By Emmett Burnett
What beats a panoramic view of a Mobile Bay sunset, while dining on Gulf grouper, in a hotel coveted by locals, vacationers, travelers and movie stars? I’ll tell you what beats it:
Absolutely nothing.
Such pleasure awaits in a storied state icon. I speak of Point Clear, Alabama’s The Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, Autograph Collection. Exceptional dining exists in all of the hotel’s eight restaurants, but the one overlooking Mobile Bay is a testament to and named for our roots, Southern Roots.
“We specialize in thoughtful, chef-inspired dishes and chef-driven recipes,” says Southern Roots’ Chef de Cuisine, Agustin Echazarreta. “We are a local seafood restaurant and steak house. That is our focus, but we are more.”
Other chefs say Southern Roots is Echazarreta’s brainchild. “He is the man that makes the magic happen,” notes Executive Chef Mike Wehner, speaking about the restaurant renovated around the time of the resort’s 2018 remodeling.
But Echazarreta credits his team, including Executive Sous Chef Markus Hausler and Executive Pastry Chef Kimberly Lyons. Regardless of who does what, the winners are Southern Roots customers.
For this is more than a restaurant. It is an experience that begins at dusk.
“Our sunsets are gorgeous,” notes Hausler, referencing the view outside the restaurant’s panoramic windows. He continues with a smile, “Not only is the sight beautiful, it’s free.”
The menu is beautiful too. Echazarreta adds, “It is difficult to say what a favorite is but among the most popular, I would include our grouper, fresh from the Gulf.” How fresh? At times the fish on the plate was swimming 6 hours earlier. That fresh.
“I tell my servers, the fish are so fresh, they’re still smiling,” the chef says, laughing.
Freshness requires good connections with sources. “The Grand Hotel is a solid customer for our suppliers,” Echazarreta adds. “We work with trusted sources. They give their best of what they have because we have high standards.
“Over the years we built good relationships. In addition to our fish and meats, our produce is sourced from local farmers.”
Continuing with Southern Roots’ insider favorites, Echazarreta notes menu standouts. “Our grouper is served on yellow tomato, risotto with a basil crust on top. It’s a nice technique that complements the fish dish well.”
“My favorite is the tomato pie,” notes Wehner. “It’s a nice southern homey dish with fresh tomatoes and a mayonnaise and cheese crust on it.”
Other preferences include 12-hour braised lamb shoulder, grilled red snapper, beef tenderloin, ribeye steak, heritage beef tenderloin, and beef Wellington.
In addition to mainstays, there are seasonal dishes and daily specials in a menu that rotates throughout the year. “We are getting grouper in now,” reports Echazarreta. Beginning in March, “It will be available for about three months (through June). Everyone loves it. Our yellowfin tuna and pompano fish are standouts as well.” Again, it depends on the season. Call ahead for today’s special.
Finish the meal with dessert. Kimberly Lyons may hold the happiest job in Baldwin County. She is the Grand Hotel’s executive pastry chef.
“Our Dulcey bananas foster cake is my choice,” she says about the patron favorite. The culinary work of art includes Dulcey mousse, bananas foster sauce with vanilla ice cream, and a pecan crunch.
Three years ago as a test, the Dulcey bananas foster cake was placed on the menu. It never left. Today it rivals a Southern Roots’ and Grand Hotel’s signature dessert, bread pudding with whiskey sauce.
But gourmet dishes of legend are a part of Southern Roots, not the whole. Hospitality is the other part. “Everybody leaving here remembers the hospitality and many have unique stories,” says Wehner, pointing out the window at moms and dads holding their children’s hands, while strolling near the gentle breaking surf of Mobile Bay. “After or before dinner, many guests play games, stroll the boardwalks and make memories.”
He continues, “We have guests returning every year. Some told me, ‘I was raised at the Grand’.”
All four chefs agree that hospitality is who they are. “Good service is expected but hospitality is remembered,” Hausler notes. “Hospitality is what makes the Grand, grand.”
Like the hotel, the restaurant raises the bar on quality. The Grand’s visitors expect it. After all, this restaurant is part of a hotel with a guest list that has included Bob Hope, Margaret Thatcher, Dolly Parton, President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, the rock group Aerosmith, Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, President Jimmy Carter, Rev. Billy Graham, and Lawrence Welk, to name a few.
Now it’s your turn. Reservations are recommended.
Hotel with a Grand Heritage
Set on 550 acres of pristine beauty, The Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, Autograph Collection is one of Alabama’s, and indeed the nation’s, premier hotels. Through decades, the Point Clear resort complex has hosted U.S. Presidents, world leaders, movie stars, and families from across the nation. But there is more.
Built in 1847 as two-story lodging with 40 rooms, the Grand Hotel hosted guests who had the means of getting there, which was not easy. “Visitors arrived by steamboat for 50 years, before the Causeway Bridge connected Mobile and Baldwin County,” notes the Grand’s historian, Olivia Vacalis. “Over the early years, the Grand had many owners and many hardships.”
During the Civil War, the Grand served as a field hospital in 1863. “It served wounded soldiers from the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi,” Vacalis says. “Many of the injured, who died on the Grand’s site – hundreds of them – are buried at the nearby Point Clear Cemetery.”
Every evening at sunset, a staff member fires a cannon on the hotel grounds in recognition of war casualties who died in what is now the hotel.
During World War II, the Grand was the training grounds for 5,000 U.S. Army Air Force soldiers in Operation Ivory Soap. “The men knew how to fly planes but not how to use boats, needed to carry equipment and supplies,” notes Vacalis.
Project Ivory Soap was named for the training and its part in the floating depot project. Ivory soap, like
the depot, floats.
Over the years, numerous hurricanes have damaged and shut down the Grand. Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Frederic in 1979 each caused enough damage to close the Grand for months.
On August 29, 2018, after a three-year renovation encompassing the entire resort, the storied facility and campus were rebranded as The Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa.
