Friday, July 10, 2009
Open Thread Empty Plate: Loosen Your Belt for Our Weekly Open Thread
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 7:30 AM
What's that, you say--the liquor laws are crazy, Cheddar's is better than you might expect, and East Nashville's getting a new burrito joint? That was some of the table talk in last week's Bites open thread. What's on your mind this week--good food, bad service, killer apps, wild entrées? Spill.
Here's Lesley from last week with a summer fruit advisory:
By the way, don't waste your time on South Carolina* peaches this year--the Tennessee peaches are fantastic and the SC ones are bland.*As my friend, Tim Morgan says, this year's South Carolina peaches come from Argentina.
Zing! As always, if you have news, gossip or other tidbits you wish to pass along in private, write cfox (at) nashvillescene (dot) com.
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Just for the record, I got some peaches at Publix last weekend and they were FANTASTIC. Picking up round 2 this weekend.
Any word on Judge Bean's opening shop in Brentwood? Is it open yet?
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in cupcake news, i just realized gigi has a kiosk in opry mills. also, provence, i've discovered, has cupcakes from time to time. i had the lemon lavender and it was just OK. not as good as cupcake collection or shara lunn's cupcakes in the arcade. rather dry and the icing tasted like pure butter. just sayin'.
Yes, Gigi's has invaded Opry Mills. Sadly, you have to fight through miles of vendors trying to rub stuff on your hands and selling you a Sham-Wow before you can get a 600 calorie cupcake. I liken Opry Mills to going to a carnival. Middle section vendors might as well be carnies for all I care.
Had some amazing fried chicken today at At the Table on 12th. In fact, the whole lunch was superior meat-and-three in every way: fantastic green beans with an unexpected sweetness and hint of garlic; creamy mac-and-cheese that wasn't soupy or baked to a brick; cream corn that had what tasted like real skillet scrapings in it. This place is where I'm going to start sending out-of-towners when Arnold's is closed.
And congrats to the owner, who has a notice on the door saying he's closing for a few days to get married.
Just returned from Farmers' Market, where I bought gorgeous blackberries from the Howells for $2.50 per pint. Enough to make a cobbler. Cobbler baking as we speak.
Is this a flour-shortening cobbler, or a Bisquick-dusted-with-sugar cobbler? That will determine the severity of the Jack Bauer moves I use on CeeElCee if he reaches for the doorknob first.
Let me introduce you to a little western NC cobbler-like specialty called the Sonker. (or sometimes, Zonker). A better destiny for blackberries cannot be imagined.
Wow, if only I'd known this back in high school, I'd have traded my lame push-up bras for a measuring cup. I'm devoted to the classic cuppa-cuppa-cup recipe, as my grandmother called it. 1 cup flour, 1 cup, sugar, 1 cup milk, dash of baking powder, splash of vanilla and a melted stick of butter. Mix it all up, pour into greased Pyrex square, then dump 2 cups of fruit (fresh peaches or blackberries are best) on top. Do not stir. Cover with another cup of sugar. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream. C'mon over.
The "Do Not Stir" is critical to the sonker as well. According to my Blue Ridge-dwelling grandmother and fellow mountaintop loudmouth Ellen Church.
What temp do you bake at? Also, you just cover the blueberries with a cup of sugar? This sounds awesome.
350 degrees, and yes, just sprinkle what appears to be an obscene amount of sugar over the top (about 1 cup). The batter bubbles up from the bottom to envelope the fruit, and the sugar caramelizes into a magical crust. It is awesome.
I just got back from my parents house in KY where I dined on a plethora of produce from their backyard and my aunt's farm: Last night's dinner was fresh tomatoes, creamed corn, green beans and potatoes, cabbage, and my aunt's famous sausage rice casserole.
Breakfast this morning was strong black coffee and a big bowl of fresh blackberries, blueberries and cantaloupe before hitting the road to get back here. Stopped at the Farmers' Market on the way into town--just posted a pic on my blog of everything I bought today with the exception of the goodies I got from the Slow Food Bake Sale. Bought one of the Fido Local Harvest Cakes and planned to take it to a party tonight but hubby and I couldn't resist and already started eating it! (cake is made up of zucchini, carrots, beets, apples and the other normal cake stuff). YUM!!
I went to the Farmers' Market this morning, too and spent waaaaay too much money at the Slow Food booth (but not regretting it) as well as at Delvin Farms. Organic watermelon and canteloupes FTW.
Oh, and of course I bought more Tennessee peaches.
I too discovered the Gigi's kiosk in Opry Mills last weekend. I thought it was quite the serendipitous moment until I tasted my peanut butter cup cupcake (recommended by the server) and discovered a very mediocre, slightly dry cake with a load of too-sweet frosting. Also, the chocolate cake had an abundance of cinnamon in it that totally clashed with the peanut butter. Disappointing all around, and definitely not the rich salty/chocolatey/sweet combo I was looking for.
