September 13, 2024 • 43 mins
SPECIAL EVENT: September 28th at 5:30pm - Reserve your seats today!
An Evening in Coastal North Carolina, a Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner at Beach Shop & Grill in Topsail Beach, North Carolina
What does it take to create a truly unforgettable culinary experience on the North Carolina coast? How about a dash of moonshine, some pop rocks, hoop cheese, and pot liquor?
Executive Chef Jim Foss from Beach Shop & Grill reveals the magic behind “An Evening in Coastal North Carolina,” an exclusive six-course dinner for the Friends of James Beard Benefit Series. From locally sourced ingredients to creative culinary twists, this event showcases the best flavors from the Greater Topsail area’s farms and waters.
Beach Shop & Grill
701 S Anderson Blvd
Topsail Beach, NC 28445
https://beachshopandgrill.com/
beachshopandgrill@gmail.com
Friends of James Beard Benefit Link with FULL MENU: https://www.jamesbeard.org/events/fojbb-topsail-beach-nc
Reserve your seats HERE!
Topsail Insider is Sponsored by:
Saltwater Suites & Resort - Topsail Island’s premier luxury hospitality experience! Book your beach getaway today at SaltwaterTopsail.comor call (910) 886-4818!
Surf City Line! Come out for Beachin’ Bowls, Margaritas, and Live Music, and enjoy your meal on their top deck with Ocean Views! Visit SurfCityLineNC.com for their full food, bar, and brunch menus!
Topsail Insider is edited by Jim Mendes-Pouget | jimpouget@gmail.com
Send Christa a message! Please leave your contact information if you’d like a response.
Please Follow/Subscribe to Topsail Insider on your favorite podcast-listening platform!
Please also visit www.topsailinsider.com and sign up for our Mailing List where you’ll get early access to upcoming episodes.
Or leave a Voicemail for Topsail Insider right from the website - your message just might be featured in an upcoming episode!
Follow Topsail Insider on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube!
If you are a Greater Topsail business owner or nonprofit, Register to be a Guest on our website at www.topsailinsider.com!
Or if you wish to Sponsor or Advertise with Topsail Insider, please email christa@topsailinsider.com or call/text 910-800-0111.
Thanks - I’ll see you around Topsail!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina Coming up,
executive Chef Jim Foss fromBeach Shop and Grill is here
today to talk about a veryspecial event they're hosting on
(00:21):
September 28th.
It's called An Evening inCoastal North Carolina and it's
a part of the Friends of JamesBeard Benefit Series that's held
around the United States and itsupports the James Beard
Foundation programs.
It is going to be a culinaryexperience that you do not want
to miss and we have all thedetails for you today on Topsail
(00:42):
Insider.
The details for you today onTopsail Insider.
It's time to indulge andexperience the finest coastal
hospitality on Topsail Islandwith Saltwater Resort and Suites
in Surf City, north Carolina,designed to exceed your
expectations.
Guests can enjoy elegant suitesfeaturing premium, luxurious
(01:03):
bedding, fully equipped kitchenswith dishwashers, 75-inch flat
screens en suite, washers anddryers, and gorgeous ocean views
.
With the grand opening of theirnewest location, you can now
relax in their saltwater pooland modern clubhouse.
Perfect for unwinding,socializing and private events.
(01:23):
Perfect for unwinding,socializing and private events.
Book your next beach getawaytoday at saltwatertopsailcom or
call 910-886-4818.
Saltwater Resort and Suitesredefining luxury on Topsail
Island.
(01:51):
Come on out to Surf City Linefor the best made-from-scratch
beach and bowls on TopsailIsland.
Treat yourself to theirdelicious bowls with shrimp,
steak, fish, chicken or pork, orenjoy their peel-and-eat shrimp
, beach break salads and more.
They offer a full bar servinghandcrafted cocktails,
incredible margaritas and theyproudly serve North Carolina
craft beer.
The line boasts the biggestdeck on the island with three
(02:12):
levels for listening to livemusic, relaxing in the sun or
head on up to the top deck toenjoy your meal with ocean views
.
Visit Surf City Line NCcom fortheir full menus.
