Birmingham’s Martie Duncan competing on “Food Network Star”

From the article “Martie Duncan of Birmingham, Alabama avoids elimination on first episode of Food Network Star” by Chanda Temple in The Birmingham News:

Birmingham entertaining expert Martie Duncan escaped elimination Sunday during the first night of competition on “Food Network Star.’’ Duncan and 14 finalists were split into three teams of five, where they had to open a restaurant in 24 hours and fix food for 150 people. Duncan’s team accepted Duncan’s suggestion to name the restaurant, “Do South.’’ They served Southern fare. “No food is more beloved than the food from my great state of Alabama. But, it’s not all fried chicken and biscuits, although there’s nothing wrong with that,’’ Duncan said on the show. “Movies and music have been inspired by our food and our flavors. And our Southern hospitality is pretty awesome, too.’’ As Duncan said that, judge Bob Tuschman whispered to judge Susie Fogelson: “She’s fun.’’

In the episode, each team member made their own dish. Duncan made deviled eggs and used at least 11 recipes to create toppings for the eggs. She mixed the toppings to make three different types of deviled eggs for judging. Think: deviled egg bar on a plate. One egg was topped with a fried chicken liver, creme fraiche and a little bit of charred onion relish. Another egg was topped with pork crackling and green tomato relish. And a third egg was topped with beef brisket, homemade barbecue sauce and Duncan’s mother’s cole slaw. (Judges said her appetizers lacked spice, salt and seasoning. However, one judge said he liked Duncan’s personality so much that at he would buy a car from her. Martie Duncan said she made a point to mention Alabama every time she had a chance during taping for “Food Network Star.” After the show, Duncan said she learned that she shouldn’t have made so many recipes for one challenge. She also learned to keep things simple. She added that her team mentor, television food show personality Alton Brown, told her off camera that her chicken liver deviled egg was “absolutely delicious.’’

“He said, unfortunately when you put three things on a plate, you are judged by the worst one and not the best one. I learned a lesson,’’ Duncan said. “I know they didn’t give me a big thumbs up. But I’m still here,’’ she said. One of Duncan’s teammates, Cristie Schoen, was one of two contestants up for elimination after serving a black-eyed pea and cabbage puree that did not impress the judges. She faced off with Josh Lyons from another team in the producers’ challenge, where they had to make one more dish in 30 minutes, talk about it and convince judges to keep them. Schoen’s presentation failed to deliver and she was cut. Duncan watched Sunday’s episode at a packedSlice Pizza and Brew in the Lakeview District, where she served seven of her homemade cakes to supporters.

Word about her being on the show has started to spread. On Friday, she will throw out the first ball during a Birmingham Barons’ game. “I’m practicing,’’ she said. “I want to make sure I get it across the plate.’’ New episodes of Season 8′s “Food Network Star’’ will air on Sundays at 8 p.m. on Food Network. The first episode will air again on Wednesday at 10 p.m., Thursday at 12 a.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. Duncan said she plans to dedicate the next episode to childhood friend Kaki Lucius. “I’ve known her since I was 4 years old. She’s real ill,’’ Duncan said. “I want her to keep fighting. I know she can do it.’’

Southern Living picks for best barbeque sandwiches in the South

The editors at Southern Living worked with barbecue expert Hanna Raskin to pick the South’s best joints for bbq sandwiches. The full list will appear in the June issue of Southern Living on newsstands May 25. From the article “The South’s Best Butt” in Southern Living:

The Brick Pit
Mobile
On its website, The Brick Pit features testimonials from a car dealer, a banker, and a bonsai artist. But it doesn’t take a professional palate to appreciate their succulent pulled pork, slathered with a thick tomato sauce. www.brickpit.com. Exclusive ‘Cue-pon: Bring the June issue of Southern Living, and receive a free sweet or unsweetened tea with the purchase of a pork sandwich.

Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q
Birmingham with multiple locations across the South
A multiunit chain might provoke skepticism from purists, but Jim ‘N Nick’s produces a phenomenal pork shoulder with traditional methods many have written off as too time-consuming. Committed to freshness and sustainability, the restaurant just launched its own heritage pork-raising program, and none of the 28 locations even has a freezer. www.jimnnicks.com. Exclusive ‘Cue-pon: Bring the June issue of Southern Living, and get a free drink with the purchase of a sandwich or plate.

