Review: Crooks Corner -- Chapel Hill

[Varmint]

Moderator's Note: This discussion focuses on Crooks Corner, and was moved here from the discussion about the Best Restaurant in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Five of us went to Crook's Corner on Saturday night. Why Crook's, which wasn't even on my initial list of the top places in the Triangle? First, it was about 19 years ago that I had my "food epiphany," and it was at Crook's. I remember that meal like it was yesterday: where we sat, what I ate, how it tasted. At that time I thought Crook's was the coolest restaurant in the universe. Over the years, I'd sit at the bar, chatting up Bill Neal, trying to understand what he was trying to accomplish. I was worried that Crook's luster had faded a bit after Bill's death, and at times, it had. The restaurant had to find its own identity, as Bill Neal could never be replaced. Bill Smith, the chef since Neal's passing, has preserved much of what made Crook's special in the first place, but he has added his own element. Crook's is not the Bill Neal Southern Cooking Museum -- it is a vibrant restaurant offering some of the finest Southern fare on the planet, and for that, I'm only angry it takes a 30-minute drive to get to Chapel Hill to enjoy what's cooking.

I must first offer a disclosure: Bill Smith is a friend of mine, and our table received a couple of complimentary dishes. That didn't change my overall opinion of the place, seeing one of the two dishes was fried oysters, something that I, unfortunately, am unable to eat. Mrs. Varmint, on the other hand, was quite grateful for this treat.

We shared a lot of appetizers, including the legendary jalapeno-cheddar hushpuppies and the generically named "cracker plate." The hushpuppies are hand rolled and fried to a deep brown -- much more so than what you'll find at any barbecue restaurant. Served with a piquant cocktail sauce, these pups have just a slight bite to them much more than the standard hushpuppy. I ordered the cracker plate out of nostalgia -- I'd often go to Crook's for a beer and the cracker plate, which includes homemade pimento cheese and hot pepper jelly with cream cheese. This was a routine "snack" of mine that greatly contributed to my rapid weight gain in graduate school, something I do not regret in the slightest.

The oysters, by the way, were served with a garlic mayonnaise, heavy on the garlic. Seeing Mrs. V. ate all but 3 of the 20 oysters on the plate, I'd say they were excellent.

I also had a cup of navy bean and ham soup, which was the only disappointing dish of the evening. The flavors didn't leap out, and surprisingly, the dish lacked salt -- a ham-based soup needing salt?!?!

We also sampled a salad of Belgian endive with salt-cured duck and pecans, sauteed with red wine vinegar. The vinegar cut through the richness of the duck, and the endive's slight bitterness brought it all together. This was an excellent salad.

For entrees, the sweetbreads was the clear winner in my book. I rarely find sweetbreads on menus anymore, and when I saw this, I leapt at the opportunity. The sweetbreads were served in their poaching liquid, which had been reduced with onions, celery and herbs, and then a touch of cream, mushrooms and Wild Turkey were added. Served with rice and wilted spinach, I could eat this once a week.

Mrs. Varmint got a striped sea bass cooked in papers with a creamy rice and spinach. Cooking "en papillote" is an often overlooked technique, and this method of steaming with the aromatics works well with stripers. It also makes a great presentation.

A filet mignon was served with a type of yin-yang sauce design: half bourbon brown sauce and half tarragon Hollandaise. It made for a great presentation, offered a contrast of flavors, and went well with the mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

The shrimp and grits are as good as ever, but my friend ordered them without bacon. What a tragedy.

Finally, I asked Bill Smith if I could sample his "New Bern Style Corned Ham." I've read about corned ham, which simply involves the salting of a pork shoulder by cutting slits into the meat and along the bone and forcing salt throughout. This takes brining to an altogether new level, and the results are amazing. This pork is not like ham, but more akin to a ultra-succulent, but slightly transformed pork roast. I was grateful that I only sampled a small bit, because the pork was so damned rich that I wouldn't be able to eat very much. I must learn how to corn a ham, and I'm going to have Bill teach me.

