From running two wildly successful local restaurants and advocating for local charities to hosting extensive fundraising dinners with her celebrity chef husband and launching her own line of natural dog treats, Idie Hastings uses her culinary skills and business acumen to enrich Birmingham’s cultural and philanthropic fabric.

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Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham appear to have found a better way to grow shrimp that is also less expensive, and the new process could hold the key to unlocking future breakthroughs in environmental science, business and medicine.

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Ovenbird is the brainchild of James Beard Award-Winning chef Chris Hastings. The restaurant opens its doors for the first time Tuesday night.

It’s a more casual dining experience than the upscale Hot and Hot Fish Club made famous around the nation by Hastings’ acclaim.

“More people want access to great food. They just need to be able to afford it,” Hastings said.

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Like a lot of good stories, this one began around a campfire.

The Hastings family — Charles and his wife, Angelica, and their four kids, including Chris, the oldest — pitched their tents on the banks of the river that runs through North Carolina's primitive Linville Gorge Wilderness.

Chris, who was maybe 10 years old at the time, grilled a rainbow trout he had just caught over a wood fire.

It sparked a passion and a fascination that would only intensify over the years, as the boy grew into a man, and the campfire cook became a celebrated chef.

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If Chris Hastings turned superhero, he'd be Iron Man.

The iron-willed co-owner of Hot and Hot Fish Club, Hastings forged a national platform after winning a televised Iron Chef competition over uber-chef Bobby Flay. Hastings' new restaurant, Ovenbird, will pay tribute to Birmingham's iron-making past.

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