by Ann Cipperly
After working at nationally awarded Frank Stitt’s restaurants and heading another on the executive level, Chef Randall Baldwin and his wife Laura opened their own restaurant, Vintage 2298, in Auburn last fall. Chic ambiance with old brick and custom tables combined with a seasonal, upscale menu create a top-notch dining experience at one of the area’s newest restaurants.
Chef Randall developed a love of cooking at an early age from his mother in Saraland, located north of Mobile. His mother, Nancy Baldwin, was an excellent cook and prepared delicious meals for Randall and his siblings. She taught him how to make biscuits when he was 9 years old, and they cooked fish and Southern dishes together. When he was 16, his mother became ill, and he began cooking more using her recipes.
Randall attended the University of South Alabama for a year, but realized it wasn’t for him. He then joined the Marine Corps. Once his service ended, Randall wasn’t sure what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. “Then one day it finally came to me,” he says. “It just clicked. I was standing in the kitchen cooking for fun. I wanted to see if I could make a living doing it.”
He began working at the Adams Mark Hotel in Mobile, spending a year cutting vegetables, learning how to use a knife and watching other chefs. Before he left, he enjoyed preparing a meal for the staff.
Randall worked in a couple of small restaurants in Mobile before learning about the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. While there, he was able to secure an internship with Frank Stitt at his Birmingham restaurants. Randall was required to complete a four month internship, but he stayed for six months as he was enjoying it so much.
Chef Stitt has received many awards, including best chef and best restaurant for Highlands Bar and Grill from the James Beard Foundation.
After graduating from culinary school, Chef Stitt hired Randall. “With Frank you learn the techniques,” he says. “He was a great teacher. You learned how to cook, and he also teaches you how to conduct yourself as a professional in the kitchen. You learn how to humble yourself, be patient and learn.”
Chef Randall worked at Bottega, Chez Fon Fon and became kitchen manager at Highlands Bar and Grill where he worked for five years. He would go to the farmers market early in the morning to purchase products for all three of the restaurants.
He would take his oldest son with him as he enjoyed looking at the fresh fish.
“I always tell people working for that many years with Frank Stitt was like graduate school,” Chef Randall says, who not only enjoyed working for him, but also being a friend going to watch him play polo.
He left Stitt’s restaurant when he was offered the position as executive chef at Dyron’s Lowcountry in Mountain Brook. The restaurant had only been open a year. Chef Randall had full range of the kitchen and planning the menu. It was here that he found himself as a chef and stayed 12 years.
After 24 years working at restaurants in Birmingham, the chef and a friend tossed around the idea of opening a restaurant. Randall and Laura had been inspired by the Stitts and Powells at Dyron’s as couples operating a restaurant together.
Joey and Rosemary Pierson encouraged them to open their restaurant in Auburn. “We visited and both saw the potential of Auburn in the culinary field,” says Laura.
“We were wowed by the restaurants we visited and realized this would be a great fit for our dream.”
It took a year and a half to build Vintage 2298. The restaurant honors his mother with a brick archway in the kitchen like the one in her kitchen. A large picture of his mother hangs over the entrance to the open kitchen. The bread service table in the restaurant displays a few of her cookbooks.
In the main dining area, the ceiling soars 34 feet. A private room is available with one wall showcasing glass front wine storage. Deep blue upholstered chairs provide com- fortable seating. Handsome brick is from old warehouses in Chicago, IL.
The menu reflects his love of seafood from fishing when he was growing up near Mobile and also game dishes from enjoying hunting. He brings techniques learned from Frank Stitt, as well as French New Orleans style and Charleston Lowcountry influences to Vintage 2298.
The menu offers a wide variety of seafood, steaks, game, his mother’s fried chicken, among others. Along with beef tenderloin and ribeye, a Hanger steak is available from Bear Creek Farms in Tennessee. Vintage 2298 is one of three restaurants in Alabama to serve their steak.
Everything on the menu is made from scratch with fresh ingredients, and there are gluten free options. The menu changes daily and is posted on the website and social media in the afternoon. A children’s menu is available.
Alicia Martin is the pastry chef and creates a selection of yummy desserts.
Chef Randall and Laura, who have three young sons, enjoy working together at the restaurant. While the chef handles the kitchen, Laura keeps everything else running smoothly at the restaurant.
They are currently constructing a butcher shop next door to the restaurant where cheese, seafood and meats served at Vintage 2298 can be purchased.
“We love Auburn,” says Chef Randall, who came with his family to Auburn Tiger football games when he was growing up.
“Auburn has been great for us,” he adds. “It was a huge undertaking, and the process was long, but it has all been good experiences, and everyone has been supportive to us. Local chefs have been huge supporters, and the community has been fantastic.
“Everyone is welcome at Vintage 2298 to have a little taste and look into my childhood and the influences I have had this far.”
Dining at Vintage 2298
Amber lights glowed softly as we were seated with a view of the open kitchen. The bar on the opposite side of the room is framed in beams with golden highlights against the wall. Fresh flowers at the hostess stand, bar and on each table provide a lovely setting.
As soon as we were seated, a plate of mini corn muffins with creamy butter arrived, as we considered the innovative menu options.
Our table’s appetizers included hearty seafood gumbo and a tangy West Indies salad with champagne vinegar. Assorted seafood and Conecuh sausage richly flavored the perfectly spiced gumbo. A sampling of the crispy fried quail in a tender biscuit with pork belly also received thumbs up.
A wide selection of entrees include sea- food, tender steaks, venison and the chef’s mother’s buttermilk fried chicken, with each one having their own fresh sides.
Red snapper and shrimp mingling with white wine butter sauce was accompanied with grits and green beans, which were all exceptional, as well as succulent Hanger steak. The wood grilled steak was served over mashed potatoes with an immensely flavorful wine beef jus for an attractive presentation. Assorted fresh vegetables and pearl onions were laden along the side. Hanger steak is sometimes called “butch- er’s cut,” and the special cut is often kept by the butcher.
