Monthly Newsletter June2014

In This Issue
Bar Update
Wine Report
Alabama Chanin
Dinner
Pepper Place Farmers
Market
Jones Valley -
Cocktails on the Farm
Food Arts
Proudly Serving
Dear Friends and Valued Patrons,

Summer is almost upon us. The weather is warming up

and new menu items are arriving with the change of
the season. Local produce includes tomatoes, okra,
heirloom squash and eggplant from Snow's Bend
Farms.

Blueberries and blackberries are arriving from Petals

from the Past.Though most would think first of
ordering the Tomato Salad, don't forget about our
Spicy Gazpacho. It is one of chef's favorite appetizers
for its flavors, textures and creativity. For dessert try
our "Blackberry Cobbler", Lemon Bar Cookie, Vanilla
Crme Fraiche Mousse and Mint Gelato. This is a clever
twist on an old favorite, accented by the mint gelato.

Idie's personal favorite is the vegetable plate which is

Follow Chef!

@chrishastings00
andtag
#hotandhotfishclub
to your photos to be
added to our album.
our photo headliner. The vegetable plate is a bounty of
King Trumpet Duxelle Stuffed Terra Preta Squash
Blossoms and Baby Mustard Greens, Foraged
Chanterelles, Snow's Bend Eggplant, Sunchokes,
Sorghum Grain, Basil Pesto, and Corn Sauce. We
appreciate our local purveyors!
Bar Update

We are proud to announce that the Hot and Hot Fish

Club will be joining a coalition of bars around the world,
and many local spots, by participating in Negroni Week,
June 2 - 8. This opportunity allows our bartenders to
create the Negroni Classico, an equal parts drink of Gin,
Sweet Vermouth, and Compari. Also, Hot and Hot has
pledged to donate proceeds to the Jimmie Hale Mission.
We are all very excited about raising money for a good
cause.

In other news, the bar has brought back, after a year

hiatus, the Attack of the Killer Tomato. This savory
libation is a mixture of gin, tomato water, lemon, lime,
basil tincture with house celery bitters.
Wine Report

This month we would like to draw attention to an often

marginalized and even sorely neglected beverage; one
that is perhaps our favorite and worthy of a bit more
consideration: champagne. "Champagne"? you say.
"Marginalized and neglected"? Yeah sure, we
understand. Viewed through the lens of popular
perception, champagne does come off as the "poor little
rich kid" of wines. Posh, haughty and expensive. A
luxury item to be trotted out in quasi totemistic fashion
for the most formal of observations only.

Perhaps it is time to readjust this conceit, scroll back our

judgment and finally liberate this wine. Well, we have
good news! Times of deep reflection can ask for no
fairer companion than a brisk glass of champagne.
Happily, at this moment, the Hot and Hot Fish Club is
pleased to offer by the glass, Exhibit A, in the defense of
this most glorious of spirits, Champagne Barnaut
Bouzy, a Grand Cru, grower champagne of almost
humbling expressiveness. "Grower champagne".
Remember that term folks because it is key here. This
isn't some mass produced, washed-out example of the
style. The Barnaut family are farmers who grow and
vinify their own grapes and bottle their own product.
They are not creating some mere commodity made to be
sold alongside Swiss attach cases and Breguet
watches. They are making real wine for us to enjoy
alongside our dinner. ($20.00 per glass) Or how about
a split bottle, (375 ml) of Champagne Lallier's Brut
Grant Reserve, fresh from sweeping Decanter's 2014
World Wine Awards ($58.00 per bottle). This is a more
chardonnay driven exercise than the Barnaut resulting in
a more honied biscuit timbre with chamomile and lychee
accents. These are two pretty wines with tons to say.
Don't blindly shoehorn'em into some sort of somber
affair where they cannot truly be themselves. Their kind
of unbridled vivacity wants for great food and unfettered
conversation. They want to show you just what you
have been missing. Come to think of it, so do we!
Alabama Chanin
Friends of the Caf Dinner
Thursday, June 12th
The Factory
462 Lane Drive
Florence, AL 35630

We invite you to the Friends of the Caf Dinner Series

benefitting Alabama Gulf Seafood on Thursday, June 12, 2014
at Alabama Chanin. Cocktails and appetizers begin at 6:30pm
and dinner is at 7:30pm. A book signing to follow the
dinner. Click here for more details and to purchase tickets.

http://alabamachanin.com/friends-of-the-cafe-dinner-chris-
hastings

Saturday, June 21
st
is a big day for us!
Pepper Place Farmers Market
Saturday, June 21st
9:00am

Join us at the Pepper Place Farmers Market on Saturday

morning, June 21
st
to watch Chef Hastings food
demonstration. Always a pleasure to be a part of the
market.
Then spend the afternoon at the Jones Valley Farm.

Jones Valley Teaching Farm

Cocktails on the Farm
Saturday, June 21
1:00 to 5:00pm
701 25
th
Street North

The Junior Board of Jones Valley Teaching Farm will host a

Cocktails on the Farm event featuring the finest local produce
and bartender's signature cocktails on Saturday, June 21
st
,
from 1-5pm. Please come and enjoy an afternoon of
cocktails, food and music to benefit the JVTF's educational
mission. Chef Hastings will have his famous Hot and Hot
Tomato Salad along with William Hamrick's "Rise to the Sun"
Cocktail.


Food Arts
Memory's Backwater
June, 2014

Chef Hastings took a road trip with John Kessler, dining critic
and editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and David
Yellen, photographer, to Florida's Forgotten Coast to meet the
locals in the Florida Panhandle. "Traveling with Hastings was
one of the best assignments I've been on," says Queens-born
photographer David Yellen. "Any time you get to be guided
through a lifestyle that most people will never get to
experience is a great day. Oystering, clamming and picking
fresh produce on an organic farm were all firsts for me."
http://www.foodarts.com/news/features/32582/memorys-
backwater

Cheers,

Chris and Idie Hastings
Hot and Hot Fish Club
2180 11th Court South
Birmingham, AL 35205

(205)933-5474