‘Bringing People Together’

First FOOD+Culture Fest Celebrates City’s Great Tastes

By Donna Cornelius

Birmingham’s food scene – along with some high-profile chefs – will take center stage this fall. The first FOOD+Culture Festival, set for Oct. 12-15, will celebrate the city’s great tastes along with the traditions and background that make Birmingham a culinary destination. A reveal party last October provided a taste of the event, which is expected to have a significant economic impact on the city. Organizers are hopeful that the inaugural festival will be the first of many.

Established by local community leaders dedicated to building a better Birmingham, FOOD+Culture Festival will focus on food and the dynamic, diverse cultures found in this region. The festival will bring together food lovers and food makers, chefs, artisans, beverage professionals, farmers and storytellers from Birmingham and beyond.

This year’s event will feature five signature events over four days plus an amplified farmers market experience at the Market at Pepper Place, more than 10 dinners, and more than 50 featured chefs, mixologists, brewers and other culinary professionals.

“Food has the transformative power of bringing people together, and we look forward to seeing how our vision for FOOD+Culture Fest creates opportunities for connection, celebrating our culinary landscape while also shining a light on topics of deeper cultural significance,” said Rebecca Lemelin Gann, the festival’s programming director. “We have events including a lunch featuring all female chefs; a seated dinner celebrating Black chefs, culture and cuisines in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement; as well as FOOD+Fire: a Great Southern Tailgate event, presented by Southern Living.”

Celebrity Chef Headliners

Among the talented folks headlining the festival will be chef Frank Stitt, whose Highlands Bar and Grill won the James Beard Award for Best Restaurant in 2018; Dothan’s Kelsey Barnard Clark, winner of Bravo’s prestigious Top Chef Season 16 title; Misti Norris of Dallas’ Petra and the Beast, which was named one of the 50 top restaurants in the U.S. by Food and Wine magazine; James Beard

“Next Level Chef.” organization, established by Sloss Real Estate, The Market at Pepper Place, FRED Communication by Design, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Keri Lane Promotions and others.

Also in the lineup are Adam Evans of Automatic Seafood in Birmingham, winner of a James Beard Award for Best Chef: South; James Beard Award semifinalist David Bancroft of Auburn’s Acre; chef and painter Roscoe Hall of Birmingham; Woodrow Scott of Archibald and Woodrow’s BBQ in Northport; Kristen Hall of Birmingham’s Bandit Patisserie; Rob McDaniel of Birmingham’s Helen restaurant; and many more culinary luminaries.

The 2023 festival kicks off on Thursday with a seated luncheon presented by the Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and showcasing an all-female chef lineup, then an early evening reception centered around the inaugural Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence.

Friday’s main event will include a seated dinner in the streets of Pepper Place, celebrating Black culture, cuisine and the influence the community has had on Alabama’s foodways, with guest chefs and presenters from around the Southeast. In future years, this event will evolve by highlighting a different culture each year that has helped shape Birmingham’s food identity.

Saturday starts with an amplified Market at Pepper Place followed by a walk-around tasting event at Sloss Furnaces featuring the barbecue community, live-fire cooking and Southern tailgate culture.

Sunday will end back at Sloss Furnaces with a biscuit, brass and Bloody Mary brunch.

The 2023 event will be produced with partners and major sponsors, including Southern Living magazine, the Alabama Tourism Department, Protective Life, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Amavida, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, and the Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center at Auburn University.

Sharing Food Traditions and Talent

“I’m a big cheerleader for Birmingham and have always recognized we have some of the best food in the country,” said Cathy Sloss Jones, Sloss Real Estate CEO/president. “FOOD+Culture Festival will allow us to share some of our extraordinary culinary traditions and talent with locals and visitors alike. Not only is FOOD+Culture Fest bringing the potential for tremendous economic impact, but also we hope to establish a sense of camaraderie around food, creating opportunities for community growth and a vibrant food economy.”

Foodie

J’La Gala

LJCC to Throw ‘Only at the J’ Gala With Kosher Dinner

By anne ruisi

A three-course kosher dinner and live music will be among the highlights of the Levite Jewish Community Center’s second annual J’la Gala fundraiser on Aug. 6.

“Only at the J” is the theme for the event, which will begin at 5 p.m. at the LJCC.

