The Birmingham Business Journal, it seems, can go months without having anything about the city's restaurant business, but a recent issue had two articles.

One was a look at whether Birmingham could become one of the cities to have its own Zagat Guide. As the article notes, "Birmingham has begun to make a name for itself on the culinary scene." Highlands chef/owner Frank Stitt is up for a national chef award from the James Beard Foundation, with Hot & Hot's Chris Hastings up for the regional award that Stitt won several years ago. "But despite the accolades and recognition, there is one status symbol of culinary success that has eluded the Magic City: the venerable Zagat guide," says writer Ty West. The guides feature the results of customer surveys and is regarded as a "food and travel bible."

A Zagat's representative told the BBJ reporter that the company considers several factors to determine if there is demand for an area, including the number of reviews online at www.zagat.com, plus requests or petitions from members or from an area's culinary industry. Daniel Briggs, who runs daniel george restaurant in Mountain Brook with co-chef and co-owner George McMillan, told the BBJ that while the city is experiencing an increase in second- and third-generation chefs who are branching out from the area's established restaurants to start their own, he's not sure if the city could support its own Zagat guide just yet. Tom Robey, executive chef at the Veranda on Highland, said he believes the city will be able to support a guide in the next few years.

The other BBJ article was an interview with Robey, who became executive chef at the Veranda on Highland after spending 18 years at the Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans. A few tidbits: One of the things that sets Veranda apart from other restaurants in the area is its Sunday jazz brunch. When asked about his cooking style, he said, "I get the best ingredients and I let them speak for themselves. I don't feel a dish should have 17 different adjectives to make it a great dish." Favorite food at home? Grilling and a lot of Italian food (he grew up in New Jersey so ate a lot of Italian-American food. My follow-up question would have been, what's his favorite Italian restaurant in town?).

Two local chefs are among this years nominees for the James Beard Foundation Awards. 

Frank Stitt, chef/owner of Highlands Bar & Grill, Bottega and Chez FonFon, was nominated for Outstanding Chef, along with Grant Achatz (Alinea, Chicago, IL); Jose Andres (Minibar, Washington, DC); Dan Barber (Blue Hill, New York, NY); Suzanne
Goin (Lucques, Los Angeles, CA). Stitt previously was named "Best Chef of the Southeast" in the James Beard competition in 2001, but this time he's up for the national honor, which is given to "a working chef in America whose career has set national industry standards and who has served as an inspiration to other food professionals."

Chris Hastings, chef/owner of Hot and Hot Fish Club, was nominated for Best Chef: South. He's competing against Zach Bell (Café Boulud, Palm Beach, FL), Michelle Bernstein (Michy's, Miami), John Currence (City Grocery, Oxford, MS), and Douglas Rodriguez (Ola, Miami Beach, FL).

Winners will be honored Sunday, June 8.

We were all set to do another Chef's Table with talented chef Anthony Marini at Local restaurant for the holidays, but were disappointed when we learned the restaurant had closed. Happily, though, it's only temporary -- Marini is going to be moving to a new location in Birmingham and plans to be open again in two months.

As Marini says on the Local web site, "As the saying goes, 'evolve or die,' so with that in mind we are taking (local) to a new level by moving to a great new location. I have been so proud of what we have accomplished and want to bring that same spirit with a whole new look in the city that I now call my home."

Marini has been critically acclaimed for his creations at Local as well as his previous Birmingham restaurant, AMBA. Local won Best New Restaurant in 2006 and One of the Top 3 Restaurants in 2007 in Birmingham Weekly's Menu of Menus. In August, he and fellow Birmingham chef Clif Holt, of Little Savannah, were invited to prepare dinner at the Beard House in New York City.

He's still finalizing the deal, so he won't divulge the new location yet. After he has everything finalized, we'll bring you a Q&A with Marini on Bhamdining.com about the new location, why he loves his adopted city and more.

You can e-mail Marini at anthony@lislocal.com and he'll put you on an e-mail list for news about his restaurant. Also, check out his MySpace page at myspace.com/chefanthonymarini.

Geoffrey Slate, co-owner and chef at Icon Restaurant, has resigned his duties in the kitchen to pursue other opportunities, according to a letter I received last week from Alan Dobbs, co-owner and managing partner.

Dobbs says while he is disappointed to lose Slate's expertise in the kitchen, former Chef de Cuisine Ben Leingang has stepped into his place. "I couldn't be more excited about the direction he's taking us," Dobbs says. "Ben has an incredible synergy with the rest of the kitchen and is, in my opinion, nothing short of a creative genius. His strengths include Vietnamese and Filipino cuisine, which will keep us true to our Asian-inspired roots – yet his dishes will also reflect elements of French and Italian, among many others. Which is to say, our menu is going to be more dynamic than ever before – and it’s going to change often."