Reader’s Top Ten Picks from the Southern Living facebook page:
#1 Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q (Birmingham)
#10 Moe’s Original Bar B Que (Huntsville)

Birmingham’s Chris Hastings named best chef in the South

From the article “Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club named best chef in the South” by Bob Carlton in The Birmingham News:

Chris Hastings, chef-owner of Birmingham’s Hot and Hot Fish Club, took home the award for best chef in the South region at the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards in New York Monday night. “It’s hard to put it in perspective,” he said after the awards ceremony. “We’ve worked all our lives for this moment, and that it is here is very special.” Hastings, who had been a finalist in the category five of the past six years, celebrated with his wife and Hot and Hot co-owner Idie and their two sons, Zeb and Vincent. “How cool is it to share our success with our city, our state and the South,” said Hastings, who was up against four chefs from restaurants in New Orleans in his category.

Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar and Grill was a finalist for outstanding restaurant in the country, the fourth year in a row the Southside restaurant has been in that position, but eight-time finalist Boulevard in San Francisco took the award. “They deserve it,” said Pardis Stitt, whose husband was busy serving food he created for the post-awards reception. She was happy for Hastings, too. His Beard win comes on the heels of his “Iron Chef America” title, which he claimed in February in a head-to-head showdown with celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network. “This has been a big year for him and a big year for Birmingham,” she said. Later, Frank Stitt visited with Hastings and congratulated him. “I think it’s fantastic,” Stitt said. “It was definitely Chris’s time to win.”

The Beard Foundation said it received more than 59,000 submissions for nominees in all categories this year – which includes everything from outstanding pastry chef to outstanding wine, beer or spirits professional. Monday’s winners were announced at a black-tie, red-carpet ceremony at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. In addition to Hastings and Stitt, Mary Allen Perry of Birmingham-based Southern Living magazine was a finalist for a James Beard journalism award in the cooking, recipes or instruction category. Chef James Lewis of Bettola had been among a group of 20 semifinalists announced last month for best chef in the South, but he did not make the final list.

Other semifinalists from Birmingham were the Mountain Brook restaurant Ollie Irene for best new restaurant and Nick Pihakis of Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q for the country’s outstanding restaurateur. Neither made the list of finalists announced Monday. While Highlands has yet to win the Beard Foundation’s top prize, Stitt did win for best chef in the Southeast in 2001, and last year he was inducted into the foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, a group that includes Julia Child, Graham Kerr, Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse.

Alabama Bass Trail

From the article “Alabama Bass Trail: Love For The Outdoors” by Frank Sargeant in Bassmaster:

Love for the outdoors runs deep in ’Bama, and with the return of B.A.S.S. to Birmingham in 2011, many anglers feel a renewed enthusiasm for bass fishing. Alabama is already internationally recognized for the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, and now the Alabama Bass Trail will bring anglers the same sort of world-class venues to pursue their favorite sport. “Anglers spend some $700 million in Alabama each year, and that enormous financial engine will only grow more powerful with the guidance offered by the trail,” says Alabama Bass Trail Program Director Kay Donaldson. “It’s a way of reminding resident anglers of the tremendous resource they have here in the state and of getting the word out to anglers in other states that Alabama is the place to go if you love bass fishing.”

The trail will offer anglers from around the nation an opportunity to fish where the pros fish. Alabama’s waters have been home to hundreds of regional and national tournament competitions drawing all the biggest names in the sport to the state repeatedly. It’s also home to many top touring pros, both those who grew up here and those who moved here to enjoy the great bassing resources in a year-around fishing climate. The 11 lakes on the trail are by no means the only outstanding bassing lakes in Alabama, but they represent a great cross-section scattered across the 52,400-square-mile state, where the combination of a top-quality fishing experience merges with excellent marinas and boat ramps, great accommodations and a welcoming atmosphere among local businesses.

“Whether you want to fish Guntersville for an 8-pound largemouth, visit the upper end of Pickwick for that 5-pound smallmouth, pull a 20-pound striper from Lewis Smith or catch a boatload of tidewater bass from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, there are high-grade fishing opportunities from one end of Alabama to the other,” Donaldson says. “We know anglers can’t hit them all, but it would make a great vacation to visit two or three in a week, and over a year anyone who loves fishing could follow most of the trail and have some real stories to tell because there’s always fishing weather somewhere in the state.”

For the complete article please see http://www.bassmaster.com/news/alabama-bass-trail-love-outdoors.

