Interlude: I give up my Man Card

So The Girl's birthday was coming up. What did she want? Simple tastes, thankfully. Just a hair cut and pedicure from her favorite spa. I've never understood the appeal of the pedicure. Why would anyone take time out of their day to have a stranger mangle your feet? Why would you want a stranger touching your feet PERIOD? You know what, screw it, I need to see for myself. That's right kids, this has nothing to do with food. It is all about me getting a Manly Pedi.

Before I set off on this mission of metrosexual pampering, I took to my Twitter account (@Foodmancing) to run a poll of my faithful Twitterati as to the acceptance of men in the Pedibaths. WCIV's Laura Harris promised me it wouldn't be submitting myself to the Spanish Inquisition. I had my doubts, but off I went like Daniel into the lion's den.

The Girl took me to Bellezza in West Ashley. We are greeted by a charming young lady, and The Girl is whisked away for her trim. I am left to amuse myself in the waiting area.

5:30-5:35 pm: Thumb through Southern Living, learn how to lay out the perfect Derby Day spread

5:35-5:41 pm: Play solitaire on my iPhone, wonder why I never get the Two of Clubs when I need it

5:41-5:52 pm: Check ESPN Fantasy Baseball to see if Zimmerman is coming off the DL yet

5:52-5:57 pm: Re-deal solitaire until I get three Aces to start, fail to win game

5:57-6:05 pm: Find out Ben and Courtney are still engaged

6:05-6:08 pm: Search web to find out who Ben and Courtney are

6:08-6:15 pm: Thumb through Southern Living, find the ways that their Derby Day spread is flawed

6:15-6:30 pm: Engage in staring contest with Victoria Beckham, claim moral victory

FINALLY The Girl comes bouncing through with a fun new do. Yup, she got her hair done did, and it's fun and flirty, and I am way too engaged in her hair at this point due to shear boredom.

Her stylist, Dime (Think Penny from Big Bang Theory, with only half the ditz) leads us to the Throne Room. I lose my Top Siders, roll up my linen pants, and climb up onto a chair that looks equal parts Captain Kirk's command chair and ancient Chinese water-torture device. The lovely Dime starts up the Jacuzzi jets as I sink my battered and mangled feet into the hot water. Next thing I know I have a glass of wine in one hand, and what is left of my masculine self-respect in the other. Oh who cares, PAMPER ME!

The process in someways is very relaxing. The scrubbing of the scales on my heels lulls me to near catatonic trance. Then she clipped my nails (which was odd) and began filing my nails (CREEPY), then more scrubbys, followed by a foot and calf massage (Lubbly!).

After she pats my feet dry I feel light, almost bouncy. Sure, I may have forfeited all claims to masculinity, but damn my tootsies feel good. First day of The Girl's Birthday bash ends with me having pretty feet and buffed toes. I do believe I might just make it back before my feet look like Frodo's.  Just don't expect me to start watching Real Housewives or debating the merits of Dooney vs Coach.

Tonight's Episode: Mac Attack

If there is one thing you need to know about Chef Jeremiah Bacon of The Macintosh  (as well as Oak Steakhouse) is that his dishes are technically perfect. Watching him in his new kitchen, touching every plate, you don't have to worry about the temperature of your steak or the seasoning on your fish. In the many, many meals we have had in his dining rooms, I've never ONCE had a complaint.

That leads us to our first real dinner at The Macintosh, Chef Bacon's King Street location. A big, beautiful bar greets you. Unfortunately, so do a throng of college kids who for some unknown reason have picked The Mac as their drinking spot of choice. Once you get past the drunken idiocy and into the dining room, things get back on track. 

The decor is, for the lack of better words, upscale-rustic cowboy. I have no other way to describe it. From the Edison bulbs, to the open kitchen with classic grandma white cabinetry, The Mac does its best to make you feel comfortable.

