Would Grandpa Be Comfortable With This Menu?

Please pass the couscous?

I'm not a big fan of couscous. To me, couscous is what is left of an old log after termites are done chewing it up. 

   But surely the authors of the Tupelo Honey Café cookbook would argue this point -- because they believe a dolled-up couscous concoction is among “new southern flavors from the Blue Ridge mountains.”

   We are talking about the same Blue Ridge Mountains near where I was born in Appalachia? There are flavors there, all right, traditional flavors that inspired songs about cornmeal baked into hoe cakes, possums cooked golden brown, and illegal whiskey made in copper kettles hidden  back up among the mountain laurels.  

   But this Café isn’t particularly into that sort of thing. Yes, we get an introduction going on and on about plain, wholesome mountain foodstuffs passed down through generations, but what follows are recipes such as “Sunny Orange and Cilantro Couscous.”

   Now, my grandmother was raised on a farm and in later years she supervised a kitchen that fed a herd of high school students in my northern Appalachian mountain hometown. My guess is, she might recognize 25 percent of the recipes in this book, and I’m including ordinary gravies and common fruit pies in that assessment.

   Unrecognizables would include Vegetarian Appalachian Cassoulet. Although, I admit, she would be familiar with the ingredients – navy beans, mushrooms, carrots, onions, celery and a few other common supermarket items.

   Now, I’m not dissing these Tupelo dishes, exactly. Some are probably pretty darn good. But do they really pass muster as new southern flavors from the Blue Ridge Mountains? Grandma would say they’re from a foreign country: Guinea Hen with Blueberry Zinfandel, Jalepeno-Bacon Moonshine, Gruyere and Sage Corn Casserole, Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese with Tomato Jam and Red Onion Marmalade, Chicken with Blueberry Vinaigrette, Savory Herbed Pancakes with Smoked Trout and Tomato Concasse,  or how about Pistachio Crusted Sea Bass with Tomato Curry Broth?

   I did recognize a name, Frogmore Stew, which is covered elsewhere in these pages. The recipe given in the book is fairly much akin to the one I wrote about from My Recipes. The Tupelo chefs add scallops, V8 juice and some extra seasonings. So, I’m saying there are someregular more or less down-home recipes. Some.

   From a promo piece for the book: “Heralding in its own unique style of cuisine representative of the New South, the Tupelo Honey Cafe salutes the love of Southern traditions at the table, but like the people of Asheville, marches to its own drum.” Now, what does that say, exactly? Seems to me it says they’ve borrowed some down-home words but the food is what the chef dreams up.

   Tupelo Honey Café is a very popular chain founded in Asheville NC. It subsequently spread throughout the south and is now nationwide. From what I’ve read, wait times of hours are typical, at least in Asheville – a site that is now expanding to meet demand. 

   One of the cookbook authors, Brian Sonoskus, founding chef, has left Tupelo and is now holding forth in an Asheville diner. He says he wanted to control the menu, so perhaps he had some differences with the Tupelo honchos. In an interview I saw, he seems to favor typical steaks and chops, but has interests in a vegan/vegetarian direction as well. Meanwhile Tupelo seems headed in some sort of new wave direction – as an indication there’s an addition to the menu since publication of the book -- the Grateful Dead Black Bean Burger. And then there is Herbed Panko Fish Risotto, another new one. 

   The chef who has taken over for Sonoskus is introducing new items like Venison with Foie Gras Dirty Rice. I had to double-check foi gras – it is made from the livers of young force-fed ducks or geese. Chef says it is a good example of the type of “playful, elevated Southern food” he's interested in introducing. 

   Well, I’m a long way from being cured of my ideas about Appalachian cuisine, learned at grandma’s table. And I don’t think I’d go to Tupelo Honey Café looking for that old-time country-style goodness. You know what I mean? I’m talking about a whole smokehouse ham, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy in a boat, serving dishes piled with garden vegetables, sweet cornbread and real butter ... homemade apple pie.