Triad City Bites February 2018 — Kau changes the game

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FEBRUARY 2019

Changing the game

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Also featured in this month’s Issue: Carnivoria!

Dinner Guest

6th and Vine $-$$

Slow roast on me

I

t started out innocently enough: a nice, fat chuck roast that I threw into the crock pot with some potatoes, onions, celery, garlic and a little stock. It was ready to go by the time everyby Brian Clarey body got home, and the kids devoured it, which just never happens.

So I started spending more time plumbing the depths of the butcher case, which I have been more or less avoiding since I married a vegetarian — now vegan — almost 20 years ago. Our oldest child didn’t taste a pork chop until he was four years old.

When the pork went on sale I dove in and bought a nice, thick slice of Boston butt, pale pink and marbled with ribbons of fat. But before I could smother the thing in my crock pot for an easy Monday dinner, I got hungry.

I started the roast at a modest 240 degrees and let that baby roll for eight hours, by which time the kitchen had begun to fill with smoke — albeit fragrant and delicious smoke, but enough to disgust the house vegan, who left the building after I started finishing off the pork under the broiler.

It was crispy, succulent, falling off the bone when the kids and I tore into it.

We finished the whole thing standing up in the kitchen.

I thought I was ready for the big time, so I brought home a whole pork shoulder, the picnic cut, with enough skin that you can tell what part of the animal it came from. I arose at before sunrise to coat it with salt and put it in a low oven; the haze of pig smoke began to creep through the house before noon; and the thing wasn’t ready to eat until almost 9 p.m., by which time everyone but me had lost interest.

I must have eaten four pounds of pork that night, and I managed to get to bed before the

6thandvine.com 209 W. Sixth St. WS, 336.725.5577 meat sweats kicked in. It was one of those nights where I was drinking water in my dreams. The next day, the house smelled like hot pig and no one was interested in my slow roast. I ate literally as much as I could, then turned the rest, bones and all, into tonkotsu stock with some star anise, ponzu, oyster sauce and a little sesame oil.

And then — Oh! And then I brought home a fat slab of porkbelly — not as easy to find as one might think; I got mine at the Super G. I still got up near sunrise to score the upper layer of fat and rub it with salt and pepper before I took it up to a high temp of 375, then down to 250 or so and then all the way up to 500 degrees over the course of six hours, blistering the surface until it crackled like candy.

Like candy!

The house smoke from the porkbelly may have been thicker than that of the shoulder but, as I argued to my wife, it did not seep through our living quarters for the same duration as the smoke from the picnic cut had, so really it was a much better deal for us all.

That was when she asked me to stop slowroasting meat in the house.

I had a relapse last week when the pork shoulder went on sale again, and there went another 12 hours of my life, another discussion about smoke in the house, another shirt ruined by grease stains from eating slow-cooked pork with my hands in the middle of the night.

I just can’t do it anymore.

So I’m off the slow-roast pork, though I swear if I come across some porkbellies at the right price I can’t honestly tell you what I’m going to do.

And come Easter, I am going to slow-roast an entire leg of lamb with some garlic, fresh mint and lemon, even if I have to eat the whole thing myself.

I started the roast at a modest 240 degrees and let that baby roll for eight hours, filling the kitchen with smoke — albeit fragrant and delicious smoke, but enough to disgust the house vegan.

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Triad City Bites

When springtime comes to Winston-Salem’s Arts District, 6th and Vine responds like a flower opening itself to the sun. Downtown’s living room doubles in size as the back and side patios make perfect spots to take in afternoon sun or warm evenings. And that means more space in the dining room, on the vintage sofas, at the long and welcoming bar. A new menu and wine list will launch with the seasons and as local ingredients become more available, but for now the chef still makes an incredible blackberry duck and signature mocha sirloin with a white chocolate cognac cream sauce. Brunch service on Saturdays and Sundays from 11-3 is a great option, plus Sundays offer half-price wine by the bottle.

Craft beer and signature cocktails round out the list, as well as an extensive wine selection by the glass, upon which Sixth & Vine has built its reputation.

