Three Alabama establishments named as James Beard Semifinalists

In 2020, as the pandemic was taking a dramatic toll on the restaurant industry, Birmingham’s Automatic Seafood and Oysters earned a finalist nod in the James Beard Foundation’s prestigious awards for the nation’s Best New Restaurant. The restaurant, Alabama’s only finalist that year, carries that designation to this day, as the foundation announced it would present no winners that year due to the “dire situation we are in.”

Two years later, the Beards are back and so is Automatic Seafood, with chef and co-owner Adam Evans named a 2022 Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalist for Best Chef: South.

Timothy Hontzas, owner of Johnny’s Restaurant, also is a semifinalist for Best Chef: South, while Johnny’s is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Hospitality category. Hontzas has been a semifinalist for Best Chef: South four times before, but this is his restaurant’s first time as a semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality.

“I’m just giddy! I’m enamored, especially over the Outstanding Hospitality nomination,” Hontzas said. He’s known as an exacting chef and restaurant owner and readily admits, “I’m not the easiest person to work for; I want perfection.” But he’s quick to credit his front-of-the-house staff for this Outstanding Hospitality nomination. Three of these team members have been with him for several years. “They’re a big part of it. People love them in this dining room.” But it’s also Hontzas’s blend of Greek and Southern hospitality and his daily habit of “coming out in the dining room and talking to people and making sure everyone is happy.” It’s his uncanny ability to almost immediately spot newcomers and make them want to become regulars.

“Any nomination, to me, is a nomination for the whole team here. I’m just one person,” Evans said. “There are many other people that make it work, with me being just part of the equation. I’m super happy for the team here … that’s kind of what it’s about to me.”

Hontzas said getting the Best Chef: South nod for the fifth time “was just even better this year. It was unbelievable. After all that we’ve been through” with the pandemic and two years of no JBF winners. “And it’s just an absolute honor to be next to Adam Evans who has one of my favorite restaurants – him and his wife and his staff and their hospitality and his food.”

Hontzas says he believe his Best Chef: South nomination is a reflection of “the love and the time and the dedication to our food and the sourcing of the food. I know we hear ‘local, local, local’ but … it’s not a marketing spiel for us. It’s a way of life. We’re not saying ‘local’ to be cool. It is what it is. That’s why I’m here.”

Evans agreed with Hontzas.

“One of my biggest jobs is sourcing food and … there are so many great farmers here, and we’re really lucky to get to work with such great produce. We actually have a farmers’ market here now, which is amazing. And we’re now starting to get some really good, really top-notch spear-caught fish. I’m really excited about that; I’ve found a connection in Destin to a commercial spear fisherman who brings us some amazing fish. So, it has a lot to do with the product in the community. I can’t say enough about the community of Birmingham and the support they’ve given the restaurant. Hopefully, we can just provide a good experience to everyone who’s coming out.

“It’s been a rough couple of years for everybody, but we’re really fortunate to have such a loyal community that supports us.”

Golden Age Wine in Mountain Brook is a first-time semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program.

The Beard Foundation selects for that category “A restaurant or bar that demonstrates excellence in wine service through a carefully considered wine list and a well-informed approach to helping customers choose and drink wine. Makes efforts to create and foster a diverse portfolio of wines and wine team members.”

“We feel so honored, especially to be listed with great wine programs around the country,” said Brandon Loper, co-owner of Golden Age. “We’re extremely honored.” This is the first James Beard nomination for Golden Age Wine, but Loper has been nominated for a Beard award before for filmmaking.

“We try to introduce people to new categories, some wine that we’re excited about, and provide an unpretentious atmosphere. … Our mission is we really want to provide a place for people to learn and explore about wine, to kind of shed misconceptions that maybe they have – that all chardonnay is oaky and buttery … and that all rose is sweet and red wine can’t be sparkling and that orange wine is made from oranges.”

Loper’s partner at Golden Age is Trent Stewart and they share a love of wine with the staff … and with customers.

“Birmingham is a wine town. … I think it’s the number one Oregon pinot noir market outside of Oregon,” Loper said. “So, there’s a history of people drinking nice wines here. And I guess what we’re trying to do is bring a new lens to that and focus on lower-intervention wines … on places that focus on organic and biodynamic farming, native yeast fermentation and minimal-to-no sulfur … that’s our ethos.”

For Outstanding Hospitality, Beard selects restaurants that have operated for at least five years. The foundation looks for “A restaurant that demonstrates consistent and excellent hospitality and service to its dining community, while also making efforts to provide a sustainable work culture.”

Best Chefs are those “who set high standards in their culinary skills and leadership abilities, and who are making efforts to help create a sustainable work culture in their respective regions” and who have been working in the region for at least three years.

Finalist nominees will be announced March 16, while a June 13 awards ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago will celebrate Beard Award winners.

The James Beard Awards were established in 1990 and are among the nation’s most prestigious honors that recognize talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality and food media industries. During the COVID-19-triggered hiatus, the awards program “underwent a full audit of its policies and procedures, continuing to work to remove bias, increase transparency and accessibility, and making the program more aligned with the foundation’s missions and values.”

The JBF nominations are a big boost to business. The next three months after a nomination bring in a 35 to 40 percent increase in business, Hontzas says. But what happens next is key. “It brings in so many new faces. That’s what’s huge, because you’re not seeing just the same people coming in more often, you’re starting to see all of these new people. And now your restaurant is growing … if you can capture them with food and grace and being humble for who you are and thankful to them for being here. I’ve worked under a lot of pretentious chefs … and I promised myself that if I was ever successful, I wouldn’t be that person. That’s not my personality. I tell (my customers), I tell them, I’m not here without you.”

It all adds to Birmingham’s growing reputation as one of the South’s and the U.S.’s great food cities.

“I guess it just comes down to the community of Birmingham and the support they’ve shown us,” Evans said. “And the team working hard here is just really, really cool to see. This restaurant is something that my wife, and I kind of just dreamed up and talked about for so long. To make it even happen – to even open – was quite a feat. But then, the people who have been coming here to work every day and who are passionate about what they do and deliver a good experience. And the community. It’s all that. All the thanks go to them. The nomination goes to them.”

(Courtesy of Alabama News Center)