Slate was named one of the city's best chefs and Icon was honored as one of the city's best new restaurants in the Birmingham Weekly 2007 "Menu of Menus" recently. He and Dobbs are longtime friends and previously co-owned Restaurant G before opening Icon in the Tutwiler Hotel early this year.

(Photo by Chris "Mojo" Denbow, who shoots a lot of local events; go to www.photomojo.info.) 

Chef George Reis, owner of popular Southside restaurants Ocean and 26, will highlight Culinard’s final 2007 Guest Chef Dinner Gala on Thursday, November 29. Under his direction, Culinard students will prepare a four-course dinner with appropriate wine pairings.
 
“George Reis has been an integral part of Birmingham’s original culinary scene for years, and we are extremely honored to have him be a part of our establishment for an evening of incredible food,” says Antony Osborne, Dean of Culinard.
 
Reis’ four-course meal and wine pairings for each course is priced at $50 per person plus tax and gratuities. Several seating times are available. Reservations are required. The menu for the evening includes:

• Appetizer: Lobster Rangoons with Canadian Cold Water Lobster, Mascarpone Cheese, Sambal and Phyllo
• Salad: Dungeness Crab with Golden Beets, Haricot Verts, Late Harvest Beans, Locally Grown Greens and Hefeweizen Vinaigrette. Wine pairing: Sancerre
• Entrée: Pacific Coast Wild King Salmon and Osso Bucco with Golden Chanterelle Barley Risotto, Braised Escarole and a Fish Demi Glaze. Wine pairing: Pinot Noir
• Dessert: Trio of Harvest Tastings – Baby Green Apple Honey Porter Crème Brulee, Harvest Pumpkin Moon Pie and Poached Pear with Rosemary Mascarpone Vanilla Sauce. Wine pairing: E.O.S. Tears of Dew

For reservations, call the Restaurant at Culinard at (205) 271-8228 or go to www.opentable.com.

Paula Deen, nationally recognized author and television personality famous for her Southern cooking, visited Anthony Marini at his Local restaurant and cocktail bar in Vestavia Hills earlier this month. As part of a series for her magazine Cooking with Paula Deen, Deen and Marini prepared a repertoire of Apalachicola oyster dishes. “The fried oysters with his hickory wood smoked mayonnaise were to die for," Deen said. (And we second that opinion, by the way.)

“Paula and her husband are just as nice as anyone would imagine," Marini said. "It is clear that her on-air personality is not fake." After the photo shoot Paula and her husband Michael Gruver, Phyllis Hoffman, president of Hoffman Media and Cindy Cooper, Editorial Director of Cooking with Paula Deen, enjoyed a eight-course menu prepared by Marini. Never turning any of the restaurant patrons down, she signed autographs and talked to several people after her meal, staying well after midnight. (Shown in photo, from left, are Clif Holt of Little Savannah restaurant, Paula Deen, Anthony Marini (standing), Phyllis Hoffman of Hoffman Media.)

The menu included:

• Heirloom Tomato with Sugar Baby Watermelon Juice and Laura Chenel Goat Cheese
  
• Cornmeal Fried Apalachicola Oysters with Hickory Wood Smoked Mayonnaise
• Anthony’s Salad (included in the revised version of "100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die")
  
• Lamb Tartar with Pimento Relish
• North Coast Sea Scallops with Lobster Mushrooms, Seabeans and Crawfish-Cauliflower Hash
  
• Beef and Pork Barbeque ~ Niman Ranch Hanger, Pork Rillettes and Red Wine Braised Pork Belly with Truffled Butterbean Mash and Turnip Slaw
• Bombay Gin Infused with Alabama Okra, Mustard Seed and White Pepper Shaken with Tomato and Orange Juice
  
• Deconstructed "Carrot Cake” with Cream Cheese Ice Cream
• Chocolate Bread Pudding with Basil Ice Cream and Orange Confit
  

Anthony Marini, owner and executive chef of Local Restaurant and Cocktail Bar in Vestavia Hills, is in the September 2007 Annual Restaurant Issue of Bon Appétit. Marini's recipe for Thai Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles is part of the special series “When Chefs Cook at Home.”