FOOD+DRINK February 2019

Small Batch $-$$

burgerbatch.com 2760 NC 68 HP 336.875.4082 237 W. 5th St. WS 336.893.6395

The burgers at Small Batch have become legendary — an array of crafted designs that stand out, even though great burgers are everywhere. The Figgy Piggy has fig jam, bacon and goat cheese; the Hellboy brings salami, fresh mozzarella and cherry peppers to the party. The hand-cut fries are appropriate with any burger, and also on their own. Now, along with its bespoke brews, Small Batch has a craft-cocktail menu, a wine list and shooter board. They even have milkshakes that truly test the limits of the form. One of them is garnished with a slice of cake. Brunch has become a big deal at Small Batch in both downtown Winston-Salem and High Point, with a menu that adheres to the ethos of the brand. A workday lunch following appreciates the timeliness and quality of the orders. And dinner has always been a good call at Small Batch, with something for everyone in the crew. But perhaps Small Batch is at its best at night, after the dinner crowd has gone home and the place becomes what it was always intended to be: a really great bar, with an interesting menu and fantastic beer.

February 2019

The Quiet Pint $$

facebook.com/quietpinttavern 1420 W. First St. WS, 336.893.6881 The Quiet Pint has everything you could ask for in a neighborhood tavern: A briskly rotating stock of craft and local beers, curated by expert staff and knowledgable regulars; craft cocktails and a wine list to appease even the most sophisticated palate. The bar menu brings pub food to an entirely new level with soups and seafood, salads and small plates, tacos, burgers, international street food, and everything else a night owl needs. On weekend mornings, a unique brunch menu brings the neighborhood to life with dishes both classic and innovative. Live music, tap takeovers, themed nights and other events fill out the week. And the city’s best St. Patrick’s Day bar scene kicks off on March 17 with Góilín at 6 p.m.

Mozelle’s Fresh Southern Bistro $$ mozelles.com 878 W. Fourth St., WS, 336.703.5400

The secret to a great neighborhood restaurant is consistent, reliable food and service, with just the right amount of updates to be refreshing, but that will never lose its identity.

Mozelle’s Fresh Southern Bistro in Winston-Salem’s historic West End neighborhood follows this recipe.

Mozelle’s is in the midst of a winter menu, with Latin and Asian flavors to complement its Southern standardbearers, and the wine list has changed as well. One would be hard-pressed to find a more wide-ranging, yet focused selection of food-friendly wines by the glass anywhere else in town. Recognizable appellations and great values abound.

Monday even offers half-priced bottles to round out your meal.

Triad City Bites

3

CHANGING THE Tuesday night is Game Night at Kau, the neighborhood steak hall built into the old carpenter shop at Revolution Mill.

But instead of Trivial Pursuit or Settlers of Catan, Kau’s patrons dine on wild boar ramen, elk chops, venison sliders, ostrich nigiri, kangaroo medallions and any other off-the-menu pieces the in-house butcher can get his hands on. Game Night at Kau is literally wild.

“It’s the only game in town,” says Kayne Fisher, who owns Kau with his wife Jill.

Fisher, of course, came to this venture after divestment from the Natty Greene’s craft-beer empire, which he founded with Chris Lester all the way back in 2004.

Just as Natty’s brewpub pioneered a burgeoning downtown Greensboro, Kau makes its home in the Mill District, where Revolution has become the first of the area’s repurposed textile mills. It’s situated at the base of a rolling plain, where the waters of Buffalo Creek rise and fall along Kau’s outdoor Deck and dining space. Its interior is broken into chambers: an upstairs lounge for casual dining

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Triad City Bites

and events, a long bar with comm by an open kitchen window, a row Market, where anyone from the ne that’s on the menu, and a whole lo Even the elk chops.

The walk-in cooler — there is no carnivore’s delights: boar bones a arrayed like tiny city blocks, bacon Black Angus Prime beef awaiting t human-sized portions.

On Wednesday mornings, the s Wednesday, when giant prawns, b tish salmon, calamari and tuna find skewered, ceviche-d or, sometime By the bar, a meat and cheese c selections, also available in the ma wiches, small plates and formidab

February 2019

E GAME

munal tables, standard dining tables w of booths. And then there’s the eighborhood can buy everything ot more.

o meat freezer at Kau — teems with awaiting the stock pot, short ribs n chops from the smoker, cases of the butcher’s blade to be cut into

seafood arrives for From the Water boutique oysters and mussels, Scotd their way to the menu — fried, es, raw in the shell. case holds the week’s charcuterie arket, and a slate of salads, sandble burgers can accommodate every

February 2019

Kau $$-$$$

kaugreensboro.com 2003 Yanceyville St. GSO

taste in the crowd. A Mac and Cheese menu adds chiles, brisket and even lobster to the classic dish. A rotating cast of cheesecakes anchors the dessert menu: mango/habanero, bacon caramel and butterscotch pretzel, to name a few. The upstairs loft is perfect for private events — catering is always available.

