High Marks and Big Fish
Gourmet magazine unveiled its annual restaurant issue this week, with a focus on the farm-to-fork efforts of restaurants showcasing local products. Among the highlights, Watermark made the list entitled "Meat Rules:"
WATERMARK RESTAURANT
The bread basket here is, in a gambler's parlance, the tell. At this swank skyline-view restaurant in Nashville's rapidly gentrifying Gulch neighborhood, chef Sean Norton and his crew bake angel biscuits and corn sticks; the latter are perfect for sopping up the black-eyed-pea broth that naps a dish of braised rabbit. Or the braised pork belly with chowchow, which, by the way, pairs beautifully with a glass of Riesling. 507 12th Ave. S., Nashville (615-254-2000)
Also in the issue, Roadfoodies Jane and Michael Stern chronicle a recent stay in Nashville during which they surveyed our local hot fish and hot chicken. With shout-outs to King Fish, Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish and, of course, Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, the Sterns heaped praise upon the already-heaping sandwich at Eastside Fish. Proprietor Donald "Bo" Boatright, the self-proclaimed King of Fish, couldn't have asked for better ink. Page 56 of Gourmet leads off: "Nashville's crunkest hot-fish sandwich is also its biggest. The Giant King, signature dish at Eastside Fish, is a pair of whiting fillets, each at least a half pound, dredged in seasoned cornmeal and fried crisp, then sandwiched between double slices of soft supermarket white bread."
But we could have told you that.
If I Only Had Some Candy
At first, I thought the long plastic tubes filled with teardrop-shaped chocolates and topped with sunflowers were just the latest in a shameless string of M&M brand extensions (see Jim Ridley's Bites post below). But had I known that the rest of the editorial staff had just been gifted with Sunny Seed Drops, a promotional gift from an unnamed marketing team (You can't buy editorial love with candy.), I just might have had my feelings hurt. M&M's are one thing—a dime a dozen, almost literally. Who needs 'em? I got a desk drawer full.
But they weren't M&Ms. They were Sunny Seed Drops. Ooooh...Sunny Seed Drops.
I have never seen a more perfect sweet-and-salty marriage than these chocolate-dipped-and-candy-coated sunflower seeds. The tiny kernels, in an assortment of autumnal colors, look they just might sprout 1970s-era appliances of harvest gold and avocado green if they were sown and watered. Chomp down onto a mouthful of the clicking candies and the smooth skins combine with the oily nuts to create the sensation of a liquid—nay, a caviar—gliding across the tongue.
By my estimation, a 9-oz pack contains about 1,000 tiny seeds. I will try to pace myself.
In the meantime—and this is apropos of nothing—I'll just mention that Cheekwood is kicking off its exhibit of scarecrows Sept. 29 through Nov. 4.
Cone Head
Just checked in with the ice cream princess Jenny Piper over at Pied Piper Creamery. Just when you thought things couldn't get any better over at the high-butter-fat haven in East Nashville, she reports that she's started making waffle cones. Where's my Citipass coupon book?
East Side Ways
To quote Miles Raymond, the misguided wine snob from Sideways, "This weekend is not about me. It is about you. I'm gonna show you a good time. We're gonna drink a lot of good wine.... We're gonna eat some great food and enjoy the scenery."
The scenery is East Nashville, and the event is Edgefield Uncorked, a wine-tasting and food event benefiting CASA, East Nashville Hope Exchange, Historic Edgefield Neighbors and Warner School.
Woodland Wine Merchant and Michael Skurnik Wines are working with Omni Distributors, Best Brands and Aleksey's Imports to pair wines with food from Alexander's Catering, The Turnip Truck, Journey to Bliss Raw Foods, Provence Breads, The Heartland Bakery, Chocolate Sunflower, Matilda's Fine Foods, Sweet 16th Bakery and Toney's Naturals. Live entertainment will be provided by local musicians Brooke Waggoner, The Love Drums and Ariana Terrell.
The event kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at St. Anne's Episcopal Church, 419 Woodland St.
A word of advice from Miles' miscreant companion Jack: "Do not drink too much. Do you hear me? I don't want you passing out or going to the dark side. No going to the dark side!"
Pacifica Time
I was planning on walking over to the downtown library and asked Carrington where I should eat as an alternative to the Provence located there. She suggested I try Pacifica Pan-Asian Cuisine (506 Church St., 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mon. thru Fri.) since she hadn't had a chance to eat there yet. 