The best service and beachvibes on the island await you at
2112 North New River Drive.
Whether you're a local orvisiting from out of town,
(02:35):
celebrating a special occasionor just soaking up the sun with
family and friends, it's alwaysa great time at Surf City Line.
Always a great time at SurfCity Line.
Hello everyone and welcome toTopsail Insider.
My name is Krista and I am yourhost.
Today we are talking to ChefJim Foss.
(02:55):
He is the executive chef atBeach Shop and Grill in Topsail
Beach, north Carolina.
Welcome, chef, jim, and thankyou so much for joining me today
.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh, it's so great to be here.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Awesome, so glad to have you.
So we are here to talk aboutyour upcoming James Beard
Foundation benefit dinner.
It's called An Evening inCoastal North Carolina, but
first I just want to bringeveryone up to date on what's
going on at Beach Shop and Grilland talk about your team a
little bit.
Cheryl, who's now the soleowner of Beach Shop and Grill.
She's really guided therestaurant's culinary experience
to new heights over the years,and she has a talented team of
chefs.
She has a beautifully curatedmenu that changes throughout the
(03:34):
season, and y'all use locallysourced ingredients from a lot
of local vendors here, which Ilove, and she has an amazing
wine list.
Her wine list, I believe, isaward-winning.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And then you have these really special events, and
this is an amazing event.
It doesn't happen often in ourarea, or have there been any
other ones in our area?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Not to our knowledge.
I believe we may be the firstones in the Wilmington area that
actually hosted a beard event.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm telling you guys, pay attention, because the menu
that's posted online that we'regoing to talk about today it's
a six course menu.
You start out on the patio withthe oyster station and you're
getting wine pairings throughoutthe entire experience.
You go and you have a sixcourse meal that you're sitting
down for, followed up with themost interesting dessert I've
ever heard of.
That we'll talk about in detail.
(04:24):
I just want to talk about yourteam a little bit.
How long have you been workingwith Cheryl and what has that
evolution been like?
You said you've been with herfor how long?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
This is my fourth season.
Fourth season.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So you've been there for a lot of the evolution of
this menu.
Her vision of the menu.
What has that been like for youand your team?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
To me it's been a challenge and I love challenges
in a good way.
It has enabled me to reallykind of bond a little bit with
Cheryl and her vision and thedirection in which she wants to
take the Beach Shop and Grill,which is really to a casual,
fine dining Southern restaurant,really boasting and focusing on
regional favorites.
We got this bounty the ocean,we got the intercoastal, We've
(05:12):
got hog farms, chicken farms.
We really do, and a lot of greatthings really right here at our
fingertips, and why wouldn't wejust take advantage of that and
really the vision ofcelebrating the food.
We're just the cooks.
So we're taking this beautifulpiece of hog nose snapper and
making that the star of a dishand being able to pair that
(05:35):
beautiful fish with anoutstanding wine that's award
winning and really just elevatesthe experience.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It is an experience, yes, perfect word.
Let's talk experience.
Yes, perfect word.
Let's talk about your journey alittle bit.
Where did your culinary careerbegin and then what inspired you
to be a chef?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, my culinary career, I guess, began when I
was a young kid, growing up inNortheast Philadelphia, and I've
just always been intrigued byfood, by cooking, and instead of
watching normal Saturdaycartoons, I was watching Julia
Child and Jacques Pepin.
My parents got a littleconcerned about me and it just
(06:14):
grabbed me.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It had me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And there's nothing else.
I'm the luckiest person in theworld, even to this day, and I
consider myself lucky back thenthat I just always knew I loved
this craft.
I loved culinary arts and thecelebration of food and the
transformation of it from theraw product to what ends up on
your plate, and the joy that Ifeel watching people's
(06:38):
expressions and their happiness,and also the sadness that I
feel when people aredisappointed with the dish that
I've put out.
So it really works both ways,and I'm my own harshest critic.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Tell me about how you transitioned through your
culinary career in differentlocations and how you ultimately
ended up here in Topsail.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Well, from Philadelphia I graduated high
school and in the early 80sthere was two really prominent
schools for culinary arts theCulinary Institute of America in
Hyde Park, new York, andJohnson and Wales in Providence,
rhode Island.