“I hear only-at-the-J stories all the time,” Executive Director Brooke Bowles said in a story about the gala on the LJCC’s website, bhamjcc. org. “People have such great memories about learning to swim with Coach John and growing up in our youth lounge and starring in a theater production in Pizitz Auditorium. Fundraising efforts like this gala will help us extend these experiences to everyone regardless of their financial situation.”

Chef Maureen Holt of Southern Graze, who prepared the meal at last year’s gala, will again prepare the kosher dinner in the LJCC’s kosher kitchen, overseen by a rabbi.

This year’s menu will begin with two appetizers: summer bruschetta with red onion, tomatoes and basil; and charcuterie on a stick with pickled okra, olives and red sweet pepper. A watermelon and cucumber salad will be served, followed by the main course, pan-roasted lemon chicken breast with basil pesto, served with chive Yukon gold mashed potatoes and a squash and zucchini ragout with eggplant, sweet onion and blistered cherry tomatoes.

A dessert station and champagne wall will feature chocolate trifle, lemon pie with lemon curd and a graham cracker crust, and strawberry and basil ice pops.

Guests also can enjoy signature cocktails, and there will be silent and live auctions, with the live auction managed by C. King Benefit Auctions.

Tickets are $125 and availability is limited. The LJCC noted that last year’s gala was sold out and raised $111,000.

The proceeds will help fund a wide range of programming for children and adults.

While the LJCC is the only Jewish community center in Alabama, membership is open to anyone, and a large percentage of members are not Jewish. The center’s website notes, “The J provides a safe and welcoming space for children and adults of all ages and backgrounds to learn and thrive.”

Award winner Rodney Scott of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog Barbecue; Erica Blaire, one of the country’s leading female pitmasters, of Blue Smoke Blaire’s Competition BBQ in Houston; and Birmingham’s Jonathan Harrison, a contestant on the first season of Gordon Ramsay’s

Throughout the week, invited restaurants around the city will host an out-of-town guest chef, offering one-night-only menu items in addition to the restaurant’s full menu. These dinners will be non-ticketed, first-come-firstserved based on reservations through the restaurants’ websites. More information about these dinners will be announced in August.

FOOD+Culture is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Jones is a member of the festival’s board of directors along with Leigh Sloss-Corra, executive director of the Market at Pepper Place and president of the Les Dames d’Escoffier’s Birmingham chapter; attorney John Pickering of Balch & Bingham LLP; Cheryl Slocum, food writer, chef and food editor of Dotdash Meredith Publishing; Chanda Temple, senior project manager from the city of Birmingham Mayor’s Office; and Valerie Thomas, CEO of the VAL Group.

Visit bhamfoodplus.com for more information, updates and details on the 2023 schedule of events, this month’s ticket launch and more. Some special events have limited capacity and are expected to sell out quickly.

Top Restaurants Prepare Tempting Menus for Birmingham Restaurant Week

Birmingham Restaurant Week kicks off July 20, with more than 50 locally owned restaurants, food trucks, bars and coffee shops participating in the 10-day event.

Added to the Summer Edition of BRW this year is a Food Truck Pop-Up Park, and the popular BRW Preview Party and Wineology will be returning. Spire is presenting the event.

The event, which lasts through July 29, gives patrons the opportunity to indulge in two-, threeand four-course meals at a prix-fixe on special menus priced from $5 to $50 per person. They can return to some of their favorite restaurants or visit new ones.

The event also allows local chefs to showcase recipes that put Birmingham on the foodie road map. It promotes local restaurants, and, most importantly, raises money to battle food insecurity in the area.

“Birmingham’s culinary and beverage industry has been through a rough couple of years of heartbreak with nationwide labor shortages, product shortages and inflation,” said Bill Stoeffhaas, co-founder of BRW and owner of Style Advertising, the organizer of BRW. “Birmingham Restaurant Week 2023–Summer Edition has a goal to promote locally owned restaurants and provide assistance to them where we are able to. Without our restaurants, the vibrancy of our culinary community will diminish. So, we’re making sure the people in our community know about all of the great new places to eat and even offer them some deals at the places they already frequent.”

Diners can search participating restaurants and see their special menus on the BRW website at bhamrestaurantweek.com. Users can view participating businesses by neighborhood, meal, price point, service or other desired option to aid in planning their BRW culinary plan of attack. Menus will be added by July 15.

