Over three nights, about 1,500 guests will stream through Alabama’s iconic Bright Star for the 117-year-old Bessemer restaurant’s annual Night in New Orleans celebration.
Both behind the scenes and at the front of the house, the person who makes sure that no detail goes unchecked and that every guest leaves happy is a 30-year veteran at the restaurant who worked her first New Orleans event there in 1995.
For Sonya Twitty, who started as a cashier at the Bright Star and now serves as the general manager, it’s like Mardi Gras in August.
“Jimmy wanted this event so that people can enjoy New Orleans, which was a city that he loved,” Twitty says of Jimmy Koikos, the late co-owner of the Bright Star and the man who hired her.
“Not everyone has the luxury to be able to travel and go to these different restaurants, so he wanted to bring it to them.”
Over its 35-year history, the Bright Star’s NOLA-themed event has brought some of the Big Easy’s top chefs -- including Commander’s Palace legends Jamie Shannon, Tory McPhail and Thomas Robey -- to Bessemer.
This year, Eric Cook, the executive chef and owner of the New Orleans restaurants Gris-Gris and Saint John, and Bradley Marshall, Cook’s executive sous chef at Gris-Gris, return to headline the event for the third straight year. The three-night event takes place Aug. 1-3.
“Jimmy was a great relationship-builder,” Andreas Anastassakis, the Bright Star’s executive chef and co-owner and a cousin of Jimmy Koikos and his brother Nicky Koikos, says.
“Jimmy is the one who created the relationship with Jamie Shannon and started the event, but once he created that relationship, Jimmy had to hand it off to someone to do the legwork. And Sonya has always been that person.”
RELATED: How an annual New Orleans tradition began at the Bright Star
Twitty is the one who makes sure the chefs have everything they need – from booking their hotel rooms to stocking the kitchen cooler with their favorite flavor of Gatorade.
“If they ever mentioned to Jimmy that they liked something, it was there,” Twitty says. “And that was my job to talk to them and find out what they liked and make sure they had it and didn’t have to ask for it.”
Night in New Orleans is a Bright Star tradition that began in 1989. The 2024 event takes place Aug. 1-3. (Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)
Hired on the spot
Twitty was 21 years old when her friend and longtime Bright Star server Brenda “B.J.” Salser told her that the restaurant had an opening to replace its beloved cashier, Carrie Lee LeFurgey, who was retiring after about 40 years.
“Those were some really big shoes to fill,” Twitty recalls. “Miss Carrie had been here for so long and knew everyone.
“I was nervous because I knew nothing about the Bright Star,” Twitty adds. “I came in and I interviewed with Mr. Jimmy, and they hired me right there on the spot.”
Twitty started that April, and a few weeks later, she passed her first big test on Mother’s Day, the busiest day of the year at the Bright Star.
“I’m gonna tell you, that was quite a day,” she says. “I remember they were laughing and said, ‘Well, if she survives this, she’ll come back. If she doesn’t come back, we know she doesn’t have what it takes.’
“But I did. I came on back, and I’ve been here ever since.”
The next year, Koikos hand-picked Twitty to coordinate the New Orleans event, and he put her in charge of everything from printing the menus to scheduling TV interviews for the guest chefs.
In the years since, Twitty has gone from cashier to bar manager to general manager at the Bright Star.
“She was a young lady when she started working here, and now she’s the general manager of the restaurant,” Anastassakis says.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to step back and appreciate what she’s done in the background to help get the Bright Star where it is because, without people like her, we wouldn’t be 117 years old.”
The late Jimmy Koikos, right, started the Bright Star's annual New Orleans-themed event because he wanted his customers to get a taste of his favorite city. Koikos, pictured here with his younger brother, Nicky Koikos, died in 2019, but the New Orleans tradiion lives on at the 117-year-old restaurant. (Birmingham News file/ Mark Almond) bn
Taking care of Jimmy’s ‘baby’
While her other duties have evolved over her 30 years at the Bright Star, Twitty remains the point person for the Night in New Orleans every year.
It is a responsibility that she doesn’t take lightly.
“I’ve had the opportunity and the pleasure of meeting some of the greatest people in their field,” she says. “The chefs that I have come to know are just the top of the chef’s tier.
RELATED: Remembering the Bright Star’s Jimmy Koikos
“And it’s quite humbling to know these people, these chefs, take time out of their busy schedules to come to Bessemer, Ala., to the Bright Star -- of which some of them had never heard of until they came here -- and cook for three days and give it their all and teach our staff the things that they know,” she adds.
“It’s just an extreme honor, and I’ve always put 200 percent into it because Jimmy believed in this so much. We cannot say it enough: This was his baby, and I never wanted to disappoint Jimmy.”
The Bright Star’s annual Night in New Orleans takes place Aug. 1-3, 2024. The restaurant is at 304 19th St. North in Bessemer, Ala. The phone is 205-424-9444. For reservations and more information, go here.
