A Fine Dinner in Banner Elk, NC

Well, sometimes places and surroundings are surprising.  Had to head to northwestern North Carolina last week to give a lecture at Applacahian State University.  Decided to parlay the trip with a visit to a client not too far away.  Passing through Banner Elk on my way to Boone, I recognized a couple of streets and a restaurant that I had been at before.  (Years back my son had gone to college in the area as well,)  The Louisiana Purchase was still there.  A quick phone call and I learned that the place was under new ownership but little had changed.  Pulled in.  Had to.  Couldn't pass up a fine cajun restaurant in the middle of,  uh, the middle of  well, pretty much the middle of nowhere.  Veal Pate and Crawfish Etoufee screamed off the menu.  Had to go there.  SPECTACULAR .  Across the board specatacular.  Whenever you're in the northwestern part of NC, don't pass  up the opportunity to eat some fine ---and I mean fine----cajun food.

Old Hickory Steakhouse---Gaylord Opryland

A dear friend, Donald J. Sowa, of the Sowa Financial Group,  comes into town for a few rounds of golf and we head to Old Hickory Steakhouse and the Hotel for the evening.  Nice spot to bring out of towners and there is a restaurant for every palate and budget.  Earlier, I had made reservations at the Old Hickory Steakhouse as I was often told its steaks are second to none. Being a huge fan of Mortons and The Palm, I had my doubts, but, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We settled into The Library Lounge, as the bar is known,  for a couple of drinks before dinner.  The Library offers a rich ambiance and overstuffed leather chairs in a spectacular environment---floor to ceiling hardwood, deep carpet and true Southern warmth. I order a beer and my friend a mixed drink which, after too long  of a wait, arrive. The beer (a domestic) is at room temperature and not a degree colder. After 10 minutes of trying to find our server and getting annoyed, "Mike" arrives and I voice my complaint. He listens attentively and then  informs me that such is not possible as "it was in the cooler all day." Fuming now, I simply tell the kid to pick up the bottle and he can decide for himself if they need a new cooler, but I would like a cold beer in the meantime. 10 minutes later a cold beer arrives. So far not so good.  Dealing with this careless, arrogant neophyte I didn't anticipate a great dinner, but I was very, very impressed with Anthony, our waiter, and the food. Anthony made a recommendation for the 22 oz bone in ribeye.  We went with the spinach made with Marscipone and garlic truffle Mac and Cheese as sides.  Magificent. Simply and thoroughly magnificent and that is the only word I can use.

Spectacular steaks; great service and a wonderful atmosphere. Except for the self absorbed, childish and apparently not too bright cocktail server, I would give this restaurant as many stars as allowed by law.

Missing a Rant or Two

Having been a tad busy with work, family and the like, I haven't had my chance to rant recently. So here goes.

As a kid, there appeared to be few "chain" restaurants out there. Yeah, we had McDonald's White Castle, Wetson's and the like but we didn’t refer to then as "chains." Rather, they were "fast food." We had a great number of single owner, mom and pop and family operated restaurants. Food prices at the time ran from $4 to $15 for a decent entree of pasta, veal, pork or steak. Things were prepared by chefs and cooks of every nationality under the sun. The food, by and large, was uniformly terrific. What happened to these restaurants? Did the "mid-priced” chains run them all out? I think so. You know the ones we are talking about: Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, Carrabbas, TGIF Fridays and such---owned by huge multinational corporations that appear to weather any financial storm by reducing quality and quantity so the "numbers work." They contract with a "chef-celebrity" and pretend it is quality food prepared by the chef-celebutant. I think these places are terrible on many levels. The old lady known as Mama who cooked at one of my favorites in the Bronx, Louis', would never dream of such. If the price of Broccoli Rabe was too high, she didn't serve it.  If the clams didn's smell right, she didn't buy them. She didn't stretch, cut corners, or worse yet, cheat. Now we have "production managers" and "food assemblers" and kids putting themselves through school serving a prepackaged, prefrozen, self declared culinary masterpiece.  These are not chefs and cooks at these monolithic chains where the food is literally factory made, cryo-vaced and sent in frozen from every corner of the world to these so called "family and neighborhood restaurants.” Their staff have degrees in management and accountancy rather than in the culinary arts. We settle on this as food??? Why? They are literally numbing our taste buds with flavorless, boring food. Do some good: Take a stand. As Nancy Reagan would say: JUST SAY NO! Avoid them at all costs. Let them know that we don't settle for a pasta and vongole, where the pasta had never been in the same room with a live clam; that they can’t sell essence of polpo. I want a big ol' piece of octopus in a fra diavolo.

