If ever there was a person in the Birmingham culinary community who could be called an icon, it surely is Frank Stitt. Eater.com recently wrote extensively about Stitt’s influence on Birmingham dining. The article delves into the chef’s study of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley where his fascination with food began. He spent time with Alice Waters and later worked in the south of France, learning to mesh the French influence with the American South. Writer Bill Addison goes on to say, “Working as a critic in Atlanta in the early 2000s, I was forever disappointed by how my city’s most accomplished chefs largely ignored regional flavors…. I would occasionally drive the two-plus hours to Birmingham for immersion courses at Highlands [Bar and Grill]: sweet potato-filled ravioli with mustard greens and ham; grilled quail served with bacon, spoonbread, and ramps; the single most perfect peach cobbler I’ve ever eaten….” In addition to his flagship restaurant, Highlands Bar and Grill, Stitt owns and carefully oversees Chez FonFon and Bottega. Read all about them at http://www.eater.com/2015/3/20/8245199/birmingham-frank-stitt-highlands-fonfon-bottega.
