Chris Hastings
Chris Hastings (born in Charlotte, North Carolina) is the co-owner and executive chef of Hot & Hot Fish Club restaurant. He was named "Best Chef in the South" by the James Beard Foundation in 2012 after being nominated three times previously.
Hastings grew up in the Carolinas with three siblings. With the support of his employer at the Silver Cricket Restaurant in Charlotte, he declined a scholarship to Appalachian State University and instead attended the Johnson & Wales Culinary School in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1984 to work as a sous chef at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. He then came to Birmingham to work for Frank Stitt as chef de cuisine at Highlands Bar and Grill and Bottega. In 1989 he and his wife, Idie, moved to San Francisco, California to help open the Lark Creek Inn restaurant.
The couple opened Hot and Hot, named for his great-great-grandfather's Carolina fishing camp, in the former Caddell's Highland Plaza Restaurant location in Highland Plaza in 1995. Hastings was honored as "Best Chef in Birmingham" by Birmingham magazine in 2000 and 2001. He was named a finalist for the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef in the South" award in 2008, 2010 and 2011, and won the honor in 2012. In 2009 he and Idie published The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Family & Traditions.
Hastings has consulted with Russell Lands and chef Rob McDaniel to develop menus for the SpringHouse Restaurant at Russell Crossroads near Alexander City on Lake Martin. Hastings was a contestant on the February 26, 2012 episode of "Iron Chef America". In the program he defeated chef Bobby Flay in a competition to prepare a series of dishes featuring sausage. McDaniel and Sedesh Boodram served as Hastings' chefs du cuisine during the show.
In 2010 Hastings began marketing his hand-made woodcock feather lapel and hat pins for sale.
The Hastings have two children, Zeb and Vincent.
References
- "Chris Hastings" bio at hotandhotfishclub.com
- Whitmire, Kyle (May 7, 2012) "Hot & Hot Fish Club’s Chris Hastings wins Beard Award for Best Chef in South." Weld for Birmingham
- Garrison, Greg (June 27, 2012) "Chris Hastings tells behind-the-scenes 'Iron Chef' story." The Birmingham News