But Kau’s proposition appeals most to those at the top of the food chain. That’s why there’s a butcher on the premises and a market with nothing but prime cuts, that’s why there’s a game night, and that’s why the steaks and chops feature so prominently on the menu.

The basics: Black Angus Prime beef, cut into filets, ribeyes, NY strips and the bone-in Kau-Boy ribeye. The bone-in pork chop can go straight to the grill, or spend 10 days getting smoked and cured to become a bacon chop. Chicken gets roasted or pared down into the best and freshest wings in town. Lamb chops come strictly from the loin. The only seasonings they need are salt and pepper, and the last bites always come straight off the bone.

Triad City Bites

5

Jerusalem Market $$

jerusalemmarket.com 310 S. Elm St. GSO, 336.279.7025 5002 High Point Road GSO, 336.547.0220 In some ways it’s business as usual at Jerusalem Market — both the one on Elm Street and its predecessor near Adams Farm: a solid menu of Middle Eastern classics like tabbouleh, baba ghanouj, grape leaves — “dolmathes” on the menu, tahini, feta and yogurt sauce.

But technique and presentation lifts their menu above the rest. The shawarma comes as charred chunks of actual cuts of lamb and beef, not the ground or shredded product some are accustomed to, which by necessity must be served sliced. “It’s like the burnt ends on a brisket,” owner Easa Hanhan explains. The bulk of their produce is local — through Gate City Harvest; their slate of wraps, which rely on ingredients like dried beef and sausages, imported cheeses and house-made sauces, are completely unique. Their vegetarian selections are ample. And their hummus is the best in the world.

Burke Street Pizza $

burkestreetpizza.com 1140 Burke St. WS, 336.721.0011 3352 Robinhood Road WS, 336.760.4888 A traditional New York pizzeria with all the trimmings, open for lunch, dinner and latenight feasts. The menu goes beyond thin-crust pizza with salads and subs, specialty pies and appetizers. Both the Burke Street and Robinhood Road locations deliver — order online at burkestreetpizza.com or call the restaurant. Look for upcoming renovations to the Robinhood Road location. Find them on Instagram at @BurkeStreetPizza.

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Triad City Bites

Local 27101 $

thelocal.ws 310 W. Fourth St. WS, 336.725.3900 Local 27101, located in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem, balances a casual ambiance with local classics re-imagined by Executive Chef Patrick Rafferty, and with the savvy of the management behind the Millennium Center. They feature fresh food made fast, and there’s fare for everyone: Burgers with seasoned crinkle cut and sweet potato fries. A legendary hot dog. Fresh shrimp and oysters for po-boys — grilled, fried or sautéed — and made-to-order salads that go beyond the basic house with Caesar and a Cobb. Local 27101 has local wine and beer, free delivery throughout downtown Winston-Salem and the West End. And they cater, as well — either on location, on site at Local 27101 or one of the many chambers of the Millennium Center. Closed Sundays.

Uncle Buzzy’s Fried Food $ Find them on Facebook.

1510 First St. WS

Uncle Buzzy’s specializes in carnival food: burgers, hot dogs, ice-cream tacos and the sort of deep-fried experimentation for which the genre is becoming famous.

Owner Dave Hillman partnered with Chef Brian Duffy, best known as the kitchen guy from the television show “Bar Rescue,” to flesh out the carnival-food concept and add classic American street food. A new menu is in the works, but it’s sure to include classic favorites such as the Nashville chicken, smoked pork shoulder and the famous roast beef sandwiches. Uncle Buzzy’s is open now on First Street for takeout only, but you can order online at unclebuzzys.com, at the Facebook page or the ChowNow app.

February 2019

Flash in the Pan:

Minding your meat

O

ne burger per week. That is all you get, if you want to stay healthy and avert climate catastrophe, according to a new study in the medical journal The Lancet. That’s roughly a 90 percent reduction from the

by Ari LeVaux way most Americans eat.