Auburn University’s Hospitality Gala raises $238,000
On April 5 the hospitality industry’s finest gathered at The Hotel at Auburn University for the annual Auburn University Hospitality Gala, which brought some of the country’s and world’s top chefs and winemakers to Auburn. The Hospitality Gala is a fundraiser organized solely by the students of Auburn University’s Hospitality Management Program in partnership with executives of the Capella Hotel Group. This year’s event raised $238,000 for the program. The Gala also served to honor Chef Rob McDaniel of SpringHouse Restaurant at Russell Lands as Auburn University’s Outstanding Alumnus.

For more information on The Hotel at Auburn University please see www.auhcc.com.

“Thor’s Village” is located in Chilton County
From the article “Thor’s legacy lives on in Alabama” on al.com:

Thor, mythological God of Thunder and Marvel Comics superhero, left his mark in Alabama – sort of. Swede-founded “Thorsby” in Chilton County, is Swedish for “Thor’s Village.” Established in 1901 by Scandinavian immigrants, the town was actually named for one of those earliest settlers, Theodore T. Thorson, (the suffix “by” meaning “town” in Swedish), but the translation remains the same. The town grew quickly, with a hotel, a saw mill, lumber company, and two wineries being built within the first couple of years. The fertile soil produced grapes in large numbers, along with other fruits such as strawberries and the peaches for which Chilton County is famous.

Thorsby became affectionately known as the little “Swede Town” by locals. Today, many of the descendants of those original Scandinavian settlers still call Thorsby home. Each Autumn, the town of Thorsby celebrates its heritage with the Annual Swedish Festival that includes an arts and crafts fair, a pageant, music, car and motorcycle shows and plenty food. This year’s theme is “The Year of the Viking” and the celebration is scheduled for Oct. 13.

bmetro magazine features Year of Alabama Food and Pepper Place

From the article “Welcome back to Pepper Place” in Birmingham’s bmetro magazine:

This is “The Year of Alabama Food” as promoted by the Alabama Tourism Department, and Pepper Place is a big part of the state-wide celebration of Alabama’s rich food heritage and future. That is only natural. Pepper Place has been at the forefront of the revival of local-centric, sustainable and green food culture for years now. The Saturday Market at Pepper Place is a Birmingham tradition, a part of the social fabric of the city, and a call to arms for sustainable, green living and the local foods movement. From the Baked Grits at Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham to a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores to ribs and white bread at Dreamlandin Tuscaloosa, Alabama is full of great places to eat. Our rural land is cared for by family farmers engaged in a new, sustainable agriculture that appeals to the blossoming segment of the population that has come to care deeply about where their food comes from and how healthy it really is.

The Year of Alabama Food web site (www.yearofalabamafood.com) is a great resource for Alabama residents and visitors alike to discover all that Alabama has to offer. “The new website is top-notch and we are sure it will be a great experience for those seeking the great culinary dishes our state has to offer,” said Lee Sentell, tourism director. “We think it offers something for every taste whether it’s fine dining, a meat and three buffet, or BBQ. It’s also a great way for folks to search the 300 plus food events happening in 2012.” Alabama’s top restaurants can be explored from its small towns to its biggest cities. The site also introduces some of Alabama’s top chefs. The bios and stories include Wesley True in Mobile, Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings of Birmingham, and James Boyce of Huntsville. For fresh produce a search feature on the site allows visitors to search for Farmers Markets across the state from Pepper Place in Birmingham, to Mobile’s Market on the Square and Madison’s City Farmers Market. A click on the map will help locate more than 130 markets across 67 counties.

For travelers wanting to take in the sites and great food the website offers five culinary trails from each region of the state. The Coastal Cuisine trail offers fresh Gulf Coast seafood while the Heartland Trail takes travelers from historic restaurants to college towns with down home cooking and BBQ. The Lower Alabama trail offers a variety of eats in the Mobile area, the Magic City Trail offers everything from meat and threes to fine dining in Birmingham, and the North Alabama trail takes diners through Huntsville and the Shoals with offerings from a Harvey Milkshake to BBQ and steak.

