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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Chef Timothy Hontzas stands inside his restaurant, Johnny’s Restaurant, in downtown Homewood. Hontzas is a 2022 James Beard Award finalist, and he said being nominated and making it to the finalist round carries “unprecedented meaning.”
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Being named a finalist for a 2022 James Beard Award is an honor for the Johnny’s Restaurant staff, as well as the cities of Homewood and Birmingham and the state of Alabama as a whole, chef and owner Timothy Hontzas said.
The food at Johnny’s Restaurant in downtown Homewood is not silent, chef and owner Timothy Hontzas said.
“Our food has a story to tell,” Hontzas said.
The story began decades ago with Hontzas’ grandfather, Johnny, the namesake of the restaurant, who hopped on a cattle boat from Greece and came to America at the age of 17. With almost no money to his name, he turned to cooking as a way of life, opening his first restaurant at a railroad depot in McComb, Mississippi. Eventually, he opened Johnny’s in 1956 in a freestanding building next to his hotel, The Flamingo Inn, in Jackson, Mississippi.
Timothy Hontzas’ “papou,” which is Greek for grandfather, taught him a strong work ethic, as did his father, who also ran the family’s restaurants.
“You’ve got to want to make it in life, and you’ve got to want to work,” Timothy Hontzas said. “No one owes you anything.”
While seeing his grandfather and his father was rare given both men’s dedication to their restaurants, they left an indelible mark on Hontzas.
“He was doing it to make a better life for us,” Hontzas said of his father.
Hontzas has carried on that personality, striving for perfection in both himself and his staff. He’s also carried on their love of food and using it to brighten someone’s day.
Pictures of his father and grandfather line the walls of Johnny’s Restaurant, accompanied by newspaper clippings telling of their awards, their food and their stories.
The story of Johnny’s in Homewood is coming to be one of nationwide success. The restaurant has not only attracted a loyal following in Homewood, but recognition from the country’s culinary elite. For the past five years, the restaurant has been nominated for the restaurant version of the Oscars, the James Beard Awards, making it to the semifinal round each year, save for 2021, when the awards were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Hontzas has made it to the final round, nominated for best chef of the South, along with Birmingham chef Adam Evans of Automatic Seafood and Oysters. Johnny’s was also a semifinalist in the category of “best hospitality.”
Being nominated and making it to the finalist round carries “unprecedented meaning,” Hontzas said.
“I’m honored to be standing next to Adam Evans,” Hontzas said. “I have goosebumps. It’s always been a goal of mine.”
The two men join three chefs from New Orleans as the five finalists, which sends a strong message that Birmingham’s food scene is just as good as that of New Orleans, Hontzas said. Being named a finalist is an honor for his staff, as well as the cities of Homewood and Birmingham and the state of Alabama as a whole, Hontzas said.
The aim of Johnny’s is to marry Southern ingredients with Greek ingredients, borrowing from his heritage and upbringing, Hontzas said.
“There’s a strong correlation between Southern and Greek cuisine and hospitality,” Hontzas said. “It’s personable to me. I have memories of frying eggplants, rolling dolmades with my mom and three sisters.”
The restaurant gives the traditional meat and three a “chef’s take,” he said. While many restaurants in Birmingham were or still are owned by Greeks, many of them had to “hide behind hot dogs” decades ago. While the restaurant is not fully Greek, he does include keftedes, Greek meatballs, as well as skewers, called souvlaki. Partnering with Dwight Hamm farms, the vegetables on the menu rotate while the meats stay about the same, Hontzas said.
Ideas come frequently to Hontzas. Not content to copy others’ recipes, Hontzas develops his own ideas, writing them down in a small notebook he carries with him wherever he goes.
“My mind is constantly turning,” he said.
Favorite dishes at Johnny’s include the chicken souvlaki, chicken pot pie, hamburger steak, which is made with Hereford steer, a prime cut of beef, as well as the meatloaf, Hontzas said. Using a more expensive cut of beef and charbroiling the hamburger steak, or adding lemon-tahini butter to the chicken souvlaki, are just some of the ways Hontzas seeks to go one step further to make his food the best it can be.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant closed for just two days. Hontzas and his staff reopened, carrying their point-of-sale machine down the stairs leading up to the restaurant and selling cold family packs for people to take home and cook for themselves. Over time, customers called and began asking for hot plates and he learned to adapt to stay in business and serve the restaurant’s customers.
Hontzas doesn’t believe in luck. Becoming a James Beard award finalist came through “a lot of sacrifice,” he said.
“It takes commitment,” Hontzas said. “I haven’t had a vacation in eight years.”
It’s also not about him, he said. “It’s about the customers and the staff.”
With more than 30 years of cooking under his belt, Hontzas said he’s learned he has to have a good staff and loyal customers to succeed. Homewood has supported the restaurant “a hundred thousandfold,” Hontzas said, and he delights in using food to brighten their day.
“I love to make people happy through food,” Hontzas said. “To see someone smile is unbelievable.”
Hontzas said he wants to open a po-boy place in the future. He has all he needs already and has been creating different po-boys and other similar meals. He said he’d also love to one day have a “real” Greek restaurant, serving authentic Greek food.
In his immediate future, however, is the James Beard Award finals on June 13. The event is a black-tie affair at the Lyric Opera theater in Chicago.
“I’m not sure that I’m a black tie kind of guy,” Hontzas said, “but as everyone has told me, I guess I can be for one night.”
