The first Alabama location of a South Carolina barbecue restaurant founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Rodney Scott will be in Birmingham's Avondale area, Scott's business partner, Nick Pihakis, told AL.com this morning.

Rodney Scott's BBQ, which opened its original location in Charleston, S.C., in 2017, will open a second restaurant in the current location of Saigon Noodle House, which will close at the end of this week, Pihakis said.

"Winning the James Beard Award, I think (Scott) fits in that neighborhood really well," Pihakis said today. "(We) love the neighborhood."

Both Saigon Noodle House and Rodney Scott's BBQ are part of the Pihakis Restaurant Group, whose portfolio also includes Big Bad Breakfast, Little Donkey, Hero Doughnuts and Mile End Delicatessen.

The Saigon Noodle House space, at 3719 Third Avenue South, will undergo a few cosmetic changes, but the major project will be the construction of a cinder-block smokehouse, Pihakis said.

"We've already got an architect," he said. "We've already got all of the design stuff done. . . . We don't have to do a whole lot on the inside."

After permits are approved, Pihakis added, Rodney Scott's BBQ could be ready to open by late October.

Scott and Pihakis first announced plans to open a restaurant in Birmingham in May.

All current employees of the Third Avenue South location of Saigon Noodle House will be offered positions at other Pihakis Restaurant Group restaurants, Pihakis said.

"We don't want them to be unemployed," Pihakis said. "We want to keep them."

The original Saigon Noodle House on U.S. 280 will remain open.

One of the South's most respected barbecue pitmasters, Rodney Scott grew up in his parents Roosevelt and Ella Scott's barbecue joint, Scott's Bar-B-Que, in Hemingway, S.C., and he started working there full-time nearly 30 years ago, when he was 17. He cut and split his own firewood, and then came back and worked the barbecue pit from late at night until well into the morning.

In February 2017, with encouragement and backing from Pihakis, Scott opened his own Rodney Scott's BBQ in Charleston, S.C.

This May, Scott won the James Beard Award for best chef Southeast, the first African-American to win the Southeast chef award and only the second barbecue cook to win a chef award from the James Beard Foundation.

Also, earlier this month, Food & Wine magazine included Rodney Scott's BBQ on its list of The 40 Most Important Restaurants of the Past 40 Years, a list that also includes Birmingham's Highlands Bar and Grill.

Scott and Pihakis first became friends after they were introduced by John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and Pihakis recruited Scott to cook for a dinner during the Charleston Wine + Food Festival about eight years ago.

"He helped me on occasion, and I helped him," Scott said in an earlier interview with AL.com. "It grew into this relationship that was more than just two businessmen. We're like brothers. Nick was the best man at my wedding."

The menu at Rodney Scott's BBQ features slow-smoked whole hog barbecue, ribs and chicken served with Scott's vinegar-based sauce, along with such sides as collard greens, hush puppies, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, and banana pudding for dessert.

The Birmingham location will employ about 40 people, Pihakis said.

Pihakis, the CEO and president of the Pihakis Restaurant Group, co-founded Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q with his father, Jim Pihakis in 1985. Jim 'N Nick's, which has grown to include nearly 40 restaurants in seven states, was acquired by an Atlanta-based private equity group in 2017.

Pihakis remains an investor in Jim 'N Nick's and serves on the board of directors.