Current participants include Adored Sweets (bakery and sweets truck), Davenport’s Pizza Palace in Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills, Dread River Distilling Co., Dreamland BBQ, Elysian Gardens, Fat Charles BBQ, Gumbo to Geaux Food Truck and Catering, Michael’s Restaurant, Nawlins Style PoBoys, Nori, Ovenbird, Pandy’s SnoBiz, Parkside on Fifth, Pasteles La MoreliAna Pastries & Desserts, Rojo, Rusty’s BBQ, Slice Pizza & Brew in Lakeview and Vestavia Hills, Smoke Bistro, SOCU Southern Kitchen & Oyster Bar, Stephen’s Hotdog Wagon, The Fig Birmingham, The Gardens Cafe by Kathy G, Treats So Sweet, Umami, Uptown Cantina and Vino, with more to come soon.

The Preview Party will be held at the Sloss Furnaces Visitor Center, at 20 32nd St. N. in Birmingham, on July 18 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for foodies to learn and taste more about what restaurants involved have to offer.

BRW’s Food Truck Pop-Up Park will take place July 20-July 22 at 32nd Street South and Sixth Avenue South.

Wineology is the event’s finale. The wine flight tasting and food pairing event will be held Aug. 1 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Urban Parc, at 1006 20th St. S. in Birmingham.

Wine will be provided by UnitedJohnson Brothers of Alabama while Sysco Foods will provide hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $30 per person for the Preview Party and Wineology. They will be available at bhamrestaurantweek.com/events.

“At Spire, we know just how important restaurants and other businesses in the food and beverage industry are in this community,” Joe Hampton, president of Spire Alabama said. “We couldn’t be happier to continue our partnership with

Birmingham Restaurant Week, support our local restaurants and provide the community with a way to connect through enjoying great food and drink.”

The summer edition will benefit Community Kitchens Birmingham, which operates two kitchens, one in Woodlawn and one in Southside, where more than 44,000 meals are prepared each year. Community Kitchens also offers services such as education and advocacy to support the homeless in Birmingham.

The winter edition of BRW donated $2,500 to Magic City Harvest for its efforts to lower food waste and hunger. Over the past 14 years, Birmingham Restaurant Week has donated more than $100,000 to local nonprofits and community organizations, including FeedBHM, Manna Ministries and Firehouse Ministries.

Hoover Restaurant

Week Focuses on Local Restaurants

So many restaurants signed on for Hoover Restaurant Week this year that it had to be stretched to last for three weeks.

Hoover Restaurant Week itself kicks off July 14 at 7:30 a.m. at Veteran’s Park with Good Morning Alabama, sponsored by WBRC and including special host Russell Jones. That part of the event, which highlights local family-owned restaurants offering special menu items or special pricing, runs through July 23.

The first week of July was dedicated to the BBQ and Burger Showcase, in which patrons were encouraged to try BBQ and burger restaurants in Hoover and post it about it on the Hoover Restaurant Week Facebook page to be entered to win a restaurant gift certificate.

The second week featured a Bartender Challege, East vs. West, which was sponsored by Sweet Home Spirits.

This year’s restaurant options include Biscuit Belly, CakEffect, The Craft Burger, I Heart Mac & Cheese, Jambo Grill, Johnny Brusco’s Pizza, K & J’s Elegant Pastries, Tortuga’s Pizza, Tre Luna Bar and Kitchen, Clean Eatz, Hunan Cuisine, Jake’s Soul Food Cafe, Kabob-Licious, Kilwins, La Conchita, Magic Milkshakes & More, Moe’s Original Barbecue, The Pita Cafe, Teriyaki Madness, Beef’ O’ Brady’s, Farrelley’s Southern Bar and Kitchen, Merck’s Tavern, Saw’s BBQ, Silver Coin Indian Grill, The Electric, The Whole Scoop, and Unagi Bento and Sushi.

“Hoover’s restaurant scene has exploded in the past decade,” David Cohen, president of Hoover Restaurant Alliance, said in a statement. “Family-owned restaurants in Hoover always offer something new and delicious, and it’s all a short drive from anywhere in the metro.”

Visit hooverrestaurantweek. com to learn more about this year’s restaurants and deals.