Triad City Bites June 2019 — Hot Stuff!

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JUNE 2019

HOT STUFF! Curated By:

Also featured in this month’s Issue: Beetcake

Dinner Guest

Eat like a chef

E

at like a chef.

That’s a loaded statement.

If you thumb through any glossy magazine featuring food, you’ll always see a chef and her beautiby Jay Pierce ful young friends cavorting at the beach or the lake or a ski chalet, with a sumptuously photographed spread of food.

But just as prime-time soap-opera doctors do not faithfully represent actual caregivers, so too do curated layouts not resemble the way chefs eat.

More often than not I eat sporadically, even when at home. I have to make a conscious effort for a balanced nutritional breakfast, because for the rest of the day, most of my calories come from tasting random foods that we are preparing in the restaurant.

A lot of times I eat standing up.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook. It’s just that chefs don’t get many opportunities to cook. They run businesses. They manage people who cook. They place orders, write schedules, take meetings. I’m not home much, often at the restaurant from 10 a.m. until nearly midnight, when the last thing I want to do is break out my cutlery and cookware.

I have a long subscribed to the idea that the best meals when you get off of work are those that you can’t get inside your own restaurant, like grocery-store sushi, food-truck tacos or gas-station hot dogs.

I’m not as young as I used to be, so I’ve made more of a conscious effort lately to eat greens every day. They usually take the form of a fat handful of baby greens jammed between two slices of whole-grain, seeded bread. I posted a breakfast sandwich picture every morning for almost an entire month on Instagram.

And I eat a lot of leftovers.

When a young cook first gets an opportunity to contribute to a menu or be considered as a sous chef, it is often in the form of using up leftovers from the previous night’s special. I rose through the

ranks quickly because I’m really good at that. It’s essential to know how to take that little bit of leftover pork roast that a pig had to die for and turn it into eggrolls, pasta Alfredo, or carnitas tacos. Repurpose that leftover Carolina Gold rice that you paid four bucks a pound for as fried rice. Save a bag of onion skins and carrot peelings in your freezer to add to the bones from your rotisserie chicken to make chicken broth for a soup or a noodle bowl. Waste not, want not.

I also am a firm believer that boundaries induce creativity. In the restaurant, diners get the choice cut of the beautifully plump black grouper that just arrived at your back door; first dibs, if you will. The staff meal is usually made from the trimmings of that fine fish, stretched out with rice or noodles, and finished with a broth made from the bones. That staff meal doesn’t sound enticing in menuspeak, but I do believe it is more spiritually filling because it honors the whole animal.

If there is anything consistent about my eating habits over the years, it would be eating while standing, doing it quickly, and not consuming just about anything while it is hot. My knees are too compromised to squat down out of sight behind the cooking line to scarf a few bites, like I used to when I was younger. And it is not uncommon to find me making a plate of food, whether at home or the restaurant, and then not eating for 10 or 20 minutes, either because I get interrupted by a pressing issue or I am also working on three other things simultaneously. Ultimately, I rationalize that most room-temperature food has more flavor, because it is closer to body temperature than the refrigerator or the oven — like how just-picked, sun-warmed tomatoes on a sandwich will always trump refrigerated or roasted tomatoes.

Ironically, eating is often one of the last things on a chef’s mind.

In other words, “eat like a chef” means eat what other folks won’t or don’t and eat it, and do it when you can. Guests are coming. Hurry up.

A lot of times I eat standing up.

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Triad City Bites

6th and Vine $-$$

6thandvine.com 209 W. Sixth St. WS, 336.725.5577

It’s officially summer which means it’s open season for outdoor seating at 6th and Vine.

Create your own personal cocktail lounge with friends as you sip on wine and enjoy the garden oasis of the patio in the heart of the Arts District. Reserve the gazebo for parties large or small, or for an intimate dinner for two.

Invite yourself to private alfresco dining in the breezeway or see and be seen on the front patio amid the hottest scene on the street with the backdrop of city’s skyline.

Check out the new brunch menu, available on Saturdays and Sundays. Try a house Bloody Mary garnished with bacon, or give your brunch the kick start it deserves with an appetizer of maple-jalapeño glazed bacon: thick slices glazed with brown sugar and garnished with candied and fresh jalapeño rings. Don’t forget the tried-and-true baked brie, cabernet blackberry roasted duck or shrimp and grits with bits of chorizo and enrobed in a creamy Cajun white-wine sauce.

Travel to Brazil as you munch on crispy chicken wings topped with a bright, tangy and fresh chimichurri sauce.

