Triad City Bites February 2020

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FEBRUARY 2020

SOURDOUGH STEW:

T H E BR E A D, T H E BON E BROTH AND EVERYTHING

Curated By:

Also featured in this month’s Issue: Cruel Winter

Flash in the pan

Sourdough Stew — the bread is in the stock

S

ourdough Stew resembles a classic, simple meal: a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. Except in this case the bread seemed to have thought it was a bone, and snuck itself into the stock pot. When you try this rich, slightly tart, chunky stew, you will be glad it did.

To make sourdough bone broth, bone and bread are treated equally, browning under the same broiler before being locked together in a vat of boiling water. The

by Ari LeVaux sourdough flavor impregnates the broth and everything in it, while filling the air with the faint yeasty aroma of a microbrewery.

The bread proves almost as durable as the bone, slowly breaking down but never leaving. Pieces of bread remain in the broth, soft clouds floating around your bowl like the egg drops in a bowl of egg drop soup. We could blend it all into a puree, but then we’d lose the delicate features of this comforting bowl of bone and bread broth.

I never intended to find a way to combine bread and soup into one easy-toslurp meal. I was trying to recreate Beef Stew Sandwich, my favorite dish at the best Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque.

At the time, I was the restaurant critic for Albuquerque’s Weekly Alibi, so I SOURDOUGH STEW had a say in such matters, and had proclaimed Viet Taste the city’s best of its Four large servings category. The Beef Stew Sandwich consisted of a toasted section of baguette 1 piece marrow bone, preferably an end piece with bits of meat and gristle on a plate, next to a modest bowl of chunky soup. The toast was chewy 1 pound meat, the more gristle and connective tissue the better, cut into 1 inch enough that you could use it to grab chunks of stew — packed with carrots, cubes potato and beef. The aromatic stew tasted pho-like but was disorientingly thick 1 loaf of the best sourdough you can find, white or brown sliced with melted cartilage. I first assumed that this sludge was simply what was left 2 tablespoons cider vinegar at the bottom of the pho pot, with added vegetables, and I was totally on board 1 onion, cut in half for that. I now know that this was a stew called bo kho, flavored similarly to 2 large carrots, cut in half pho. But in my early attempts to recreate that Beef Stew Sandwich, I came up 4 stalks celery, cut in half with sourdough soup.

1 large potato, cut into 1-inch cubes I was trying to reduce the liquid in a pot of meat and bones down to a thick 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried paste, but it would not thicken enough. Getting impatient, I ripped up the bread 1 cup wine (white wine with white sourdough, red with dark sourdough) I was going to serve with the stew, and threw the pieces into the pot.

For serving: butter to taste to adjust fat, if necessary My breaded broth didn’t thicken into a luxurious brown sauce like in the Beef Stew Sandwich, but something curious happened. The bread happened to be Brown the meat and bones under the broiler, turning often, before anything sourdough. As the meat cooked in the sourdough broth, a promising aroma burns, until everything is brown. For the last few minutes of browning, add the emerged, like a pot of coq au vin after you add a second bottle of wine. bread, in whole slices or chunks. Turn the slices quickly, before they burn.

For the tart sourdough flavor to assert itself, the bread you use must be a When meat, bones and bread have been browned all top-shelf loaf or baguette, not some off-the-rack clone from around, transfer the meat and bones to your cooking vessel, the back of the supermarket, baked by some out-of-state I never intended to find a in enough water to cover everything by two inches. Crumble company. Find who is baking the best sourdough close way to combine bread and the toasted bread into the water, as finely as possible. Add to home, and use theirs. My favorite is a local multigrain cider vinegar and cook for an hour in the pressure cooker, sourdough, which imparts a porridge-like quality to the soup into one easy-to-slurp the or about 4 hours on the stove, covered on medium heat, soup. meal. I was trying to recre- or about 8 hours in the slow cooker. Add the carrot, celery, Use red meat bones, like beef or lamb, preferably with onion, potato, thyme and wine. Cook for another half-hour chunks of meat and gristle attached. Deer bones work ate Beef Stew Sandwich, great, too. Depending on your tastes, you’ll probably want my favorite dish at the best under pressure (2 and 4 hours, respectively, for the other methods). Remove carrot, celery and onion. Save the carrots to skim the fat. I find butter to be the most appropriate and Vietnamese restaurant in for later. “comfy” fat in a bowl of bread soup.

Depending on how fatty the bones are, at this point you Sourdough Bone Stew Albuquerque. might want to allow the soup to cool for a spell, perhaps Use whatever cooking setup you would to make bone overnight, so you can skim the fat. You could do this after the broth. I use an electric pressure cooker, aka the Instant first or second cooking.

