The opening weekend of the Florida Film Festival (FFF) held at the Enzian Theater in Winter Park (a suburb of Orlando) is dedicated to film, food & wine and this year’s theme was Flavors of the South: Grits, Grace & Gravy. I was honored to have been asked to help organize the food part of the weekend and host a luncheon panel chock-a-block with James Beard Foundation award winners. In fact, I was the only one on the panel not in possession of one of those wonderful little medals.

As you can see from the above-linked main food, film, wine main page, there were loads of events to attend. Opening night included more pork and Maker’s Mark than you could shake a stick at, something the three people in this pic didn’t mind one bit.

L to R: IFC's Alison Willmore, your author and Chef John Currence enjoy the copious pork and bourbon on offer at the FFF opening night party.

The next day’s panel included the above-pictured chef Currence (City Grocery-Oxford, Mississippi-Best Chef South, 2009) & Martha Foose (best American Cookbook 2009 for Screen Doors and Sweet Tea) and authors Matt & Ted Lee (double winners in 2007: Cookbook of the Year and Food of the Americas for The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook). The luncheon was prepared by Enzian Theater executive chef Josh Oakley (Oh, you didn’t know they had a restaurant? More on that later and in subsequent posts) using recipes from the Lee Brothers’ most recent book and 2010 Beard award nominee, Simple Fresh Southern.

Ted Lee, Martha Foose and Matt Lee prepare for our Saturday luncheon panel!

I think the panel went well, and while I don’t have the whole panel on video, you can just for yourself, at least in part, with this edited selection on Enzian’s You Tube channel.

My pre-panel libation of choice.

Saturday night saw the ambitious and perfectly executed Tennessee Williams’ Southern Gothic “Family Reunion.” I can almost hear you ask “What the….” Yup. This was the event that, I believe, made Chef Currence aka @bigbadchef tweet: “Florida Film Festival…these folks know how to throw a shindig. Scared of NOTHING. An event to be modeled after…take notes people.”

Seriously, this was a fantastic party with dishes cooked by the afore mentioned chefs Currence & Foose, as well as dig it, 2 more James Beard award-winners: Robert Stehling (Hominy Grill-Charleston, SC-Best Chef, Southeast, 2008) and Michel Nischan (owner/founder The Dressing Room, Westport, CT and JBFA winner for Healthy Focus & Vegetarian Cookbook: Taste Pure and Simple, 2004 and Television Food Segment, National or Local for PBS’ The Victory Garden, 2008) and the Enzian’s Oakley. Stehling and Currence are both mentioned in my post: My 2009 Year In Food or How I Discovered the South.

All the chefs brought their A games and there were a big “first” for me on the menu. Pig Ears. Try telling someone outside of a certain area of the country that you’ve just eaten a pig ear and 99 times out of 100 your answer will be something like “Ummm, my dog eats those.” he menu? Dig it:

Josh Oakley: Fresh Shucked Oysters on the Half-Shell and Pig Head Tourchons with Carolina BBQ Sauce
Alas, I wasn’t able to try the tourchons. I don’t know why, actually. One minute they weren’t ready and the next…. Well, it’s my fault. I heard they were fantastic, though! The oysters were impeccable. I’m generally not partial to Southern oysters on the half shell. In my experience they tend to be larger and softer than I like. Fried, perfect. Raw? Not so much. That said, maybe I’ve not has the right ones or maybe I hadn’t had them at the right time of the year. These were fantastic.

Apalachicola Oysters on the half shell.

Michel Nischan: Shrimp & Grits with Andouille Sausage
I’m a sucker for shrimp and grits, really. When they’re fresh, head-on shrimp, perfectly creamy grits AND Andouille sausage well, you’ve got me hooked, brother!

That's one tasty lookin' arthropod!

John Currence: Crispy Fried Pig Ear Lettuce Wrap w/Spicy Peanut Cole Slaw & Sweet Corn Chow Chow
Five years ago, had someone told me that during the 2nd week of April, 2010 I will eat a pig’s ear, I would have told them that they were insane. Stark raving bonkers, in fact. That was before a) I saw Joe York’s short doc Smokes & Ears about the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi and b) before I met John Currence. Seriously, they were crispy, tender, porky and not at all what you think. Your dog should only hope to eat this well!

