THE
ODIETime FOFamily
Jujube owner Charlie Deal, wife Chrissy and 10-year-old Benji enjoy slow-paced meals centered around seasonal ingredients and time together
ISSUE
O
ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY AFTERNOON, you’ll find Chrissy and Charlie Deal in the kitchen listening to music as they chop up cucumbers and peppers for a quick cheese plate. Benji Pearson, Chrissy’s son and Charlie’s stepson, can be found during those sunny afternoons in and out of the kitchen, too: half the time playing, half the time helping out. “Benji will crush some cucumbers and raw peppers,” Charlie says. He loves his veggies, but “could eat about 20 of his mom’s biscuits drizzled with honey if we let him.” As a family, all are big fans of pizza and chicken, and Chrissy, as a “great cook with southern roots” in Charlie’s words, is a master at southern cuisine. One afternoon, the menu was homemade pickled cherry peppers stuffed with goat cheese, pa amb tomato bread, elote (Mexican corn), chicken wings and a homemade Caesar salad. “It’s a nice combination of things that are generally kid-friendly without being breaded chicken strips and string cheese,” says Charlie. For the meal’s less kid-friendly options, Charlie and Chrissy enjoyed whiskey sours and a bottle of blanc de noirs. “She basically turned me on to bourbon,” Charlie says of Chrissy. “Sure, I’d had it plenty of times, but she really got me into it and expanded my horizons, as I have done for her with wine.” –Laura Zolman Kirk
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chapelhillmagazine.com September/October 2016