Pot, but you can make this in a slow-cooker or on the stovetop. Your active Finally slowly cook it down until the broth is mostly gone, stirring often and occatime is about the same either way, but the slower methods take longer and sionally scraping off the starchy accumulation that tends to build up on the bottom. burn more energy, while the Instant Pot is like going into hyperspace. Time When it’s more chunky than brothy, it’s basically ready. About 20 minutes before speeds up inside the pressure chamber, allowing the food to travel great serving, remove the bone, slice the soft carrots and return them to the soup. Seadistances in short periods of time. son with whatever else strikes your fancy. Sometimes I even add soy sauce and pho seasoning cube, for old times’ sake. If the soup tastes too lean, I add butter.

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Triad City Bites

February 2020

Grandover Resort $$-$$$ Grandover.com

DiValetta Restaurant 1808 Bar Café Expresso 19 & Timber Bar

Quiet Pint $-$$ 1420 W. First St. W-S 336.842.3712 Find them on Facebook

Grandover is more than just a world-class Resort, though it is that, with luxurious accommodations; two public PGA-rated 18-hole golf courses; and a Spa without rival in the Triad. It is also a fantastic nightlife and weekend destination for locals.

DiValletta, a AAA Diamond-Rated restaurant, serving seasonal breakfast, lunch and dinner menus with a local, Southern flair, has become legendary. 1808 Bar has live music on the weekends with a lounge setting in the lobby. Café Expresso has a menu loaded with quick lunch bites, and a gaming floor with billiards, large-screen TVs and one of the only bar shuffleboard tables in town. Off the Café, you’ll find an outdoor fire pit with views of the golf course. 19 & Timber Bar is not your average 19th hole, with both indoor and outdoor seating, specializing in craft cocktails and local brews. Come by on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, for drink specials and other shenanigans, music by AM rOdeO and an Irish dinner buffet. See the website to purchase tickets.

On weekends, Grandover Resort is a destination unto itself!

When owner Dave Hillman opened Quiet Pint Tavern in 2013, the gastropub quickly turned into a favorite neighborhood hangout. Sit inside the cozy bar — less quiet than it is vibrant — or relax on the expansive, pet-friendly outdoor area.

Every Wednesday, local, live musicians perform under the covered and heated patio. The well-appointed bar features 20 rotating craft beers on draft. And The menu features an eclectic spread of shareable appetizers and entrées. Try the Three-Way Wings — baked, fried and then grilled, Hong Kong street noodles or Korean BBQ pork tacos. Weekly specials keep the menu fresh, and a Sunday brunch has interesting takes on classics like chicken and waffles with spicy honey and bacon, a short Benedict menu, brunch tacos, and the sausage and egg mac and cheese. This gastropub is not your average neighborhood joint.

Mozelle’s Fresh Southern Bistro $$

West End Poke $-$$

In the never-ending pursuit to find the next hot restaurant, consistently superb performers like Mozelle’s Fresh Southern Bistro are often overlooked. That would be a mistake. Yes, Mozelle’s still features classics like renditions of tomato pie, fried chicken and shrimp+grits that have wooed diners for the better part of the last 10 years, but the fine folks running the cozy bistro are continually challenging themselves to raise the bar for dining in Winston-Salem. The lunch, dinner and brunch menus have recently been revised for the season, daily specials take advantage of what local food artisans and farmers have to offer, and the bi-monthly wine dinners pull out all the stops to bring a big city feel to this corner of the West End. Check their Facebook or Instagram to see what’s going on today. You have no idea what you could be missing.

A poke restaurant has come to Winston-Salem’s West End. West End Poke comes from longtime Triad restaurateur Dave Hillman, along with partner, Chef Victor Ramirez. They renovated the space formerly known as Alex’s Café into a fast-casual concept based on the fresh, healthy and delicious Hawaiian staple. In Hawaiian, poke literally means “to slice crosswise,” so poke bowls feature fresh, sliced, raw fish — ahi tuna and salmon are the house favorites. Think of it as sushi in a bowl.

Add-ons include edamame, carrot kimchi, pickled watermelon radishes, wasabi peas, seaweed salad, cucumbers and other goodies tossed in. Among the cooked items are Korean pork bulgogi, Island Chicken and grilled shrimp; popular starters are Gyoza pot stickers, Volcano Fries and that Hawaiian favorite, Spam Musubi. West End Poke is a Pacific oasis in the West End.

