Bistro V sizzles at Oyster Cook-Off

Jeremy Downey, owner and lead chef at Bistro V,  hadn’t broken through in a handful of trips to the Oyster Cook-Off in Gulf Shores. 

That changed Nov. 4. 

Bistro V won the Chef’s Choice award for its various oyster concoctions at the esteemed culinary competition. Downey and assistant chef Matt Foust bested more than 35 teams from across the Southeast, securing a $1,000 check, a trophy and yearlong bragging rights. 

“All the hard work paid off,” Downey said. “It was cool to see a Birmingham team actually get in there and make some noise.” 

Downey and Foust prepared three different styles of oysters — raw, Rockefeller and Cajun — and won based on the aggregate score. Bistro V’s Rockefeller dish, for example, featured creamed collard greens, pecorino cheese, homemade bread crumbs and a house butter infused with Tabasco, garlic, horseradish and Worcestershire sauce. 

A panel of judges, which included celebrity chefs from the TV program “Food Network Star,” deemed Bistro V’s combination of flavor, presentation and creativity as the class of the field. 

“It’s super hard to win because a lot of local teams are down there in Gulf Shores,” Downey said. “They tend to be hard to beat because they do a lot of oysters down there.” 

Downey said he planned to place all three award-winning oyster dishes on Bistro V’s menu before the start of the new year. He also intends to defend his title at the 2018 Oyster Cook-Off. Bistro V is located at 521 Montgomery Hwy. and is open for lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday. For more information, call 823-1505.