The Man Who Ate the Town Podcast Episode #19

In Episode #19, proudly recorded from Test Pattern Studios:

  • Ed Witt no longer with Katharine Brasserie & Bar.
  • Tavern in Old Salem on Winter Break.
  • Chef Kevin Reddick lands new gig.
  • Slappy’s Chicken now making deliveries.
  • The Big Eat happens tonight!
  • Food holidays and history.

Don’t forget my sponsor, Washington Perk & Provision Company. Better than a convenience store but not quite a grocery store, in the heart of Washington Park and Downtown WSNC.

The Man Who Ate the Town is part of The Less Desirables Network. Give it a listen on iTunes, Stitcher, Podcast Addict and TuneIn, basically anywhere you can listen to podcasts. Or you can listen here (at the bottom of the post).

Due to server space restrictions, we have removed this episode from the server. However, we have every episode in “storage.” If you need or want this episode, hit Tim up.

Slàinte mhath!

The Big Eat Returns

I wrote an article for Piedmont Local Magazine, a few weeks ago about this event called The Big Eat, that starts up this coming Tuesday and wanted to clue you in on what’s going down.

First, what is The Big Eat? It’s a collective of restaurants in downtown Winston-Salem (and some outlying areas) where participating restaurants take signature menu items, reduced up to 50% off regular price, to highlight and showcase what the culinary scene downtown is all about. There’s a little more to it than that, but the gist is this: become better acquainted with the great local food establishments you have in your town.

This is no longer an event through the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, but is put together, mostly, by Piedmont Local Mag. Not all downtown restaurants are participating, so don’t be upset if you go into one that isn’t unless you call first.

Also, know that the specials are dine-in only (so, no take out) and are subject to availability. If you go to Restaurant A because you wanted the free shrimp cocktail with a surf ‘n’ turf, and you get there and they’re out of shrimp cocktail and surf ‘n’ turf, well, then that’s the breaks. It’s all based on availability. And the offerings are subject to change at any time. Perhaps they change it to some other special when they run out, or decide to change it; it happens. *(that’s not really happening anywhere, I just wanted to give an example)*

The dates for the events are: January 10, 17, 24, 31 & February 7, 2017. Greensboro will be doing the same thing two weeks after WSNC, February 21, 28 & March 7, 14, 21, 2017. I don’t have as much reach in Greensboro so my intel may be a little light but I’ll do what I can.

This is not a full list, as some of the restaurants haven’t reported but here’s what I know as of now:

6th & Vine
Featured Dish:
Tequila Mango Salmon – $11

Bernardin’s Restaurant At Zevely House
Featured Dish:
50% Off Ahi Tuna Rare
soba noodle, baby bok, choy, shitake, tahini sweet chili sauce

Bibs Downtown
Featured Dish:
Pulled Pork Sandwich Plate: $4.25

Camino Bakery
Featured Dish:
half-priced cheesecake slices

Foothills Brewpub
Featured Dish:
50% off Fish ‘n Chips

Hutch and Harris
Featured Dish:
West Bank Bean cakes 1/2 off

Jeffrey Adams on Fourth
Featured Dish:
4oz. filet
served with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus $13
Toppings
– butter poached lobster – $6  crab cake – $5  sea scallops – $6 grilled diablo shrimp – $6  mushrooms and onions – $2 boursin cream sauce – $2

Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen & Bar
Featured Dish:
Fred Flintstone’s Pork Shank
Savannah Inspired Red Rice
Lemon, Parsley and Dijon Bread Crumbs
House Pepper Jelly: $12

Thai Harmony
Featured Dish:
Half Price Pad Thai

The Old Fourth Street Filling Station
Featured Dish:
Jambalaya
– shrimp, chicken, andouille sausage, tomatoes, peppers, celery, onions, celery, rice  
$9.50

Willow’s Bistro
Fried Chicken, butter whipped potato, grilled asparagus and grilled portobello demi. $15.

