Crafting Community through Cuisine: Stuart Stone's Vision for Freddy's Bistro

Is it possible to create a dining experience that combines the vibrant flavors of French street food with a warm, community-centered atmosphere? Join me, Patricia Blondheim, as I sit down with Stuart Stone, the co-owner of Freddy's Bistro and Wine Bar, to uncover the magic behind this beloved local gem. Stuart and his father have transformed their civil engineering and construction backgrounds into a culinary adventure that has delighted patrons on Highland Avenue for over six years. Now, with their new location in Homewood, Freddy's continues to charm guests with locally sourced ingredients, artisanal charcuterie, and a menu that caters to both light and hearty appetites.

During our conversation, Stuart shares the inspirations and challenges that shaped Freddy's, revealing how a passion for quality food and an inviting atmosphere can redefine dining. From crepes and tarts to classic cocktails, Freddy's offers a dining experience reminiscent of leisurely European evenings—perfect for a light meal before a night out or a quick, exquisite dinner with friends. Tune in to discover how Freddy's is filling a unique niche in our community, providing a place where great food and great company come together seamlessly. #GNPBirmingham #FreddysBistro #FreddysBistroandBar #BirminghamFoodies #HomewoodFoodies #HomewoodRestaurants #EatLocal #FineDining #HomewoodDining #RossBridge #RossBridgeDining #BirminghamWine #HomewoodEats #HomewoodFineDining

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we have good neighbor Stuart Stone. Stuart Stone and his father are partners at Freddy's Bistro and Wine Bar on Highland Avenue and they have a new location in Humwood. Stuart, how are you today? I'm great. How about you? I'm doing great, thank you, and I'm really curious to know more about Freddy's Bistro and Wine Bar.

Speaker 3: 0:40

Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it and giving us a chance to talk about our business. We've been open for about six and a half years on Highland Avenue. Freddy's is the original name of Freddy's Wine Bar, but a bit of a misnomer. We are a full-service restaurant and bar. We do cocktails on a little more French smaller plate I shouldn't say small plate, but French street food. I'll call it crepes and tarts and tartines. That kind of Food, fair and classical cocktails. And then we've got a new location now open in Homewood. It's Freddy's Freddy's Bistro that we opened a few weeks ago. Same kind of menu, same kind of feel, just a new space, new neighborhood.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Well, this is how I picture it in my head, Stuart. I picture it like I've spent some time in Europe. It in my head, Stuart. I picture it like I've spent some time in Europe and it was fairly common to be able to sit down with endless glasses of wine sometimes, or cocktails and have sort of elevated small plates. That was just the way it was right there. The complete, a complete departure, I think, from the way we think of dining here, but so great and enlivening and fun and varied. Is that a correct interpretation of Freddie's Wine Bar and Bistro?

Speaker 3: 2:16

I would say that that is spot on. We like to think of ourselves as a very casual, lighthearted, fun atmosphere type place where you've got really good food. It's not going to break the bank. You want to come in for a quick, easy dinner with a couple of glasses of wine, or an old-fashioned glass of wine, that kind of thing. That's what we do really well is just a lighter, quicker, nice but still high-quality dinner. We bring in local farmers for our produce. We've got really nice charcuterie and meats and pork, things like that.

Speaker 2: 3:08

It sounds like it would be a perfect pre-event gathering place for your girlfriends, before you go to the show. You don't want to have that big, huge meal, but you want to have something delicious and really that contributes to your social gathering, and that was my experience in Europe. I loved it. Is that that's the kind of place I think that there's a big hole in our marketplace that is not filled by that. You can go to a restaurant and you can get a big meal that's too big for you to eat and you have to ask for a box to take half of it home which you don't eat. I put it in my um, put it in what I call my, my cold museum, which is my refrigerator. But, um, I love the idea of being able to taste all kinds of different things when I sit down, and so I feel like this is the place for that that.

Speaker 3: 4:03

That I would agree. That's kind of what we set out for from the get-go was to be that kind of gathering place, community oriented and you know, be it an after dinner, after work drink or an after dinner drink, and you know, meat and cheese, charcuterie, platters and at the same time, if you want to get wind up, stay in and have a little heavier meal, we've got the. You know enough variety and and type of food product that we can. You can do that.

Speaker 2: 4:43

Oh, it sounds like perfection. How did you dream this up? What was your journey?

Speaker 3: 4:48

Gosh, so it's a little bit strange. I went to Auburn to study civil engineering. I started working with my father out of college and started with him in 2010 in construction and it was the bottom of the recession and I absolutely hated it. I'd grown up thinking that I was going to be a contractor after a good building.