mozelles.com 878 W. Fourth St., WS, 336.703.5400

February 2020

750 Summit St. W-S Westendpoke.com 336.842.3712 Find them on Facebook

Triad City Bites

3

In the Weeds

Cruel winter

T

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he winter months are How many of you renewed a stagnant gym memhard for the service bership or quit drinking? Wagons are at capacity industry. Here it is Febwith newly formed teetotalers. Good for them. ruary, and the shining In January and February, a warm home becomes light of spring can’t come suddenly more inviting now that the relatives aren’t soon enough. One restaurant popping in every couple of weeks. Shows are owner once told me that we binged, movies rented. The Great Hunkering Down were lucky to have large city has begun. And those of us who rely on cabin fever

by James Douglas events during those normally are abruptly taking a pay cut. dead summer holiday weekends. He failed to menThe service industry takes a nosedive during tion the doldrums that accompany January through those months. With that lack of income comes the March. No server or bartender looks forward to inevitable jockeying for shifts. In June, a simple that uncertain time. group text won’t get the slightest response, but For those not currently working in the industry, now everyone’s greedy for hours. those with a steady 9-5, paycheck, benefits, 401k I’ve seen the United Nations act with less diploand weekends off, it might seem perplexing that macy than a restaurant in late January. “The gas straits are dire for those who work just to get by. bill has to be paid by 5pm today.” “The power I get it: We all “work just to get by.” will be shut off tomorrow if I don’t work this shift.”

But as with any job, you’d best believe there are “My car insurance is going to lapse, and I need to some disadvantages that come with the service inmake at least 48 bucks tonight.” “I’ll have to kite dustry. For instance, the federal standard of wages this check but what else can I do?” With it comes for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour. depression, a healthy amount of fear and, That’s the standard server wage. I do see finally, acceptance — that this is just the some get paid more by owners, bartend- The holidays way things are, and you’ll be damned if ers mainly — anywhere from $4 to $6 an come and go, it’s going to be like this next year. hour. The rest comes from tips.

There are bright spots, granted. ValenIf the server doesn’t meet the threshold and we’re tine’s Day is an oasis in the cold, brambly left with the halls of the service industry. It’s a nice of the federal minimum wage with tips, the business owner is required to cover boost that reminds you that this malady is lingering that gap. Most servers meet it, and that’s only temporary. sugar rush. why the current system is advantageous Even with all this malaise and doom, to owners in the service industry. it’s still a job — an honorable one, in an “So, what about back of house? They industry that is hiring in virtually every get a steady wage, they’re fine, right?” Nope. single city in the entire world. But towards the Already sparse hours get cut due to the slowdown, end of February, it feels like it’s always been this leaving the same crowding for hours as the front way. You accept your fate: the slow Tuesdays, the of house. Some places just shut down because barely perceptible twitching of an eye as someone business is so slow. It’s a woven chain that extends realizes she only made 50 bucks tonight. The slog, through all aspects of the business. week after week.

And that’s it. No 401k. No insurance. No safety And then… March arrives, shiny and fresh, promnet except that which you make for yourself. ising the joy and wonders of Mardi Gras and St. Most servers get a paycheck every two weeks Pats. That’s the turning point for most of us. with a fat zero in the “amount owed” line. A lot of March is when things aren’t as bleak. People start us get paychecks, so I don’t have to explain the venturing out. Days get longer, warmer, evenings fees taken out, Render unto Caesar, and all that. more tolerable. March is when people accept that So, what happens in January and February? What some resolutions are made to be broken, and if so, do you think?

“Hey, here comes Lent!” It’s when the money starts The holidays come and go, and all we’re left flowing again, and spirits rise. And then, it’s like with is the lingering sugar rush of its merrymaking. the cold months are merely a bad dream, barely January kicks down your door and brings its bagremembered, it’s warnings unheeded. gage along. Existential dread and guilt give way to In a couple months, we’ll start to complain about resolutions, motivations and discipline. how busy we are.

Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours $$ W-S and GSO tastecarolina.net 919.237.2254

Between the two of them, they have more than 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Triad tour guides, Jessica Harris and Nikki Miller-Ka have lead thousands of guests and locals through the streets of downtown Winston-Salem and Greensboro in search of good food, drinks and unique experiences. Both guides share their favorite spots on each tour in each city.

Jessica: In Greensboro, Chez Genese is a favorite, not only is the food incredible, their bread is sourced from Camino Bakery in Winston-Salem. The fact that they use other local businesses is impressive.

Sir Winston is a new restaurant partner I’m excited about them and their dessert and cocktail program. The staff is exuberant and so enthusiastic. It makes a difference in how the food is presented.

Nikki: In Winston-Salem, Butcher and Bull is a favorite because they really put the modern in modern steakhouse with their menu options and interesting plating and presentation. Horigan’s House of Taps in Greensboro has something for everyone with their 40+ taps. It’s an oasis paradise amongst watering holes on Elm Street in Greensboro.

While every restaurant partner is special and unique, each stop on every tour is handpicked by these Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tour veterans.

Interested in Triad City Bites? Call Brian at 336.681.0704 to find out more.