Varmint

One warning: don't get the stuffed pork chop at J-I unless you're very, very hungry, drunk, stupid, or all of the above. It's 3-4 pounds of food, with the double cut chop stuffed with ground meat and shrimp, all covered by an ultra-heavy mushroom gravy. It overwhelmed me, physically.

Private Idaho Skins

Second Empire is still around, and it's still a fine establishment in a beautiful house. However, even though Daniel Schurr's food is very good, it just seems to fall short of meeting my expectations. Personally, I'd prefer to spend my money elsewhere.

Bistro 607 is a fine choice, and the chef is Heath Holloman, who is a hell of a good cook and a friend (thus, I'm biased). However, I think Bistro 607 is a half step below the other restaurants you mentioned. Vin could easily accomodate a low carb diet, as Ashley Christensen loves a good challenge. John Toler of BB is also a great chef, but his menu is all over the place, and I've found it difficult to get a 3-course meal that works. If you like Nana's so much, you may want to try Nana's Chophouse in downtown Raleigh, which is also owned by Scott Howell. It's surprisingly good, they cater to the protein-philic, but their sides are also good. It's a very lively crowd, too, and a non-foodie would be comfortable there. Finally, you should consider Fins off of Lead Mine Rd. in North Raleigh. Calling it "fusion" cuisine is a disservice, because this is creative American cuisine. William D'Auvray is an extremely talented chef, and the flavors he produces are top-notch. Let us now where you end up going with a full report!

It's my understanding that Jacques-Imo's in New Orleans makes their fried chicken from birds that have soaked in pickle brine. The results are outstanding.

Seeing how common cheeseburgers are, the burger-butter combination isn't all that extraordinary. I have been to Solly's and the butter just adds some more richness to the burger -- not that it's needed. Butter burgers are common in Wisconsin, as is a large pat of butter on a steak -- visit Coerper's Five O'Clock Club for a good example of that! One other thought, religious issues aside, would you mind if your burger were fried in melted butter? If not, then the butter pat shouldn't be that big of a leap, either. But to make the burger extraordinarily rich, you just form the burger around a central chunk of butter and cook away. That way, you ensure butter becomes an integral part of the sandwich.

I tried the fried banana pudding, fortunately just getting a free sample. What this is, as Gifted Gourmet surmised, is just a deep fried banana that they then drop into some instant vanilla pudding. Very gross and disappointing. And not nearly as good as my fried bologna sandwich with cheese and grilled onions. ;-)

I just read this morning that they'll be serving fried banana pudding at the North Carolina State Fair. Not sure about that one.

I don't know if this is truly a luxury item, but I always feel a bit more decadent (and a lot happier), when I splurge on top-notch vanilla beans.

This discussion at the SFA Symposium had nothing to do with taking credit. It was more of a dialogue about how common it was for Southern white families to employ black domestic servants, and the consequences that arose out of this relationship. One poignant moment came when a tale was told of how one man stated that he never ate Thanksgiving dinner before 8:00 PM until he was in his mid-30s, because his mother spent all day making dinner for her "other family." Many, if not most, of these domestics were taken for granted, poorly paid, and overworked.

The Charlotte Oberver's Kathi Purvis (one of our fine eGullet members) just put a ton of miles on her car, searching out some of the best barbecue joints in the Carolinas. Her great article came out on September 30, but I somehow missed it until this weekend. You can even buy your own Barbecue of the Carolinas poster that accompanied the article here. Just search for "barbecue". Finally, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that Kathi was recently awarded the Missouri Lifestyles Journalism Award from the Missouri School of Journalism. She placed first in food and nutrition reporting for a three-part series in 2003 called Nowhere to Shop, on the lack of supermarkets in low-income areas. This award is still often referred to by its old name, the "the Penny-Missouri." Congratulations to Kathi!

I thought the sauce was more chipotle based. Bob was kind enough to give me his card, so I'll email him. They do have a web presence, so y'all can email him, inviting him to post the recipe online! http://www.memphisminnies.com/

Hmmm, perhaps an Easter week spring trip is now in order for the L'il Varmints. I took them to Florida last year and gave Mrs. Varmint the week off. Perhaps I shall try such a venture again this year!