Speaker 3: 5:20

Got into it and it was like this is not what I want to do. And I was blessed enough to have my father never put any pressure on me to do construction, didn't say that this is how it's going to be, and kind of went to him and we both grew up loving to cook and hosting. When I was in college and after college, everybody came to my house and I would cook and I would do the you know wine pairings for everybody. Came to my house and I would cook and I would do the you know wine pairings for everybody. And and uh, just kind of something that we've uh always loved doing, one of those um, you know, if you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life type things. And and and both of us were we said, all right, well, we're not going to do construction, what are we thinking?

Speaker 3: 6:04

And we traveled to Europe a lot, growing up and seeing those kinds of cafes and bistros over there along the streets of Florence and Siena in Italy, and Paris and, and you know, down in Leon and where the I mean the food capital of the world, and said, all right, well, let's give it a try. And we did a small cafe downtown that was a block off of 20th Street, a block off of Second Avenue and might as well have been in, you know, anniston. Basically it was so far off the beaten path that didn't go so well, but we kind of got the itch and said, ok, well, let's try one more. And we found the space on Highland Avenue in the ground level of the Highland Towers that had been vacant for a while and knew the owner of the building and said here's what we want to do. And he said let's do it.

Speaker 3: 7:09

And that was January. We opened January 15th of 2018. And kind of, the rest is history. We named it Freddy's my Dog. That was my standard poodle and we figured he deserved a little bit of recognition.

Speaker 2: 7:32

A lot of people don't know about that experience here in America. Unless you've gone to Europe, you don't know about it, so a lot of people might come in with misconceptions about what they're going to experience when they go to Freddy's Wine Bar. Do you ever encounter those?

Speaker 3: 7:48

they're going to experience when they go to Freddy's Wine Bar. Do you ever encounter those we have in the past? But at this point we've kind of it's something we've talked to our staff about is making sure that, no matter what people feel at home, hospitality is a very important thing. To me. We try to build that into our culture in the entire business. Every time, whenever we have somebody start with us, I tell them you know, one main thing is that you know, not everybody's going to like our food or our wine or the cocktail. We can't control that every time. Only thing that we can't control is our hospitality and making people feel like they are heard and listened to and respected and at home in our establishments. And that's something that you get over in Europe at those cafes, because a lot of them are family owned and they've got the entire family there working, you know.

Speaker 3: 8:56

Yeah, I'm going to stop you right here.

Speaker 2: 8:58

I'm going to stop you. Yeah, we're going to make another edit, because what I don't want to go out Hold on, what I don't want to go out is that I heard you say there are going to be people here who don't like our food and don't like our cocktails, and I don't want that to go out. Gotcha, okay. So let's start again with you know, misconceptions might people might have, and then do what you did, but just don't say the thing about people not liking it, because that would be extrapolated gotcha right um so, uh, all right, can you?

Speaker 2: 9:38

yeah, yeah. People might come in and not know what to what to expect from your restaurant. I mean, it's very different. How do you handle those misconceptions?

Speaker 3: 9:50

Well, we don't run into that too much now, after having been open for as long as we have, but it's something that we talk to our staff about. Is that, you know, we preach and focus and build our culture around hospitality and making people feel at home, and that's just something that, to me, you can. If you can do that, you can overcome any misconception, any kind of fear, I guess, of something different, something new. And you know, it kind of ties back to with the cafes and bistros in Europe. They're all family owned and they've got mom and dad in the kitchen and son and daughter are working the floor and and that's just but to your what. They're welcoming you into what is their home, and that's kind of the way that we want people to feel when they come to freddy's. This is, um, a place to be at home and and feel comfortable and just enjoy your time there. That's that the main thing, that's the most important thing that we can do.

Speaker 2: 11:09

Well, I'm in, stuart, I'm in, I'm ready for this experience. How can our listeners who want to try something really, really great, how can they get a hold of you, find you, contact you?

Speaker 3: 11:22

So our website is freddysbhamcom, f-r-e-d-d-y-s-b-h-a-mcom, and that's got uh links to our menus and our phone numbers for both locations. Uh, we're on highland avenue and oxmoor uh road um and open every. We're open right now, tuesday through Saturday, both locations at four o'clock.

Speaker 2: 11:49

Wonderful Stuart. Thank you so much for coming by and sharing Freddy's with us. It's been a pleasure getting to know you.

Speaker 3: 11:57

Thank you so much. Same here. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.