So I chose Providence.
Honestly, I chose Johnson andWales because I'm like, oh, new
England.
I had this vision ofcobblestone streets and clam
(07:21):
chowder and I learned a lot.
And just going through school,having some jobs, I worked at
some really good places up theredoing prep a place called Al
Forno which was a premierrestaurant in Providence.
Remember Todd English, who's avery well-known chef who opened
olives in Boston and a fewolives and figs nationwide.
(07:44):
He was my sous chef, didn'trealize he was going to become
what he became, but just littletidbits like that along the way
that have helped groom me and myculinary journey.
And then I eventually got a jobwith Marriott upon completion
of school and worked with themfor a while and at the time my
executive chef had a job offerto go to the Hershey Hotel in
(08:08):
Philadelphia and it's notbecause I was from Philly or I
had wanted to go back.
Well, I was curious, but he'slike hey, Jim, you want to come
and be my chef de cuisine downat the Hershey Hotel.
Chef de cuisine, it was oneunder the executive chef, Gotcha
Okay.
So, I was the guy whocoordinated the a la carte
restaurants and we had three ofthem at the time and I oversaw
(08:31):
the banquet chef and the othersous chefs.
You moved up quickly.
Well, a lot happened.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I'm kind of giving you the cliff notes, the
nutshell version yeah, yeah,yeah, I'm giving you the cliff
notes here.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Then he left and I assume of notes here Then he
left and I assumed that role ofhim when the Hershey's since has
sold out and it became theHilton and Towers and during
that transition not that I wasoverly looking, but I had a job
opportunity to go to the BarkleyHotel, which is on Rittenhouse
Square in Philadelphia, which isthe oldest four-star,
(09:01):
four-diamond hotel in the city.
It was a very prestigious rolefor me.
So I went there as executivechef and that's when I started
kind of coming out on my own andbugging Developing a name for
yourself, sort of you think.
It happened a little bit at theHershey too.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh, it did Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
When doing some events.
There was a popular eventcalled the Book and the Cook in
Philadelphia was a popular eventcalled the Book and the Cook in
Philadelphia, where you know,famous chef cookbook authors
would come in for a week andvarious restaurants all over the
city would host them and cookfor them.
Yeah, so I was able to workwith Emeril Lagasse, norman Van
Aken, jasper White.
(09:39):
Just brush elbows with somereally, really good, talented
people and again you just pickup these tidbits and you learn
things that you may not realize.
You learned until 10 yearslater.
So I did the Barkley for a while, and during that time is when I
did my first off-site beardevent at the Penn Club in
Manhattan.
It was a beard sanctioned event.
(10:00):
And it was me, philippe Chin,george Perrier from Lebec Finn,
and we went up and we hosted areception there.
So that was-.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
This was your first connection with the James.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Beard With the Beard House, and pretty much because I
stalked Mildred Amico back thenand I was like the young kid
who's constantly calling hey,hey, can I do it now I really
want to come up and do one, andit just forged a great
relationship.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Very, that's so cool.
Very cute, by the way.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, I could be persistent.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You fanboyed.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yes, and then Barkley Hotel sold, unfortunately and
truly.
It was probably one of mygreatest jobs.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I loved it there.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
It was very old school European flat tops and
polished and maitre d's and allthat type of stuff and it was
during then.
One of my greatest honors was Igot my certified executive chef
and from the American CulinaryFederation I was able to host
the American Academy of Chefsdinner.
(11:03):
Very big honor in doing that.
So I was pretty young.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
How old were you at that time?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh gosh, I think I was maybe 24.
My passion is what really droveme on that and then doing some
high-end dinners there.
Unfortunately, the Barclayssold to a condo developer so
there was no need for that and Iwas scrambling looking for a
job.
And I got a job in Penn StateState College, pa, as corporate
(11:28):
executive chef for a very smallcompany.
There was only three hotels,but I did all the food and work
in the cities or something likethat I would have.
I guess that's where I reallyreally started getting into what
(11:49):
is coined nowadays asfarm-to-table or seat-to-table
or things like that.
