THE CHEFS OF FAIRHOPE, AL: A GULF COAST FOOD TOWN
Here is something most people don’t realize about Fairhope until they’ve eaten their way through it. For a town of fewer than 25,000 people, we have a staggering amount of serious culinary talent.
We’re talking Culinary Institute of America graduates. Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Chefs who came up through Emeril’s kitchen in New Orleans. A five time James Beard nominee. Regulars on the Food Network. Chefs who have cooked in Michelin starred kitchens in France and over open fires in the mountains of Wyoming.
All of them, somehow, in one small town on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.
I’ve spent years running food tours through Fairhope, which means I’ve gotten to know these chefs, their kitchens, and their stories. This is a look at the people behind the plates, and why a town this size punches so far above its weight.
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Why So Much Talent in One Small Town?
A few reasons. The Gulf delivers some of the best seafood in the country, straight to the dock. The bay and the farms of Baldwin County give chefs produce most cities can only dream about. And there’s a quiet pipeline that runs east from New Orleans, where chefs trained in the Emeril Lagasse and Donald Link kitchens have followed the good life across the bay to the Eastern Shore.
Add a town that’s beautiful, walkable, and the kind of place people want to raise a family, and you get something rare. World class chefs who chose the small town life, and brought their talent with them.
1. Chef Bill Briand
Little Bird · Five-Time James Beard Nominee
Bill Briand’s story starts with a knock on a back door. At twenty years old, he walked up to Emeril’s in New Orleans and asked for a job. He spent eight years there, working his way through every station in the kitchen, then joined Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski to help open Cochon and Cochon Butcher, two of the most important restaurants in the modern Southern food movement.
He truly came into his own over ten years at Fisher’s at Orange Beach, where he built a culinary identity rooted in Louisiana tradition and a deep respect for Gulf seafood. That work earned him recognition from Southern Living and five James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef: South.
In 2024 he partnered with the founders of The Hope Farm to open Little Bird in downtown Fairhope, named for his late mother, Virginia Eileen Briand. Eileen is Gaelic for “little bird.” Every dining room carries a piece of her story. It’s some of the best food on the Gulf Coast, and you don’t have to drive to New Orleans to find it.
2. Chef Pete Blohme
Panini Pete’s · Food Network Regular
You’ve probably seen Panini Pete on television without realizing he’s a Fairhope guy. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York in 1986, spent more than twenty years learning the business, and opened Panini Pete’s in the Fairhope French Quarter in 2006. It became a local institution almost overnight.
Since then he’s been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, Guy’s Big Bite, and The Great Food Truck Race. He’s headlined more than twenty-five live shows touring with the Guy Fieri Road Show. He’s a founding member of the Messlords, a group of chefs who travel the world cooking for American troops.
The sandwiches are what put him on the map. Pressed paninis, hot griddled creations, and the kind of from-scratch cooking that earned the shop a reputation far beyond Fairhope. The beignets, served with a fresh squeezed lemon, are the lagniappe, the little something extra. The lemon comes from a memory of his mother’s German pancakes, and a New Orleans group recently called those beignets the best they’d ever had. Sandwiches first, beignets for the joy of it. That’s Panini Pete’s.
3. Chef Will Sams
Pearl · Culinary Institute of America
Will Sams always dreamed of owning a restaurant. The Gulfport, Mississippi native worked his way up through some of the best kitchens on the coast and trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He spent four years with the New Orleans based Link Restaurant Group at Cochon, then became executive chef at Fisher’s at Orange Beach, and played an integral role in opening Playa.
When the longtime R Bistro space opened up in downtown Fairhope, Will and his wife Erin Bell saw their chance. They spent eleven months renovating it and opened Pearl, a seafood and raw bar built around the idea that the Gulf Coast is a seafood mecca that deserves a serious restaurant.
Everything is made from scratch, the fish and meat come from local suppliers, and the menu changes with the seasons. The seafood tower alone is worth the trip. It’s a family affair, with Erin running the front of the house, and it’s become one of the brightest spots in the Fairhope dining scene.
4. Chef Jeremiah Matthews
Fairhope Social Club · Le Cordon Bleu Paris
Jeremiah Matthews might have the most adventurous resume of any chef on the Eastern Shore. Raised in Fairhope, he left to attend Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York and then Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where he cooked in Michelin starred kitchens and sharpened his skills in the Burgundy and Dijon regions of France.
Then he did something most chefs never do. He became the head backcountry chef at a ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, hauling a mobile kitchen into the mountains by mule and cooking gourmet meals over wild game like elk and bison. The call of the Gulf eventually brought him home.
He built a devoted following at Southwood Kitchen in Daphne, blending classic French technique with Southern ingredients and Gulf seafood, even earning a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives feature with Guy Fieri. Now his talents are part of the Fairhope Social Club, with a new concept on the way. He’s the rare chef who can break down a duck he hunted himself and plate it with French precision.
5. Chef Jule Roach
Fairhope Chocolate & Bakery · Pastry & Confection
Chef Jule took the long way to the kitchen, and Fairhope is better for it. Born in San Francisco, she grew up around the world, from Nicaragua to Ethiopia, while her father worked with USAID and the World Bank. She earned a degree in cultural anthropology and a master’s in health education, then followed a lifelong dream and went to culinary and pastry school right here in Fairhope.