Again, that’s just a portion of what’s going to be available. I’m still waiting to hear from Bleu Restaurant & Bar, Graze of Winston-Salem, Mellow Mushroom, Mooney’s, Quanto Basta, Tre Nonne, Vin 205 and West End Coffeehouse. When I do, I’ll either update this post or create an addendum. I do know that Finnigan’s Wake will be participating the following weeks but not this coming week as they’ll be doing some long overdue kitchen remodeling. It’s minor work but necessary.

Triad Local First’s Community Table: It’s Not Just for Greensboro, Anymore

The Community Table event for Triad Local First happened last month, on October 2, and it was a very well-planned2016-11-01-17-32-14 and successful event. Committee chair, Mary Lacklen, pulled her secret weapon out for the event, too. That would be one super chef, Chef Travis Myers of Willow’s Bistro, taking the reins of Executive Chef. In doing so, he unleashed a master plan that would help take the event, held at Hidden Lane Farm in Summerfield, from a traditionally Greensboro restaurant focus to a true “Triad” event.

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Mary Lacklen (©KristiMaier)

In the past, the event featured mostly (or only) Greensboro restaurants and chefs. Chef Travis wanted to bridge that gap with this event, saying, “What I wanted to do was intertwine Greensboro and Winston. Winston restaurants have a lot of events, like John Bobby (Executive Chef of Roosters: A Noble Grille) has events that get Winston restaurants together, he’ll have a crawfish boil or something. Greensboro doesn’t do that. They’re too spread out. A lot of great restaurants but they’re stretched out. So, I wanted to leave the door open for communication. I invited them to work with me.”

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Chef Travis Myers

Some of Triad Local First’s board members were kind of doubtful of Chef Travis’ ambitions and his ability to gather the chefs and restaurants he needed to pull off something this grand. He continues, “out of the twenty that I wanted to get to help me (including chefs, staff and help), twenty-six showed up. That’s six more than I wanted.” So, soon the board realized they were in good hands. Chef Travis certainly didn’t let them down, either. The event, at least to those sitting at the tables and taking in all the food involved, was nearly flawless.

One thing Chef Travis was adamant about was getting Triad Community Kitchen involved. Getting students and members of Chef Jeff Bacon’s tutelage (and watchful eye of Chef Janis Karathanis) was important because he felt it was in the scope of the organization’s goal: to create community. It was two fold, however, as it 1) served as a networking opportunity for the students to get to know some of the restaurateurs and chefs and perhaps finding work and 2) gave Chef Travis extra hands around the “kitchen.” It was a lot of work for him and having TCK there helped with the workload.

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Chef Brent Andruzzi

A lot of the prep and actual cooking was done beforehand, most of it at Willow’s Bistro, Chef Travis’ home base. Of course, the final touches were done at Hidden Lane Farm. Some of the top level chefs that were out to help Chef Travis’ cause were Chef Tim Thompson of Greensboro Country Club, Chef John Bobby, Chef Jay Pierce of Traveled Farmer in Greensboro, Chef John Jones, Chef Brent Andruzzi -the Chef de Cuisine at Willow’s Bistro, Chef Richard Miller of Graze in Winston-Salem, Chef James Patterson of Sedgefield Country Club, Chef Jared Keiper of the Tavern in Old Salem, and pastry chef, Chef Lucia Bobby of Greensboro Country Club. That list is probably truncated but it’s a good start. Chef Travis was reeling them in and dedicating a lot of time for this event, wanting to not only show that he could do it, but that he could with flair and style. That meant extra time from home, from his wife and kids, including his newborn daughter. It was, however, worth it. He threw a party. The party was good. But, no matter how good all the participation was, the event would have been nothing if the food hadn’t been extraordinary. It was, and all of it was locally sourced. To keep the posts to a minimum, I’m going to do the actual food review in another post, later this week, so keep on the lookout.

I would totally be remiss to forget to mention the awesome Esteban McMahan from TOPO Organic Spirits, who offered NC Whiskey Punch, Blood Orange Collins and Spicy Cucumber Lemonade as drink specials in addition to their special reserve that he’d give upon request. The special reserve is my favorite, but the drinks were all great, too. At one time there was one of each of the mixed drinks on my table in front of my courses.

