Concierge - Overalls And Aprons

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Let menus lead the way. Follow our award-winning flavors, like those
prepared by Top Chef Hugh Acheson or any of the 30 family-owned BBQ
joints and breweries on the Brews and Q’s Trail, and you’ll never have to
go far for local favorites. Visit ExploreGeorgia.org/HistoricHeartland today.
Athens
Fort Valley
Perry
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CHEF MIKE LATA LEANS AGAINST
HIS OYSTER BAR AT THE ORDINARY
IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
• Co-educational bachelor’s, master’s
and doctoral degrees
• Thriving 137-year-old Women’s College
NO ORDINARY SEAFOOD EXPERIENCE
HOT SAUCE ON THE MOVE
• $143.8 million economic impact
• Health care professions preparation
• Great theater, dance and music
• World-class art galleries
• Graduates prepared to work and lead
500 Washington Street SE
Gainesville, Georgia 30501
www.brenau.edu 800.252.5119
BRENAU UNIVERSITY SERVES STUDENTS IN GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | NORTH ATLANTA/NORCROSS
PHOTO BY LESLIE MCKELLAR
• Championship sports
HIS LOWCOUNTRY LOCATION means he has access to the best
seafood in the country. His impeccable taste means every detail,
whether pertaining to decor or dish, is precisely executed. At The
Ordinary in Charleston, you may want to dive head first into Chef Mike
Lata’s buttery bowl of barbeque shrimp. You may require three orders of
his masterfully marinated razor clams. You may want to sidle on up to
the oyster bar and have a chat with the chef himself, whose intelligent
banter is as impressively layered as the ingredients in his dishes. There
is good reason people tuck his housemade hot sauce into their purse or
pocket before leaving. It seems everyone wants a piece of perfection.
PLUS...
> FRY'S FAVORITE SEAFOOD GUYS
> CLAMMER DAVE TALKS MERROIR
> NEW ORLEANS' CURIOUS CRABS
> OYSTER FARMING IN BLUFFTON
> THE SOUTHERN FISH CAMP TRAIL
> MEET YOUR AMUSE
SOUTH ATLANTA/FAIRBURN | AUGUSTA | KINGS BAY | ONLINE
THELOCALPALATE.COM / FEBRUARY 2015
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C O N C i E R G E
C O N C i E R G E
CHEF PICKS: CHEF’S DINE AROUND
FRY ’ER UP!
Chef Ford Fry Knows Southern Seafood
As chef and managing partner of
JCT. Kitchen & Bar, King + Duke,
Marcel, No. 246, The El Felix, The
Optimist, State of Grace, St. Cecilia, and Superica, Atlanta-based
chef Ford Fry is obviously in need
of a hobby to fill his free time. The
Texas native has deservedly amassed
plenty of press, awards, and accolades, and not all for his remarkably
delicious chicken sandwich and
famous “angry mussels” at his flagship, JCT. All of Fry’s restaurants
have a few things in common: they’re
as formal as guests want them to be;
they’re chef-owned and operated;
they’re committed to their communities; and they serve exceptional
food made with local ingredients in
casual environments where a great
deal of attention is paid to detail.
Fry is also a founding chef of the
Atlanta Food + Wine Festival and
the founder of the Attack of the
Killer Tomato Festival—more
unequivocal proof of his good ideas.
THELOCALPALATE.COM / JUNE.JULY 2015
as their exceptional catfish is their Rotel cheese
fries; I grew up on Rotel dip and I still indulge
in it regularly.
taylorgrocery.com
GO FOR THE SHOW IN NOLA
CASAMENTO’S
New Orleans, Louisiana
A quintessential New Orleans joint, Casamento’s
is always a must-visit just for the experience.
They’ve been frying oysters since 1919! Seriously.
Get the oyster loaf and if soft shells are in season,
you will need to get them in a “loaf” format as
well. Since the shucker puts on a show for every
patron, a long line is actually a good thing.
casamentosrestaurant.com
OCTOPUS
FROM KYMA
PHOTO LEFT: EMILY SCHULTZ, RIGHT COURTESY OF REEF.
OPPOSITE LEFT: SARA HANNA, RIGHT SEAN DOUGLASS
WHO IS
FORD FRY?
I want to create restaurants
that strike a timeless emotional
chord—restaurants that don’t
pander to trend, but draw generations of families together.
When I am looking to develop
a new restaurant, I start with
the location. I ask myself if the
space has a story to tell and if the
restaurant would meet a need
within the community where
it is located. Then I carefully
consider the culinary genre and
make sure the type of food is one
I am passionate about. This is
my strategy. When I am looking
A DAILY OFFERING
FROM REEF
for a place to eat, I ask myself
the same questions, I follow the
same line of thinking. The places on my “best R E E F
seafood stops in the South” list below are all Houston, Texas
in line with my philosophies. And they all Houston has some great old-school “fry shacks,”
which I love, but Chef Bryan Caswell of Reef
kick ass. —Chef Ford Fry
has a true RESPECT for fish and his local
waters. What comes with that respect is the
best quality fish in town—hands down. The
MEET THE MAJOR PLAYERS:
must-get fish is whatever is “on the half-shell.”
