Alabama chef Chris Hastings’ favorite season segues nicely into his next favorite time of year.

Just when turkey season ends for the avid outdoorsman and James Beard Award-winning chef, tomato season — that glorious, four-month window from early May until late August — begins.

“It’s just now starting to build into that full-throated seasonal change from winter into the spring vegetables and then into the summer,” Hastings says on one of his trips to Birmingham’s Alabama Farmers Market to check out the early-season Florida tomatoes for his Hot and Hot Fish Club restaurant, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, .

And with that change in seasons comes the arrival of the restaurant’s signature appetizer, the Hot and Hot Tomato Salad.

That day is here.

The Hot and Hot Tomato Salad — a majestic stack of juicy tomatoes tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette; adorned with sweet corn, lady peas and fried okra; crowned with a crispy slice of Nueske’s bacon; and drizzled with a chive aioli — returns to the menu starting tonight, May 6, at Hastings’ Pepper Place restaurant.

For the first few weeks of the season, Hastings typically gets his tomatoes from growers in the tomato-rich communities of Immokalee, Fla., and Ruskin, Fla. This year’s first shipment of early-season tomatoes is out of Zelda, Fla.

His wholesale suppliers are the father-and-son team of Mario and Victor Nuenez at the Alabama Farmers Market.

“They are unbelievable,” Hastings says. “They work through the season, getting (tomatoes) from all over, and they’ve got just decades of experience in the produce world — in Florida and around the South.

“Their quality is better,” Hastings adds. “Their prices are better. They’re grateful for our business.”

Heirlooms arrive in July

Later in the summer – typically around the Fourth of July holiday – Hastings will transition into Alabama-grown heirloom tomatoes, the bulk of which he buys from tomato whisperer Trent Boyd of Boyd’s Harvest Farm in Cullman County.

“July 4 is generally when we see the heirlooms,” Hastings says. “All Alabama tomatoes will be in their full glory then, both the heirlooms as well as other tomatoes.”

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The tomato salad has been a signature dish at Hot and Hot Fish Club since Hastings and his wife and co-owner, Idie Hastings, opened their restaurant in its original location just off Highland Avenue in 1995. Hot and Hot moved into its current location in the Martin Biscuit Building at Pepper Place in early 2020.

In addition to an appetizer serving, the tomato salad is also available as an entrée that features two stacks of tomatoes served with Alabama Gulf shrimp from Bayou La Batre — a dish that Hastings added to the menu in 2014.

Besides the return of the tomato salad, the other big news at Hot and Hot is that, starting tonight, the restaurant will resume Tuesday night dinner service for the first time since 2019. Previously, the restaurant had been open Wednesdays through Saturdays, but it will now be open five nights a week.

Hot and Hot Fish Club is at 2901 Second Ave. South in Birmingham, Ala. The phone is 205-933-5474. For more information, go here.