Chris by Tamika.JPG

Chris Hastings, the executive chef and co-owner of Hot and Hot Fish Club, plans to open a new Birmingham restaurant called Ovenbird in the fall of 2014. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Birmingham chef Chris Hastings hasn't even started building his new restaurant, but it's already made Food & Wine magazine's list of 8 Amazing New Grill Restaurants in America.

The list appears in the June issue of the magazine, which is on newsstands now.

Hastings, who co-owns Hot and Hot Fish Club with his wife, Idie, told AL.com this morning that they are in the early stages of building a casual, rustic, 60-seat restaurant that will adjoin Charlie Thigpen's Garden Gallery at Pepper Place.

The restaurant, which will feature a wood-fired oven, will be called Ovenbird, named after the national bird of Argentina and Uruguay.

The menu will reflect Hastings' farm-to-table philosophy, incorporating local and seasonal Southern ingredients with the flame-grilled cooking styles of South America, Hastings said.

Hastings said Food & Wine contacted him about his new restaurant several months ago, and at the time, he thought it would be open this summer. Now, though, it looks more like November, he said.

He is still awaiting a building permit, and once that is approved, the restaurant should open in another 16 to 18 weeks, he said.

"Ovenbird is a reality," Hastings said. "It is not an 'if' question. It is a 'when' question."

The menu will feature small-plate meals that will encourage diners to pick and choose from a number of selections, he said.

"It will be a place to go for a quick bite to eat and a glass of wine -- no reservations," he said. "It's going to be very unique, certainly for Birmingham."

The restaurant will be nestled in the gardens and bordered by the wrought-iron fence outside Charlie Thingpen's Garden Gallery.

To see the complete Food & Wine list of 8 Amazing New Grill Restaurants, go here.