But for me it's like I wouldpick up a carrot and be like hi,
mr Carrot, I'm going to do somebeautiful things to you.
It sounds so wrong, but it wasso right to me.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But again it's that celebration of the ingredient
and we're just the cooks.
Mother Nature did the hard work.
We're just here to not screw itup.
And then from there I found aconnection in Washington DC and
I went and this was about asix-month-long interview process
.
I had to do tastings in.
The company was called CapitalRestaurant Concepts and they had
(12:27):
several restaurants in the DCmetro area and I had to go do
tastings in each of the concepts.
We had Palo's, an Italian one,we had Old Glory, which was
barbecue, j Paul's, which was aregional mid-Atlantic saloon,
and they offered me the job ascorporate executive chef, nice,
and so I spearheaded the menusfor that and that's where my
(12:51):
connection with Mildred from theBeard House really came into
play and I started doing a fewmore beard events and so on and
also developing some differentconcepts.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Some of these combinations that you're doing
are things that I never wouldhave thought of, and we're going
to go back to that dessert onthis menu here.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
That's all Gerald.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Is that Gerald?
Yes, he couldn't be here todayand I was really disappointed.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Tell me about Gerald, how long he's been with y'all.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Well, this is Gerald's second season.
Gerald is a very, very talented, kind soul.
We're fortunate because hisstyle of desserts and his style
of cooking really parlays whatit is that we're doing at the
Beach Shop and Grill.
So as far as the vision ofdoing that fine dining Southern
Carolina coastal cuisine, it'spart of his roots.
(13:38):
He's local.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is he?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
He's from the area.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And he understands the ingredients, he understands
the people and our guest andhe's very, very talented and has
some skill and he knows how toutilize that and put that forth.
So it makes sense for the restof the menu, from the start, to
the appetizer, to the cocktailor wine, to the entree and then
(14:02):
the final, the dessert.
You got to end strong on thatbecause, most people that's what
they remember is that lastthing that they ate.
Walking out, that's the lastimpact that you're making to
that guest and he just runs withit.
Man, we're very blessed to havehim.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We talked about how Gerald is from this area, which
I think is so cool.
How did you end up here inTopsail?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, my wife is from North area, which I think is so
cool.
How did you end up?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
here in Topsail.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Well, my wife is from North Carolina.
How did y'all meet?
So I was at Myrtle Beach BikeWeek and me and my friends.
We went out to a place called Ithink it was 2001.
And my wife picked me up in thebar.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
She approached you.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah.
She thought I was a golfer andthen realized I had a custom 12
and a half foot chopper and yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's so funny.
Was she from this area?
Does she live here?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, she's from Stokes County, north Carolina,
which is northwest of theWilmington area, and we did the
long distance relationship for acouple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Were you in DC at this time.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And got married.
She moved up to DC with me.
Oh, how'd she like that Withher daughter and I think she
cried for about a week.
It was a culture shock for herfrom being rural North Carolina
into all of a sudden oh my gosh.
I'm living in a small place inAlexandria, virginia.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
The traffic through there is crazy, oh gosh yes, so
scary.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, I do not miss 395 or 495.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I don't know, 17 is pretty bad through here too.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, it has its moments.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
yes, All right.
So then she said I've hadenough of this, let's go south.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
No, no, I mean she had a career.
She started doing governmentcontract work and did work for
NSA and all that type of stuffand she's still doing that now?
Oh, she is Okay, yes, With thethings going on with COVID and
the one thing about DC itdoesn't matter whether you're
Republican, democrat,independent.
Everything is based off ofpolitical climate and it was
(16:07):
just a bad time politically andthere was a lot of rioting and
with COVID there was curfews andrestrictions and you couldn't
go out to restaurants and Ireally don't know what it was
like down here.
But businesses were closingleft and right, and our last
stronghold, georgia Browns.
We had to close after almost 25years, with a year left on the
(16:30):
lease.
We closed it and sold it.
My wife and I just looked ateach other and said all of our
children are in the state ofNorth Carolina.
We vacationed in Oak Island foryears and years and loved the
area, I said why don't we moveto coastal North Carolina?