When I arrived, I checked out the menu at the door. The offerings live up to the moniker, including dishes from China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand—at least in name. I ordered off the Express Menu, which is offered until 2 p.m. and includes your choice of steamed jasmine rice, fried rice, vegetable delight or vegetable lo mein. The Express Menu's entree selections are your typical fast-Asian selections: sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken or pork, beef with broccoli and others, all priced under $6 (except the $8.39 butterfly shrimp).
Continue reading "Pacifica Time"...
Playing with Food #1
As if blogs weren't enough of a timesuck, here's something I found yesterday while doing my (copious, voluminous) research on M&M Razzberry. Go here, and you too can create your own M&M character. Not quite as cool as the site that turns you into a Simpsons character, but who cares when you're riding the clock? It's a bit like playing Mr. Potatohead, although I was hoping for something a bit more gangsta than the result.
I call mine "Thuggy Bear." After the jump.
Continue reading "Playing with Food #1"...
White Time at The Right Place
Who says white wine isn't in style after Labor Day? So asks Mad Platter owner Marcia Jervis, as she kicks off the Oct. 2 wine dinner White Wines of the World.
No surprise, seafood takes center stage at the six-course dinner, which leads off with seared scallop with chili paste, garlic chive and pomegranate (paired with Gazela Vihno Verde) and garlic fired shrimp with pear reduction, roasted grapes and yucca ribbons (Catena "Alamos" Torrontes) before culminating in an entree of cedar plank wild salmon with fried apples, parsnip gratin and Marsala cream reduction (Landmark Overlook Chardonnay).
Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and costs $65 before tax and tip person. Call 242-2563 for reservations.
Wilson County's "Best Oriental"
As I'm sure you all know, our Best Of Nashville issue is set to hit newsstands (and the intertubes) in just a few short weeks. Our lovely marketing director was perusing similar honors in other local media and came across some rather antiquated—some might say offensive—language. For the past five years The Lebanon Democrat has had a Best of Wilson County readers' poll. For each of those years there has been a category for "Best Oriental" restaurant.
Now look, I'm the last guy who could ever be confused with the PC police. Remember this? But the term Oriental hasn't been applied to anything besides carpets since slap bracelets were banned from public schools.
Could this be why there's no good Chinese food in Middle TN?
P.S.: On page 16 of the Best of Wilson County, the chef/owner of the Best Oriental runner-up refers to his restaurant as an "Asian eatery." There's also the sweetest message from the owner of the Best Oriental winner to his customers on page 14.
P.P.S.: Image swiped from here.
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A Club I Would Join
No one resists brand extensions more vigorously than I do (see "Fakester" below), but allow me to toast an almost unqualified success: Keebler's new Club Puffed Original snack crackers. Club Crackers, as you'll recall, are something of a cross between the circular, buttery Ritz and the rectangular, er, tea-biscuitier Waverly Wafer. What Keebler has devised is the most addictive snack since goldfish crackers: pillowy, air-filled inch-long bites that resemble little dumplings (or ravioli folded in half).
My one complaint is that I wish they had a bit more crunch. They also crumble fairly easily in the bag, leaving lots of flaky, broken pieces. But for better or worse, they duplicate the not-as-crunchy-as-Ritz toothsomeness of the original Club Cracker, and for those whose brand loyalty rivals UT fans', that can only be a plus. I see an active future for these babies as Chex Party Mix season rolls around.
The photo is by Rob Williams, whose new career as a food stylist awaits.
On the Verge of Madness
If you were thinking it was about time for Mad Donna's to open in the space of the bygone Radio Cafe, you were right. But co-owners Raye Fontenot and Neil Clark have pushed the opening date back toward late November. Renovation is taking longer than expected as they attempt to update the space by enlarging the bathrooms, relocating the bar to the back of the main floor and opening up the second story.
When Mad Donna's opens at 1313 Woodland St., it will unveil a menu of casual American food—burgers, salads and such—and will have some form of entertainment nightly.
The Table is Set
Where do local free-range chickens range? Where does tayst chef Jeremy Barlow buy broccoli? Why is it cheaper to eat junk food than fruits and vegetables?
Find the answers to these questions and more in Local Table: A Guide to Food and Farming in Middle Tennessee. The inaugural issue of the magazine celebrating Tennessee's homegrown food hit the streets just in time for Eat Local Month in September.
