivals what you’d find in a much bigger city. There are wine shelves everywhere, and the craft beer selection also is expansive.
“We have well over a thousand different wines on our shelves,” Smith says, “and we just keep going. We have to keep adding shelves because I like wine. We have wine from every place that produces wine except one. That’s the country of Georgia, and we don’t have a distributor – yet.”

People, of course, also come for the delicious dishes from Chef Zaine Young’s kitchen – dishes that reflect a lifelong love of food.
Young, who hails from a family of cooks and bakers, grew up in Indiana and worked in her mom’s restaurant from the time she could hold a pan. She was entering baking competitions through 4-H when she was only 8, and by age 16 she could – and did on the weekends – run her family’s restaurant kitchen.
She came to Corks & Cattle in 2020 and took over the kitchen as executive chef two years later. She’s not yet 30.
Young’s approach to food is inventive and fun. She loves to experiment, and this place gives her room to do that.
“I like to play with flavors that some people are nervous about,” she says. Her first menu at Corks & Cattle was eye-opening for everyone. There were certain things customers were hesitant to try, she says, mentioning her sous vide duck legs with a blueberry-cayenne sauce and fried goat cheese.
But once she persuaded them, the reaction, she says, was, ““Wow! I didn’t think that would work. I’ve never had duck before.’ I like putting people out of their comfort zones. I want people to try new things. … Now, every time I make a new menu, people get more and more excited. They want to try it. It makes me feel good.”
That translates to gochujang-marinated lamb lollipops; coffee-crusted Akaushi wagyu ribeye with bourbon gravy; bacon-wrapped dates filled with pistachios and gorgonzola; a brunch tart made with pears, prosciutto, gorgonzola custard and a rosemary crust topped with lavender honey; a lunchtime pulled-pork “Piggy Melt” with C&C barbecue sauce, Swiss and cheddar, crispy onions and homemade slaw on a brioche bun; caramelized onions, apple butter and candied jalapeños on a wagyu burger; house-made bacon jam, chipotle goat cheese and onion straws on a bison burger; filet with a portobello mushroom cap.
She’s particularly happy with that last dish.
“It’s a portobello cap with chipotle goat cheese, caramelized onions and the filet. And then I top it with a pork-balsamic reduction. And when you eat all that together, it’s magic. They were nervous about that being on the menu. … So, we do have two filet options – one regular, one like that. In the past month, we’ve sold more of the portobello ones than we thought.”
The regular menu is impressive, but the wine dinners really give Young free rein to experiment.
“It’s a five-course wine dinner, and each course is paired with a wine. (Customers) try the food with the wine, and they say it just goes beautifully. Those are my favorite things to do because I’m going to be creative and make different menus (each time). I like making people question it and like it after they try it. … Every time I do a wine dinner every dish is something I’ve never done before.”
These wine dinners have exploded in popularity. They usually are every couple of months, and the seating for 75 to 80 people always sells out.
Young prefers savory over sweet dishes because “there’s more room to experiment.” She rarely follows recipes when cooking; instead, she’ll create her own from scratch or combine elements of several to create something altogether new and different.
She also bakes. All the desserts here are made in house. She didn’t know about bread pudding before coming to the South. Now, the dish is among her favorite things to make, and she bakes several varieties each week.
She also enjoys putting her spin on Southern favorites like grits (which she also had never had) and collards (ditto). So, grits here are extra cheesy with Parmesan and white cheddar. She cooks down collards with an IPA, bacon and onions.
“I definitely try to cater to the South a little bit,” Young says. “I try to make sure there’s something on the menu that everyone will like. I try to do an ‘elevated Southern cuisine.’ … I do the Southern things, but I try to make them a little bit different … in a way that nobody’s had before. That’s always my goal.”
In addition to 3D Cattle Co., Corks & Cattle relies upon other local purveyors for the restaurant and the market. They buy produce and handmade specialty items from regional Saturday farmers’ markets, Young says. “We do love supporting local.”
“All the cheeses we have on our charcuterie board are from Slocomb, Alabama,” Smith says. “Working Cows Dairy. She’s won national awards for her organic cheeses. Everything is delicious. The milk, the whipping cream. Just incredible.”
That said, Corks & Cattle is known for steaks.
“We’re a steak place,” Young says. “Our steaks are probably the best thing that we do. We’ve heard multiple times that we do have the best steak. I think, three years in a row now, we have won ‘best steak in Alabama,’ so that’s an accomplishment.”
Pastas are also popular. There’s always a fresh catch. “Every week it changes … so I get to play with that, too,” Young says. “We have a company in Dothan that goes down and fishes for us.”
Smith employs around 30 people (with more seasonally), and she says they all know that “customer service is the first rule of business. In the South, too, I think we like to be waited on, pampered, made to feel special. When you go out, you’re spending your hard-earned money; you want to go somewhere that treats you well, that takes care of you. We do our best to provide that level of comfort and service to everyone that walks through those doors. Everyone is special, and everyone should be treated as such.”
That extends to the staff. “We are a family here,” Smith says. “Our employee retention is insane. We don’t lose people. If they leave, for some reason, they come back – nine times out of 10. Everyone here is special. We try our best to take care of people, and they take care of us. They take care of our customers. We couldn’t ask for more than that.”
Young runs her kitchen with the same mentality.
“I try to lead by example,” she says. “Treat people how they want to be treated, and I feel like that’s helped a lot. … Some chefs feel like they need to have that ego, and you can’t be on the same level as them, but I treat my employees like I am just like them. There’s nothing I won’t do that they have to do. We work as a team. Like I said, lead by example. If they see me doing something, they’re going to do the extra thing, too. I think that’s the best part about this place. We work as a unit; we all respect each other. Anything I ask of them, they do. I’ll do it myself. It’s teamwork.”
This shared philosophy between Smith and Young comes together beautifully and deliciously with each customer served, each dish plated.
“I love the people,” Smith says. Corks & Cattle “gave me something to strive for. It was something that my boys could see and say, ‘Wow, she’s not just Mom. She’s not just this person who works at our grandfather’s business. She’s someone who can actually create something and make it thrive.’ And I think I’ve done OK. But it’s not just me. … I’m smart enough to surround myself with people that are brilliant and amazing. That goes for customers and staff alike. There are incredible people here. I am very blessed, very humbled to be successful in what we do here because of everyone. It takes all of us.”
She adds, “I’m proud of our place in the community. I really am. I am blessed beyond measure, and I don’t take that for granted. I don’t take that lightly. I’m very happy to be here and be accepted, to be loved by so many people … these people I surround myself with every day … I’m very proud to have brought this to Enterprise. I’m proud of what we’ve created here.”
102 West Lee St.
Enterprise, Alabama
https://www.corksandcattle.com/

Corks & Cattle is more than a restaurant. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama News Center)
Café hours:
Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.
(The dining room and patio are open for drinks until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.)
Brunch:
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Store and bar hours:
Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Butcher shop:
Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Corks & Cattle is closed Sunday and Monday.
Susan Swagler has written about food and restaurants for nearly four decades, some 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 Alabama’s top women in food.