I tried to explain this to a few not too bright folk the other day and apparently, liking to be led around by the nose by those more blinded than them, they suggested that "not everyone can eat at expensive restaurants." Clearly these folk missed the point: A well run family, chef owned restaurant can and usually is less expensive than these chains. These restaurants do nothing more contribute to the “dumbing” of America's culinary education and expectations. Think about the last time you had a memorable meal (or an inexpensive one) at one of these chains??? Go ahead it’s a Brave New World out there----find a privately owned restaurant and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

More Mis-labeled Food

Although I am desperately trying not to have this blog turn into a food critic's page, such is becoming more difficult.  Another rant.  If  a chef is going to change the main ingredient of a traditional dish, PLEASE tell your customers.

With the arrival of fall, one of my favorite dishes, ossobuco alla milanese, makes a greater and grander appearance on menus. My wife and I headed to a local establishment, the Chop House,  for a weekday night out dinner.  There it was on the menu:  ossobuco.  A cool crisp fall evening just cried out for braised veal with a sultry gremolata. Had to go there. What was on my plate when served was not veal ossobuco, but rather pork ossobuco. In other words,   braised fresh ham hock---not a veal shank.  I would not say  I was disappointed but surprised that I had no warning that that chef opted to go with pork rather than veal and not inform this guests. (Then a horrific thought:  Perhaps  Tennesseans think ossobuco is supposed to be made with pork????) Should I inform them that traditional ossobuco is made with veal????? Is this another reason why Tennessee is certainly a "different" kind of place, if you know what I mean.  BTW the dish was terrific but not as expected.

A few days later, having theatre tickets, we headed out to Nashville for an early dinner and a show. Tried a restaurant we had yet to venture into,  The Bound'ry.  Again, on the menu was my yearned for ossobuco.  Karen, our supremely professional server, looked at me like I was nuts when I asked if it was veal rather than pork ossobuco. "Veal, of course, with a fork placed right in the marrow for your convenience" she responded.  Embarrassed  I had to inform her that we recently were surprised with a pork hock rather than a veal shank and once bitten twice shy. Chefs should learn quickly that changing a dishes ingredients is fine and they should not limit their creativity---just let us know before we order. Labeling is really, really important in my opinion.  By the way, the Bound'ry is, in our opinion, one of the best restaurants in Nashville.

I Love Creativity....but not with Surprises

A friend from Rhode Island was coming to visit for a few days and I hooked up with a local pal to make dinner plans in Nashville.  A few drinks and dinner then a tour of the Broadway honkey tonks for live music was the game plan.  Reservations were suggested at Sambuca's and at 8:30 we were there.  Interesting decor and ambiance but my first impression was a throwback to the 1980s:  Brass, ferns and countless yuppies throwing around big bucks for mediocre food. As I trust my Tennessee  friend's judgment emphatically, I hid my frown of concern but for a while I felt out of place not wearing a three piece suit with a pinky ring and pretending to be a rich investment banker. Sambuca's has rebranded the 1980's theme as "Sensually Sophisticated" and the live music and some wonderful fusion jazz was indeed welcome. The waiter was reasonably knowledgeable with enough pretentiousness to border on unearned snobbery--but again think the 80's---people liked that.  His training perhaps was obtained at a local Meat and Three.  More on him later. Sambuca's menu is that of an an eclectic steakhouse with a couple of trendy and certainly mislabeled menu items.  For instance "deconstructed sushi " as an appetizer.  The concept of deconstructed food is appalling in my opinion but more importantly isn't "deconstructed sushi," nothing more than sashimi?? Enough bastardization of accepted nomenclature, in my opinion. I noticed the Blackened Red Snapper Etouffee on the menu and decided to inquire.  Upon questioning, the waiter assured me the Snapper was fresh.  I allowed him to lie to me outright, and being in a sporting mood and wanting to see how far he would go to sell a piece of fish, I asked him to please check.  A few minutes later he dutifully returned informing me that the Snapper was fresh and recently caught out of the Gulf. Well, I reasoned, another lie as the Gulf's Red Snapper season has been closed since August 1.  OK they were going with it being blackened and in an Etouffee, and I thought,  it would be fine even if it was frozen, so there I went. Now you're right I didn't neglect the possibility of farm raised redfish-----but they offered Red Snapper not Redfish and the former are not farm raised, so I was confident I was being served frozen fish.  Just to let him know I was somehow confident that the fish was frozen, I asked if they even owned a freezer.  We both knew the answer.