In Volume 1, Issue 1, editor Marne Duke (you may also know her as marketing director for the Nashville Farmers Market) contributes a profile of The Produce Place founder Barry Burnette, and food writer Kay West chimes in with a roundup of local restaurateurs showcasing local products. There's also a guide to local farmers, a seasonality chart of various local crops and a short tutorial on the Farm Bill.
For now, Local Table is available at The Produce Place, The Turnip Truck, Portland Brew, Wild Oats, farmers markets and coffee shops. In the spirit of sustainability, which infuses the publication, it is also available online.
Carpe Diem: Seize the Femur
Henry David Thoreau went into the woods because he "wanted to live deliberately...to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life." Had he known chef Laura Wilson, he could have just gone to dinner at Ombi.
This weekend, Wilson will be serving marrowbone—segments of roasted calf's femur. The $7 appetizer comes with a tiny spoon for scooping the rich, roasted marrow and spreading it on toast with a gremolata of parsley, garlic and lemon.
Supplies are limited, so call ahead (320-5350) to make sure you get a thigh. And please report back on Bites after you've tried it.
Waiting to Inhale
With non-smoking legislation kicking in on Oct. 1, questions about the convoluted law loom like smoke rings over the bar at Brown's Diner. Want to know what the Tennessee Non-Smoker Protection Act means for you? Call the Metro Public Health Department's Smoke Free Workplace Hotline at 340-2240.
The dulcet voice on the other end of the line will tell you that smoking is banned in public places with the notable exceptions of:
—establishments that restrict entry to folks 21 and up
—retail tobacco stores that prohibit minors
—private clubs, homes and cars
—non-enclosed areas such as patios, decks and porches
Who's going to enforce this codified kicking of the habit, you ask? The Metro Health Department Food Safety Division. And by Oct. 1, the state departments of Health and Labor & Workforce will have systems in place to accept complaints.
(I wonder how you phrase that enticing job posting on Monster.com? Must Love Narcs?)
Pssst...They're Open. Pass It On.
After months of anticipation, it sounds like Rumours East is open. Friends and family got a peek last night, and co-owners Whitney Ferre and Christy Shuff hope to have a quiet crowd this evening before launching more formally after the weekend.
They'll open the doors at 6 p.m., but they're not promising anything fancy, just a quiet test run. They're not really bracing for a big crowd, so let's just keep it to ourselves for now.
Fakester
I am endlessly susceptible to the siren song of new products, especially those involving chocolate. So when I passed the display in the grocery store for Oreo Cakesters—the soft, poofy cousin of the eternal Oreo—instinct had my hands reaching for them before the thought even occurred to me. So how are they? After the jump.
Continue reading "Fakester"...
Molten Season
In this week's dining review of Whitfield's, the second incarnation of the restaurant located at the corner of Harding Road and Harding Place, I lamented the lack of molten-ness in the molten chocolate cake.
"Molten chocolate" is a great marketing modifier. I, for one, would buy molten chocolate Neosporin, if I could find it. But it is also an overused modifier, as far too many so-called molten things just aren't.
By my reckoning, if a dessert bears the title "molten chocolate," it should deliver a veritable eruption of hot chocolate, like what might flow from a volcano in the mythical Land of Chocolate—or at least from the legendary molten chocolate cake at Park Cafe. Theoretically, the hot liquid chocolate is the result of impatience—it's just too delicious to cook the dessert all the way—as in the case of a batch of premature brownies, the fountainhead of all molten chocolate confections.
But too often, the term gets bastardized to describe simply a chocolate cake with some hot sauce on it. This is precisely the case with Betty Crocker's Molten Chocolate Cake, one of three products in the Warm Delights line of microwavable just-add-water desserts. (Here I can't help but draw an unappetizing parallel to the warming massage oils released a couple of years ago by the makers of KY Jelly, which I profiled in the Scene's Sex Issue. Warming is clearly a big deal in mass marketing. But I digress—within my digression.)
Radius10's pastry chef Ray Luther gets it. He dishes up a molten chocolate cake sort of like a brownie with a hole cut in the center, filled with sumptuous, silky hot chocolate and served with a scoop of homemade ice cream. It's not always available on Radius10's gorgeous, revamped dessert menu, but Luther can make one if you order it when you make a reservation.