“The recipe is really an inspiration from my son, Steven, who loves the noodles," Marini says. Here's the recipe:

Thai Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles

4 1/2 ounces rice stick noodles (maifun)*
4 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 purchased roasted chicken breast halves, boned, skinned, shredded
3 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup coarsely grated carrot
1 cup red bell pepper strips
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 medium cucumbers, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts

Cook noodles in small pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain; cut noodles in several places with scissors. Spread out on platter.

Puree next 7 ingredients in blender. With machine running, gradually add oil and blend until dressing is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Combine chicken, cabbage, carrot, pepper, onion, and cucumbers in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Arrange atop noodles, sprinkle with peanuts, and serve, passing remaining dressing alongside.

*Available in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets, at Asian markets, and from amazon.com.

Makes 4 servings
 

Chef John Fleer, Executive Chef, The Inn at Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tenn., is the featured guest chef for the Restaurant at Culinard's quarterly guest chef dinner, Thurs., Aug. 23.

Fleer merges traditional ingredients and methods with innovative techniques to create magical renditions of southern fare. He joined Blackberry Farm in 1992. His primary role in the development of the resort was to define the style of food that would match the property. He named his new creation “foothills cuisine,” which is oriented toward southern foods. “The name also locates us regionally in the Appalachians, and more broadly, in the Southeast. It’s not super-refined city food like you’d find in New York or Chicago. The fine edges are burnished off, making it a little more approachable.” He and his staff use classic techniques and apply them to regional ingredients, such as curing rack of pork with sweet tea.

Fleer combines influences from his own Southern roots with inspiration from other “foothill” cultures such as Gascony, Alsace and the Basque region to create cuisine that is both refined and rugged, served at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. His cooking borrows from both haute cuisine and the country food indigenous to the setting.

Reservations must be made in advance. The four-course meal, including wine paired with each course, is only $50. (We've been to several of these, and the food is excellent.) Call 271-8228 to make your reservations or make them online at www.opentable.com. 

Two local chefs have been invited to the Beard House kitchen in New York City to prepare a "Best of Birmingham" dinner for the James Beard Foundation.

Anthony Marini (left), chef/owner of Local restaurant and cocktail bar in Vestavia, and Clif Holt, chef/owner at Little Savannah in Forest Park.

The menu will include the following dishes and others (complete menu here), each accompanied by wine chosen by Local's wine director James W. Smith III.

• Barbecued pork belly rillettes with Vidalia onion marmalade
• Fried Appalachicola oysters with wood-smoked mayonnaise
• "Raw, fried and dried" Alabama heirloom tomato salad with black jasmine rice-crusted pork belly
• South Alabama quail with McEwen & Son's blue corn grits, sea beans and muscadine paint
• Hickory and truffle-smoked duck breast with summer corn latte, porcini dust and gold leaf
• Peaches and creme brulee with toasted pecans

 The dinner will be Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. The dinner is $125 for James Beard Foundation members and $155 for the general public.

We grew up on Julia Child, the Galloping Gourmet, and the Frugal Gourmet, but have not gotten into a lot of the newer food shows. We've never watched Rachel Ray, or the Iron Chef. But we do love Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" on The Travel Channel, which starts its new season Monday, July 30, at 9 p.m.

Bourdain shares our belief that good food can be found in a five-star restaurant or from a street vendor or hole in the wall. His shows celebrate the food of locations from as mundane as New Jersey, where he grew up, to exotic locales like Iceland and Vietnam.

As the Travel Channel web site describes him, "Best-selling author, reluctant food celebrity guy, culinary adventurer, drinker, smoker, hedonist ... the list of descriptors could go on and on. But one thing is certain: In this food-obsessed world, Anthony Bourdain has carved out a distinct place as a gastronomic Indiana Jones."

"Dubbed 'the bad boy of cuisine' for his rock-star look and blunt observations about the world of restaurants, chefs and cooking, Anthony Bourdain is not your typical celebrity chef. A 28-year veteran of professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently the executive chef at New York’s famed bistro, Les Halles." (We ate at Les Halles when we were in NYC this spring, and it was great -- sort of like Chez FonFon with attitude.)

Bourdain was nominated this month for News and Documentary Emmy in the category of Outstanding Informational Programming Long Form for the "No Reservations" Beirut special. Again from the web site: "In July 2006, Anthony Bourdain and his crew traveled to Lebanon to film an episode of 'No Reservations.' They discovered a beautiful country filled with proud, generous people and delicious food. However, within 24 hours of arrival they suddenly found themselves stuck in the middle of an intense, uncertain, and violent conflict. From their initial glimpse, to the destruction that followed, Anthony Bourdain in Beirut is the story of what Anthony and his crew saw and experienced during their nine days in the country."