Official Dish of The Year of Alabama Food Winner

River Heritage Region Alabama Warm Tomato Tart (Recipe) Chefs John Hamme & Bradley Czajka Ariccia Auburn, AL

Alabama Warm Tomato Tart is Year of Food’s Official Dish

Birmingham, AL— Ariccia restaurant’s Alabama Warm Tomato Tart won a statewide competition to select the best tomato dish, which will be featured on the menus of 60 Alabama restaurants for the next year. Chefs John Hamme and Bradley Czajka of Ariccia restaurant at The Hotel at Auburn University entered the dish and won the $5,000 grand prize at the Alabama Food Festival on Saturday.

Four of the state's finest tomato dishes competed for the official dish of the Year of Alabama Food at the food festival held at Pepper Place Saturday Market in Birmingham. Tomato dishes were chosen because of Alabama tomatoes’ reputation among chefs for freshness and taste. Agriculture experts agree that Alabama’s rich soil and warm climate produce some of the best growing conditions for tomato plants.

Executive Sous Chef John Hamme and Restaurant Chef Bradley Czajka prepared the winning dish as a team. Hamme previously served as a chef at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. Czajka came to Auburn from The Lodge at Koele in Lanai, Hawaii. The one-year-old Ariccia is located across from Auburn University and features casual Italian dining.

The other tomato dishes at the competition were the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad entered by Chris Hastings, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Birmingham; Carliles’s Tomato Pie entered by Rob and Greta Carlile, Carlile's Restaurant, Scottsboro; and Fish River crab Risotto Stuffed Green Tomato entered by Chef Daniel Monbouquette, Bayview Restaurant at the Grand Hotel at Point Clear. Each of the competing dishes were winners of regional cook-offs held in Decatur, Birmingham, Auburn, and Daphne.

“The Alabama Food Festival and naming of the official dish is one of the highlights of the Year of Alabama Food,” says state tourism director Lee Sentell. “Alabama is becoming a culinary destination. The great food we offer here is an incredible attraction for travelers.” Sentell said that travelers spent $1.9 billion on food and beverage while in the state last year which generated approximately 27 percent of the total $7.3 billion in economic impact from Alabama’s tourism and travel industry.

The food festival featured cooking demonstrations, cookbook signings and panel discussions with noted Alabama chefs Frank Stitt, Chris Hastings, Franklin Biggs and Clayton Sherrod. A new documentary film, “Taste of Alabama: From Farm to Table,” had its premiere at the festival. Other events included three stages of live musical performances, local artisan booths, a kid’s craft area and the well-known Pepper Place Farmers Market featuring fresh Alabama produce.

Sponsors of the food festival included the Alabama Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, Kenn Alan’s “Home Grown Tomatoes” radio program, Sloss Real Estate, The Kitchen Center, Compass Bank, Piggly Wiggly, Brookwood Medical Center, Adamson Ford, Laughing Crow Organics, Spread Right Organics, Alabama Farmers’ Market Authority, and Catalyst.

Click here to view the winning recipe.

Click here to view the Regional winners and their recipes.