Some people were born to be restaurateurs. Count Bo Hamilton, owner of Ox Kitchen Fairhope, and newly opened Ox Kitchen Pensacola, located at The Garden at Palafox and Main, as one of them. Both restaurants serve a limited menu, including a perfect burger. Bo’s food philosophy is simple, fresh, and delicious, and his story is an interesting one. 

Born in Birmingham, Bo graduated from Mountain Brook High School and earned a degree in General Business at Auburn. He tells me he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after college, but after a couple of summers in Colorado and Wyoming, he started on a culinary path. During the summers, he gained experience at two dude ranches out west, by being assigned to the kitchen and helping the chefs prepare meals for guests. 

When Bo returned to Auburn, he continued learning culinary skills at Terracotta, a high-end restaurant where his friend was the head chef and CIA trained. After college, Bo owned and worked at J. Williams, a fine dining establishment in Auburn. After three and a half years, he and his partner sold the business, and Bo was back in the job market.

He worked with Dunn Construction in Birmingham as a project manager for seven years. Along the way, Bo met Molly, from Oxford, Mississippi, and they married in 2010. In the meantime, Molly enrolled in Nursing School and became a Labor & Delivery RN.

The call of the West continued to weigh on Bo’s mind. His love for fly-fishing on the Snake and Hoback Rivers, and hiking, climbing, backpacking, and skiing the mountain ranges of the Rockies beckoned. After he and Molly married in Teton Valley, ID, they decided to leave Birmingham in 2012 and moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He worked again in the construction industry, while Molly worked in Labor Delivery at a local hospital.

When the company Bo worked for failed to meet his expectations during the off-season, he felt it was a sign to find another career path. This led him to begin selling high-end food products to reputable dining establishments in Jackson Hole. He quickly became friends with many of the local chefs, and since Molly worked evenings at the hospital, Bo decided to moonlight at the area’s professional, well-run restaurants to learn all he could about managing and operating a fine dining kitchen. 

“I understood the back side of selling premium food products from my experience selling quality meats to restaurants. And, I had the experience of owning J. Williams in Auburn. I knew I wanted to work for myself and open a restaurant one day, so I told Molly, “I need to quit what I’m doing and work for a really good chef.”

He got a job with the best chef in the area, Kevin Humphries, at The Sour in Jackson Hole. “I had references from my chef friends, and this was an opportunity to learn from the best. Kevin is a great chef, is very organized, and agreed to take me on. I started the week after Thanksgiving, and he gave me one month to figure out how to run a kitchen. It was winter, and insanely busy, but I made it.” 

Bo says Kevin was aware that he wanted to go out on his own one day. As a Sous Chef, he learned to run the kitchen. “It was a rough crew, but Kevin, who is from St. Simon’s Island, is a good teacher and a better person. He knew I wanted to do my own thing one day, and helped me get started.” 

Molly and Bo spent five years in Jackson, Wyoming, and had their first child there. The urge to move closer to home and family made them consider where they wanted to land. They thought about Oxford, Chattanooga, and the mountains of western North Carolina, but ultimately it was the Gulf Coast and Fairhope that won out.

They attended a family wedding and spent five days in Fairhope. “We wanted to live somewhere small with good schools and churches to raise our family, and knew this was the place.” They moved to Fairhope in October 2017. 

The concept for Ox Kitchen is elevated bar food, a mix of high-end and casual fare. With a background in fine meats and produce, Bo wanted to keep it as simple and affordable as possible, while preparing everything made from scratch from fresh ingredients. “We had to have a great burger, so I experimented a lot to come up with the perfect cheeseburger.” 

Bo opened Ox Kitchen, named after Molly’s hometown, at The Mill in Fairhope in April 2017, and operated there for 5 years. He started with a small menu at first and slowly expanded. He tells me all the growth has been organic, and they have always been profitable. His philosophy is,  “Treat your people and your customers well, and serve good food at a good price.” 

In March 2022, Ox Kitchen moved to Greeno Road, across the street from Thomas Hospital in the old Market by the Bay location. He did a lot of renovation and added a courtyard in the back and expanded the menu. Bo tells me it has been a learning process from the beginning. “Everything sells well,” he says. “The Ox Burger is the top seller, with tons of wings, shrimp tacos, and lots of salads.”

Earlier this year, Bo added a second location in Pensacola at The Garden, a food truck concept with several vendors on Palafox Street. “Pensacola has a very good food scene. The idea is to see if this is replicable for expansion. This restaurant is extremely simple, operating from an Airstream. I believe in slow, organic growth. So far, the Pensacola location is doing well.”

Having moved around quite a bit, Bo tells me this is the first time he and Molly have felt settled. Now with three kids aged 9, 6, and 4, they feel they are in the right place to raise their family. When I ask about future growth, he tells me that the important thing is to spend time with his family. 

When the opportunity to travel arises, he says he still loves to head west to National Parks like Zion, Bryce Canyon, Glacier, Arches, and Canyonlands. He mentions Sedona, AZ, and Lake Powell as two favorite places to visit, but especially the Wind River Range. I agree. We live in a spectacular country, but there is no place like home.

I eat at Ox Kitchen often and have always had a great experience. The food is fresh and favorable, especially the salads. Bo is a really good guy and seems to have his priorities in order. Give Ox Kitchen a try in Fairhope or Pensacola, and let us know how you liked it.

Thanks, Bo. Good luck!