HOT AND HOT FISH CLUB
He’s got a badass seasoning and grills the fish
Birmingham, Alabama
scales down, basted with butter and lemon.
What an awesome dude Chef Chris Hastings is, I typically pick the simplest fish preparation
and he can totally respect the fish, sustainability, because with super-fresh fish, this is the best
and simple yet fantastic fish cooking techniques. way to go. And in Caswell’s hands, the results
The Alabama waters have incredible seafood, and are always spot on.
the Alabama farmland has fantastic tomatoes as
reefhouston.com
well. So in tomato season, prior to getting fish
from Chris at Hot and Hot, get his heirloom T H E O P T I M I S T
Atlanta, Georgia
tomato salad. Seriously good.
Chef Adam Evans just has a curiously interhotandhotfishclub.com
esting way of building flavors that enhance
THE ORDINARY
fish and shellfish. That talent paired with the
Charleston, South Carolina
method of cooking fish in quality pans over
Eat here because Chef Mike Lata has access to burning Georgia hickory just truly wins. The
the very best seafood, without question. It’s truly Optimist makes you feel like you are on vacanot fair, but he deserves it for how well he pulls it tion—minus the cheap fried food you always
off. The Ordinary is an oyster bar where finesse find at the beach for some reason. The Oysis the focus. Super-fresh and super-local fish, but ter Bar at The Optimist is also a bonus if you
what blew me away (and I will not promise not are in the mood for small plates and sampling
to copy it) is his pairing fried oysters with beef lots of raw and wood-oven-roasted shellfish.
tartare. Truly one of the best and most sensible Not to mention the nearly impossible puttcombinations. I wish I had thought of it.
putt golf right out front.
eattheordinary.com
theoptimistrestaurant.com
TRY SOME INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
SAMPLE THE MISSISSIPPI CLASSICS
KYMA
Atlanta, Georgia
I have yet to find a Greek chef who wasn’t a fantastic cook. Talk about simple, perfectly cooked
food served in a pool of good olive oil and lemon. When you go to Kyma, don’t miss ordering
octopus; however it is presented, it will be fantastic.
buckheadrestaurants.com/kyma
T H E M AY F LOW E R CA F E
Jackson, Mississippi
Just classic—they have been around since 1935.
Their house dressing, which has a cult condiment
following, was actually the inspiration for the
comeback sauce at my restaurant The Optimist.
I’ll have the Red Fish Orleans (broiled redfish
with soft-shell crab) with a breaded veal cutlet as
my “vegetable” any day of the week—except for
Sunday since they are closed.
mayflowercafems.com
CRAWFISH & NOODLES
Houston, Texas
The Texas Gulf is full of Vietnamese fishermen.
What could be better than mixing Vietnamese flavors with Texas Gulf Coast seafood? You
must hit this spot up during crawfish season for
their boiled “in a bag” crawfish. Also check
out their blue crab dishes; one (cua rang muói)
is simply delicious, the other (cua rang me) is
zipped up by the addition of tamarind.
crawfishandnoodle.com
TAY LO R G R O C E RY
Taylor, Mississippi
This is the place for fried catfish. I am telling you
right now: don’t fear good farm-raised catfish as
it is truly fantastic. The best deal going is the
all-you-can-eat catfish (whole or fillets) with
sides for $22. As they say, “If you leave hungry,
it’s all on you!” What excites me almost equally
DOMILISE’S PO-BOYS
New Orleans, Louisiana
I’ll be straight with you: this place is the sh$t.
The large half and half (fried shrimp and oyster) po-boy is killer, but the real winner here is
their roast beef
po-boy.
Shaved
thin, on New Orleans French bread,
with stringy Swiss,
and some serious
graaaaavy!
Feel
better about indulging knowing you
are paying honor
to Miss Dot, who
held it down year
after year. (Dorothy
Domilise and her husband, Sam, took over the
business in 1922 that his parents had started in
1918. Miss Dot then passed the business along to
her daughter-in-law about eight years before her
death, at age ninety, in 2013.)
domilisespoboys.com
BELIEVE THE HYPE: AT PÊCHE IN NEW ORLEANS, THEIR SPICY GROUND SHRIMP AND NOODLES COULD BE ONE OF
MY FAVORITE BITES OF THE ENTIRE YEAR. THIS PLACE HAS SERIOUS AUTHENTICITY TO IT. PÊCHERESTAURANT.COM
THE VIBE AT CHARLESTON’S LEON’S OYSTER SHOP IS SUPER CASUAL AND SUPER FUN; I FREAKIN’ LOVE THIS PLACE.
GO THERE OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR OYSTERS AND AMAZING FRIED CHICKEN. LEONSOYSTERSHOP.COM
THELOCALPALATE.COM / JUNE.JULY 2015
C O N C i E R G E
A P E R S O N A L E SSAY
The Future of the Sea Farmer
Palm Valley
BY CLAMMER DAVE BELANGER
documentary Overalls and Aprons, a four-year
labor of love by Thibaut Fagonde. Thibaut took
an in-depth look at the sustainability of the
farm-to-table movement through a collection
of small farmers and the chefs that depend on
their products.
