Cover Story

By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

Mobilians pride themselves on their love of great food and visitors are quick to note the plentiful fare around town. But who rises above the rest when it comes to top-notch cuisine?

Lagniappe asked a group of culinary experts ranging a variety of styles and backgrounds to select their favorite gastronomic artists (excluding themselves) and the cream that rose to the top of this group seem able to challenge the best of any ‘burg.

Chef Charles Mereday has quickly earned a local reputation as impeccable his resume.

The 33-year-old Dudley, N. C. native is a graduate of the prestigious Johnston and Wales University culinary program in Charleston who was employed at the Claridge in Atlantic City and the Zanzibar Blue in Philadelphia before working in the Virgin Islands. While an instructor at Culinard – the Culinary Institute of Virginia College in Birmingham – he eventually spent a semester in France as part of an exchange program.

He currently serves as executive chef for the newly renovated and impressive Battle House Hotel in downtown.

Mereday oversees an operation that includes 20 full-time employees, a 6,000-square-foot kitchen, banquet facilities able to accommodate more than 1,000 people and the hotel’s 24-hour room service.

In his nine months in Mobile, the newcomer has made quite a splash.

Mereday was chosen to represent the state of Alabama in “The 2007 Great American Seafood Cook Off” in New Orleans, a competition that was televised by The Food Network.

“I didn’t feel I fared so well,” Mereday said. “I think I tried to push the envelope too far. I used triggerfish because it has more of a regional reputation, but I don’t think the national people have really caught on to it yet.”

Mereday sees a lot of similarities in the cuisine of Mobile and the renowned cuisine of the Crescent City, as would be expected.

“They both have a lot of the same flavors and heritage,” he said. There’s that whole Creole thing where you can pick up on a lot of the French subtleties. You really sense it a lot around here.”

He is fond of letting his European influences beyond the Gallic arena emanate. “I use some Mediterranean influence,” Mereday said. “I also use a lot of Northern Italian in my work.”

“We don’t want to be ‘experimental,’” he said, “but we can still be ‘cutting edge.’ Like our caprese salad, for instance, something you’ve seen in a lot of places. We added a local touch by using fried green tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.”

As a newcomer, Mereday felt he didn’t know the area well enough to participate in our panel of judges, but he has seen a few competitors and been impressed.

“I’ve been to NoJa and their food is really good,” Mereday said. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about Osman’s and the Camellia Café across the bay. And of course I want to eat at Ruth’s Chris.”

“There seems to be a lot of fried seafood here.” Mereday said. “It seems like the seafood house is pretty popular here like down on the Causeway.”

For now, he feels the most integral aspect of what he offers is the freshness of the product.

“We can use a lot of direct sources for our food,” he explained, “like Lartigue’s out of Pensacola and we even have stuff that we have brought in straight from Japan.”

A lifelong Mobilian, Chef George Panayioutou came by his profession of 30 years the old-fashioned way: genetics.

His Greek-immigrant father Constantine was the owner of long-time Mobile institutions, the downtown restaurant that bore his name and Gaslight Square, much to the delight of generations of Mobilians. While the exposure benefited young George, the opportunity wasn’t quite what it could have been.

“My father died right as I was really getting into it,” Panayioutou said. “I found Chef Leon Pettaway and he took me under his wing. He taught me everything I know and without him, I wouldn’t have done any of this.”

Panayioutou found himself running the operation at the Country Club of Mobile for eight years and finally he switched jobs.

“The Coopers put me to work for them,” Panayioutou said, “and before I knew it, 10 years had gone by. I had an opportunity to do something else and was close to taking that chance when the Coopers called me in and said, ‘Let’s see if we can’t make this so good you can’t afford not to work for us.’”

He became director of culinary operations for Cooper Family Restaurants, which includes Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mobile, Felix’s Fish Camp in Spanish Fort and Felix’s Seafood Grill in Montgomery.

Panayioutou has received four Fine Dining Awards from Travel Holiday magazine as well as a first-place award in the Pleasure Island Gumbo Cook-Off in Gulf Shores and the International Crab Cooking Olympics in Baltimore. He was also selected as Outstanding Restaurateur of the Year by the Alabama Restaurant and Food Service Association and by the Florida State University School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration.

True to Mobile’s heritage, Chef Chakli Diggs brings a world of influence to the Azalea City. Raised in Ethiopia, Diggs grew up in a multi-cultural background.

“Where I come from,” Diggs said, “everyone speaks at least three languages. My father and mother were from different cultures and just around the house we spoke two languages.” Diggs currently speaks fluently in five tongues with casual usage of another. It would serve him well.

“I went to culinary school in Germany,” Diggs said. “I got a culinary degree there and came to the United States in ‘75 to earn a business degree at Michigan State.”

Diggs went to work for “big hotels” and eventually returned to Europe for seven years. Family matters brought him to Mobile in 1991 and he saw the potential in the Port City.

“I opened Bienville Bistro in 1992,” Diggs said, “and had mixed success. I made some mistakes, got out of it in 1998 and went to work for the Riverview as their Food and Beverage manager. Then I worked at the Gulf some, but I always had it as a goal to get back over here. I knew downtown Mobile was where I wanted to be.”

He sees a lot of potential in the market.

“There’s a lot of organic growth going on here,” Diggs said, “but a lot of it is coming from ‘outside.’ There needs to be more from ‘inside’ for things to really happen. When Mobilians figure out what they want, it’s going to make all the difference.”

In May of 2005 he opened NoJa and began to draw rave reviews, but he doesn’t see what some of the fuss is about.

“People here think this is fine dining but it’s not,” Diggs explained. “What we’re doing here isn’t that uncommon other places. That’s why we keep hearing all these comparisons to other markets like Atlanta, New York, Washington. But this is what you find everywhere else.”

Diggs easily sees the seeds for potential in Mobile. “We’ve been able to take that Southern hospitality that is so famous and add something onto it that I didn’t see here. Food here is widespread but in some ways it’s kind of dated and not that healthy. We try to stay fresh, flavorful and balanced.”

Diggs’ unique fusion of cultural palates from various continents is remarkable for the area and a constant challenge.

“Our motto is ‘Our minds are always cooking’ and it’s the truth,” Diggs said. “We want to keep everything new, every time. I challenge our staff and I’ve got some incredible people working for me in the kitchen who are as important to our success as anything else.”

Others receiving votes, along with panelist comments

Chef Nadir Sherwani of the Riverview Hotel – “Doing something no one else in town is doing now. Shows innovation, a free spirit and great quality of food.”

Chef Matt Shipp of The Pillars – “Very creative. His C.I. A. training shows.”

Chef Seth Hargett of Flopper’s in Loxley – “He’s very creative, really daring. Able to pair food well.”

Sous Chef Alex Perry of NoJa – “He’s the engine making Chakli’s machine run right now. On top of his game.”

Each of the above received multiple commendations from our panel

Also garnering notice were:

Chef Mehran Hejazi of Shiraz Persian Grill

Chef Chatman Ellis of Via Emilia

Chef Michael Blukas of Blu’s Bistro

Chef Osman Ademovic of Osman’s

Chef Henry Douglas, Director of Culinary Studies at Bishop State

Chef Leon Pettaway of Big Time Diner

Powell Hamlin of the Dew Drop Inn

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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