Tag Archives: Chris Hastings

Fifth time a charm for Hastings in New York

Chris Hastings. Kent Miller/James Beard FoundationThe news reverberated last night among foodies throughout the state of Alabama. Chris Hastings has already been enjoying a pretty special year – including a win on Iron Chef America and appearing in cities like Charlotte, NC and Charleston, SC.

Now, after four previous nominations for the James Beard Foundation Award’s Best Chef, South category over the last five years, came this:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/beardfoundation/status/199647066471936000″]

Considering it’s the second ever Year of Alabama Food, it’s only fitting that the campaign’s official website had a post up on their Alabama Farm to Table blog congratulating the owner of Hot & Hot Fish Club shortly after it was announced on Monday night.

Of course if you’re out and about travelling, you may interested in knowing who else took home awards during last night’s ceremony (PDF).

Photo: Chris Hastings. Kent Miller/jbfa.

Chris and Frank are at it again

One day I’ll actually make their acquaintance and feel like I can use their first names (their last names are Hastings and Stitt in case you were wondering). This marks the second year in a row that both Birmingham, AL based chefs have made it to at least the semi-finalist round (here’s the list of contenders) of The James Beard Foundation Awards. Stitt (of Highlands Bar & Grill) is a potential contender for the nation’s best chef while Hastings (Hot & Hot Fish Club) is hoping to be a finalist in the category of best chef in the South.

The finalists will be named on March 23, with the winners announced on May 3 via a media event and the awards’ official website.

Two local chefs up for James Beard award

2008 JBF awards logoBirmingham’s got two chances to bring home a James Beard Foundation award this year. Frank Stitt (Highlands Bar and Grill) and Chris Hastings (Hot and Hot Fish Club) are both up for “the Oscars of the food world” as the nominees for the 2008 edition of the awards were recently announced.

There are a lot of honors up for grabs, so you may want to visit the official list and scroll down to see who our guys are up against in their respective categories (Stitt – outstanding chef; Hastings – best chef – South).

We’ll find out if they’re winners with everybody else on June 8 when the awards are handed out in Lincoln Center‘s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. You can always go on up and say you were there when…