Or, for about half the price, the Kroger in Green Hills makes a pretty good molten chocolate cake. Pop it in the microwave for about 10 seconds and voila—a hot and gooey souvenir from the Land of Chocolate.
Bread Dough Rising
Bread & Co., the four-store chain of bakery-cafes, is the 4,472nd fastest-growing private company in the nation, according to Inc. The magazine recently published its first-ever list of 5,000 privately held companies on the move. With 160 employees and 2006 revenues of $9.6 million, Bread & Co. trailed fellow Nashville-based firm Tennessee Bun Company, which makes bread for fast food chains including McDonald's and KFC. With 2006 revenues topping $40 million, Tennessee Bun took the 3,910th spot. Here's the full list of Tennessee companies that cracked Inc.'s top 5,000.
12 South Veggies
Next time you're headed in town on 12th Avenue South, hang a right onto Halcyon Ave. and stop off at the temporary tent location of 12th Avenue Produce. Troy Richards is bringing in fruits and veggies from his family farm in Bordeaux, and he's got a selection of tomatoes, squashes, peanuts, peppers, melons, mums and jams, some of which Richards Farm grows and some of which they source from other local growers. The pumpkins will be rolling in soon. Call 319-9333 to speak to Troy.
Simply Margarita
When Carrington's post about margaritas appeared, it reignited my attempt to recreate the non-mix margarita I once enjoyed at Rudy's in Somerville, Mass. I gave up after a lackluster try using freshly squeezed limes and my ever-dwindling memory. This weekend, however, I was walking through the produce section of Publix and spied Simply Limeade, a product of the Simply Orange Juice Company.
At home, I filled a tall drinking glass half-full of ice, added a shot of Patron Anejo and a splash of triple sec, then topped it off with the limeade. A quick stir, and it was "margaritish" enough for me. Simply delicious!
Son of Sunset
Randy Rayburn, father of the perennially popular Sunset Grill, Cabana and Midtown Cafe, is now a baby daddy. He and wife Sonata welcomed Duke Ranier Rayburn on Wednesday evening, just in time for dinner.
On the Waterfront
Mafiaoza's, the popular pizza restaurant and 12 South pioneer, is expanding into uncharted waters, namely the Cumberland River, where it will anchor the yet-to-be-built Cumberland Yacht Harbor waterfront community. When it opens—sometime in 2009—Mafiaoza's II will serve pizzas, pastas and wine, with indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the harbor. Mafiaoza's is the first retail tenant named for the 43-acre harbor project, which will include a marina, public docks and luxury villas.
Cumberland Yacht Harbor will be located on the river, near the intersection of Briley Parkway and Lebanon Road.
The East Side: Finally Got a Piece of the Pie
This week's dining review chronicles a non-scientific survey of East Nashville pizza purveyors by the highly hungry and hypercritical Scene editorial staff. We pitted Pizzereal, Little Italy and Castrillo's against each other to see who made the superior mushroom-and-pepperoni pie. And the winner is....You'll have to read the story.
Add or View Comments | 6 commentsSisterhood of the Traveling Eggplants
While picking up my veggies from Fresh Harvest Coop today, I met Yvonne Smith, a.k.a. the Traveling Vegetarian. A camera-friendly veggie who felt "underserved by the Food Network," Smith took matters into her own production-savvy hands. The result is The Traveling Vegetarian, a vibrant web-based series featuring vegetarian restaurants and cuisine. The first video installments feature Atlanta restaurants Cafe Sunflower and Deluxe Grill. Coming soon: Asheville, N.C.
Veg Out
I love meat. In fact, I once ate Korean barbecue, at an all-you-can-eat buffet in Chicago, for an hour and a half straight. A friend of mine once said, upon introducing me to a friend of his: "He doesn't eat vegetables, unless they're wrapped in some kind of meat." So, of course, I married a vegetarian. Which means I'm a part-time vegetarian myself now. It's not so bad. I've discovered the joys of Quorn, which, with its botulism-free prep, is definitely preferable to handling raw chicken, and tastes good enough to impress my extended family, who are the kind of people for whom the word "tofu" is a punchline in and of itself. The gruyere cutlets, available at most Kroger stores, are crisp, delicious and will not leave you wanting for poultry. All of this is to say that, for you vegetarians (or veg-curious) out there Lesley Eats is a local blog that covers the meatless diet of its author as she dines around town, along with the occasional recipe or scientific explanation of what makes vegetarians toot.
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