By Donna Cornelius
Jay Roberson’s restaurant, Capers on Park Avenue, has been open for only a few months. But years ago, Roberson spent a lot of time in the building where he now serves his own versions of Southern-style food.
These days, he’s on the other side of the serving line.
Capers is in what once was the lunchroom of the old Bluff Park Elementary School, which Roberson and his siblings all attended.
His new eatery “took me back to school,” he said.
The chef is at home in the kitchen for other reasons, too. His culinary resume includes jobs at The Summit Club in downtown Birmingham, at Riverchase Country Club and for the city of Pelham. He and his wife, Lynne, also owned Capers Comfort Foods, a previous incarnation of the restaurant he owns now at Artists on the Bluff in Hoover.
Roberson said his fascination with food goes back to his childhood.
“One of my grandfathers sold produce and furniture,” he said. “My other grandfather worked at Blue Cross, but he’d get up at 4 a.m. to make biscuits to take to work.”
His mother, Sandy Roberson, “is a great cook, too,” he said. “She lives about a mile from here. She volunteers here at the restaurant sometimes.”
Roberson said he got hooked on the idea of a career in food when he was working as kitchen manager at Incahoots, a Greek food sports bar in Birmingham. He became a culinary apprentice at Jefferson State Community College – and that’s where he met his future wife.
“I remember we had a wedding cake-making competition at Jeff State, and I came in first and she came in second,” Roberson said, smiling.
The chef said working at The Summit Club helped him sharpen and expand his cooking skills.
“There was this crazy French chef who barely spoke English, and he had a sous chef for years who spoke Spanish and French,” Roberson said. “I knew how to filet fish and how to do short-order cooking. I’d been making soups – I could do four – and quiches at Incahoots.
“But this was fine dining – caviar, smoked salmon. The vegetables were all carved. The chef used French techniques.”
That job led to his next position. A Summit Club member who also was a Riverchase Country Club member approached him about coming to work for the country club, he said.
“I spent nine years there, and it was a wonderful job,” Roberson said. “When you work at a country club, you kind of get to help raise the members’ kids.”
He and his wife opened Capers Comfort Foods in Alabaster in 2003.
“My wife chose the restaurant’s name,” he said. “We love caper berries and little Mediterranean capers. At The Summit Club, the chef put them in everything.
“The first Capers was pretty much the same as this Capers. We were near a hospital, so everybody got food to go. We got everybody from CEOs to truck drivers and train conductors.”
When Roberson’s brother-in-law, who owned the building where Capers Comfort Foods was housed, decided to sell it, the couple opted not to reopen in another location. They went to work in 2009 for the city of Pelham, Jay as executive chef and Lynne as catering director.
Roberson got back into the restaurant business when Artists on the Bluff – which houses artists’ studios, teaching spaces and offices – approached him about opening an eatery there.
Capers serves lunch cafeteria-style.
“We have five or six entrees, fresh vegetables, and cobblers and pies,” Roberson said. “We’ve got our catering back up, too.
“We try to keep it simple. We have Southern-style food with lots of flavor. We don’t cook with a lot of fat and bacon grease. We use minimal salt, and kosher salt only.”
While Capers offers traditional dishes such as macaroni and cheese and turnip greens, diners might find Creole, Cajun and even Indian cookery on the menu.
“Chef Harold Simmons does the hot foods,” Roberson said. “I do the cold foods and the desserts – raspberry swirl, vanilla bean and chocolate cheesecake and a candy bar crunch pie.”
The menu changes daily. Lauren Mayfield, who handles the business aspect of the restaurant, posts the lineup on Facebook every day.
Mayfield, the Robersons’ goddaughter, is a Homewood High School and UAB graduate.
“Lots of my old high school teachers and my old principal have come here to eat,” she said.
The UAB graduate said being part of Artists on the Bluff not only brings in visitors to the facility but gives Capers a constantly changing, creative atmosphere.
“The artists display some of their work here, so we don’t have to worry about décor,” Mayfield said, adding that everything on the walls and shelves is for sale.
Bluff Park resident Sue Hamilton recently was at Capers to get a take-home plate. She said she thought the restaurant was a good fit for the neighborhood.
“We really needed another eating place in Bluff Park,” Hamilton said. “This is such an eclectic area, like a small town. And I’m so glad they’re using this building.”
Capers is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
“Sunday is our busiest day,” Roberson said. “We usually serve from 250 to 300 people.”
The holiday season is likely to be hectic at Capers, too, the chef said. The restaurant will offer Thanksgiving meals to go.
“It’s cornbread dressing for the masses,” he said, smiling. “We may close that week so we can work on all the orders.”
Capers is at 571 Park Ave. in Hoover’s Bluff Park neighborhood. For more information, visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.
