By james art 
Screenwriter: Ben Pearce
The magical city is known for its incredible culinary scene, from amazing restaurants and bars to phenomenal chefs. To celebrate these amazing people and places, we’re taking you on a great journey down the James Beard Trail in Birmingham, featuring 16 nominees and winners of the prestigious award.
Winning the James Beard Award is nothing short of extraordinary. It is an achievement that, once proudly displayed on a menu or website, will never be removed or replaced with other accolades.
Often referred to as the ‘Academy Awards of the Restaurant Industry’, winning a James Beard Award is incredible – but even being nominated is worth breaking out the champagne for.
The foundation has opened nominations for 2025. Their panel will look at the candidates and narrow them down, sort them by region and the like. If you have a favorite place, consider throwing the name in the hat. Perhaps they will be added to a long list of local honors.
Atomic loungeOutstanding Bar Program 2019 Semi-Finalist
Atomic closed, but owner Feizal Valli opened a new bar in 2022 with House of Found Objects. As the name suggests, it’s eclectic, with all kinds of toys and sensory teases.
Chef Adam Evans of Automatic Seafood and Oysters won Best Chef: South in 2022. His duck fat poached seafood is not to be missed. A friend told me about brunch. Mushroom toast with chanterelles and poached egg sounds pretty good.
BetolaJames Lewis, Best Chef: South, 2013 Semi-Finalist
The wood-fired Neapolitan pizza is amazing, but don’t miss the lamb sandwich. The area around Pepper Place has developed over the years into one of Birmingham’s best entertainment districts. Chef Lewis was there early, drawing people to what he knew was a special place.
Cafe BottegaOutstanding Hospitality Program 2023 Nominee
One of Frank and Pardis Stitt’s famous offerings, anyone who has spent a Saturday afternoon there with a well-chosen white or a great cocktail while nibbling on a few seasonal appetizers will agree that it’s well-earned.
A bright star – American Classic, 2020 winner
It was Alabama’s first classic restaurant, in fact the oldest family-owned restaurant in the state, dating back to 1907. They challenge you to “Imagine a restaurant where turnip greens meet Greek-style beef tenderloin.
Chez Fonfon – Outstanding Hospitality 2020 Semi-Finalist
Stitts’ chic bistro is a temple to detail. A perfectly cooked steak with fries or an omelette with chanterelles impresses with simplicity, but it is simplicity that counts as simplicity, every meeting is attended. And there’s a bowling alley out back.
Cafe DupontChris DuPont, Best Chef: South, 2011 Semi-Finalist
I was lucky enough to attend a wine and food pairing discussion with Chef Chris DuPont years ago and I was floored. He is specific and thoughtful in all his choices. You can see it on the menu and all about you in the restaurant.
Wine from the Golden AgeOutstanding Wine Program 2022 Semi-Finalist
There’s a well-curated list of wines by the bottle and by the glass with an equally well-curated array of cheeses, snacks and more at this Mountain Brook Village bar/wine shop.
Helen, Rob McDaniel, Top Chef: South, 2024 Semi-Finalist
The shareable vegetables alone would make this a destination, but the chef can catch you and surprise you. I had a not-quite-not-quite tomato relish over quail two years ago, and I still remember the backbone of cumin running through it. Two years ago and it’s fresh in my mind.
Birmingham’s Highlands Bar and Grill won the Outstanding Restaurant Award in 2018. This is a national category.
What’s almost as impressive is that the flagship of owners Frank and Pardis Stitt was not only recognized as the best restaurant in the country that year, but also held a place as a semi-finalist for ten years. This is constant perfection over a considerable stretch; Frank Stitt won Best Chef: Southeast in 2001.
Highlands hasn’t reopened since Covid, but people are still talking about the parmesan beans.
Hot and spicy fish clubChris Hastings, 2012 Best Chef: Southern Winner
Chef Chris Hastings has moved his acclaimed Birmingham mainstay Hot and Hot Fish Club from Southside to 2n.d Avenue So. Now he’s also got the nearby Ovenbird, with its sweet, charred throat of a stapler and a yard that makes you feel like a character out of a Graham Greene novel.
To Jim and Nick Bar-BQ, Nick Pihakis, 2015 Outstanding Restaurateurs Semi-Finalist
Delivering consistently and well to so many places can’t be easy. It’s good to see the world outside our city recognize an original. One of the best sandwiches with chicken, white or dark meat.
Johnny’s RestaurantExceptional Hospitality 2022 Semi-Finalist
Johnny’s in Homewood has earned numerous endorsements from The Beard Foundation, with chef Timothy Hontzas a semi-finalist more than once in the Best Chef: South category. You’ll hear raves about Greek meatballs, but don’t overlook the Chicken Pot Pie or the Chipotle BBQ Meatball.
Baking the last callChana Willis, Emerging Chef of the Year 2024 Semi-Finalist
Brilliantly (for us) just a stone’s throw from the Bham Now offices, Willis offers elegant cakes with delicate engagements and told us earlier “Every petal, jam and leaf feels like it carries a lot of weight to create the perfect landscape . have in my mind—visually and gustatory.”
Pizza GraceBest New Restaurant 2023 Semi-Finalist
Providing further proof that we live right, do good and accumulate karma, Pizza Grace is located less than hopping and more from our offices. The sourdough pizza is appealing, but don’t miss the beef tallow potatoes.
It is an enviable position to have so many nationally recognized opportunities. You can’t do a day of them all, probably even a week unless you’re dedicated, but a month? It’s not out of the question.
Not to tease with what you can’t already have, but Dolester Miles of Highlands Bar and Grill won the 2018 Best Pastry Chef award.
What is your favorite restaurant, bar or chef on the James Beard Trail in Birmingham? Let us know by tagging us on social @bhamnow.