Chef Jared Keiper

Chef Jared Keiper

Also, Pig Pounder Brewery was on hand and had four of their delicious brews on tap. And, Zero Wine and Cheese Shop were the wine curators for the event, which included Grove Vineyards’ Viognier (2015) and Malbec (2014) and Weathervane Winery’s Cirrus White and Nor’easter Chambourcin. Afterwards, The Grinder Cafe Coffee Truck was there to keep any of the diners that had gotten a little chilly warm with their lovely wares.

You can look at this menu and immediately know that Chef Travis Myers poured his heart and soul into creating a fantastic menu for Triad Local First’s annual fall spectacular. I think Mary Lacklen and her organization had a true winner here. Chef Travis said he’s already signed up for next year’s event. I, for one, cannot wait. And, from what I can tell from the (I’m guessing and this is a guesstimate) 100+ diners that sat, enjoyed and absorbed this fine feast, everyone else can’t wait for it, either. Bravo, Chef Travis Myers and Mary Lacklen; to you and all you had involved in this soiree!

Esteban McMahan of TOPO Organic Spirits

Triad Local First is a non-profit membership organization that is based out of Greensboro. They have over 280 members, including farmers, restaurants, breweries, distilleries, all the things you’d expect to be included in something that deals with community. But, it also includes dentists, realtors, retail shops, marketing firms and other industries that you may not think to remember. For more information, visit their website.

Farm 2 Fourth Harvest Dinner a Success for Downtown WSNC

I recorded a podcast of this this past Tuesday (see previous post). 14095926_10154296661620490_1926267465363315423_nThis past Sunday, Stephanie and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the very first “Farm 2 Fourth Harvest Dinner” event hosted by the Winston-Salem Journal’s own, food editor, Michael Hastings. The event was a highlighting of local chefs using only local ingredients from local farms and making basically, a seven course feast for 140 diners to enjoy. Before I talk about the food, I do want to say that there were RayLen and Childress wines and port and, of course, the official “liquid reward” of The Man Who Walked the Town, as well as Presenting Sponsor of The Beer Dads, Hoots Roller Bar and Beer Company brews on hand. We had plenty of that, too. Now, on to the food!

The hors d’oeuvres were from Chef Lucas McGill, of Hutch & Harris. It was crostini with country ham, farmers’ cheese and radish sprouts. I had two of them and Stephanie one, at the insistence of one of the service captains; they had two left they needed rid of. Very good, not overly salty and the microgreens were right on spot. Good stuff. 14079830_10154302032545490_2702548163340851777_nQuaint but delicious. Chef McGill does great stuff over at Hutch & Harris.

Next came a very colorful and flavor-packed morsel of cherry bomb compressed watermelon with balsamic-basil syrup prepared by Chef Jeff Bacon of Providence Restaurant and Catering. The color was vibrant red, almost glowingly so and the bright greens on top with the darker balsamic-basil syrup created an almost mind-blowingly beautiful square of wonderful. The flavor of the greens disappeared mostly but the crunch they left behind was what the melon needed to balance the soft texture and spiced vinegar glaze. If I’m not mistaken there were tiny chunks of walnuts and feta or some other soft cheese to accompany the dish. Chef Bacon loves his watermelons and this was his pièce de résistance.

Chefs Christian Froelich of The Hearth at Sanders Ridge and Richard Miller of Graze prepared a fantastic veggie 14102433_10154302082135490_840297715253272217_nbaba ghanoush with red onion and cucumber relish and homemade naan. Baba Ghanoush (or ghanouj) is generally eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. I can only suppose that was what was in there. I do believe I tasted the eggplant, so I figure they stayed true to form on it. Yes, for those of you wondering, I did eat the pickled red onion and cucumber relish. There were also beets and microgreens on top. The naan was firm but not leathery or tough, it was still soft and delicious. Michael Hastings of the Journal made sure to get a picture of me eating the onions as anyone who knows me knows that I hate onions. But, for the benefit and integrity of the dish and festivities, I ate them. Pickled, they’re not that bad. Not something I’d want all the time but in this dish, it was definitely outshined by the baba ghanoush. Chef Christian couldn’t be there because of another commitment but Chef Richard Miller handled it quite nicely. It was delicious.