For our appetizers, Chef Bacon was kind enough to do split plates for us. This works great since I hate sharing. I had the housemade ricotta gnudi ($14) with Folly River stone crabs, cherry tomatoes, preserved Meyer lemons, and fine herbs. Gnudi is a lot like gnocchi, except the dumpling is made with cheese instead of potato. Beautiful balance of flavor, with a texture that is pleasingly gooey. The crab is sweet and rich, making this dish a surprisingly light and bright hit.

For the second appetizer, we go with one of The Girl's favorites, sautéed scallops ($13) with asparagus, English peas, Palmetto sweet onions, and carrot butter. Why is this one of her favorites? Chef Bacon makes the best scallops in town, PERIOD. Seasoning is always spot-on, caramelization is perfect, temperature is exactly where you want it. These are perfect for apps, entrée, or even dessert. If you dine at Oak or The Mac, order the scallops.

For my entrée, I was given (I decided to let the kitchen choose for me) grilled SC sheepshead ($26) with minced SC clams, Kennerty Farms asparagus, Ambrose Farms green garlic, Kurios Farms black cherry tomatoes, and clam broth. The beautiful grilled meat of the fish has a distinctly crab-like flavor. The clam broth gives a hint of briny cream richness. The overall mouth feel is pleasant and warming.

For a side dish we settled in on the bone marrow bread pudding ($7). Okay, I settled in on it. The Girl looked at me like I was an idiot. Then she tried it. If you are a grilled cheese fan then this simple dish is right up your ally. This tastes like the single most decedent grilled cheese ever. Win.

For her entrée, I convince the girl to go with the 7 oz grilled deckle ($29) with celeriac purée, creamed Blackbird Farms braising greens, pickled pearl onion, and roasted fingerling potatoes. If you don't know what the deckle is, I feel sadness for you. The deckle is the fat-cap of the strip above the ribs. in this case it is the cap of the rib-eye. So the richest, tastiest part of the richest, tastiest steak in the cow. Jeremiah Bacon can cook cow as well as anyone on the planet. The Girl's only complaint was the greens. It's not that there was anything wrong with them, she just doesn't like leafy greens. This meat is so FREAKIN amazing. The pickled onion is also a complete delight.

The dessert was a chocolate, caramel, and sea-salt torte. The bitter chocolate and sea-salt are a great counter to the über-sweet caramel. Here is the only tweak I would have made in the meal. I would have loved a little pickled orange rind to give a touch of brightness to a darkly sweet dish.

The Macintosh is a love letter to American cuisine. The dishes are straightforward, elegant, technically perfect statements of adoration for the classics. In Chef Bacon's cooking you see a firm and restrained hand, with a true love of the ingredients. The Girl loves his cooking, and with good reason. James Beard nomination well deserved.

The Scores

Ambiance: 3/5

Food: 10/10

Service: 4.5/5

Value: 4.5/5

Overall: 22/25 If you can get past the drunk kids at the bar, you have a fantastic restaurant, with a superb chef. 

Tonight's Episode: The Girl's Favorite Chef

We get asked all the time "Where is your favorite place to eat?" There are so many ways to answer that one: price point, style of food, occasion. One question we are asked a lot is a little easier to answer. "Who is your favorite Chef?" For The Girl it is Anson's Jeremy Holst. He is, after all, the man who taught her to like fish.

Chef Jeremy (Center) with cookbook author Michael Ruhlman (Left) and Zack (the guy who looks like a not-sleazy Ari Gold from Entourage) 

My favorite thing about dining with Chef Jeremy is just trusting in him and letting him decide what I'm going to eat. Menu? Who needs it. His creativity and technique are on par with any of our James Beard award-winning chefs. Here is our most recent dinner at Anson.

 

Not fair how pretty this is

First course is a crudo of scallops with beets, watermelon radish, and a cucumber-jalapeno sorbet. Not only a beautiful dish, but perfectly balanced and clean. The flavor profile was so well thought out it is scary. The sorbet has a clean flavor, with the essence of heat, that rounds this dish out perfectly.

What, no saltines? 

