Fancy's on 5th exterior.JPG

Fancy's on 5th oyster and hamburger restaurant is opening March 9, 2016, at 416 41st St. South in the Avondale neighborhood in Birmingham, Ala. (Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)

Fancy's on 5th, a new oyster and burger bar from the owners of the Melt restaurant and food truck, is opening tonight at the corner of 41st Street and Fifth Avenue South in Avondale.

The restaurant's name is a tribute to "Miss Fancy," the elephant that was the star attraction at the old Avondale Park location of the Birmingham Zoo, and the menu features a selection of raw, baked and fried oysters, as well as seven different burgers and a variety of starters, salads and sides.

With one exception, everything on the menu is priced between $6 and $9.

"There are a lot of places where you can get great burgers and a lot of places where you can get good oysters," Fancy's on 5th co-owner Paget Pizitz says. "Unfortunately, a lot of the places where you can get oysters are a little bit on the pricey side, and we just wanted a casual neighborhood place where everything is affordable.

"And we really just wanted to marry the two concepts," Pizitz adds. "Burgers and oysters are kind of like bread and butter, kind of like peanut butter and jelly. People just love 'em."

Pizitz and Harriet Reis, who started the Melt food truck three years ago and opened their Melt restaurant in June 2014, are the co-owners of Fancy's on 5th. Joey Dickerson is the executive chef at both restaurants.

Fancy's on 5th is across the street from Melt and on the corner opposite Avondale Park.

"I live in Avondale, I work in Avondale, I play in Avondale," Pizitz says. "This corner spot I just thought would lend itself to a great neighborhood bar."

The menu currently features oysters from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, including oysters from the Pacific Northwest and from New England. Some Gulf Coast oysters will be available later in the year. The oysters are priced by the half-dozen.

"We'll always have the east coast and west coast selections," Pizitz says. "What we want to do is provide enough of a selection that people have something to choose from, but we don't want to overwhelm anybody with too many choices."

Among the burger selections are the Flying Pig (topped with pimento cheese, fried pork belly, barbecue sauce and pickles), the El Guapo (two ground chorizo and beef patties with chipotle mayo, tomato salsa, fried jalapenos and manchego cheese) and Fancy Burgers (sliders with grilled onions, pickles, American cheese and mustard).

Starters include a charcuterie board, smoked tuna dip, fried calamari, fried oysters, crab fritters and crab claws, and salads include a chopped romaine salad, smoked salmon with arugula, pork belly cornbread panzanella, and radicchio and blue cheese.

Vegan cheese, veggie burgers, gluten-free breads and lettuce wraps are available by request.

The drink menu features a selection of signature cocktails, craft beers and red and white wines and champagnes by the glass and by the bottle.

The interior of the Fancy's on 5th features exposed brick walls and reclaimed wood, and is accented with a playful neon octopus (nicknamed "Octavius") from Birmingham sign company Signage that stands watch behind the bar and an iron octopus chandelier from blacksmith Brady Jackson of Red Mountain Ironworks that hangs from the ceiling above a corner booth.

A collection of swords that belonged to Pizitz's maternal grandfather -- including Japanese samurai swords and others that date back to China's Mongolian Dynasty -- are mounted against a backdrop that's made from wood salvaged from a farm in South Alabama.

"The theme of the restaurant is land and sea, burgers and oysters," Pizitz says. "So we've got a lot of things to represent land, like the swords and (decorative) pigs, and then we've got a lot of things to represent sea, like a mermaid (painting) in the women's restroom and the octopus, which you can find perched about."

Fancy's on 5th will open for its first day of business at 5 p.m. today, and regular dinner hours will be 4:30 until about 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The restaurant will begin opening for lunch in a few weeks, Pizitz says.

The restaurant seats about 65 guests inside, and additional seating will be available on the patio.

The address is 416 41

st

St. South, and the phone number is 205-790-7951.