14192188_10154302097210490_4766992602351391198_nNext up, Chef Jared Keiper of the Tavern in Old Salem provided us with basil marinated goat cheese, charred red onion and heirloom green tomato pie. Now, again, with the onions, I ate them because they weren’t prevalent. And, neither was the green tomatoes. I’m not a huge fan of those either. But, don’t hear me wrong; I loved this dish. I’d have this dish again and again. The Tavern in Old Salem is always a fantastic place to dine and the wit and skills of Chef Jared are what makes it so. That combined with his brother, Jordan creating some of the best craft cocktails, made from the best local and regional spirits he (or we) can find. The Tavern is tough to beat. The crust of the pie was flaky, yet firm, great tasting and when topped with the heirloom cherry/grape tomatoes and microgreens (you know I love me some microgreens) and the tangy, tangy goat cheese (I also love me some goat cheese)? Holy smokes. Another winner!

Chef Harrison Littell of Honey Pot provided the sides for the night. This was a roasted potato hash (which I didn’t get14141643_10154302122435490_3872696077436112559_n a picture of because it was already being passed around before I could get to it) and Hoots braised greens and green bean salad with feta cheese. The seasoning on the potatoes were perfect. It was salty without being overbearing. The seasoning on the bean salad was kicked up a few notches. It was some spicy stuff. Not too spicy for me, but when you’re not expecting it, it can be a surprise. The cauliflower was from my pal Niki Farrington’s Niki’s Pickles. I am quite sure that’s where the spicy came from. Chef Littell held nothing back on this dish. Vibrant colors, punchy taste, smiling faces afterward. I’d say it was a hit. The “greens” came after as well and I had it with the next dish.

The main course for the evening was a combo dish from Chef Travis Myers (my buddy) of Willow’s Bistro and Chef John Bobby of Rooster’s: A Noble Grille. 14100398_10154302174700490_353053953512636586_nChef Travis smoked a porchetta and the meat was banging. I don’t usually use that word with food, but it was. Tender with the meaty middle and the crisp skin on the outside. The flavor was right on point; hearty. Chef Bobby made smoked lamb with chimichurri. He made it both in slices and in “pulled’ style. Both were great and seasoned just right. Both Chefs Travis and John shared the smoker and it is always fun watching Chef Travis use his knife skills. It was also fun watching Michael Hastings come around getting “privilege tastes” of everything. This, of course, was my favorite dish. Why? Because this food had a mother. Kudos to both Chef Travis and Chef John Bobby.

Then it was time for dessert. Dessert was also a tag-team effort. Chef Janis Karathanas of Providence Restaurant made a mascarpone cheesecake with a port wine reduction. She told us all what she made this of and I had no time to write it down. Plus, I was too busy tasting it. Even though I don’t know exactly what was in it, I can tell you it melted 14088459_10154302224620490_649515975873410144_nin your mouth and if you have it, you won’t care what was in it. I promise. Also on the plate was a sea-salt caramel stuffed fig dipped in dark chocolate and a honey ganache truffle prepared by Chef Tirra Cowen of Black Mountain Chocolate. The sea-salt caramel was that sweet, salty deliciousness that you knew you were going to get and the honey ganache truffle was perfect. To see these two desserts on the same plate lined 140 en masse on the old Community Arts Café bar? That was a thing of beauty. And the flavors were even more beautiful than the taste. Hat tip to Chef Janis and Chef Tirra.

And hats off to Michael Hastings, Justin Gomez and all the Winston-Salem Journal staff on hand to make this a wonderful event. And to all the chef and local growers, farmers and suppliers, thank you for all that you do for us in food fandom. You make us so very happy and we can’t thank you enough. The volunteer staff and restaurateurs were fabulous, as well. This event was a first for Winston-Salem but Michael Hastings said they were definitely doing it next year. I refuse to call anything “First Annual” because how do you know, really? You don’t. So, next year can be the “second annual” edition. I loved it.

Salute! the North Carolina Wine Festival is Here!