At any rate, the mislabeling part comes from the use of the term "Etouffee."  The dish, although marginally passable, was served with a side of dirty rice and spinach. The fish was a fairly large filet with an unidentifiable sauce of some sort.  Although the provenance of this vitreous liquid was unclear, I was confident it did not involve a roux.  Nor did I ever see what appeared to be a "disassembled" Etouffee: A couple of shrimp, a lump or two of crabmeat and fish---with the sauce separated from its constituent components. At a minimum, they should have called it something other than an Etouffee. An "Etouffee Variant" perhaps? I hate creativity with surprises.

Interesting Way of Serving Food

Well it seems that it has been a while since I have picked on some Tennessee folk, and I was having withdrawals.....

Before moving to Tennessee I thought I was well traveled and certainly well experienced in the culinary arts---the eating part of the art that is. I have been traveling on business it seems for well over 25 years and can't think of a major city in America  that I haven't dined in. Like the Food Network's popular show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and  I thought I had eaten in places that only few people would believe existed.  From roadside stands in Guatemala to places called EATS in the middle of nowhere, to some of the finest restaurants in America, I have been there.  Then we came to Tennessee to discover something called a "Meat and Three." Never heard of them and had no idea what they were until my sister in law, a local Tennessean, thought I was "ready" to expand my gustatory horizons.  Recognizing I was a full fledged food brat and an all around pain it the neck when it comes to food, she knew full well that I would research the restaurant's provenance, the chef and the owner before agreeing to meet her for dinner in one of "Tennessee's best."

To solve this problem and not wanting to watch me pout, she refused to tell us where we were heading and insisted that we meet in a Big Box parking lot not too far from the restaurant. We cautiously followed.  We ended up at a classic "Meat and Three."  I was told it was the best in Middle Tennessee.  I started to wonder what the worst looked like.  Well, apparently the plan here is something akin to a buffet where you pick a meat and then three or two sides.  Only here, they serve you tableside.  Meat choices involved such delicacies as meat loaf, "broasted" chicken, chicken fried steak, hams slices, etc.  You get the picture.  The sides offered were fried okra, mac and cheese, string beans (that lost their color years ago), mashed (boxed) potatoes and puree of something that once was a vegetable.  Of course the service is appropriate for the kind of restaurant it is, and they do push the desserts.  By this point, my appetite, such that it was, was long gone and I had no intention of eating more----or there again or any other "Meat and Three." Garbage by any other name is still garbage......

And Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread....

Is it me or have we forgotten our history?  Our culture? Our sense of decorum? Why is it that at too many restaurants we need to ask for bread, then butter, a tapenade or olive oil.  When it arrives, it is not bread in the sense of a fresh, yeast driven pane of texture and flavor.  More often than not it involves either something more akin to Wonder Bread or related to shoe leather as the baker, today for some reason felt increasingly inspired to expand his baking horizons with the inclusion of Gorilla Glue, seeds of some sort, marbles and small stone-like ingredients as if we as humans needed a gastrolith. He then calls it "hearty."  Go to hell.  Expand your horizons with some acid like we did in the 70's.  What is wrong with flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar and some heat  (and steam) and make some bread that has a chewy crust---with semolina on the bottom----and a hot delicate texture chock full of oolitic-like voids of absolute yumminess. Keep your raisins, apples, granola, pears, bananas, nuts, fruits, candy, tree bark, bird feet, candied fruits, organic cow turds and anything else the hell out of my bread. If my bread baker wants "inspiration" they should go to church.  Make bread---- not dessert and don't give me the "its organic, you'll love it" BS.  Hell, nicotine is organic too and I'm quite certain it is a poor addition to food.