Whole hog barbecue, caramel cake with sugar cane ice cream, fried chicken four different ways, Coca-Cola brisket, fried catfish, and even fried pimento cheese were just some of the offerings at this year's Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium. Many talented chefs worked long hours to make the eating part of the session an unqualified success (along with every other aspect!). I've posted some photos of a few of the great items we sampled and some of the folks who made it happen. Thanks to all! Thursday night featured whole hog barbecue from Mitchell's in Wilson, NC. The Mitchell's crew also managed to fire up some pork ribs! Friday's lunch featured Coca-Cola brisket sandwiches. The slaw on the sandwiches was superb, but we sure did want more beef! Brisket lunch on the Grove at Ole Miss. Friday evening started with a degustation of deviled eggs and sparkling wine from the Biltmore Winery. My favorite was the capered deviled egg. We then hopped a double-decker bus and rode the 6 miles out to the Taylor Grocery for some fried catfish. But there was far more than just catfish. From San Francisco came these smoked brisket eggrolls. Damn, they were awesome! Bob Kantor of San Francisco's Memphis Minnie's frying up some eggrolls. John Currence of Oxford's City Grocery dredging pimento cheese balls destined for the fryer. Taylor Grocery catfish. Yummmmmm. Ann Cashion of DC's Cashion's Eat Place plating for 200 of her closest friends at Saturday's Viking Range Luncheon. Chef Cashion brought intertwined dishes that represented both White and Black Southern traditions, in this case, she-crab and peanut soups. The theme continued with two salads, "alligator pear" (aka avocado) and grapefruit on one side, with wild greens and pork cracklin's on the other, all brought together with a poppy seed vinaigrette. The entree, however, represented a "lazy susan" form of family supper, with braised pork being plated with 6 different side dishes. Can you name them? Dessert was individual caramel cakes with sugar cane ice cream. Chef Cashion made individual cakes to ensure everyone received 5 sides of caramel icing!!! She is a very smart woman, indeed. The cake was so good that SFA Board Member, Matt Rowley, even licked his plate clean (literally!). We obviously hadn't had enough to eat for lunch, so for dinner, we had the pleasure of eating 4 different styles of fried chicken at the Fried Chicken Throw Down. Here's Pawley Island, SC's Louis Osteen of Louis's at Pawley's fighting some troublesome burners to fry his fowl. Martha Stamps of Martha's at the Plantation in Nashville turning some of that piquant and crunchy chicken. The fried chicken from New Orleans' Jacques-Imos used an interest approach: pickle brine. This chicken was my personal favorite, as the skin was perfectly done. Outgoing SFA President Damon Lee Fowler informs Scott Peacock, chef of Watershed in Decatur, Georgia, how much he loved his chicken. Of course, no Fried Chicken Throw Down would be complete without a plate of veggies, biscuits, and macaroni & cheese. Desserts included lemon pie, apple cake, and these outstanding peanut cookies. And if you needed to find John T. Edge, you only had to look for the Jack Daniels table, his second home.

The Times article was way off-base, as the SFA's symposium did nothing but show how harmonious race relations among so-called "foodies" can be. This was a celebration of race and food, recognizing the horrible injustices that have occurred in our history, while embracing a hopeful future, all over plates of fried chicken, catfish, and collards. There was nary a fight about "white" food or "black" food, but we did wonder whatever happened to that legendary dish of "possum & taters"!

Tana, it's the Southern Foodways Alliance, and the main reason for the existence of this new forum.

With trusty new USB cable in hand, I can now post some somewhat crude and unprocessed photos (I need my Photoshop!!!! -- it's on my home computer). Brooks took me to Jacques-Imo's on Wednesday night, and I told him that I was ready to eat a house. If only I knew that I was about to eat something only slightly smaller. . . . Corn bread at Jacques-Imo's Duck gumbo Chicken livers Fried softshell crab on fried green tomatoes and crab The pork chop from hell. This was double cut pork chop stuffed with ground beef, served with a heavy mushroom and shrimp gravy. The dish weighed 3 pounds. I couldn't finish it. I needed purging lessons, as I was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. Worst of all, I couldn't eat dessert. It was a great meal, but a sad outcome. Fortunately, after a good night's sleep in the French Quarter, we had a nice breakfast at the Bluebird Cafe followed by a trip to the pastry shop. Yes, there was a nice selection of breads . . . but I got a cherry pastry instead. Damn good pastry! Back on the road to Mississippi, we had to stop for a catfish "snack" at the world-famous Middendorf's First, some crabmeat gumbo. Then a small plate of "thin-fried", also known as their thinly sliced filets of fried catfish. This was the best catfish I've ever eaten. Crunchy crust without a bit of grease. Superb dish. A close-up thin-fry.

William is a very important man. Thus, he couldn't get away from his top level-security clearance job until late last night, and is catching the first flight to Memphis this AM.

Mayhaw Man and I are here in Oxford, Mississippi, attending the 2004 Southern Food Alliance symposium. After a long drive on I-55 and a stop for most excellent thin-fried catfish in Louisiana (details later), we arrived at Ole Miss. After checking into our dorm-like room at the Alumni Center Hotel, we headed to the Whole Hog Barbecue fest, featuring the barbecue of Ed Mitchell from Wilson, NC. We schmoozed with lots of folks, but the purpose of tonight's event was to eat, drink (an endless supply of Jack Daniels was available), and have fun. Mission accomplished. Ed Mitchell conducted an interesting experiment. We sampled 3 different types of pigs: the first was raised on only barley. The second was fed an all natural diet of soybeans and corn. The third was fed a commercial diet, including regular feed of hormones, chemicals, and all the other stuff that bothers organic-zealots. The verdict? To me, it was pig, and they all were fine. Unfortunately, everyone knew what they were eating, and I'd be willing to guess that the non-commercial pigs will win the vote. It should have been a blind study here, but that opportunity was lost. Finally, we saw a 2001 film about Ed Scott, the SFA's 2001 winner of the Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award, given to an individual who is dedicated to keeping the heritage of Southern cooking alive. Mr. Scott is the first African-American commercial catfish farmer, who couldn't find anyone to process his fish, because of the color of skin. It was an excellent film, and I look forward to the awarding of the 2004 Keeper of the Flame Award. Hopefully, Brooks will follow up with some comments. More to come tomorrow, and, if lucky, some photos.

And, of course, you'll be driving, so who cares. I do plan on taking tons of photos throughout this trip. We'll have three segments: Mayhaw Man and Varmint's Excellent New Orleans Adventure, Mississippi Churning (a Road Trip story), and The SFA Took My Baby Away (a recount of the Symposium).

Geesh, that gives us, what, 80 minutes of sleep? Of course, I'm going to enjoy every stop we make. And there will be many. Thanks for these great suggestions.

Excellent, Don. You perfectly described the feel of the evening.

It appears that people know that I have enough fat reserves to last me a few months, so they're thinking I need to avoid a food-based road trip. So wrong, so very wrong! Perhaps we'll just take our chances on the back roads and keep our fingers crossed, hoping for serendipity.

Ick. Yuck. Pew. Gah. Ralph. Nasty. Gross. Blech. Eeewww. No no no no no. That's just not right.

[Host's note: Split from another topic—the "collection" is the 2004 Deviled Egg Recipe Competition from Southern Foodways Alliance. -CH ] What a fantastic collection, John T. Our own Maggie the Cat has two pieces in there (including a mention of how deviled eggs are often considered a "vegetable" in the meat n' three joints). SFA member and Raleigh resident Debbie Moose actually has a cookbook that focuses exclusively on this wonderful item: Deviled Eggs: 50 Recipes from Simple to Sassy. Chef Ashley Christensen of Raleigh's Enoteca Vin features deviled eggs on her menu every day -- she was very disappointed to hear of this contest after the deadline had passed!