The wine festival that gets me going the most, Salute! the North Carolina Wine Festival, is tomorrow, June 4, from noon until 6pm in downtown Winston-Salem. I’m excited about the wine, the atmosphere, the people watching and yes, the food. I’m going to reprint the entry from the NC Food & Wine University page with some of my own stuff, if you’ll indulge me. Again, this excerpt is property of Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership and Salute! the NC Wine Festival.1045x299_fill_header

For decades it seems, the fine art of wine appreciation and selecting the proper wine to go with certain foods left many beginners a tad intimidated.  There was a sense of mystery surrounding the different varietals and a classic stereotype of “wine snobbery” that accompanied those who had solved the puzzle.  More recently, as wines have become more affordable and available from national, regional and local vineyards, many novices continue to feel unqualified to tiptoe into the world of oenophiles, the wine experts.

Salute! The North Carolina Wine Celebration wants to forever put aside those feelings of wine incompetence with an entertaining and educational opportunity perfect for all levels of wine-lovers.  De-mystifying the wonderful world of wine, and clarifying the art of food and wine pairings that bring out the best in our North Carolina wines is the mission of “North Carolina Food & Wine University,” back by popular demand at this year’s festival.

Five unique presentations will be held at NCF&WU every 45 minutes throughout the day.  The knowledgeable local chefs from some of the best restaurants and winemakers from some great NC wineries will help unravel the mysteries of wine, including how to swirl, sniff and savor the luscious varietals that are being produced in our state.

But the biggest lesson to learn at NCF&WU is how to relax and enjoy the experience and the experiments of mixing and matching your favorite wines with different foods.  Or maybe you are trying to find your favorite type of wine?  At this University, there are no wrong questions, and the only test will be as you rate the flavors of wines you’ll try while enjoying the festival!  Be sure you don’t skip these classes….plan to attend at least one during your day at Salute!

Schedule of Chefs Demos and Wineries:   

12:30 – 
Chef Stephanie Tyson, Sweet Potatoes and Hanover Park Vineyards 
– Cornbread Hoe Cake with collard green bruschetta & goat cheese topped with Texas Pete CHA! spiced Shrimp with caviar

Chef Stephanie is the culinary genius behind much of Sweet Potatoes’ success, along with her partner, the awesome Vivian Joiner. Hanover Park has always impressed me with their wares and I’ve had several tastings with them in restaurants in this town.

1:30 –
Chef Richard Miller, Graze Restaurant + Raylen Vineyards
– Grilled NC Shrimp and Oysters with Good Night Brothers Country Ham
      Cucumber Salad, Tossed Local Greens, Lemon mustard vinaigrette

Chef Richard is the reigning champion of the Competition Dining series and makes Graze a not-of-the-ordinary hotel restaurant. Raylen is a beautiful vineyard that produces some great wines. They have their own festival coming up in July.

 2:30 –
Chef Travis Myers, Willow’s Bistro and Jones von Drehl Vineyards
ALL LOCAL CHALLENGE featuring fresh produce from Minglewood Farms

– Duck 2ways with Harmony Ridge duck breast, pulled confit leg, duck dirty risotto, wilted Cheshire Farms dino kale, bacon jam & roasted duck jus. 

Chef Travis is one of the most talented chefs I know and there’s a reason I call him “Wonderboy.” You’ll see when you taste his food. I don’t know about Jones von Drehl but I am sure I won’t be able to say that after tomorrow.

3:30
Chef Kristina Fuller, Crafted: The Art of the Taco and Raffaldini Vineyards 

– Bahn Mi Taco Bulgogi beef, pickled daikon radishes, carrots and onions, jalapeño, white sauce, cilantro  

Former guest on The Less Desirables, Chef Kris has a way, and a vision, with the non-conventional when it comes to food. She’s a great talent and Raffaldini has to be one of the most pristine wineries in the Yadkin Valley, not to mention in the state. It’s picturesque and looks like you’re in Tuscany (at least from what I have seen that Tuscany looks like), plus the wine is fantastic.

4:30
Chef Tirra Cowan from Black Mountain Chocolate and Lake James Cellars 
– Dark Chocolate Torte with Levering Orchards Sour Cherry Compote

Another former TLD guest, Chef Tirra makes some out-of-this-world confections over at Black Mountain Chocolate. You can go by and watch her work through the glass and you can certainly see her do her magic at this event. Like Jones von Drehl, I don’t know about Lake James Cellars but I can’t wait to.