Desserts are the one area at Crook's where much hasn't changed over the years. They have no full time pastry chef, so the ultra-rich Mount Airy Chocolate Souffle Cake is as good and rich as it ever was. The banana pudding, described as "Good Banana Pudding" on the menu, is perhaps the best I've ever had. EVER! Crook's uses a pastry cream, rather than a custard, for the pudding, using a bit of corn starch to thicken. One added advantage of the corn starch is that it acts as an anti-oxidant, which keeps the bananas from turning brown.

Sorbets are always a treat at Crook's (in the spring, look out for Bill Smith's honeysuckle sorbet, which requires buckets of honeysuckle blossoms), and some ultra-tart passionfruit was sent out complements of the kitchen. This was a perfect foil to the richness of the chocolate desserts (one of us ordered a hot fudge brownie with ice cream), but if you don't like to pucker up (it was Valentine's Day weekend, wasn't it), you might want to pass on this.

The service at Crooks is cordial and efficient. The place is crowded. It's loud. It was a bit too warm on Saturday.

So where does that put Crook's in the heirarchy of Triangle eating establishments? Right where it wants to be -- a top notch "neighborhood" restaurant that serves a style of food you can't get anywhere else. This is not fancy, schmancy elegant dining, but the food that is served is creative and excellent. I would kill to have this place close by. You can get a sandwich for 6 bucks. Or a plate of shrimp and grits for 17 dollars. Or, if you want a snack and a beer, my beloved cracker plate. I love Crook's Corner -- always have, and as long as Bill Smith is there, always will.

[Gifted Gourmet]

When I read "Sacred ground for Southern foodies" in the New York Times, and your marvelously detailed descriptions of the food, Varmint, I knew that I absolutely had to try the place in person! Thanks for offering up this review!

[debbiemoose]

I had my first raw oyster at Crook's, in college in the '70s! They make a great bloody mary at brunch, too.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I had my first raw oyster at Crook's, in college in the '70s!

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So, you lost your "oysginity" at Crooks, debbiemoose?

Must be a helluva place!

[ludja]

...First, it was about 19 years ago that I had my "food epiphany," and it was at Crook's.  I remember that meal like it was yesterday: where we sat, what I ate, how it tasted.  At that time I thought Crook's was the coolest restaurant in the universe. 

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Thanks for the great review Varmint; I'm glad that Crook's made it into your 'circuit' for this thread.

The duck endive salad sounds very good and that was wonderful to have the sweetbreads. Occasionally I get them at some French Bistro restaurants here in SF but it is hard to find them.

My experience with Crook's and its influence on me, culinarily, is similar to your's. In grad school there (around the same time) it was the first time I had my own apt and started really cooking; buying my own cookbooks, etc. Although Bill Neal was there the whole time I was, I only 'knew' him through his cookbooks and eating his food at Crook's. These were also my first personal forays into good food (separate from the good food my Mom always cooked growing up). It was a whole different cuisine from what I grew up with in another part of the country which only added to the experience.

I've been lucky to eat there more recently as well, under Bill Smith. I was very happy to see the good balance they achieved between preserving much of the 'old' Crook's Corner but adding in new things in a similar spirit. (I subscribe to Crook's email subscription so I keep up vicariously with some of the things he's been doing and am looking forward to his upcoming cookbook).

Reading your description I wished I could be there tonight sipping a Sazerac while perusing the menu but I'm a lot further away than a 30 min drive... Not exactly the same, but at least I can open up a cookbook, whip up some shrimp and grits and listen to the Skids when I want.

