Chef Frank Stitt

from New Bridge Polo Magazine 2022-2023

Contributors

By Katie Roth | Photos by Shelly Marshall Schmidt

Since we played our first Chairman’s Cup together in 2010, Frank has been one of my favorite teammates in Aiken. He never puts undo pressure on his players, is happy to tackle any role to help the team, cares deeply for his horses, and is always a good sport, regardless of the game results. Frank played football in high school, and this might be one reason why he is so effective at going to a higher rated player on the opposing team.

We have become close friends off the field as well, and I cherish the moments in our kitchen when I can soak up his wealth of knowledge about cooking. In fact, Shelley and I have been making more frequent visits to Birmingham to enjoy his amazing restaurants. A trip I highly recommend! ~Adam Snow

THE THRILL OF THE GAME

Award-winning chef and restaurateur Frank Stitt has been coming to New Bridge Polo & Country Club to play polo for more than ten years. Why does he make the five-hour trek from Birmingham to Aiken? For several reasons — the friendships, the facility, and the game itself. “There is a warrior in all of us that loves a challenge,” said Frank. “Polo is a sport where you ride hard, play hard, and I enjoy contributing to the team as much as I can.” Frank loves competition and has always enjoyed contact sports, playing fullback and linebacker on his high school football team.

Frank enjoys the exhilaration of being on a winning team, and the camaraderie he shares with his teammates. He has made lasting friendships in polo, including legendary players Adam Snow and Owen Rinehart. He has played with Adam Snow for years, who is an expert on game strategy. Frank has also been coached by former 9-goal player Julio Arellano, and has been teammates with all three Arellano children, Agustin, Lucas and Hope. “Polo players

are interesting people to be around, they have a keen desire to compete and are attracted to risk,” said Stitt. “We all share a love for the game.”

He comes to New Bridge because it is a top-notch facility. “The fields are the best, and it is fun to catch up with other players over a glass of wine at the clubhouse,” Frank said. He also enjoys stick and ball practices and team meetings at Adam’s barn.

Frank’s Bottega (also the name of one of his restaurants) polo team has been successful, winning the 2020 USPA National President’s Cup 8 Goal, the 2014 USPA Pete Bostwick Memorial 12 Goal, the 2013 USPA Northrup Knox 12 Goal, the 2012 USPA Pete Bostwick Memorial 14 Goal and the 2012 USPA Hall of Fame Challenge. But, it’s not just about winning trophies. Frank enjoys the relationships he has with his horses. “I love their spirit, and willingness to work hard for you,” he said. Ceci, Pele, Maria, Prima, Baba and Masamora make up his current string of polo ponies. At a game, you will most likely see Freddy Villar on the sidelines, holding a spare pony for Frank, cheering “come on Frank!” Frank says Freddy is a horse whisperer and the reason his horses are happy and healthy. “Freddy understands the horses, is patient with them and takes such good care of them — without him, I would not be able to play polo,” said Frank.

Originally from the Dominican Republic, Freddy came to Palm Beach, Florida and worked under Memo Gracida, and attained a 5-goal handicap as a player. He met Frank when he managed

the Birmingham Polo Club. Freddy trained Frank’s first two polo ponies, Leah and Moonshine, who just recently retired in their upper 20s.

Frank’s best friend growing up had quarter horses, so he started riding as a young boy. Shortly after he opened his first restaurant, he bought an Arabian/ Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred cross named Copper to trail ride. He wanted to improve as a rider, so he also took dressage and jumping lessons. A few of his friends played polo and invited him to come out and stick and ball. He thought he would give it a try and fell in love with it instantly.

Weston, Frank’s son, has played some polo as well, and Frank looks forward to seeing him play more, and hopes one day they can be teammates. Frank loves to be out on the stick and ball field and keeps himself in shape by working out with a trainer three times a week. That’s a good thing — because he cooks excellent food!

BECOMING THE GODFATHER OF

A third generation Alabamian, Frank’s roots in rural Alabama and travels around the world have shaped him into an award-winning chef, Garden & Gun naming him “the godfather of Southern Cuisine.” His style of using simple, Southern ingredients with classic French techniques have made the people of Alabama, and elsewhere, change the way they think about food.