She opened her shop more than a decade ago and has been making nearly everything from scratch ever since. Copper pot pralines like her grandmother made. House made gelato she learned from an Italian chef. French Levain sourdough, croissants, cakes, pies, and seasonal sorbets like satsuma and Meyer lemon. Fairhope Chocolate is also one of only a handful of shops in the entire country where you can build your own box of Neuhaus Belgian chocolates.
“I feel like I’m sending my children out the door when my customers pick up their orders,” she once said. That’s the kind of care that goes into everything she makes.
6. Chef Mike Sullivan
Market By the Bay · The Hometown Comeback
Mike Sullivan’s story is the one I love telling most, because it started with a fryer. He got his first job at the original Market By the Bay in Daphne back in 2006, as a fry cook. It was a beloved local institution for two decades until the original owner closed it in 2022.
That should have been the end. Instead, Mike and his business partner Garret DeLuca, who had been planning a food truck, bought the place. They reopened it, kept every classic recipe intact, and then opened a second location right here in Fairhope.
When word got out, everyone had the same question. Is the gumbo still the same? The answer is yes. Same recipe, made daily, by the guy who started there as a teenager. Mike is the up and comer on this list, the hometown kid who saved a Gulf Coast favorite, and he’s just getting started.
7. Chef Charles Mereday
Atticus · Contemporary French
The newest name on this list might have the deepest resume. Charles Mereday brings more than thirty-five years as a chef and twenty-five years of restaurant ownership, including a turn as executive chef at the historic Battle House in Mobile. He and his partner Brittany Hadden came back to the area for a consulting project, fell back in love with it, and decided to stay.
The result is Atticus, opened in 2026 in downtown Fairhope in the former Plane and Level space on North Section Street. The name is a nod to Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. The food is fundamentally French in its preparation with a global influence, including Japanese-style techniques from executive chef Mackenzie Broquet. Think a four course tasting menu, foie gras, handmade dumplings, Gulf seafood, prime steaks and chops, and a wood-fired veal chop.
It’s the most ambitious new opening Fairhope has seen in a while, and a sign that the town’s reputation is now drawing serious talent from beyond the Gulf Coast.
8. Chef Sally Stringfellow
Sallie · An Intimate Supper
Some of the best meals in Fairhope happen at a table for just a handful of guests. After more than twenty years in professional kitchens across Alabama, including a turn as executive chef at Jesse’s in Magnolia Springs, Sally Stringfellow came back to her roots to build something smaller and more personal.
The result is Sallie, an intimate dining experience out of a historic cottage on Pine Street, steps from the pier. Each Thursday evening she opens her doors to a limited number of guests and cooks every course from her open kitchen, the way a private chef would. The food is seasonal Southern, built on French technique and Gulf Coast ingredients, with regional wine pairings chosen to match each plate.
It is not a typical restaurant, and that is the point. Sallie is a reminder that in Fairhope, talent does not always announce itself with a big dining room. Sometimes it just quietly serves you the best meal of your trip. Private breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and events are available by appointment.
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The Common Thread
Look closely and you start to see the patterns. Several of these chefs trained at the world’s most prestigious culinary schools, the Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Two came up through the legendary New Orleans kitchens of Emeril Lagasse and Donald Link. Several have been on the Food Network. One is a five time James Beard nominee. One spent decades in Alabama kitchens before opening her own intimate supper. And the newest arrival chose Fairhope after a career that spanned the country.
They could have built their careers anywhere. They chose Fairhope. That tells you everything you need to know about this little town on the bay, and about the food waiting for you when you visit.
Taste Their Work in One Afternoon
Our food tour visits the kitchens of these chefs and tells the stories behind every plate. Five restaurants, a tasting at The Happy Olive, three hours. Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday at 2pm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Fairhope, Alabama have notable chefs?
Yes. For its small size, Fairhope has a remarkable concentration of acclaimed chefs, including five-time James Beard nominee Bill Briand of Little Bird, Food Network regular Pete Blohme of Panini Pete’s, Culinary Institute of America trained Will Sams of Pearl, Le Cordon Bleu trained Jeremiah Matthews now with the Fairhope Social Club, Charles Mereday of the new Atticus, and Sally Stringfellow of Sallie, who runs an intimate supper out of a historic cottage downtown.
Is Fairhope a good food destination?
Absolutely. Fairhope punches far above its weight for a small town, with multiple classically trained and nationally recognized chefs, fresh Gulf seafood, and Baldwin County farm produce. It’s one of the best food towns on the Gulf Coast.
Which Fairhope chef has a James Beard nomination?
Chef Bill Briand of Little Bird is a five-time James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef: South. He came up through Emeril’s in New Orleans and helped open Cochon before spending ten years at Fisher’s at Orange Beach.
Which Fairhope chefs have been on the Food Network?
Pete Blohme of Panini Pete’s has appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, and The Great Food Truck Race, and tours with the Guy Fieri Road Show. Jeremiah Matthews was also featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives during his time at Southwood Kitchen.
Where can I eat the food of these chefs in Fairhope?
Little Bird (Bill Briand), Panini Pete’s (Pete Blohme), Pearl (Will Sams), Fairhope Social Club (Jeremiah Matthews), Fairhope Chocolate (Jule Roach), Market By the Bay (Mike Sullivan), and Atticus (Charles Mereday) are all in or near downtown Fairhope. The Taste of Fairhope Food Tour visits several of these kitchens and tells the stories behind them.
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Come hungry. These chefs will take care of the rest.