Perhaps one of the state’s finest food treasures is right here in Birmingham. Pepper Place is one of the best examples of a common ground where the city and the country comes together in an exciting new way. Stroll through the Pepper Place market on a Saturday and you will see people from the affluent suburbs rub elbows with young people living and working in the city. The farmers from rural Alabama come into the state’s largest city and interact with city residents who share with them a love of growing things. People love Pepper Place. They love to come down early on a Saturday morning, beating the crowds to the best parking spot, the best tomato, the most comfortable resting place near the musicians. Here you can spend an hour or two just wandering around watching the human drama of people meandering, kids grabbing for a mother’s hand, dogs panting in search of a friendly water bowl. You can easily become infatuated with the whole experience of Pepper Place.

For the complete article please see http://b-metro.com/pepper-place/5799/.

Stitt and Hastings nominated for James Beard Awards

Birmingham chefs Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings have both been nominated for James Beard Awards with winners being announced Monday night at a black-tie, red-carpet gala at New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham is nominated for the Outstanding Restaurant in America and Chris Hastings is nominated for Best Chef in the South. Covering all aspects of the industry- from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more – the Beard Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America. Now in their 25th year, the awards are named for the late chef and cookbook author who is credited with introducing gourmet cuisine to America.

For more information please see www.jamesbeard.org.

McWane Center named one of the Top 10 Science and Tech Museums

From the article “Top 10 Science and Tech Museums” from the travel website Trekaroo:

Does your child love gadgets and technology? Have a budding inventor or scientist on your hands? A visit to a fantastic science and technology museum can inspire great scientific and scholastic achievement in even the non-motivated student. We poured through 1,150 reviews on our site and put together this handy guide to the top science & technology museums across the country, as voted by your trusted and experienced Trekaroo users.

Although not massive in size, McWane Science Center in Birmingham has an all-5 star rating here on Trekaroo. Families rave that the museum offers plenty of hands on activities for kids of every age, from tiny tikes all the way to talkative teens. The center boasts an aquarium (with a shark and ray touch tank), plenty of dinosaurs, and four levels of interactive science fun.

Farmers market opens at Summit shopping center this summer

The Summit shopping center in Birmingham will hold a farmers market this summer. The First Annual Farmers Market will be held on Thursdays from May 24 to July 26, from 3 to 7 p.m. It will be located near Urban Cookhouse, which supports local farmers with its menu items. “The Farmers Market is a great way for The Summit to provide an enjoyable, safe community event that brings shoppers and farmers together in support of the local economy,” Elisa Nelson, marketing manager for the shopping center, said.

Andrea Snyder, owner of Urban Cookhouse, will be the market manager. Urban Cookhouse also holds a Saturday morning farmers market at its restaurant in downtown Homewood. The Summit farmers market will feature produce, hand-crafted jewelry, specialty foods, sauces, cooking oils, pasta, baked goods and flowers. There also will be kid-friendly activities and entertainment. This event is only 30 minutes from Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast.

Birmingham expected to get tourism boost in 2013

From the story “Birmingham area tourism could get boost next year” by Dawn Kent in The Birmingham News:

Birmingham could see an influx in travelers next year, as plans are underway to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement and the new downtown baseball park is scheduled to open, Alabama Tourism Department Director Lee Sentell said. Sentell, who spoke at the Rotary Club of Birmingham, said the department is encouraging area civil rights groups to identify the events they have planned so the word can go out to tour groups. Corporations also are interested in supporting the activities, he added. Gov. Robert Bentley joined Mayor William Bell in Birmingham last week to kick off fundraising for the Birmingham 2013 Foundation. Bentley said the state Department of Tourism will spend $100,000 promoting civil rights tourism in 2013, the 50th anniversary of major protests led in Birmingham by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. “The most important thing is that there are events that reflect the reconciliation between blacks and whites that have taken place in the last 50 years,” Sentell said.

Meanwhile, the baseball park under construction downtown, along with plans for a Negro League museum there, also will be great assets to promote tourism in the city, he said. The state tourism department’s Year of Alabama Food campaign also is tied to Birmingham, with an emphasis on well-know local chefs Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings, Sentell said.

Southern Museum of Flight gets Soviet-era helicopter

The Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham is getting an unusual new display: A Soviet-era helicopter. Officials say a MI-24 Hind helicopter is arriving this week at the museum, which is located near the Birmingham airport. The MI-24 saw heavy use in Afghanistan in the 1980s after the Soviet Union invasion. Afghan insurgents eventually succeeded in shooting down the choppers with Stinger surface-to-air missiles, helping lead to the Soviet withdrawal. The helicopter will be part of a new Cold War exhibit at the museum.

For the complete article please see http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/04/birminghams_southern_museum_of.html.