Frank grew up in Cullman, a leading agricultural county, where there was a lot of pride in being a family farmer. He recalls visiting his grandparents Eulala and James White on their farm. They had laying hens, an apple orchard, bees and gardens of strawberries, asparagus, beans and peas. His grandfather would milk their Jersey cows and his grandmother would churn it into butter. “My grandmother was an amazing country cook,” Frank said. His grandfather plowed his fields with mules until the early 1960s. His other grandfather was a family doctor, and when Frank returned to open his restaurants, he went to the farmers markets to search out the best produce and build relationships with local farmers. Some of the farmers knew Frank’s grandfather, because he had treated them or a family member at some point.

His mother’s cooking expanded Frank’s palate beyond the traditional Southern table. His parents lived in New York in the late 1940s (he was in medical school, she studied dietetics). Ethnic foods became her passion and The New York Times Cookbook was her reference point. His father’s involvement with the National Board of Surgeons allowed the family to travel to Miami, New Orleans and New York, giving Frank his first exposure to fine dining. “The magic of those restaurants fascinated me,” Frank said. “The sights, smells, sounds, energized atmosphere and anticipation captured my attention and still does.”

After high school, Frank ran away from the South as fast as he could. He started at Tufts University in Boston, then transferred to Berkley in San Francisco to study philosophy. Frank found himself drawn more to the poetry of food writers Richard Olney and Elizabeth David over the works of Plato. He began honing his kitchen skills and worked at Alice Waters’ now legendary restaurant, Chez Panisse. Waters introduced him to Richard Olney, and Frank moved to France to become Richard’s assistant while he was working on the multi-volume Time Life series, The Good Cook. During this time, he was able to work with Jeremiah Tower, Simca Beck and Stephen Spurrier. Frank went on to travel throughout the French countryside and work in vineyards in Provence and Burgundy. After leaving France, he worked in the Caribbean at a resort and on a sailboat, before returning to Alabama. Frank wanted to open a restaurant, marrying the Southern foods he knew, with the French cooking techniques he had learned. He could have opened a restaurant anywhere, but he chose to come home to his roots.

PUTTING BIRMINGHAM ON THE CULINARY MAP

Highlands neighborhood was Birmingham’s first community close to downtown, with a university complex nearby and affluent suburbs just over the mountain. Frank thought it was the perfect place to open his first restaurant. He found a 1920s building on Highland Avenue with a Mediterranean-type façade. Inside, a drop-in, acoustic tile ceiling was hiding magnificent architectural bones, including a stunning, coffered ceiling with great detailing, a grand fireplace opposite beautiful columns with masonry capitals that formed an arcade. An adjoining room was the perfect size for a bar. Frank opened Highlands Bar & Grill in 1982 and never looked back. The restaurant has received many national honors, including the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2018.

On his way to Highlands almost daily, Frank would pass a limestone, Palladian-style building built in the 1920s with a terra cotta tiled roof, Corinthian columns and a façade of gaping stone arches. The words “Bottega Favorita” are chiseled into the façade (“Bottega” is Italian for an artisan’s workshop where one’s craft is made in the back and sold in the front). He dreamed of opening a restaurant where he could share his love of the flavors and traditions of Italy, and in 1988, it became a reality. Bottega was successful from the start and is one of Birmingham’s best restaurants.

Not one to sit on his laurels, Frank opened his third restaurant, Chez Fonfon in 2000. The bistro pays homage to comforting French fare with favorites including steak frites, sautéed trout with brown butter and escargots, along with wines from the Loire, Rhône and Languedoc. A 100-year-old etched glass door and Belle Époque café tables make guests feel like they are in Paris, Lyon or Nice, but they are actually next door to Highlands Bar and Grill. Frank loves French culture, and Chez Fonfon is his way of bringing that spirit and food to Birmingham. In all three of Frank’s restaurants, guests feel like they are being taken care of. His wife Pardis focuses on front of the house operations; her charm and elegance are part of the reasons why guests return time and time again. Each member of the staff extends a graciousness and hospitality that makes everyone feel special. The attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the guest experience, from the crisp tablecloths to the music and the aromatic smells of fresh thyme, rosemary, lemon and garlic wafting through the restaurant. The consideration of how each item is plated, both aesthetically and geometrically, is one of the nuances which sets his restaurants apart.