John Currence's Pig Ears!

Robert Stehling: Shrimp Cakes w/ Mango Almond Cole Slaw and Green Chili Tartar Sauce
Here’s where I turn into a writer who didn’t do his job. I forgot to take a picture of Robert’s fantastic shrimp cakes. I know. I’m a schmuck. I even had two of them. I’m a bad bad blogger.

Martha Foose: Blanc du Bois Ice Box Pie
Om nom nom nom nom nom!

I want more!

Charles Hamilton (Sous Chef, Enzian & Eden Bar): Bourbon Bread Pudding
By this time I was way too much in my cups to remember to take photos. Please forgive the lapse….

Some more pictures from the first 2 nights of the Florida Film Festival’s Film, Food & Wine celebration:

Lord Byron from "Camino Real" brings the noise!

Anyone call for a sponsor shot?

I even got into the pix! What a night. Photo ©Michael Kilayko, Florida Film Festival

At any rate, Tuesday saw me eating two equally delicious meals at restaurants within a mile of each other and on opposite end of the financial spectrum. Lunch took me to K-Zo which bills itself as “Tokyo-style sushi, nouvelle-Asian small plates” and an extensive sake menu. The menu was expansive and expensive and the food was gorgeously presented, to wit:

Oysters, uni and caviar at K-Zo in Culver City, LA

While at $14, this app was pricey (especially since the oysters were barely 1.5” across), the presentation and flavors were fantastic. Uni (sea urchin) is one of those foods that if it’s “off” the first time you try it, the memory of that experience can prevent you from ever trying it again. As luck would have it, I am a recent convert to this most luxurious of sea foods and have only had top-quality stuff. The rest of the meal, while high quality sushi, expertly prepared was merely good sushi. Honestly, it’s my fault. I rushed my order and defaulted to familiar territory (spicy tuna and avocado-fresh water eel hand rolls, tuna sushi, tempura shrimp rolls) where I could have been trying monkfish liver or seared albacore sashimi. Then again, those items aren’t all that adventurous. Basically, K-Zo was a pleasant place for lunch, but at $80 (including some poor hot sake that I shouldn’t have ordered, considering their extensive cold sake list) it was shockingly overpriced.

In between lunch and dinner I visited Surfas, a restaurant supply warehouse with as many URLs as kinds of butter:

Good Lord! The butter case at Surfas, Culver City, LA.

First there’s the basic URL: http://www.surfaslosangeles.com/ Then there’s the cafe (with free wifi) and Surfas’ mail order site. Not sure what the point of three distinct URLs is, but whatever the reason, if you’re in LA, Surfas is worth a trip. If you’re a foodie and anywhere from an enthusiastic amateur chef on up to a seasoned pro, the joint is like Disney World is to a 10 year-old. There’s food, of course. The freezer case of sausages was particularly drool-worthy. A small but notable cheese and salumi counter and, of course, all sorts of things a good restaurant needs, like giant containers of Fleur de Sel de Camargue (along with Hawaiian, Himalayan and any other kind of salt you can imagine). The butter case alone made me wish I was living in LA and could buy one of each and bring them back to my house and make terribly rich sauces until the wee hours. Then there’s vanilla from Tahiti, Madagascar and Mexico. Had I an unending budget and a waistline immune to fat, I would have bought one of each and done many ice cream experiments. Well, maybe there will come a day when I will shop at Surfas like a local. Until then, I will have to subsist on their mail order.

Mmmmm, vanilla!

