John Hall
John Hall is a chef and founder of Post Office Pies.
Hall grew up in the Birmingham area and graduated from Erwin High School. He worked briefly at Bottega and went on to pursue a career in culinary arts in New York City. After school he apprenticed at Restaurant Léa Linster in Luxembourg. After returning to New York he spent time at Gramercy Tavern in Flatiron and Thomas Keller's Per Se on Columbus Circle. After that he served as sous-chef for David Chang's Momofuku Ssäm Bar for two years.
In the overnight hours between shifts, Hall pursued a hobby of preparing pizzas at his apartment in Cobble Hill for individual customers, delivering them himself by bicycle. It was in service to that interest that he decided to relocate to Birmingham to open a pizza restaurant.
Hall partnered with Brandon Cain, with support from Mike Wilson and Hunter Lake to open Post Office Pies in the former Avondale Post Office in March 2014. The partners followed up with a second location in Tuscaloosa which opened in December 2015 and closed in 2019. They expanded again, to Lane Parke in Mountain Brook Village, in April 2020.
In November 2021 Hall and his girlfriend Anna relocated to Portland, Oregon to begin raising a family. He kept his ownership stake in Post Office Pies, and left his brother, Roscoe Hall in charge as culinary director.
References
- Ishayik, Edna (May 1, 2014) "Meet the New York Chef Who Opened Birmingham’s Hottest Pizza Place" GrubStreet / New York magazine
- Turnipseed, Christy (October 2, 2014) "Meet the Man Behind the Pies" The Birmingham News
- Phillips, Ryan (May 4, 2015) "John Hall of Post Office Pies on his career and the future of the Bham culinary scene." Birmingham Business Journal
- Stuart, Shauna (December 1, 2021) "Alabama chef John Hall bids goodbye to Birmingham, moves west" The Birmingham News