About

ABOUT

The Wheelhouse Story

The restaurant stands on what was known as “the Donaldson Block,” as the block was owned by leading Opp businessman M.E. Donaldson. On November 8, 1923, M.E. started building the Donaldson Hotel, where the restaurant currently resides. It was built by T.P. Winston, owner of Opp Building Supply, who was a 3-term mayor of Opp and who also built First Methodist Church, First Baptist Church, the original Church of Christ, as well as the Dean’s Pharmacy Building.

According to local newspapers and historical documents, there is no date on when the Donaldson Hotel opened, but on January 31, 1924 Opp Weekly had a headline “NEW DONALDSON HOTEL OVERFLOWING”, “45 Register Tuesday Night” and how customers were being turned away, as the 30 bedroom hotel was full every night.

The Donaldson Hotel also housed Opp’s first beauty parlor and was the site for the South Alabama Dental Association meetings which included several banquets and even an orchestra and gained fame for serving 4 course dinners.

Sadly, on December 30, 1930, fire destroyed the Donaldson Block, which included the Hotel Barber Shop, Bowling Alley, Ward Hardware and Finley & Company Warehouse. No guests were in the hotel as it had been closed recently.

Several months later M.E. Donaldson received a contract to build Opp’s new Post Office in place of where the Donaldson Hotel stood. It was completed on July 1, 1931 according to Opp Postmaster A.R. Woodham, who was Palmer and Davis Nelson’s Grandfather, which is who the Wheelhouse purchased the building from.

On May 19, 1932 the Scofield Bakery was purchased by R.A. McLean and was moved into the Donaldson Building beside the post office where the former Spuds Café was located. J.D. Scofield was the former owner of the bakery and remained as manager and later relocated the bakery to Main Street.

Eventually in 1940 the post office and shops were relocated to make room for the peanut butter plant owned by Paulk Products Inc and the announcement was made by I.J. King who was the plant manager and H.B. Paulk, of Paulk grocery Company would head the company and began operation on June 3, 1940.

A few years later, on April 17, 1943, Paulk Products sold to Blue Plate Foods, Inc and Blue Plate moved its Mississippi Peanut Butter Plant to Opp, which doubled the capacity of Opp and occupied the entire Donaldson Building.

Fast forward to April 17, 2019, exactly 76 years when the two childhood friends, Merrill Culverhouse and Jon Gibson came up with a concept and started discussing the layout, menu and name.

Culverhouse had the original idea back in his college days and always wanting to open a restaurant, but the dream started to take shape in 2017 when Opp’s Mayor Becky Bracke held a town hall type meeting of concerned citizens about ways to improve Opp and get it back on track for a prosperous future. Culverhouse left the meeting he felt like it was time for him to act. He discussed the idea with his wife Susan and after considerable debate, she agreed, but under one condition. That’s only if Chef Jon Gibson would agree to partner up with them. He contacted Chef Jon and after several months of discussions, Chef Jon agreed to come on board.

“Two Coats, One Vison”

While each wears a different “style” of coat, they each have vision.

Culverhouse wears a pharmacist lab coat and Gibson wears a Chef coat.

Culverhouse and Jon grew up in the same neighborhood, went to church and school together and he is an accomplished Chef. Gibson brings with him years of culinary experience from all parts of the United States and Europe and has the credentials and celebrity status to attract patrons from all over the United States.

After of few weeks of trying to agree on a name, they finally agreed upon “Wheelhouse”. Why “Wheelhouse”? Gibson came up with three reasons for the name. Opp was founded because of the railroad and “wheelhouse” in railroad terms means a device which allows train cars or wagons to turn around or switch tracks…which is the focus of Opp’s administration and the DRA (Downtown Redevelopment Authority) to turn Opp around and make it a better place to live, work, play and raise a family. Then Gibson’s several years of preparing seafood and fishing on the east, west and Gulf coast. Wheelhouse meaning part of the boat serving as shelter for the person at the wheel. Finally, wheelhouse referring to a batter’s strike zone most likely to produce a homerun.

With the opening of “Wheelhouse”, Culverhouse and Gibson want to offer an option to keep Opp residents dining in Opp, but also attract people from surrounding areas and making Opp a location destination.

Wheelhouse Mission Statement:

To be one of South Alabama’s restaurants of choice for our guests and to be the employer of choice for employees. We want to share in the benefits we receive by giving back to our local community and people.

CHEF JON GIBSON

Name: Jon W. Gibson

Hometown: Opp, Alabama

Restaurant: Wheelhouse

Position: Executive Chef

Chef Gibson is an award winning Chef, entrepreneur, TV personality and World Food Championship competitor, who hails from Opp, Alabama. He is known from his appearances on “Beach Eats” with Curtis Stone on Food Network, “Beach Bites” with Katie Lee on the Cooking Channel and has worked with Cat Cora and Guy Fieri at the L.A. Food and Wine Festival in Los Angeles, CA. He has also made several appearances performing cooking demonstrations on national and local TV, as well as having recipes published in the L.A. Times, Costal Magazine, Southern Living and other publications.

He grew up in Opp learning how to cook from his mother and grandmother and it wasn’t until he started traveling around the U.S. and overseas, is when his passion for cooking and food ignited. He returned to the U.S. where he received his formal culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu and continued his passion.

While he was in Southern California as the Executive Chef of The Beachcomber Café at Crystal Cove, he became a driving force in Californian Coastal and Southern Cutting-Edge Cuisine in Orange/LA County and was labeled “King of Coastal Cuisine” in Orange County. Chef Gibson's southern culture, extensive travel across the U.S. and Europe, classic French culinary training and access to the best local ingredients added a new dimension and twist on comfort food and coastal cuisine. “I prefer to call it coastal comfort cuisine. This is when I take comfort food that you or I grew up with and put a different spin on them but staying true to the ingredients inside the dish itself.” Using all of his talents and experiences and the setting of being on the beach, Chef Gibson brought coastal cuisine to a different light with subtle touches of Southern, Pacific Rim, Southwest, and European cuisines incorporated into his menu’s that he changes every six months to reflect the use of fresh seasonal ingredients.

In 2017 Chef Gibson was awarded Wild American Shrimp “Chef of the Year” and “Admiral for Advocacy” from the American Shrimpers Association is also a Chef Advocate for Monterey Bay Aquarium for the use of Sustainable Seafood and Gulf Seafood. He has also worked with the NUISANCE Group as a participating Chef and advocate for education and use of invasive species.

Chef Gibson’s passion and aggressive approach in regard to cooking, food, sustainability and protection of our coastal waters and environment has earned him the nickname “Guerrilla Chef”.