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Frank Stitt III is the owner and executive chef of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant, and Chez Fon Fon in Birmingham, Alabama. He was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's "Who's Who of Food and Beverage" in 2011. He was also named the "Best Chef in the Southeast" in 2001 foundation, and was a 2008 finalist for the its national "Outstanding Chef" award. He has also been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance for his elevation of Southern cuisine and his early advocacy of locally-grown food.
Stitt, the son of a surgeon, was born in 1954 and grew up in Cullman, Alabama. After graduating high school in 1972 he spent a year in Europe. He began his studies at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, then transferred to the University of California at Berkley as a philosophy major. It was through philosophical treatises on food by authors such as Richard Olney and Elizabeth David that he developed an interest in cooking. He tried unsuccessfully to apprentice himself to area chefs, until Fritz Luenberger brought him on at his Casablanca restaurant.
Stitt soon worked his way into the kitchen at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse. From her he was introduced to Olney, who was living in Provence and compiling a multi-volume Time–Life series on cooking. He became Olney's assistant. While there he met other notable chefs and food writers such as Julia Child, Jeremiah Tower, and Simone Beck. He also took menial jobs, such as grape harvesting, that would allow him to learn more about foods. While there he began working on ideas for marrying Southern foods with French cooking techniques that would set the tone for his flagship restaurant.
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