When the study dropped, I was out hunting.

I returned home exhausted, with more than a thousand weekly servings of delicious, climatesome much-needed nuance in the meat space. friendly elk from the high country of Montana, There are, in fact, important examples of plantand saw the Lancet report on the evils of meat. based foods being more disruptive than animal Much of what the study had to say about red products. Chicken, pork and canned tuna all meat did not apply to my elk, but rather cattle, have lower carbon footprints, per calorie, than which burp methane and consume nutrient-rich tomatoes and broccoli. foods like corn and soy, which have carbon footA healthy diet doesn’t require it, but if red meat prints of their own. is what your body craves, and you want to eat My meat comes at no cost to anyone but the more than your share, then maybe you should deer or elk, because I live where tasty wild anibe a hunter. At the very least, you should be mals handily outnumber the people. Part of why okay with spending good money on good meat. they are so tasty is their habit of raiding farms, One thing you can’t buy is your innocence in the breaking fences as they go. By night, they take death of an animal. One way or another, every out cars. About 2 percent of Montanans will meat eater is party to a kill. A hunter knows the crash a vehicle into an ungulate this year. Withdetails, for better or worse. out hunters, that number would surely be higher.

The elk I’d shot was a mother. After she Despite happy exceptions like mine, the envidropped, the herd ran off, but her calf lingered. ronmental case against red meat is compelling.

As I approached, the calf lumbered off, not lookIf everyone on the planet ate as much as they ing back, in the opposite direction that the herd wanted, the carbon emissions would be staggerhad gone. ing.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that calf, hoping it Sure, a certain amount of cattle on the landsurvived the night and found another herd. But scape, and in our agriculture sysas sad as my elk-hunting story is, tem, are welcome. Without aniI wouldn’t trade it for the stories mal products like manure, bone My meat comes at of any meat that’s available in meal and blood meal, organic no cost to anyone stores. agriculture as we know it could Whatever the provenance of not exist. Grass-fed cattle opera- but the deer or elk, yours, the more thought you can tions can be climate-friendly, but put into your meat, the better. because I live where there isn’t enough acreage to Whether it’s hunted or purchased, satisfy the planet’s “beef tooth” tasty wild animals don’t take for granted that an on grass-fed alone. animal gave its life for your meal. handily outnumber The climate case against red Celebrate that meat in every bite. meat is tough to dispute. But the the people.

When I butcher my animals, I use human health case, on the other a special technique to inspect hand, looks tailored to support for flavor and tenderness. This the climate case. recipe allows for no distractions.

There is no scientific consenNo baked potato, no salad bar. The only permitsus about how much is too much red meat for ted vegetables are garlic, hot sauce and wine humans. Processed meats are strongly linked grapes. to cardiac disease, Type-2 diabetes and some Wine, sipped while chewing, is an essential cancers, but those correlations have not been part of eating red meat, and functions as both shown for pure, unprocessed meat. condiment and beverage. Wine also lubes the Bundling the health/nutrition argument into the celebration, even if it’s only a party of one. The same package as the climate argument makes it sweet buzz dulls the heartache of your crime, appear as though the climate research is steerand washes down its delicious justification. ing the nutrition conclusions, at the expense of

February 2019

Flesh in the Pan

This recipe is to be used with the highest quality meat you can find. Where I live, there are several purveyors of delicious and tender local grass-fed beef. It should be a tender cut, such as ribeye or tenderloin. And it should be as thick as possible.

The ideal cut is as thick as it is wide.

The essential technique is to slowly pan-fry the meat, and to monitor its state of doneness by cutting it into progressively smaller pieces, at a pace that will produce perfectly cooked bitesized chunks. It can also be done under the broiler.

The cutting happens in the pan, assuming you have cast-iron. If not, transfer the meat to a cutting board each time you cut it. A good cast iron pan costs about as much as a pound of good meat. You won’t regret having one.

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pound of red meat 1 garlic clove, pressed, minced or mashed ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper ¼ teaspoon garlic powder Red wine Rub the meat in olive oil and then the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add it to the pan, with a tablespoon of olive oil, and heat on medium.

When the meat starts to brown (about 3 minutes), turn it onto a different edge.

When all sides are browned, cut the meat in half, and inspect. The middle should still be raw.

Place the cut sides down on the hot pan. Add the garlic. After another two or so minutes, cut the halves in half and inspect again.

Continue cooking, cutting and inspecting until you have bite-sized chunks that are done perfectly to your liking, be that raw and red, medium pink or brown and done.

Wash down the meat with wine and gratitude.

Rinse. Repeat. Rinse repeatedly.

Triad City Bites

7

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The Boaster

I

’m gonna take care of you tonight.”

An innocuous statement, though the meaning changes depending on the person or the locale. It means one thing coming from a hustler in an alleyway, and quite another coming from your

by James Douglas lap dancer.

In the context of the service industry, servers of every stripe despise that phrase because we know what that statement really means: It means you’re not.

This is not a treatise on what could be different within the service industry. We all know that things could be different. Most servers make $2.13 an hour. Add in tips, and a livable wage emerges, a few dollars at a time. The pay is neither as extravagant as some think, nor as destitute as others imagine. But depending on the place, most people can make above the minimum wage, with flexible hours. Many can and do support themselves through this trade specifically through our tipping system. So let’s talk about that first.

Shortly after I turned 21, I was loudly scolded by a bartender because of my ignorance concerning tip etiquette.

I learned quickly. The going rate is about 15-20 percent . People who buy drinks by the round tend to tip about a dollar per drink, sometimes more if it’s at the end of the night and they’re trashed. Depends on the customer.

Tipping is the main reason we can support ourselves in this industry. I can quote the opening to Reservoir Dogs with the best of you, and despite Buscemi’s logic, tipping is the way of things in our culture.

And some customers have weaponized it.

The patron I want to discuss today is the Boaster. The Boaster appears at any time, usually someone you’ve never laid eyes on before but who wants all of a regular’s perks. The Boaster could be any race, gender, or age. But all tend to be loud, flashy, arrogant and with a look that suggests they live beyond their means. They sometimes order a top shelf liquor and mix it with red bull or sour mix. Or both. Cranberry juice is an indicator, as is the presence of a leather garment. Sometimes they travel in packs, like a bachelor party. Sometimes they take the lead in a group of aimless drinkers. Sometimes they’re alone.

Every Boaster wants to be noticed. And to them you’re just another set of eyeballs to capture and then leverage.

They like to use the person serving them as a way

of seeming generous to the others in their company.

Often, the Boaster is looking for a puppy dog — someone who will pay attention to every drunken whim, be it shots all around or another Long Island Iced Tea. They sometimes need a faux confidant to hold the evening’s secrets, or an agent in helping them out with their plans.

They always say the same thing: “I’m gonna take care of you tonight.”

And they never do.

We have all fallen for it before. The flashy newcomer.

The insider’s voice. And then when it comes time to settle up, a wave of server’s remorse.

For seasoned restaurant and bar vets, it becomes a game of chicken. The bigger the Boaster, the higher the tab, the greater the stakes become for anyone saddled with a customer like this. With every round of Jagerbombs, we want to believe.

It’s one (of many) reasons bartenders and servers are the most cynical people you know.

At some establishments the Boaster can get away with this behavior because of that wrongheaded business trope “The Customer Is Always Right.”

Whoever believes that the customer is always right hasn’t caught one in a compromising situation in the bathroom at 2 a.m. Sometimes, the customer is just an asshole.

Here is the part where the ordinary citizen, who does not work in the industry, asks: “So, what do we do, Douglas? How do we come across as the magnanimous customer everyone loves to see without activating anyone’s D-bag alarms?”

It’s easy: Be nice. Come in and order a drink. Start a tab or pay for each one — we don’t give a shit. Be a decent person and spare us the Daddy Warbucks act.

You wouldn’t even be here if you were.

Don’t treat us like the help (even though we are). And don’t dangle a biscuit with the expectation of better service because you’ve done so.

And tip accordingly. Twenty percent or a dollar per drink is perfectly fine.

The denizens of the service industry are reliant on the generosity of the customer. Always. We don’t expect much and a server or bartender with any worth just wants to make sure you’re happy. A promise doesn’t make us work any harder and flashing cash isn’t an excuse to be patronizing or rude. This isn’t Vegas. We’re not savages.

The Boaster appears at any time, usually someone you’ve never laid eyes on before but who wants all of a regular’s perks.

FOOD+DRINK

In the Weeds

Interested in Triad City Bites? Call Brian at 336.681.0704 to find out more.