That's our end game, that'swhere we want it to be
eventually, and my criteria wasI want to be near with the water
(16:54):
.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I said I don't care and she said, okay, this is
where we're moving, because Ilove the ocean, I love fishing
and I just I want it to be beachperson.
And it wasn't about the moneyfor me and I didn't need to make
gobs and gobs of it, thank God.
It was time for me to just kindof chill out a little bit and
(17:16):
try to enjoy some of the thingsthat I didn't do my own doing
when I was younger.
Just enjoy life for a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
All right, so let's talk about the James Beard
Foundation, because there'sprobably some people who don't
live in the culinary world andthey want to just know who's
James Beard.
So what can you tell me aboutJames Beard and why he is such
an important figure in theculinary world?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
James Beard is a pioneer of American cuisine.
He was a cookbook author and TVpersonality and just loved food
and he was a big foodie and hewas involved in a lot of events
and galas and he reallyspearheaded a big movement in
our country.
He started in his house, hisbrownstone, on the East Village
(18:07):
on 12th Street in Manhattan.
He would host elaborate dinnersand so on and so on and really
was all about teaching peopleand that's what the real premise
of the James Beard Foundationis.
It's an ongoing celebration oflearning, of giving back and
being recognized for not onlyculinary excellence but also
(18:31):
from a restaurateur standpointand from being a sommelier, you
know the celebration of't.
as fortunate as others get thatchance to really follow their
dream, and that's what the truemeaning of the foundation is.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I know that there is the James Beard Awards, and
that's a prestigious award forchefs to win.
It's a great thing for theresume as well.
What about scholarships?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
for the resume as well.
What about scholarships?
They do give scholarships toaccredited universities,
culinary or hotel restaurantmanagement things that are
indicative to the business.
Cheryl really gets behind,supporting women and further
enhancing their success in ourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I did read where the James Beard Foundation also has
programs in place that supportwomen specifically yes, and for
Sherry, that's very close to herheart.
In addition to the women'sleadership programs I did notice
too when I was doing myresearch they have a great
diversity and inclusion programas well.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh God, the foundation.
What I just spoke about isreally just a big overview of it
, and there's so manysubdivisions.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yes, that kind of fall into play under that
umbrella and, yeah, it's good,it's great to get some
recognition and notoriety fromthe James Beard Foundation.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Who decided, and when did you decide that you want to
have this James Beard benefitdinner at the Beach Shopping
Grill?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, cheryl and I just kind of spoke about it and
I said do when did you decidethat you want to have this James
Beard benefit dinner at theBeach Shopping Grill?
Well, cheryl and I just kind ofspoke about it and I said do
you want me to give him a call?
And she said sure.
So I called Isabella Wojcik andI said hi, jim Foss, remember
me.
And she oh my God, yeah, that'sgreat how you doing and this
and that.
And I said we'd like to do aJames Beard event and she said
cool.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
If you're going to do something with that title
attached to your event.
What are the requirements?
Is there anything specificoutside of the proceeds are
going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All proceeds, 100% of everything, goes to the James
Beard Foundation, and theircharitable causes Got it, so we
do not see a dime.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
And you mentioned that your mentor is going to be
at the event.
Is there anyone else from theJames Beard Foundation that's
going to be at the event?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
From the foundation.
Yes, they're going to besending somebody who sits on the
board of directors down torepresent the Beard House.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So it's going to be fun having them there.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
All right, let's talk about the event details.
Give us the date and the timeand the format for this event.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, the event's going to be on.
September 28th Starts at 5.30pm.
We're going to start out withan elegant, romantic champagne
patio reception.
We're going to have a liveaction station.
Ghost Fleet Oysters are goingto be there shucking their
oysters.
Nice, I love Ghost Fleet.
They're great guys, cody andCarrie.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I want to get them on the show and guess what?
Put in a word for me.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I will.
You want me to call them?
I'll call them right now.
They're so passionate about itand they're going to be working
the event.
They come from a mile away fromthe restaurant.
What people would say where doyou get your oysters from?
I do you get your oysters from?
(21:56):
I love saying this.
