The executive chef of Alabama’s oldest restaurant is packing his knives for a short trip to the Florida Panhandle. Andreas Anastassakis, who runs the kitchen at the Bright Star in Bessemer, will cook two special dinners at Hunt’s Oyster Bar & Seafood in Panama City on November 17 and 18, with both seatings starting at 6:30 p.m.
The crossover event, first reported by AL.com, will bring a four-course menu built around chargrilled Greek oyster, a Village Greek salad, pecan-crusted snapper and baklava cheesecake to the Gulf Coast seafood spot. Tickets run $80 per person for the dinner alone, or $110 per person with wine pairings, according to the same report.
A Taste of Bessemer's Century-Old Kitchen
Anastassakis has deep roots at the Bright Star, having joined the restaurant’s management team in 2010, per the Bright Star’s own history page. That was the same year the restaurant’s owners, the Koikos brothers, accepted a James Beard American Classic Award on its behalf, as noted by Alabama NewsCenter. Today the restaurant is run by Nicky Koikos, Andreas Anastassakis and Stacey Craig, the history page states.
The Bright Star traces its roots to 1907, when it opened as a 12-seat bar in Bessemer, started by Tom Bonduris, the same history page notes. Sources differ on exactly when the restaurant settled into its current footprint: AL.com reports the move to its longtime perch on 19th Street North happened in 1925, while the restaurant’s own history page states it landed in its final location, as anchor tenant in the Realty Building, in 1915. The Bright Star has been recognized by the Alabama Tourism Department as the oldest restaurant in the state, and it still operates today at 304 19th St. North in Bessemer.
What's On the Menu in Panama City
Diners heading to the two-night event can expect a menu that leans into the Bright Star's Greek heritage, paired with Gulf seafood sourced near the restaurant's Florida host. The pecan-crusted snapper on the menu echoes the kind of volume the Bessemer kitchen is known for back home — the restaurant has averaged around 1,400 pounds of snapper a week, according to a 2017 report from Alabama NewsCenter.
Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood, the Panama City restaurant hosting Anastassakis, has its own long track record on the water. The restaurant, located in Historic St. Andrews, has served fresh Gulf seafood for more than 55 years and is counted as a signature stop on the Panama City Oyster Trail, according to Destination Panama City. The spot is a two-floor establishment with an upstairs deck overlooking St. Andrews Bay, the same source notes.
Not the Bright Star's First Road Trip
This isn't the first time the Bright Star kitchen has swapped chefs for a special occasion. The restaurant's annual Night in New Orleans event, which began in 1989, brought its 2026 edition back to Bessemer, according to Professional Southerner. That three-night tradition flips the format seen in Panama City: a New Orleans chef takes over the Bright Star kitchen in Bessemer and serves selections from a Crescent City restaurant, with Eric Cook having served as that event's chef since 2022, per the same outlet.
For the Panama City dinners, the Bright Star is essentially running that formula in reverse, sending its own chef out to a partner restaurant rather than hosting a visiting one. Diners interested in attending the November dinners can look to Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood for details on the two-night event, which marks a rare chance to sample Alabama's oldest restaurant without the drive to Bessemer.