Edited February 14, 2005 by ludja (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

The mention of Crook's Corner and Bill Neal made me even more accutely aware of the man himself in an article by Bill Addison .. the article:

Atlanta Creative Loafing

Bill Neal was to Southern food in the '70s and '80s what Alice Waters of Chez Panisse is to Californian cuisine: a provocateur and revolutionary. The gussied-up shrimp and grits that appear as standard fare in today's white cloth New Southern establishments? Neal was the first to tinker with that Low Country specialty at his Chapel Hill, N.C., restaurant, Crook's Corner. The South's star chefs often cite him as an inspiration, and his 1989 collection of recipes, Bill Neal's Southern Cooking, is still handed out locally to novice kitchen cooks as a training manual... Remembering Bill Neal ($22.95, University of North Carolina Press). Aside from fond remembrances and quotes about Neal from today's best Southern cuisine interpreters, the tight anthology of recipes is remarkably approachable.

[Zeb A]

Bill Neal's teachings still inspire me. 

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There is a good article on Bill Neal and his ex-wife and Duke classmate, Moreton Hobbs Neal '71, in the Duke Alumni magazine. I'll send it to Varmint.

[julski]

Get the book! Here's my review from Library Journal

Neal, Moreton.

Remembering Bill Neal: Favorite Recipes

from a Life in Cooking.

Univ. of North Carolina.

2004. 256p. photogs. index.

ISBN 0-8078-2913-7. $22.95. COOKERY

Neal (1950-91) is best remembered as a celebrated innovator of Southern cooking through his two Chapel Hill (NC) restaurants and three cookbooks, most notably Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. A creative chef and food historian, Neal documented ancient recipes and reveled in regional variety and, in doing so, raised Southern cooking's social status. As his former wife and business partner, the author is well qualified to examine Neal's life and his recipes. She organizes the book into three distinct chapters, the first two taking their names from his restaurants. "La Résidence" features French continental cuisine with a Southern twist; "Crook's Corner" offers Lowcountry, Carolina Piedmont, and Cajun dishes; and "At Home" presents family favorites and seasonal dishes. Each chapter has several pages of introduction, and each recipe has a few lines of elaboration on its history or evolution. At first glance, this collection is almost too diverse (where else would Osso Bucco appear in the same pages as Deviled Eggs?), but it functions as an entertaining memoir as well. An essential purchase for research collections in the culinary arts; for public libraries it will have regional interest.

Edited May 20, 2005 by julski (log)

[ludja]

from the latest newsletter...

Dear Friends,

Bill Smith asked us to send a short e-mail to let everyone know that there are enough blooms along the bike routes for us to say Honeysuckle Sorbet is in season. Bill and friends will collect the flowers on Sunday and Monday over the next four weeks or so, as long as the vine is in bloom, and we'll serve it on the following Wednesday, beginning 05/18. It's hard to predict for how many days during each week we'll have it.

"If you are coming to Crook's for the honeysuckle sorbet, please call first to make sure we have it," says Bill Smith who doesn't like to disappoint. Sorry, but we will not reserve orders, they are first come/first serve.

Hope to see you soon, and as always, thank you for your friendship & patronage,

Gene Hamer

[ludja]

Get the book! Here's my review from Library Journal

Neal, Moreton.

Remembering Bill Neal: Favorite Recipes

from a Life in Cooking.

Univ. of North Carolina.

2004. 256p. photogs. index.

ISBN 0-8078-2913-7.  $22.95.           COOKERY

...

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Money for egullet if you order thru this Amazon link.

Thanks for sharing the review julski (and welcome to egullet). I'm also looking forward to Bill Smith's upcoming book, which I think it scheduled for release in the fall.

Edited May 20, 2005 by ludja (log)

[hannnah]

Bill Neal's teachings still inspire me. 

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There is a good article on Bill Neal and his ex-wife and Duke classmate, Moreton Hobbs Neal '71, in the Duke Alumni magazine. I'll send it to Varmint.

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The article in question is online here.

[julski]

Honeysuckle Sorbet recipe is at the end of this article.

But for 4 cups of blossoms I might have to pilfer the entire neighborhood!

Julie