FAIRHOPE — The foodie community in Baldwin County has been buzzing with anticipation about a new culinary partnership coming to downtown Fairhope.

In March, Robert and Bentley Evans, founders and owners of The Hope Farm, announced the addition of five-time James Beard nominated Chef Bill Briand to the team to helm a new restaurant, Little Bird. We sat down with Briand to learn more about his culinary career and the inspiration behind the concept for Little Bird.

Chef Bill Briand in the growing containers at The Hope Farm.

Background

Briand, the son of a career military man, grew up in a home with a mother (Virginia) who was a great cook. He learned by watching and working alongside her. For his mom, every move to a new state meant a new cuisine to learn and food to sample. She was a lifelong learner, and he credits his voracious appetite for learning to her.

"My mom chased a poke truck around Hawaii for the whole three years that we were there and got the recipe," Briand said with a smile.

That recipe could make an appearance on his new menu.

His professional culinary career began with a persistent knock on the back door of Emeril's in New Orleans when he was 20 years old. He had come home after a couple of years in college, which he discovered was not for him, but he didn't have a game plan.

"I came back and was wrapping my head around what I was going to do," Briand recalled. "My mom was like, 'You cook with me all the time. You're a great cook. You love cooking and watching cooking shows with me.'"

Even though he had a driver's license and car, his mother was behind the wheel the day he knocked on that door. He admits it was a bigger and bolder step than he normally would have taken, but it set him on an incredible path with some of the biggest names in the New Orleans food scene.

He worked every station, asked questions and absorbed everything like a sponge. He studied outside the kitchen, wrote everything he learned down in a notebook, sketched the plates, peeled labels off cheese and wrote a description and taste profile.

The kitchens he has been in, the world and his addiction to cookbooks have been his culinary education.

"There is something to learn from every single person, every single chef," he said.

After eight years of working at Emeri's, Briand left for a new adventure.

Through his brother Joeseph, he was introduced to Donald Link who showed him plans for Cochon. Briand began working for Link at Herbsaint and then moved over to Cochon, working under Stephen Stryjewski, after Hurricane Katrina.

During his time at Cochon, Briand assisted with developing the program for Cochon Butcher and testing recipes for Link's first cookbook. All the lessons and work added to Briand's knowledge base, but it may be Stryjewski's constant changing of the menu and emphasis on finding the best ingredients that have stuck with Briand.

After eight years with Link Restaurant Group, Briand was ready for change and landed on the white sandy beaches of Alabama. Initially, he came to interview for a job at The Gulf, which had just opened, but ended up with his first opportunity to create a menu all his own at what would become Fisher's at Orange Beach Marina.

His next culinary journey was a necessity.

"Everything wasn't amazing in the beginning," Briand said of the early days of Fisher's. "I had too much meat on the menu when we first started, but I was Cochon brain driven. At that point, I was like, OK I have to learn the area."

Briand worked to find the best produce and seafood suppliers and learned about the food culture. The result was a menu that kept the restaurant listed in the top for the area and landed him five James Beard nominations.

Little Bird

The restaurant's name comes from Briand's mother's middle name, Eileen, an anglicized version of the Gaelic meaning "little bird" and "strength."

Briand is bringing a lifetime of food memories from his mother's kitchen and his culinary career to this new concept.

Briand is bringing a lifetime of food memories from his mother's kitchen and his culinary career to this new concept.

"There are things on the menu that are hers or recipes that she curated that I was around for, our different travels in different places," he said. "It was always about quality with her. When we got to Louisiana, she would go and find fresh shrimp. She would drive to Westwego and find the best. Everywhere we moved, she would be uber-focused on the food style of that area. When we sat at the dinner table, it was always an experience, it was always thought through, and that is what we're zeroing in on with Little Bird."

When first announced, the cuisine for Little Bird was described as coastal Southern, but what is coastal Southern?

"There's some Southern classics and stuff that I love and was very important in my career learning and growing," he said. "Then there's a lot of coastal seafood. You're going to be able to grouper, snapper, tuna, scallops. The only thing that's not local is scallops."

Along with the seafood raw and cooked, Briand has plans to feature turf proteins like duck, quail, pork and beef.

With so many ideas and recipes swirling around in his brain, hungry locals should keep an eye out for special preview dinners at The Hope Farm and The Barn that will serve as teasers for Little Bird. Briand said they are a way to work through the recipes on a smaller scale.

When initially announced, Robert Evans said he hoped Little Bird would be open toward the end of this year, and Briand said he feels like they are still on track. Construction on the former private home-turned-restaurant is underway. When complete, Briand said the restaurant will retain that home feel.

Along with an ever-changing, seafood-focused lunch and dinner menu, Little Bird will have a large, covered outdoor patio and a killer bar and wine program.

Construction can uncover treasures like this vintage bottle. The vintage bottle was uncovered in the yard of Little Bird Fairhope at 404 Oak Ave., …

Briand also said they are planning to offer brunch.

His mother died in 2021, followed three weeks later by his father, Frederick Briand. While no longer on Earth, they are both with him every day in tattoo and menu form.

"This is not just a kitchen for me," Briand said. "The food is very important, but the whole thing is, you know, it's going to be more surreal when I walk in there and it's done."

COOK WHAT THE CHEF COOKS

Summer Shrimp and Grouper Ceviche

By Chef Bill Briand, Little Bird Fairhope
Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces grouper, medium chop
• 10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• Juice of three lemons
• 1 cup watermelon, large diced
• 1 cup cucumber, medium diced
• ¼ cup red onion, finely diced
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• ¼ cup cilantro, chiffonade
• 1 ½ tablespoons spicy smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Shrimp Poaching Liquid:

• 1 gallon water
• 6 lemons, halved
• 2 oranges, halved
• 2 onions, quartered
• 1 cup garlic
• 6 bay leaves
• ¼ cup salt
• ¼ cup Louisiana hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ cup shrimp boil

Method of Procedure:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine grouper with vinegar and lemon juice. Cover and allow citrus and vinegar to cook grouper for 45 minutes.
2. Strain grouper to remove all the vinegar and citrus juice.
3. Poach peeled shrimp in poaching liquid until cooked, then immediately transfer to an ice bath.
4. Large dice the shrimp and place in a large mixing bowl.
5. Add all remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix well.
6. Finish with the juice of one orange, lime, and red wine vinegar.
7. Serve with crackers or on top of a mixed green salad.