Next are oysters on the half shell with a ginger mignonette and a tomato gremolata. The ginger again gives you the thrill of spice without hurting your tongue, and the gremolata is cool and refreshing with the wonderfully briny oysters.

My type of finger food

For my "app" I went with the country paté ($12), with bread and butter pickles and pickled green beans, chow chow, and mustards and onion relish, and a kitchen sink, and a......Well, if you are a paté fan then this dish is money. I could take this on a picnic in France, pop a nice Bordeaux, and be happy. No flaws, only happiness.

Waste of toast, just need a fork

The Girl, true to her sick obsession, orders pimento cheese ($8). She packs it away into a to-go box so it will be her breakfast AND lunch the next day. I'm sure you could pay her in this cheese. 

Think local, eat a neighbor

Folly Creek clams? Apparently we have those. Cook in some white-wine and some andouille and you have yet another winning dish.

Scallops. 'Nuff said

Perfectly cooked scallops ($27). The Girl judges every chef on how they cook the little mollusks. Check out the tittle to this post to find out just how perfect they were.

Reason #4,493,603 why I can't keep Kosher

For my entree, Chef Jeremy sent out a Keegan-Filion Farms double cut pork chop with a cherry-pork jus ($24). The sauce was decadent, the vegetables perfect, and the pork was tasty as hell, though I like seeing more pink in my pork, but that's a personal preference.

Anson has many things going for it: location, a great wait staff, fantastic chef. I wish they would promote Chef Jeremy more. Go to their web page and there is not a mention of this talented chef with a bright future. I suggest you take a trip to Anson before the critics realize just how good their chef is and reservations become scarce.

The Scores:

Ambiance: 4/5

Food: 9.5/10

Service: 5/5

Value: 4/5

Overall: 22.5 out of 25  A Chef with immense talent, worth the visit so you can say you were there BEFORE he won a James Beard

#forkandtell
#Charleston
#Anson

Tonight's Episode: Paired Perfectly

One of the highlights of the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival is, in my mind, the Perfectly Paired Dinners. A host of local restaurants welcome in world-class chefs from around the country to craft a singular dining experience. Tickets for these dinners go on sale 6 months in advance. Many of them sell out within minutes. When they went on sale at 10AM, I was ready and waiting, and boy did we score.

Our dinner was at Tristan, home of one of Charleston's most imaginative chefs, Nate Whiting. Nate has a whimsical grasp of modern cuisine that deserves recognition far in excess of what he receives. Joining him are two Top Chef Masters. First, Portuguese impresario George Mendes, the man behind NYC's Aldea  The second, Canadian superstar Hugh Acheson, Chef/Partner of Five & Ten in Georgia. Also joining in is Andrew Rich, owner of Andrew Rich Wines of Oregon's Willamette Valley.

 I am not sure what George is doing, but Hugh is waxing philosophic

Chef's Compliment, one bite to please them all

We start the night with a Chef's Compliment from Chef Whiting, King trumpet mushrooms with aloe-peach condiment, espelette, and lemon argumato. This one-bite wonder is elegantly smooth, earthy, and bright. Wonderful start!

I would rather this be stacked like a sandwich, but thats just so I can eat it faster

First course, from Chef Mendes, is cured foie gras with Bosc pear jam, radish/nasturtium, and Canadian maple syrup, paired with a 2009 Andrew Rich Tabula Rasa White. This iteration of foie is creamy and smooth, and tastes faintly like an earthy sorbet. I love it. The Girl finds the richness a little overpowering, so I enjoy a half-portion extra. The Tabula Rasa has a floral acidity, and a nice weight, but maybe a touch too acidic for the foie.

Yes, those are beets, she doesn't like beets. I LOOOOOOVE beets. 

Second course, also from Chef Mendes is a Bacalhau confit with burnt bread emulsion, smoked baby beets, and spiced yogurt, paired with a 2009 Andrew Rich Pinot Noir Verbatim. Bacalhau is a Portuguese salt cod and has a firm texture and beautifully clean flavor. The burnt bread emulsion has a delightful caramel flavor. The smoky beets give this dish a presence. The smoke also changes the character of the wine, which has dark berry and licorice notes. The smoky beets and the wine combine to exude an even deeper layer of flavor.