My take-away from the film was basically the
same lesson I learned in college back in the seventies: it’s damn difficult to make a living competing with industrial agribusiness. While the smaller
farmer produces higher-quality crops or livestock,
they can hardly compete head-to-head with the
corporate types. If the small guy can’t distinguish
their product from the big guy, efficiency in numbers usually always wins in farming. To underscore the point: only half of the farmers filmed
four years ago were still in business by the movie’s
premiere.
I left the theater feeling humbled and fortunate
to still be around to tell my story. I chose mariculture (aquaculture in the ocean) fifteen years
ago because I wanted to produce a specialty food
product where I could control production from
cultivation to delivery. After extensive due diligence and a year of permitting, I began planting
clam seed on forty acres of intertidal bottomlands
leased from the state of South Carolina near Capers Inlet. At the time, the water was still classified as “pristine” and since growing clams and
oysters is entirely dependent on a clean water
source and healthy ecosystem, I hoped that locating next to the huge federally protected Cape
42
Romain Wildlife Refuge would
be an insurance policy for a business I hoped to pass along to my
grandchildren someday.
As years passed, the salt marsh,
wildlife nursery of the Atlantic Ocean, produced healthy
shellfish with a merroir (flavor
derived from the ecology from
which it grows, like terroir and wine) unique to
the Lowcountry, allowing me to brand the clams
and oysters with an identity that could not be
reproduced anywhere else. Adding to my good fortune was the
rapidly evolving culinary scene
in Charleston, where many chefs
were gaining acclaim partially by
seeking out the highest-quality ingredients straight from the farm.
The clams were immediately
accepted, as were the Capers
Blade oysters. This brand recognition helped me avoid the largest
pitfall of a small farmer, competing with the big guys with a commodity product: there is nothing
else like a Capers Blade.
My advantage ends there however, as my dirt-farming friends
have an altogether different jump on me—they
can prevent anyone from spraying sewage effluent, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or industrial
chemicals on their fields that could poison their
crops, rendering them unfit for human consumption or killing them altogether. I have to rely on
people to do the right thing with my sea water
fields of shellfish and “doing the right thing” is
a type of resource stewardship that evolves and
revolves around a single societal building block,
sustaining our fragile and economically important
ecosystems and natural resources. To this end, this
will be my demise, as the progressive poisoning of
the salt marsh is well under way, locked into our
very public policy and infrastructure.
From our nations capitol to our own barrier
island communities, there is a huge contingent
of lawmakers who deny human contribution to
air and water pollution, dragging their feet or
preventing progressive stewardship policies. As
modern urbanites, we have lost our connection to
nature, and this loss is reflected
in our stewardship policies that
are governed by the double-bladed sword of ignorance and arrogance. Our own state’s attorney
general vows to resist the EPA’s
efforts to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions even though the absorption of CO2 by our oceans
has increased the acidity of seawater to the point
that coral reefs and critters with shells are dying
off all over the world. Ocean acidification is the
number one catastrophic environmental event of
our time. It has already hit the West Coast, making it nearly impossible for oyster hatcheries to
raise seed stock in Washington and Oregon.
Locally, we have a conundrum of counterproductive policies where utility companies spray
herbicides directly in the ocean’s watershed.
Our county government maintains a war on
mosquitoes with a larvicide that also kills clams
and oysters.
When I say I can see the end, I mean I can
foresee a rapid collapse of the oyster populations
and with them a tremendous decline in a myriad
of the sea fauna that depend on the oyster cluster
North Beach
100 First Street
Neptune Beach, FL
904.249.3474
Celebrating
the Classics
Julington Creek
12760 San Jose Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL
904.886.2267
TheFishCamps.com
Featured on Emeril’s Florida
THE SALT MARSH PRODUCED
HEALTHY SHELLFISH WITH A
MERROIR (FLAVOR DERIVED FROM
THE ECOLOGY FROM WHICH IT
GROWS, LIKE TERROIR AND WINE)
UNIQUE TO THE LOWCOUNTRY.
at some point in their life cycle including shrimp,
crabs, trout, sea bass, grouper, snapper, mussels,
blood worms, and a host of other organisms. The
oyster is a very sensitive animal, a canary of the
salt marsh, and as my counterparts on the West
Coast lay their canary to rest, I feel their pain and
share their pessimism that people don’t care about
the things they can’t see. There is a faint and
flickering light at the end of this tunnel however,
and I may be wrong but as sensitive as the oyster
might be to negative changes in its world, it’s also
resilient and is capable of responding favorably if
we humans are capable of effecting changes that
reverse the ecological tailspin of our coastal and
ocean resources.
THELOCALPALATE.COM / JUNE.JULY 2015
COURTYARD LINDEN ROW
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
904.285.3200
ESTABLISHED IN 1992
LEFT PHOTO COURTESY OF AUTHOR, TOP BY RAE FENICE
i recently participated in the making of the
HOSPITALITY AT
WORK
AT THEBoulevard
LUMINARYN.
299 Roscoe
14549 Beach Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida
904.223.1534
marker32.com
Jacksonville’s
premier waterfront dining
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