Reminisce about your beach vacation as you tuck into the seafood risotto.

Open six days a week, entertainment includes DJs on Thursdays and a live band every Friday and Saturday.

June 2019

North Point Grill $-$$ Small Batch $-$$

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.

June 2019

7843 North Point Blvd, WS 336.896.0500 northpointgrill.com North Point Grill is one of the Winston-Salem’s hidden gems. Open since 2005, this awardwinning, family-owned and operated eatery serves up fresh, homestyle sides, an extensive list of sandwiches, salads and soups and something special for everyone, six days a week.

Load up on fried pickles, potato skins bursting with melted cheese, bacon and chives or signature bread bowls filled to the brim with house-made loaded potato, tomato bisque or the award-winning, vegetable-beef soups.

New menu items include the fresh Southwest chicken salad: seasoned grilled chicken, black beans, fire-roasted corn, jalapeños and crispy tortilla strips and a classic fried-bologna sandwich on buttery, grilled Texas toast: thick pan-seared slices of bologna, melted American cheese, fresh tomato and crisp lettuce. Dig into the BIG Boss Burger, stacked high to the sky with two half-pound chargrilled ground-beef patties topped with fried onion straws, American and Swiss cheese and, finally, bacon.

Clear your calendar for Saturday, July 13 when Triad City Bites Food Editor and private chef Nikki Miller-Ka takes over the kitchen with an á la carte menu to be announced on our website.

Greensboro Farmers Curb Market $-$$ 501 Yanceyville St. GSO gsofarmersmarket.org

Market season is building to a crescendo at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market.

Mid-Week Market rolls every Wednesday from 8 a.m.-noon, and the events at Saturday Market continue in July, with free market cooking demos featuring in-season products available from market farmers, all beginning at 10 a.m.

On Wednesday, July 3, there’s an Independence Day celebration with free cake and games on Lindsay Lawn. On Wednesday, July 10, they’re making watermelon-basil coolers with Partners 4 Community Care. Chef Mary Lacklen makes salsas on Saturday, July 13, along with the Senior Series event Cooking for One with Chef Ninevah Murray — please pre-register at the market desk for this one.

The peaches are coming into season, the blueberries are still fabulous, and there’s watermelon on the horizon — so much good NC produce to celebrate at the GFCM.

Triad City Bites

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Mindfully Made’s Belizean de

A friendship and a partnership began nearly 30 years ago between Marie Sharp and Winston-Salem Local restaurants and markets stock bottles as well as use th businessman Michael Touby in Belize. chef de cuisine at 1703 Restaurant in Winston-Salem, swears “I consider Marie to be like a grandmother,” Touby said, speaking from the Specialty Food Association “The smoked habanero got me in the door,” Hackaday says, Food Show in New York, where he reconnected with Sharp a few short years ago. and forth between flavors.”

Known as the Queen of Habanero, Sharp’s sauces are distributed in more than 20 countries; it’s the The Marie Sharp’s line and all of the Maya Mike Belizean Ba No. 1 habanero sauce in the world. of choice at the restaurant.

Her personal story is just as wild and meritorious as her friendship and part“We offer the fruit-wood smoked hab nership with Touby. habanero, all the barbacoas and the sw Canteen Market and Bistro, The Porch Starting as a home gardener growing peppers in the late 1970s, Sharp hot sauce.”

Cantina, Alma Mexicana, City Beverage, started experimenting and creating recipes in her home kitchen. Touby worked Characterized as “fine dining with a m Twin City Hive, 1703 Restaurant, for a major distribution company which brought the famed habanero sauces to dishes such as a Southern-fried airline Compare Foods, Om Indian Grocery. the US and that is how they met. risotto, garnished with a smoked-haban The genesis of the Maya Mike Barbacoa brand came forth during a trip to Bealongside a small plate of deviled eggs lize to visit Sharp and her family. After a day of snorkeling and fishing, a beach barbecue was underway inspired curtido, similar to a fermented cabbage slaw, and the s and the fishermen had bottles of Marie Sharp’s as condiments as well as a bottle of Heinz barbecue of Hackaday knows no bounds, nor does the availability of the sauce. Touby instantly got the idea that a smoky barbecue sauce could be made with the bounty of In addition to the line of habanero hot sauces and the barbac peppers available in Belize. ing and excelling in the US market.

“Everyone should experience this sauce. It’s a stable product and has been this way since the beginLooking to the future, Touby reveals a piece of his plan: “We ning,” says Sonia Schilling, the Director of Operations for Marie Sharp’s USA. and jellies, and we have a new superfood salsa coming out at t

Local retailers/Restaurants:

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Triad City Bites

June 2019

elights

Mindfully Made $ Mayamike.com

he sauce in recipes. Curtis Hackaday, by the sauces. “and the variety got me to stay. I go back

arbacoa sauces are the house hot sauce

banero. The mango habanero, green weet habanero to guests if they ask for

modern twist,” Hackaday has created e chicken breast served over Parmesan nero pickled watermelon rind emulsion, s garnished with a Central American smoked habanero sauce. The creativity sauces in the area. coa sauces, Marie Sharp’s brand is grow-

are launching a new line of tropical jams the beginning of next year.”

Jackfruit Barbacoa Tacos, Adapted from MarieSharps.Com

Ingredients: 4 8-inch round flour or corn tortillas 1 16-ounce can jackfruit 1/2 cup Maya Mike Belizean Barbacoa (Original “White” Label) 2 tbsp Maya Mike Belizean Barbacoa (Smoked “Red” Label) 1-1/2 cups shredded red cabbage 1 cup mango, diced 2 teaspoons orange zest 1/3 cup green onions, sliced 2 tbsp white wine vinegar 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp coriander, ground 1/2 cup avocado (1 half) 1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 1/4 cup water 2 tsp garlic cloves, minced salt and pepper, to taste Open and drain jackfruit, lightly break up with a fork and place in slow cooker along with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, both Maya Mike Belizean Barbacoa sauces, stir together and cook on LOW for 5 hours.

Combine shredded cabbage with diced mango, sliced green onions and orange zest in a bowl. Toss ingredients with ground coriander, white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper, to taste.

Place avocado in a food processor or blender with garlic, sour cream and water. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a squeeze bottle or small bowl for serving.

Warm tortillas in a toaster, oven or iron skillet for 2-4 minutes, until warmed through. Divide Barbacoa jackfruit between the tortillas, top with Mango Slaw and drizzle avocado sauce on the slaw.

Pro tips: The mango slaw and avocado sauce can be prepared in advance and refrigerated for final assembly. To prevent the avocado from oxidation, pour a heavy layer extra virgin olive oil over the surface of the cut avocado or the finished avocado sauce and press plastic wrap onto the surface and store

June 2019

Triad City Bites

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Twin City Hive Coffee Lounge $ 301 Brookstown Ave.,W-S twincityhive.com

Serving since 2014, Twin City Hive is an acclaimed coffee shop that offers baked goods, chocolates, espresso, coffee beverages, tea, cookies and local sundries.

Owner Terry Miller is responsible for creating an in-house roasting facility and providing coffee products to select hotels and restaurateurs in the Triad.

TCH supports local business and entrepreneurial economic activity.

A nook devoted to beekeeping merchandise, bee education, honeyrelated merchandise and honey on tap have found a new home inside this popular enterprise. Recently added to the line-up, the complete cadre of Fool’s Gold honey products (honey on tap, honey sticks and more) with a tasting and sampling station is now available for purchase.

From Brookstown to Downtown and beyond, Twin City Hive Coffee Lounge is a perfect spot for meeting friends, co-workers or simply resting in solitude in a community setting. Look out onto the Brookstown District from the outdoor patio, where pets are welcome.

Local 27101 $

thelocal.ws 310 W. Fourth St. WS, 336.725.3900 There’s nothing revolutionary about Local 27101. It’s a lunch place on Fourth Street, right in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem’s Restaurant Row. The menu, as created by Executive Chef Patrick Rafferty and owner Greg Carlyle, has a stable of classic lunch dishes: Burgers with seasoned crinkle-cut and sweet-potato fries. A legendary hot dog.

Fresh shrimp and oysters for po-boys. Made-to-order salads that go beyond the basic.

It’s fresh food made fast, and Local 27101 stands by that promise with in-house delivery throughout downtown and the West End during lunch service — order from the restaurant or online at thelocal.ws for speedy and free service. Catering is available either through the Local or on-site at the Millennium Center. Call for details.

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Triad City Bites

Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours $$ WS and GSO tastecarolina.net 919.237.2254 Tours start at $59 per person

Walking food tours in Winston-Salem and Greensboro are led by enthusiastic and knowledgeable local guides. Guests are treated to anecdotes about the city’s history, unique architecture and culinary scene while being introduced to new flavors and cuisines.

Meet your tour guides: Nikki, a professional chef, local food writer, and staunch supporter of the cities’ culinary scenes; and Jessica, a hospitality professional and expert in these cities’ histories.

Tours include food and drink tastings at five or more restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries and food shops. The restaurants featured are independently owned and source ingredients from local farms and purveyors. Meet chefs and owners and get to know your own city, or a new one, through food.

Alongside weekend tours, custom private and corporate tours are available for companies, civic groups and social gatherings throughout the week.

Taste Carolina operates in nine North Carolina cities and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year!

June 2019

Flash in the pan

Chocolate beet bliss

I

f nobody told you it was half root crops, you’d simply think it was a magnificent chocolate torte, moist like a rainforest, rich like a truffle and dense like a brownie. It is what it is because of beets and carrots, not in spite of them. The fact that a single

by Ari LeVaux piece of this decadence contains two servings of vegetables and a half-day’s worth of fiber only compounds the satisfaction.

Although you don’t consciously taste beet or carrot, their sweet and bitter flavors subtly enhance the impact of the cocoa powder, flanking its bitter tones with their own harmonies like background vocalists.

The beets and carrots also lend their sturdy texture.

And of course, both are sweet. You can bake this treat with very little added sugar — or if you’re truly hardcore, none at all.

For all intents and purposes, beets and carrots are both in season year-round because they are always available either freshly dug, or fresh from the cooler. This means you can make this cake with local ingredients in any season, but this time of year, which happens to be my birthday season, is also high season for chocolate beet cake.

I came to this conclusion while tweaking the recipe with beets and carrots from the farmer’s market. In spring, many vendors have baby beets by the bunch for sale alongside big storage beets harvested last fall, and bunches of small new carrots with the tops still on going next to big old carrots from last year.

I brought home young and old specimen from each species and ran side-by-side trials with zero added sugar. Sampled raw, the new carrots were sweeter and juicier than old carrots, but the reverse was true with the beets. The big old honkers from the root cellar were much sweeter than the youngsters with the leaves and long, hairy taproots.

Soon after the bars were done, a pack of neighborhood kids, some of them mine, wandered into the house, and I offered them samples. And after the crumbs settled, they confirmed my conclusions. Their favorite was the one with new carrots and old beets.

The differences between batches in which carrot age was the variable were more subtle than when beet age was compared. The bars made with old beets were sweeter, while those made with new beets had, as my son Louie pointed out, “more flavor.” He did not mean this in a good way.

“More beet flavor,” he clarified.

If made with added sugar, mind you, these children-of-the-corn-syrup would praise and devour beet bars made with any aged root. And with all of the sweetness the beets and carrots bring, it doesn’t take much sugar at all. When Louie’s friend Ana tasted a slightly sweetened version and said, “It’s almost sweet enough,” I knew I’d nailed it.

The olive oil, mayonnaise and heavy cream that further enrich the cake, meanwhile, collaborate on a silkiness that makes you think of mousse, not earthy storage crops.

A simple frosting of whipped cream and lemon zest rounds out the experience. The zest highlights bright vegetal notes from the roots, without fully exposing them, and cream needs no introduction. Apply this topping with abandon. The cake is half dirt, after all. There is nothing to feel guilty about.

June 2019

Chocolate Beet Bars The amount of sugar you add is totally subjective. Taste the batter and decide — before adding the eggs, if you’re squeamish. It will probably taste sweeter than you expected, thanks to the beet and carrot, but perhaps you’ll want it sweeter still.

Makes a dense, one-inch deep bar in an 8 x 11-inch baking dish, or six 4-inch ramekins.

2 cups (½ pound) old red beets, grated (not peeled, unless you really want to) 1 cup (¼ pound) new carrots, grated (not peeled) 1 cup cocoa powder 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla ½ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon mayonnaise 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup sugar Optional: more sugar to taste, or ½ cup dark chocolate chips 2 eggs, beaten Optional: a cup of cream, whipped, with 2 teaspoons of lemon zest on hand with which to garnish Simmer the grated beets and carrots in 6 cups of water for 20 minutes, and strain. Put the purple liquid back in the pot and reduce it gently to about a cup. Blend the shredded beets and carrots with 2-4 tablespoons of the liquid, as necessary to allow a smooth vortex to form. Blend until glassy smooth. Add vanilla, cream, oil, mayo and egg, and blend again briefly until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, sugar) in a mixing bowl. Add the puree to the other ingredients and mix. Taste, add sugar if necessary, and up to a half cup of chocolate chips, as you see fit. Pour into a buttered 8 x 11-inch baking pan.

Bake for about an hour, or until a (clean) knife comes out clean. Let cool, top with whipped cream and sprinkle with lemon zest.

Triad City Bites

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

In the Weeds

At closing time, and after

L

ast night was a long one. We had the usual assortment of weekenders, tourists, dates, hookups, rejections and the ever-present marathoners, or “pacers” — those folks you see popping in throughout the night, finally standing outside your closed doors while you’re shutting down at 3 a.m.

They want the standard fare at 3 a.m: take-home beers, the bathroom, they left something inside (it’s

by James Douglas actually in their pocket.) Sometimes they just want to talk. The proper response is “NO. GO HOME.” Or, “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? You have to yell because god help you if you unlock that door.

When the cozy confine of your bed is the only thing to look forward to, the last thing you need is some wastrel wanting to discuss the finer points of our foreign policy and how it relates to ELO while you’re mopping.

In North Carolina. the law says that a bar can no longer serve alcohol after 2 a.m. At 2:30, everyone not an employee must be off the premises. So every night there’s a ballet. It’s a process you must prepare for as a bartender. Otherwise it catches up with you and before you know it, its 4:30 a.m. and the next day is ruined. What was going to be a gloriously beautiful day full of promise is now spent in a fog of recovery, only to prepare for the same thing the next night.

It goes like this.

At 9-11 p.m., you’re just getting in, getting situated, prepping for the crowds. Most of the day-drinkers are gone by now and there’s a short period of calm.

Maybe you’re going to have a slow one, you might be thinking, one of those nights where, if you’re lucky, you can have a decent conversation, make some good (but not great) scratch and be out of the door at 2:30 and asleep by 3. Those nights are nice. No stress, no fights, no having to explain to the creeper why telling a woman that she looks “fertile” is grounds for being kicked out. But the night is just beginning. “Black Star” radio seems to be the vibe of the night.

The after-dinner crowd starts to filter in and, just behind them, the servers from down the street.

Around 11-12 a.m., the lightweights, the day job folks, the dates, they’re paying out. Skateboarders are avoiding head injuries and Ubers as they do kick-flips in the street, entertaining the crowd on the porch. The porch has intermingling clusters of groups, buying shots, taking shots, people weighing their chances with the latest crush. A group in their thirties sits at a back table, their laughter carries inside as a member comes in for another round

of drinks. The door guy turns away the third kid of the night who believes a patchy mustache to be sufficient ID. A mostly innocent night. You’re able to keep up, no one has asked for “THAT ONE SHOT YOU MADE SIX MONTHS AGO, I THINK IT WAS ORANGE OR SOMETHING!” You tell the guy who’s never been there before that a “French 75” isn’t really our demographic, drink-wise.

By 12-2a.m., it’s professionals, mostly. A couple of people are in over their heads, but they don’t know it yet. They will. The show down the street is starting to let out and you get another hit. Thankfully, it’s mostly domestics, shots and one-and-ones. Round of tequilas on Mark’s tab. Wu-Tang radio, now. A few new faces, one of which nods off as his friend is ordering. The door guy escorts him out, and the friends follow. At your busiest, a group of nine women come in with crowns and sashes, one of which proclaims: “BIRTHDAY BITCH” with bright red glitter and feathers that are continually disintegrating onto the bar, the floor and everyone they brush against. Nine Sex on the Beaches, “and make them strong please!”

The night is almost over, you keep telling yourself.

At about 1:58 a.m., the inevitable crowd comes in for last call, even thought it was 10 minutes ago. They want rounds, beers to go, smokes and to close out tabs they left behind. At 2:01, four out-of-breath guys come in just to be disappointed. They bargain still.

“No.” Tabs are closed, most people are leaving. The great clean-up begins. You stock, wipe down, do the register. People are still wandering in. The lights go up and the music is cut off at 2:15 sharp. The back door is locked. At 2:25 the back porch is still half full of potential all-nighters and you tell everyone to wrap it up.

2:30, the drinks are snatched away and trashed. The remaining customers are herded onto the sidewalk where they can plan on the rest of the night’s adventures under the stars. The front doors are locked and the porch is gated. Another night, done.

The quiet that remains is calming, even with the ringing in your ears.

The walk to the car has an air of finality. The radio station a block over plays their nightly programmed playlist to the sidewalk and you can hear Three Dog Night echo up the street. You see the remaining clusters waiting for their rides, or walking away. The street is peaceful. The night is over. You get in your car, thankful for it. Tomorrow might be better. Tomorrow might be worse.

The best part about the job, honestly, is that you never know.

After midnight, it’s professionals, mostly. A couple of people are in over their heads, but they don’t know it yet.

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