Genius on a plate

Third course, from Chef Whiting, may be one of the most memorable dishes I've ever had. Even now, days later, I have the taste of the sauce firmly in my mind. This is a lobster & veal marrow agnolotti with pomelo cells, carrot puree, and sea urchin & ginger espume. The pasta on its own has such a depth of flavor, add in the filling and sauce and you have a buttery rich, decadent, and all around BAD-ASS dish. The wine with this dish is a 2007 Andrew Rich Roussanne Ciel du Cheval Vineyard. This wine has massive fruit and acidity and is perfect for the rich raviolis.

Yep, thats a can 'o soup

Chef Acheson's first dish is a playful and simple-seeming Quebecois pea soup in a can with tiny fried gnocchi, deviled ham meatballs, and pickled radish. The meatballs were way too much for The Girl, but I loved them. The depth of flavor in this soup is amazing, and the pickled radish gives it a fantastic balance. This was paired with the 2008 Andrew Rich Pinot Noir The Knife Edge, a wine spectator 90 point behemoth of crushed raspberries, restraint, and acidity. One hell of a Pinot.

Chef Hugh can do elegant too

Chef Acheson's second course was a Gum Creek pork loin with lard, Brussels & barley risotto, pickled blueberries, spring onion soubise, and hard cider. The pork was spot-on, perfect, amazingly good. The Girl, surprisingly, loved the risotto. So there is a way to get her to eat Brussels sprouts after all. Her one complaint, not enough blueberries. These pickled blueberries taste more blueberrish (that is a word) than any I've ever had. In probably the best pairing of the night, we have the 2009 Andrew Rich Syrah Prometheus, a blueberry and licorice blend with an amazing mouth feel. 

Andrew Rich, bringing a little taste of Oregon to Charleston

Desert, sadly for The Girl, not chocolate

Our final course comes from Tristan's Chef Amanee Neirouz, captain of the After-Dinner menu. A Meyer  lemon curd with cardamom biscuit and aerated pistachio. For me, with my dislike of really sweet desserts, this is a home run. For The Girl, it is somewhat of a let down. She really wanted SWEEEEEEET. For the sweetness we turn to the 2008 Gewürztraminer Vin de Glace, packed with tropical fruit, this almost-ice wine is sweet but has enough acidity to not be cloying or syrupy.

I think he is surprised at how good things are going

This dinner was exceptional. Having one chef turn out a meal of this quality is hard enough, never less having three men coordinating. These three pulled it off. The Girl is beyond pleased, which means I'm beyond pleased. The only down-side? Not being able to order these dishes on the regular menu.

The Girl and Chef Mendes

#Forkandtell #Charleston #Tristan

Charleston Wine and Food Opening Ceremonies

March brings to Charleston one of the premier food festivals in the country, the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival.   The brain-child of Executive Chef Marc Collins of Circa 1886, this year's festival kicked off today in Marion Square. For this 7th iteration, we had Mayor Joe Riley praising drive and vision, Chef Sean Brock continuing his "taking over the world" tour, Mickey Baskt being his charming (and emotional) self, and two charities bringing home big-ass checks. What a wonderful, 90 degree Charleston day!

The Man, the Myth, the Legend...Circa 1886's Chef Marc Collins

Mayor Joe, praising our Culinary Family

I'm a sucker for Le Creuset 

Charleston Wine + Food Festival Director, and all-around Superwoman Angel Postell

 Chef Marc, getting his well-deserved moment in the sun

Chef Sean Brock of McCrady's and Husk, accepting an award and thanking the great Charleston Chefs who paved the way.

Mickey Bakst of Charleston Grill accepting a check for $25,000 for Feed the Need

$15,000 for Lowcountry Local First, growing the next generation of farmers

And because Charleston is so beautiful: