Varmint

Here in North Carolina, I had a great whole hog dinner last week featuring a pig that was a cross between an Ossabaw and a Gloucestershire Old Spot. The details of the hog can be found here and a brief overview of the dinner can be found here. It's great to see so many places making a commitment to bringing back tasty, sustainable pork.

When I've thought of Corelle, I always thought it looked so darned cheap. I need to take a first-hand look at the winter frost white.

I need to buy some new everyday china to replace the crappy IKEA stuff I bought less than two years ago. The IKEA china has developed tons of tiny cracks in the glaze, and when you pull it out of the dishwasher, liquid weeps from the cracks. Needless to say, this is not at all hygienic. Moreover, this stuff has more chips than Lays! I need to replace this china with something very simple. White, chip-resistant, and inexpensive. I'll probably want 16 place settings of dinner plates and side plates. Bowls are not all that important. So, what's out there? Where's the best quality for the least money?

I read in this morning's News & Observer that Ashley has decided to re-focus her energies on Vin and will be introducing lower-priced bistro fare. I'm supposed to have lunch with her soon, so I'll report back with details. I'm also probably going to tomorrow night's "Monet dinner," which is celebrating the huge Monet exhibit at the NC Museum of Art here in Raleigh. The menu is seafood-focused, so Mrs. Varmint gets to enjoy. The cost is $49 for 4 courses, including wine, so it appears that the lower cost options are already being introduced. Here's the menu: 1st Course: Mussel stew with watercress, shallots, white wine, and cream with 2005 Picpoul de Pinet - Felines Jourdan 2nd Course: Endive salad with duck confit, poached egg, crouton and mustard with 2002 Cote de Nuits-Villages - Jourdan 3rd Course: Brown butter halibut with roasted tomato, tarragon and crispy potato brandade with 2004 Pouilly-Fuisse - Trouillet 4th Course: Ginger-braised apple crisp with creme fraiche and cinnamon

Sounds like a typical opening, particularly the ABC part. Very sorry to hear about Abby's knee, and I hope she gets better quickly. We'll all see you on Thursday, right everyone? Good luck!!!

Last night, a group of us had the pleasure of partaking in a special "Whole Hog Tasting" meal at Vin, featuring a hog from Cane Creek Farm. This hog is a cross from the Ossabaw and the Gloucestershire Old Spot (discussion here), raised on protocols established by Niman Ranch. In fact, Bill Niman himself was at last night's dinner, and he took the time to chat with us (and to rave about chef Ashley Christensen). The first course was a frisee salad, topped with fresh garlic pork sausage and a poached egg. This was a great starter, and I could easily have enjoyed a larger version of this for brunch. Maybe some crispy lardoons, too! The second course consisted of pork belly served two ways: first, the fresh bacon was braised and then crisped on the outside. I'm not really sure how the second part was prepared, but it ended up being shredded pork belly served on a piece of crunchy baguette. The entire dish was served with a chick pea soup – very light and refreshing to contrast with the unctiousness of the pork. We then were served some great house-made tortellini filled with testa and pork shoulder. Ashley had intended on making a testa terrine, but she just didn't have enough time for it to cure and set properly. Nevertheless, the tortellini were fantastic. The final pure pork dish was a basic risotto Milanese topped with pulled pork shin and shaved white truffle. God, I love truffles! This was a great dish, but frankly, the truffles almost made the pork unnecessary. That's the one problem with truffles in my opinion. Dessert was a braised apple shortcake with whipped cream. I think the braising liquid included a little Calvados, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, as I started to eat this, I declared, "Well, there's no pork in this dish." One of my dining companions informed me that the biscuits could have been made with lard. I just couldn't tell, so never being a shy one, I informed everyone at the table that there was no lard in these biscuits. Of course, my friend walked over to the kitchen, informed Ashley Christensen that I stated there was no lard in the shortcake, and she gave me a look that said, "What the fuck is wrong with your sense of taste, boy????" I responded by yelling, "But did you render it yourself?" And she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Of course." A minute later we had another biscuit on the table, accompanied by a small bowl of lard. Oops. My friend started smearing the lard over the biscuit, wolfing it down – that was a bit of overkill. Yup, that's the kind of chef Ashley Christensen is, taking the time to make her own lard. Geesh. In the end, it was a super meal with great friends. I will say, however, that the one downside to this meal was that I would have really liked to try some of the pork in a fairly unadulterated form. The chef certainly had a very light hand in her dishes, trying to let the flavor shine through, but I would have loved to pull some of the shoulder meat straight off of that pig. Boy, that would have been great.

John's always been so shy. My favorite spots are all over these boards. Let me know the next time you're planning on being in the area, and I'll take the time to compile them all. Of course, were I in Greenville, SC, there'd be only one choice!!!

Thanks for the report, DT. I've been to all of the barbecue places plus the See Wee before, and you did yourself right. You really got a decent feel of the different styles of barbecue, and although I'll disagree with your final verdicts, none of the places are sub-par!

A Piedmont press release made it into my mailbox today:

The man is in need of serious help. Too funny.

I've always loved the Durham restaurant scene, and this only confirms my thoughts. I look forward to the initial comments of Bryan and others.

One restaurant that I haven't seen mentioned at all is Tabla. It's not hyper-modern by any stretch of the imagination, but I really can't think of another place in the US that offers this type of food. I really love the place. Oh, and I'd certainly take WD-50 over Blue Hill, as the latter is much more sedate and traditional. Very good food, but not substantially different from anything you can get across the country.

We North Carolinians are crazy like that!

Oh, wow, that's really sad. It will be very interesting to see how they rebuild the place. I'm sure they'll find a way to preserve some of that low-brow charm.

I'm glad I recorded the first episode, as I haven't had a chance to sit in front of the TV all week. One quick set of questions (and I apologize for getting far too ahead of the process): Will you get ratings reports? Are the Food Network folks targeting a certain number, or are there other aspects to how they evaluate a new program? And what can we do to help spread the word???? Congratulations on pursuing a dream. That's completely fantastic.

Be sure to let us know if you need any guests for a soft opening! Seriously, we appreciate the update. Have you run into any unexpected hiccups along the way? Have you found it difficult to hire talented servers? Or has this been a wonderfully smooth process? (and don't lie!)

This menu is evidence that our group's dietary restrictions (i.e., no pork products for half the crew) severely limited Bryan. This meal should rock, and seeing I know who the guests will be, I may have to call and see if an extra spot is available!

Of course, a sweet barley cake could be a start.

I never give up on a place after trying it when it's just opened. They've been open since the beginning of the year, and you probably went before working out the kinks. Anyhow, I sampled 4 dishes yesterday, and all were good to excellent.

Here are the pictures from our evening at Z Kitchen. Sorry, I'm not a real photographer, so these will have to do. The Menu The wonderful sea scallop amuse Croquetas Salmon and fennel and raisins, oh my! Close up of the "oh my!" Short rib-stuffed squid. I didn't take a picture of the goat cheese and pepper stuffed squid. Chicken and vegetable puree Carbonated fruit cup with miso chocolate sauce Bryan through the looking -- er, wine -- glass Bryan in his deluxe kitchen. Actually, it's amazing what he does in there.

I FINALLY made it to this place for lunch today, and I'm kicking myself over why it took me so damn long to go here. I knew I was in for a treat when instead of your traditional chips and salsa, we were given a plate of sliced jicama, sprinkled with dried chilis and salt. Squeeze some lime over this, and you have a wonderful snack. I had a crab, corn and chili soup (more of just a rich broth) that was served with a couple of small crabmeat "cannolis". Well, the bowl arrives with just this cannolis, which are not made of pasta, but of butter. The waiter pours the broth over the cannolis, causing them to melt and introduce even more richness to the soup. Wow. I also had a pambazo, which is a stuffed sandwich of pototo, chorizo, avocado, tomato and lettuce (with a chili sauce), served with a simple salad of greens, radish, onions and beans -- dressed with nothing but oil, salt and a touch of lime. Folks, this place is the real deal. This is intelligent, creative, high end Mexican cooking, and I'm trying to figure out the next time I can get out to North Raleigh.

Hmmm, I guess I won't fit in well at Piedmont. Anyhow, it's great to have Drew participating on our Forums, so please feel free to ask him any questions you might have. Durham has more great neighborhood restaurants than any other city in the Triangle, where fine establishments are primarily found in commercial areas, including strip malls. I love the neighborhood restaurant concept, and involving the kids with the SEEDS project clearly demonstrates a full commitment to the community. Congrats.

Sorry it's taken me so long to provide my thoughts about my meal at Z Kitchen, but it's been a bit chaotic. Let me start off by saying that I offer these comments as if I were visiting a restaurant, and not as a guest at a friend's restaurant. Thus, if I come off overly critical, it's because I'm taking that approach rather trying to be ultra-nice to a friend. Bryan certainly is a young man who has some talent and pretty good ideas. He's incredibly young, but seeing he has absolutely no training and no experience in a professional kitchen, he does some impressive work. What he needs more than anything right now is constructive criticism from people who aren't just pandering sycophants. He'll learn that way. The student apartment is just that. Don't arrive expecting to be impressed by the ambience. That's not what this is about. It's all about the food. Bryan started us with an appetizer of seared sea scallop with a piece of golden beet, a pickled chanterelle, and a base of pureed Japanese artichoke. This was a very good dish that would have been outstanding with a bit more beet and chanterelle. Moreover, the dish was served in this high-sided square bowl that made eating it almost impossible. Bryan should have just put it on a plate. However, this dish really showed me what he's capable of doing, and it was a good looking presentation. He then served some corn croquetas, that were supposed to be very creamy on the inside. Frankly, they were pasty and not all that pleasant to eat. He served the croquetas with an aioli that incorporated sherry vinegar and caramelized onion, but neither of those flavors came through. This was the only dish of the evening that we felt did not work very well. For the next course, Bryan stuffed squid with two different fillings: goat cheese and piquillo pepper in one and braised short rib in the other. Both were served with a garlic cream. The goat cheese-filled squid was superb, but the garlic cream was not flavorful at all. Nevertheless, I could have eaten a half dozen of these. It was also a drab presentation -- lots of white -- hell, just sprinkle some peppers around the plate. The braised short rib filling needed some acid or some sort of zip to it. It was a solid try, however, and was one step away from being outstanding. The next dish was the highlight of the evening: wild salmon cooked sous vide served with some wonderful fennel that was braised with raisins and some sort of acidic wine. He added some soy sauce powder to build up the umami. The powder was overly hygroscopic, so it ended up clinging to the bowl and not getting distributed with the food, but the dish really worked. Excellent dish. The savory courses ended with chicken breast cooked sous vide that was accompanied by a somewhat sweet roasted vegetable puree and some sort of wine "jus." I appreciated tasting the chicken cooked this way -- it made boneless chicken breast flavorful, but the overall dish itself needed a bit more. The "jus" added nothing to the dish. The vegetable puree was fine, but the overall texture of the entire dish, combined with the chicken, was too soft. Plus, the flavors ended up just being a bit too mild. It was tasty, and I enjoyed eating it, but if I had been served this in a restaurant, I would have found it just OK. For dessert, he added some grapes and strawberries to a carbon dioxide cannister, and then served those with a miso-chocolate dipping sauce. The fruit was fun -- sort of a solid fruit soda. The sauce was quite tasty (and the miso was a great addition to the chocolate), but it was brushed on the plate -- hardly a dipping sauce. It was, however, a nice presentation and a whimsical way to end a solid meal. All in all, it was a very good meal and showed me that Bryan is capable of doing great things. For $40, it's a great meal and quite a value. I think he's trying to be subtle with his flavors, and he does a solid job with it. He might have toned things down for our crowd based on the dietary restrictions I gave him. Regardless, I'm positive that Bryan can put together an outstanding meal. Give him a chance; you won't regret it. Pictures to follow when I get the chance.

Had a great meal tonight. Will report the details before the weekend is out, but I will say that this is a high value meal. If you let Bryan push the boundaries, he'll truly impress. If you need to be a bit more conservative, as we did, you'll walk away with a great experience. There's no doubt that Bryan is a 20 year old student who is trying to impress his guests. Fortunately, however, he has a pretty damn good understanding of food, and despite his immaturity, he can accomplish a ton in his very limited kitchen. Again, I'll post pictures and details soon, but in the meantime, try to find a way to visit Z-Kitchen. Yeah, the concept is a little contrived, but blame that on youthful exuberance. And then sit back and enjoy the food.

Ashley Christensen, chef of Raleigh's Enoteca Vin, brines her pork belly in a smokey lapsang oolong tea mixture before cooking. That imparts a clear smokiness to the pork belly. Unbelievably good.