Dinner was at the venerable LA institution, Versailles. This Cuban no-frills joint has a few locations in the city, but the one everyone seems to go to is the Culver City outpost on Venice and Motor. There’s not much to say about Versailles except two things: Firstly, I never get into discussions about Cuban politics when I am there (I suspect I’d be banned) and secondly…. garlic chicken, aka #6. The menu is as vast as it is tasty. I have had shrimp and I have had the roast pork/chicken combo. I think I even once had a calamari steak. That’s all just really stupid. Sit down, order a Negro Modelo and pretend to peruse the menu. When they come back with the beer, order the #6. In roughly 5 minutes you’re presented with about half of a chicken, perfectly roasted, slathered in garlic sauce and onions with a side of fried plantains. (See? If I didn’t tell you to order the beer first, there’s a good chance you’d end up with the chicken fiest and that’s no good.

One might be concerned with the speed at which the food arrives, as if they were nuking frozen, pre-cooked pullets in the kitchen. Not so. It’s just that they know that if there are 150 people in the joint, about 145 of them will order the garlic chicken so they’re constantly cooking the bastards! I feel bad for the rest of the menu and the chefs because they really do turn out some excellent food, but the chicken, with its crispy skin and moist meat and piquant citrus garlic sauce is truly the stuff of legends. After all, the place has been churning out these flavorful fowl for almost 30 years!

Jesus. That was just the first day!

While on this trip I discovered many wild and wonderful things, including 7 of the 12 entries below on my list and several of the honorable mentions. I met the amazing food writer John T. Edge whose book “Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South” was one of my key culinary guides to my trip and who in turn introduced me to chef John Currence of City Grocery (and James Beard award winner, Best Chef, South) and they both in turn pointed me in the direction of Chefs Frank Stitt and Chris Hastings of Birmingham, AL and Mike Lata, Sean Brock and Robert Stehling of Charleston, SC. More on all of them, later.

Through these folks and Sigrid Tiedtke of the Enzian Theater in Winter Park, FL (home of the Florida Film Festival) I was also introduced to Southern cuisine and a wonderful organization called the Southern Foodways Alliance, with which I hope to have a long and fruitful relationship!

So here, without further rambling, my top food moments of 2009, presented in chronological order.

Unassuming doesn't cover it, but inside is pure pie gold!

March – Craig Brothers Cafe & Mary’s Family Pie Shop (De Valls Bluff, AR):

Good lord. De Valls Bluff is pretty much the capital of Nowhere, Arkansas, has fewer than 800 residents, is a 90 mile drive SW from Memphis and is 8 miles off the interstate but good lord the lunch you can have, there. You’d never run into this place by chance, of course so take heed. The only reason I know about it comes from reading “Southern Belly,” which guided me to a number of fine eateries in the South. Calling Craig Bros. Cafe a shack is not an exaggeration. It’s a small, unassuming building on Walnut Street and is the kind of place unadventurous eaters and “safe” travelers would avoid. Sucks for them, because it’s exactly that kind of place where one can finds sublime eating experiences, as is the case with their BBQ chopped pork sandwiches. Served with mild, medium or hot sauce (I go with medium) the sandwich is the perfect mix of juicy slow-smoked pork and crispy burnt bits served, as is the Memphis-area style, with slaw on the sandwich, wrapped in tissue paper.

After lunch, head across the street to Mary’s Family Pie Shop (look for the house with “Pie Shop” spray painted on it) for some of the most delectable pies on earth. $8.60 for a large! Try the chocolate, coconut or any other kind she’s got. You’ll thank me.

March – Smitty’s Market (Lockhart, TX): My first experience with real Texas BBQ was a serious exercise in excellence in meat. No plates, no forks. Plastic knives & Shiner Bock. And meat. Sweet, spicy, smokey meat!

March/April – New Orleans: From your first “Where y’at, cher?” this city says “Come on in, take a load off and eat well!” A city with its own cuisine, a city with a soul like no other and a city where you can eat a different meal every day for a year and still have something new to eat on New Year’s Day. From breakfast at Stanley on historic Jackson Square in the Quarter http://stanleyrestaurant.com/ to a Johnny’s Special Po-Boy at (duh) Johnny’s http://www.johnnyspoboy.com/ to dinners at Cochon, NOLA, K-Paul’s and Lüke, my 2 visits to The Big Easy were food heaven.