Salute! tickets are $25 in advance (you should purchase, now!) and $30 at the event. You can purchase tickets and get more info from their website. If you see me out tomorrow, please, come say hello. I love to meet my readers and friends.

Mike’s Week: the Video Retrospective

The original plan for the video that I made for Mike’s Week was for me to complete it, Mike Rothman could see it and then choose to allow us to to show it to others or choose to keep it for himself. Either way, I would have been okay. Either way, we all know what an amazing journey it was, what it was we experienced, how we came together as a community and how we made a difference. Didn’t work out quite that way, but that’s okay. It’s here for your to 10170796_10152392983624743_4049441617845107446_nenjoy (link at the bottom of the page).

The video is 23 minutes long. That’s a long time for a retrospective video, I’m well aware, but there was too much to show. Editing down the video from nearly 90 minutes of footage was hard enough. But, I needed this 23 minutes to show the awesome dedication of those who were behind the counter and behind the scenes. I needed this 23 minutes to show the amazing community that came to spend and/or donate their dollars to help their fellow man. I needed this 23 minutes to show the atmosphere, the magic and power that community can create. While a few seconds could come off of it, I felt the 23 minutes was needed to get the full effect.

I do want to say that I really appreciate Will Kingery, Dana Moody and Vivian Joiner for spearheading the effort, along with all the other restaurateurs, volunteers and the Winston-Salem (and neighbors) and thanks to Dana for asking me to participate by filming the events. I can’t explain how proud I am of that.

Now that all of that is done, you can see the video, yourself, by clicking HERE. Enjoy and thanks for watching (and reading!)

Winston-Salem and Hot Dogs: A Love Affair

When it was announced, several weeks ago, that the local restaurateurs were going to reopen Skippy’s Hot Dogs in Winston-Salem, for just a week (actually eight days) and try to raise money for Skippy’s owner, Mike Rothman, the goal was to bring in a few, possibly a few tens of thousands of dollars to send to Pennsylvania and help Mike get back on his feet and pay some of the medical bills and incidentals he’s amassed since having surgery to remove tumors from his brain. That goal was met. That goal was met in a really, really big way.

Eight days of hard work, dedication, sweat and tears (we don’t like to think about blood with food, usually, right?) and 13,009 hot dogs later, the Winston-Salem community, its citizens and its neighbors helped to raise over $111,000.  Read that again: One Hundred Eleven THOUSAND Dollars!

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Photo ©Skippy’s

I had the pleasure of capturing each shift, albeit just seconds at time, for a private video I’m making, on behalf of the organizers, just for Mr. Rothman and I saw an awesome sight. All these different restaurants, ordinarily, all doing their own thing, in their own worlds, standing shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip behind the counter of this small venue, working together for a wonderful cause. Not only that, I watched a 5 gallon water jug (the kind that you put in an office water cooler) fill to the top with money. This was not a one-time thing. It filled to the point that they had to push it down to allow more money to go in. Then, they’d empty it and start all over again. There weren’t just singles, either. There were $5s, $10s and I saw plenty of $20s. There were also some very big orders. I don’t have solid numbers so I’ll not put that out there, but a few companies ordered sizable quantities of “dogs.” And, although, I’ve no confirmation of this, either, there’s a rumor that I’m trying to verify, that someone paid $1000 for one hot dog.

This community, all aspects of it, came together. They did good; for good, for Mike.

I love this city. I have always loved this city. I have always loved and supported the restaurants in this city, especially the downtown establishments. But, now? I am absolutely in love with my city and its citizens. In this time, when tensions are always high, over both important issues and trivial ones, we came in and showed one person – a person that many (I’d venture to say “most”) have never even met – an all-inclusive and unconditional demonstration of love and respect.