IT’S ALL ABOUT RESPECT

Frank is a coach, teaching his team love, kindness, and respect not only to the ingredients, but also to the rancher, farmer, fisherman and their fellow workers. He is highly committed to sustainable agriculture and humane animal husbandry, and was one of the first Alabama chefs to champion these practices. He started by noting on his menus where ingredients came from, paying tribute to local growers and farmers. Frank shows his staff how livestock should be cared for ethically by taking them on field trips to farms that share best practices, such as Joyce Farms. “If you care for the ingredients, your love for the food will show up on the plate in the dining room,” said Frank.

A WORKING FARM

About 35 miles from Birmingham is Frank and Pardis’ Paradise Farm. The farm not only takes Frank back to his roots of growing up in Cullman, it serves as home to his polo ponies and provides the perfect setting for growing and harvesting vegetables. There is a barn for the ponies, an arena for riding, a house for the hens, more than twenty raised beds for flowers and vegetables and a grove of fig trees. Freddy not only takes care of the ponies, he has been the Farm Manager at Paradise for the past twelve years. “I taught Frank about polo, and he has taught me about agriculture,” Freddy said.

The hen house sits on a cotton wagon frame so it can be moved around the pasture easily to responsibly spread the manure and the openings on the sides make a quick, clean way to retrieve the eggs. Bruce the goose guards 160 Buff Orpingtons, Dominickers and Araucana chickens. These heritage breed birds happily roam the pasture eating bugs and grass seed, which in turn produces healthy, colorful eggs. At the height of laying season, they can each lay one a day.

True to Frank’s vision of sustainability, everything here has a purpose. Eggs are collected and vegetables such as heirloom tomatoes, okra, carrots, radishes, sweet peas, asparagus, collard greens, kale and chard are harvested once or twice a week and delivered to the restaurants. Figs are a popular menu item at Bottega (roasted figs, walnuts, prosciutto, lemon mint cream) and the leaves are used to cook chicken and fish at the restaurants. Bright orange Chanterelle mushrooms are harvested in the woods. Vegetable trimmings, coffee grounds, manure, shavings and leaves are collected and combined for rich compost.

The farm is also home to peacocks, guinea hens, Fernando the blue heeler, and Nacho, a mixed breed that once was a stray, but decided this is indeed, paradise.

FULL CIRCLE

Frank’s sense of adventure, thirst for knowledge, and propensity to put his heart and soul into everything he does is what has made him so successful. His legacy will continue, as his daughter, Marie and her husband Edward, have opened two cafés in Charleston. Babas on Cannon and Babas on Meeting are inspired by neighborhood cafés and bars in Europe. Weston is currently learning the restaurant business, so that he may take over one day when Frank and Pardis decide to slow down. ■ AWARDS

James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2018, after being nominated for the prestigious award each year since 2009 (Highlands Bar & Grill) Horst H. Schulze Award for Excellence in Hospitality, Auburn University (2017) Inducted into Esquire magazine’s Restaurant Hall of Fame (2011) Inducted into James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America” (2011) Inducted into Alabama Academy of Honor, the most distinguished award given to an Alabamian (2009) Nominated for James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef (2008) Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance (2006) James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast (2001) Award-winning cookbooks: Frank Stitt’s Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill (Artisan Books, 2004) and Bottega Favorita: A Southern Chef’s Love Affair with Italian Food (Artisan Books, 2009)

The New Bridge Magazine celebrates ten years of spectacular editions. We love how they are found on many coffee tables as keepsakes. We are honored to be recognized for our creative work and we are proud of the many awards we have won over the years.