Bread pudding and vintage port, Lüke restaurant, New Orleans.

Spring – Southern Chefs: Sean Brock, John Currence, Chris Hastings, Mike Lata, Robert Stehling and Frank Stitt

Brock, 2009 James Beard Rising Chef of the year nominee, is the executive chef at McCrady’s http://www.mccradysrestaurant.com/ in Charleston and my two dinners there in early May were among the best meals I’ve ever had, with the 7 course tasting menu a magical mix of molecular gastronomy and the locavore ideal. Makes sense, since Brock runs his own farm that helps supply the restaurant.

New Orleans native Currence runs a mini-empire http://www.bigbadbreakfast.com/ in Oxford, MS which includes  City Grocery, Bouré, Big Bag Breakfast (BBB) and Snack Bar, four very different and wonderful eateries in this relatively small University town of 19,000 (almost doubled, when you include students). Johnny Snack, as he’s sometimes known, was named Best Chef, South at the 2009 James Beard Awards and he continues to dazzle, acting also as the culinary coordinator for the Southern Foodways Alliance’s annual symposium (see below). Skip breakfast at the BBB at your peril.

2 eggs, country ham, grits, red-eye gravy and a biscuit at the BBB!

Lata’s joint FIG http://www.eatatfig.com/ (stands for Food Is Good) in Charleston, SC is fine dining in the guise of a neighborhood joint. The proof that one doesn’t have to charge astronomical prices and put on airs to cook extraordinary fresh food. The best chefs are the ones that change their menu according to what’s the freshest, tastiest and local and Lata’s at the top of his game.

Sautéed Young Greens, chile and garlic w/ Anson Mills Farrotto and English peas at FIG.

Hastings’ Hot & Hot Fish Club http://www.hotandhotfishclub.com/ which he operates with wife Idie is a jewel in a surprisingly (to this Yankee) robust Birmingham, Alabama food scene. Sit at the open kitchen and watch them shine. I can’t say enough about the Fudge Farms pork shoulder noodle bowl with poached farm egg. Again, “local” is the word that unites these chefs and their work speaks for themselves.

Fudge Farms pork shoulder noodle bowl with poached farm egg.

2008 Beard Award winner (best chef, Southeast) Stehling’s Hot Pepper Jelly is reason enough to visit his Hominy Grill http://hominygrill.com/ in Charleston. Sure, come for the jelly, but stay for the shrimp and grits. Seriously, Charleston deserves an entry all of its own and could make a case for  being the best per capita food city in America.

Much like Stehling’s hot pepper jelly (which has become a staple on my own table), Frank Stitt’s parmesan souffle at Bottega http://www.bottegarestaurant.com/ in Birmingham is the stuff of dreams. Literally. The godfather of Birmingham chefs, Stitt single-handedly put the city on the culinary map when he opened Highlands Bar & Grill http://www.highlandsbarandgrill.com/ in 1982. I’ve had 3 meals at his joints and they’ve all be exceptional, even revelatory.

Parmesan Soufflé w/Galloni prosciutto, wild mushrooms and thyme at Bottega.

June – Round Swamp Farm http://www.roundswampfarm.com/home.html (East Hampton, NY): There are loads of farm stands out in these parts, but this family-run spot is head and shoulders above the rest. The family have run the stand for over 40 years and come from a long line of farmers and fishers. The fish counter has a sign each day indicating what fish were brought in that morning by local bay men. It can seem pricey, but it’s the best local produce and fish and the friendliest place around.

June – Matt & Ted Lee’s The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook http://mattleeandtedlee.com/lee-bros/our-first-cookbook/ and Boiled Peanuts Catalog http://www.boiledpeanuts.com/: Along with my Spring swing through the South, this book and catalog from the fabulous Lee Brothers did more to shape my recent culinary explorations than anything else. Combining Lowcountry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowcountry_cuisine and Bonac cuisine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonackers has delighted me (and my many guests) for the better part of this year. Shrimp, local littleneck clams and caramelized leeks over Lady Cream and red-hulled peas or fried local fluke, Peconic Bay scallops and Spanish chorizo over red-hulled peas are just two ways these two coastal cuisines have merged in my kitchen.