“Mike’s Week” wouldn’t have been possible without a plethora of volunteers, not only from the area restaurants, but from the community, as well. The thank you list is quite extensive and I won’t list them all here, however, their time and care made this the success that it is. My thanks, as a member of the community, especially being in there to observe not only from the front of the counter but behind it, goes especially to Dana Moody (West End Coffeehouse), Vivian Joiner (Sweet Potatoes) and Will Kingery (King’s Crab Shack, Willow’s Bistro and Silo Bistro). They were there everyday, making sure all was set and running well. This is not to diminish anyone’s time put in; everyone was immeasurably essential to the cause. I personally thank each and every one of them. And to anyone who bought a hot dog, put a bill of any kind into the water jug or purchased any of the swag, you’re awesome as well.

There is a separate GoFundMe page that is still open and you can still donate to (it’s raised over $15,000 of a $10,000 goal so far) by following this link. Thank you, again, Winston-Salem. And Mike, here’s hoping for a very speedy recovery.

DWSP Presents Restaurant Week 2/15-2/21

Did you know that the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership is presenting Restaurant Week from Sunday, February 15 through Saturday February 22?  Well, you do now!

restaurantweek

DWSP Restaurant Week

What is Restaurant Week?  We’re glad you asked.  Restaurant Week is a food event where many of the downtown Winston-Salem restaurants offer special prix fixe menus of $20, $30 or both.  For example: a restaurant can offer an appetizer, an entree and a dessert (chosen to form a combo) for $20 per person or they may offer a double portion for $30.  Make sense?  Maybe not.  Let’s give some real examples:

Bib’s for example has the following:


 

$20 Special for 2
3 Rib Bone Plate: Each person gets a plate that comes with 3 Rib Bones, Choice of Red or White Slaw, 1 side item, Hush Puppies and Toast
Choose 1 dessert to share

$30 Special for 2
Half Rack Rib Bone Plates: Each person gets a plate that comes with 6 Rib Bones, Choice or Red or White Slaw, 1 side item, Hush Puppies and Toast
Choose 1 dessert to share

They can also offer extras such as this: Beverage Pairing Suggestions (Additional Charge)
WINE: Our ribs pair nicely with the Michael David Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon or North Carolina’s Childress Pinnacle
BEER: Our ribs also pair nicely with the Olde Hickory Ruby Lager or the Highland Gaelic Ale which are both North Carolina brews


Let’s look at another restaurant’s offerings.
Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen and Bar offers this:
3 Course Dinner $30 per person
BOOM! M-80 Crispy Shrimp: texas pete voodoo sauce
Filet Mignon: cabernet franc butter, oyster cornbread dressing & gorgonzola fritter
Ooey-Gooey Chocolate Nutella Cake: hibiscus cherry infused sweet cream

$20 Special per person
Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Pan Gravy: atop smoked tomato and pimento cheese grits, M-80 sauce, ‘Bama BBQ sauce, Sriracha aioli
Spring House Bread Pudding: caramel Kahlua sauce and sweet cream


So these are only examples.  Here is a comprehensive list of participating restaurants…

6th & Vine Wine Bar & Cafe
Augustine’s Bistro
Bayberry Bistro
Bernardin’s
Bib’s Downtown
Black Mountain Chocolate
Camino Bakery
Di Lisio’s Italian Restaurant
District Rooftop Bar & Grille
Downtown Thai & Sushi
Foothills Brewing
Graze
Hutch & Harris
Jeffrey Adams on Fourth
Kabobs on Fourth
King’s Crab Shack & Oyster Bar
Mellow Mushroom
Meridian
Mooney’s Mediterranean Café
Mozelle’s
Mission Pizza
Old Fourth Street Filling Station
Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen & Bar
Twin City Hive
Wen Hwa Asian Fusion Cuisine
Sweet Potatoes…a restaurant
West End Coffeehouse
Willow’s Bistro

We could have saved you reading that and just sent you to the website, but what fun would that have been?  We recommend calling ahead for reservations and remember that these are dinner specials only and, of course, they’re subject to availability and all that jazz. Also, the restaurants are subject to change and more could be added or some may drop out; it happens.  Go, eat, have fun, take friends, enjoy and tell us what you think. Even better, let DWSP and the restaurants know what you think.  Help make this Restaurant Week a success.

Have fun!