Shrimp, local littleneck clams and caramelized leeks over Lady Cream and red-hulled peas.

Labor Day Weekend – My first home-smoked pork butt: It took 11 hours, I didn’t have any meat syringes to inject the brine, had never smoked anything before and had a party full of discerning Southerners but I managed to pull it off. The BBQ sauce I had on hand from Craig Brothers didn’t hurt.

September – Almond Restaurant’s roast chicken (Bridgehampton & NYC, NY): Quite simply, the greatest chicken dish I have ever had. In its current state it’s served over a bed of cavolo nero (Tuscan black kale, w/house-cured bacon in the NYC locale) and celery root puree with natural juices. The thigh and leg are cooked en confit, while the breast is roasted. The difference in textures along with a wonderfully crisp flavorful skin (I usually can’t stand chicken skin) and the pan juices over the kale and celery root make for a rich, hearty and satisfying dish, perfect for an East End winter’s night!

Halloween Weekend – The Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium: I have never experienced something so short (3 days) that so quickly captured the summer camp vibe of my childhood. Run by an organization dedicated to preserving and teaching the legacy of southern food culture, the symposium was part lecture, part cocktail party, part group feed and all fun. I met some people on my first trip this year that I hope will be friends for the rest of my life.

David Chang's Bo Ssäm (slow-roasted pork shoulder) with kimchi Brussels sprouts & whole peanuts.

Halloween – My first Hog Pickin’: After the SFA symposium,  I was lucky enough to be invited to a hog picking. Basically a whole hog roast for about 40 people in a backyard. The pig is roasted for over a day and the host makes his own BBQ sauce. I’d never had it before, but I sure want to have it again. It was one of the most purely community-oriented food experiences I’ve ever had, with the vibe of a culinary barn raising.

Thanksgiving at the Rattray’s – East Hampton, NY: I look forward to this gathering for about 11 months and 29 days each year. Great family friends, good wine and food: local oysters “Rattray,” ham, turkey, ham, cranberries, ham, pumpkin cheesecake (par moi), ham and the sublime persimmon pudding. I’m drooling like Homer….. Next year I plan on bringing one of Colonel Newsom’s aged Kentucky hams! http://www.newsomscountryham.com

Mmmmmm, ham!

Peconic bay scallops with local littleneck clams & chorizo over purple-hulled peas.

December – Maine Shrimp & Peconic bay scallop seasons: This one’s easy. It’ll be on my list every year from now until the day I die. If I lived in Damascus, I’d figure out how to get these delicacies mailed to me. The deep water shrimp are so delicate, only the slightest amount of heat is needed to cook them and in fact, are perfectly good to eat raw (they are served as ama-ebi on sushi menus all along the East coast). Don’t use heavy sauces because much like the bay scallops they are sweet and full of flavor all on their own. If you can get them from your fish market with the heads still on, all the better, since the heads contribute incredible flavor to a wonderful stock. See my risotto recipe: http://www.eatingisfundamental.com/2009/12/18/recipe-maine-shrimp-risotto/

As for the scallops, pretty much everything I said above for the shrimp applies for these bivalves. Infinitely more delicate and sweet than their larger cousins from the sea, bays cook up in no time and make for a marvelous, quick and easy special dinner. At $17/lb more than the Maine shrimp, bay scallops are not really every day fare, but for a special dinner or as a part of a seafood feast, they can’t be beat.

Honorable mentions:

BBQ Spaghetti, The Bar-B-Q Shop – Memphis TN: Seriously. It’s fucking great.

Beef Stew, my house – East Hampton, NY: Yes, I listed something I make myself. Why? It’s that goddamn good.

Coca-Cola Cake at Jestine’s Kitchen – Charleston, SC: Yep. You read right. It’s all good at Jestine’s.

The Candy Kitchen’s Peanut Butter & Bacon sandwich on white toast -  Bridgehampton, NY: Duh. The place has been around since 1925 for a reason.

Hog’s Head Cheese, Cochon Restaurant- New Orleans, LA: If only for teaching me that head cheese isn’t, in fact, some really nasty-ass shit, but can be fantastic.

Nikki’s West – Birmingham, AL: Where I learned of a tasty fish called Scamp, ate of the most wondrous onion rings on earth and was so intimidated by the buffet line that I chose to order off the menu. Big mistake, apparently. Word has it, the buffet is akin to the 8th wonder of the world. http://www.nikiswest.com/

Sam’s Pizza http://www.samseasthampton.com/, East Hampton, NY: 2x shrimp, clams, garlic, gorgonzola and bacon, light on the mozzarella and well done. Perfection. An East Hampton landmark since 1947!

Cochon's Fried Alligator (front) and Hoghead cheese.

Where fore art thou, Ignatius J. Reilly?

I swear there's some Swiss Chard hidden under this magnificent chop from Cochon.

There's bread pudding on every menu in New Orleans. This one was at NOLA.

Bread pudding and vintage port at Lüke.

Pecan-crusted Fried Oysters from K-Paul's

K-Paul's shrimp & crawfish etouffée

Wild boar pate from Lüke, w/ stone-ground mustard, house-made pickles and country bread.

You can see more pictures from New Orleans and other cities in our Flickr stream, here.

After South by Southwest, I hopped in my rental and made the 540-odd mile trip East to the Crecent City, The Big Easy, NOLA…N’awlins. I hadn’t been there in about 30 years, so I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I was excited to visit what is the only US city with its own fully-developed native cuisine and one that is still trying to recover from one of the worst natural and governmental disasters in American history.

Looking Northeast up the riverfront streetcar tracks. Toulouse St. station, New Orleans. ©Mark Rabinowitz 2009

I rolled in quite late and after checking into the “Royal O,” I did what any smart traveler does: I asked the bellman where a guy could get something to eat at that late hour. Sure, I could have had room service, but it was my first night in the French Quarter in my adult life in a city that really doesn’t sleep and I’d be damned if I was gonna stay in. Chartres House Café was the recommendation. It was apparently one of the only place nearby whose kitchen stayed open late (NOLA’s restaurants close early, who knew?) and it was a favorite hangout for the local service industry. Seeing that some of my best friends are/were members of said group and they’re always fun, I bit. Dinner was the Creole Crawfish Platter – Fried crawfish tails, crawfish etouffee and crawfish cakes. Served with fries and hush puppies. What can I say? I wanted crawfish! The fare was a nice intro to NOLA and the hushpuppies were exceptional. Then again, I had no frame of reference…. What I did discover was Abita Turbodog beer. If you can find it where you are, buy it. You won’t be sorry.

The Chartres (pronounced “CHAW-tuhs”) House proved to be my home base and go-to joint after each meal in various NOLA eateries in the 7 days that I spent in New Orleans in two visits. It was there that I met Steve the bartender (later to become a maitre’d at the Royal O’s Rib Room) and Steve the bartender (not to be confused with Steve the bartender). It was these fine people who directed me to Johnny’s Po-Boys.

Claiming to be the oldest family owned po-boy restaurant in New Orleans, the founder Johnny De Grusha’s quote boasts: “Even my failures are edible!” Alas, I can’t really speak to either his failures or to the other Po-boys in New Orleans. I was only there for a few days and only had Johnny’s special (Beef with Grilled Ham, American and Swiss, fully dressed, of course). Next time, however, I’m taking my friend John Currence’s advice. Johnny’s was a great experience. Storefront, tourist families, locals, and a polite and patient counter staff. They helped this newbie order correctly and what I got was a marvelous and massive lunch. Roast beef and drippings, grilled ham, 2 cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mustard and mayo. The perfect mixture of flavors, textures and smells. By the time I had gotten to the last 1/8 of this behemoth, the roll had pretty much disintegrated and I suspect this is not ideal. I’ll let you know….

And the sandwich to scale…..

As you can see....a mighty sandwich!