I say walk down to the end ofthat street.
When you hit water, look atapproximately one o'clock and
you'll see the oyster pots rightout there, that's our oysters.
Wow, that's so cool.
I love it.
It's like it makes me gleam andshine.
It's like, no, you don'tunderstand.
It's like right there.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You truly are farm to table as much as we can be Sure
.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
There's four seasons and with the seasons come
different things, and we're notgetting as much produce as we
can get in late August or inJanuary.
So whenever possible, of course, and within reason, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
As we get to the menu , though, you'll see, like, how
much you're utilizing localfarms, but continue on.
So we're going to have thepatio.
We're going to have the patio,we're going to have that action
station.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
We're going to have past hors d'oeuvres mini chicken
ballantines from Changing WaysFarm and Holly Ridge for
featured nerd chicken.
We'll have some foie graslollipops with the hair William
pop rocks on it Kind of a nicelittle fun thing to eat.
New river clams from new riverclam company.
We're going to have a charcoalgrill out there so we're going
(22:57):
to be grilling some, some clamsand oysters right in front of
our guests.
And it's going to be great whenreal celebration of our region.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
So about this reception before we move on?
That starts at five 30, it'sout on the patios.
What are you giving with theoysters at the oyster station?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, we're going to offer some condiments.
We're going to do a pickledwatermelon rind and moonshine
mignonette.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Let's talk about that for a minute.
Certainly Does it ever havereal moonshine in it.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Does it really?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Pickled watermelon moonshine.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Can I say it's legal.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yes, yes, yes it's legal moonshine.
Yeah, you can buy moonshine atthe ABC store.
I believe yes.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yes, we burn the alcohol off and then we mix it
with watermelon juice.
That we just juice watermelonwith that and then we just take
the watermelon, we take the rindand we almost make like a bread
and butter pickle out of it andjust dice it nice, small and
sexy.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, and that's going to be one of the
condiments going with it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
The grilled oysters.
Talk about the country ham,part of that grilled oyster
equation.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Well, we again local.
We're using Lady Edison countryham.
That is America's version of afine prosciutto.
Whatever region I'm in orcountry I go right for, okay,
what is this area known for?
What does it?
Do you know what are the foodsthat are indicative to this
(24:23):
region?
I don't care whether it'scentral Pennsylvania, new
England, and country ham is abig one, it's huge here and
there's people that just do itand do it right.
So it's going to be that reallybriny oyster from the location
of where Ghost Fleet's farm is.
It's so close to the inlet.
It really gives it that nicebriny flavor.
On there You're going to havethat umami from the oyster plant
(24:45):
also known as salsify, which isit's a tuber, it's a root, and
we're going to roast that togive it that flavor and going to
give it a little more of thatsalty, fatty flavor, that
balance with the Lydia Edisoncountry ham on there.
So of course I see the oystersright there in the charcoal
(25:06):
bubbling a little bit.
You're hitting it with thisbeurre blanc made from the
champagne that we're going to beserving with the reception
having that roasted oyster plantin there.
It's just a proper bite rightthere.
That sounds amazing and Irecommend you start with a raw
one.
Just go plain, jane man, eat it, celebrate it.
Don't lie to the food, just letthe food speak for itself and
(25:30):
just kind of morph through.
And then we're going to betempting you with all those
other delicious Scooby snacksfor the reception Okay, one of
the Scooby snacks is the foiegras lollipop with the pop rocks
.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Everyone remembers pop rocks, right it was so fun
to eat, but you know how tocreate those yourself.
Tell me how you came up withthat concept for the lollipops.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
You know it's what's old is new and just going back
to proper pate making 101.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
You're looking at me like I know this stuff.
I have no idea how you make anyof this.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So for culinarians out of there, you're just making
a basic foie gras pate and thenchilling it and you're just
using a little ice cream scoopand you can re-scoop it out and
it's still going to be firmenough that you're going to get
like a little jawbreaker sizefoie gras ball and then we'll
just skewer it.
The pear gelée it's just makinglike a pear jelly.
Okay, with pear William andpear William it comes from
France and they actually growthe pear in the bottle.
(26:31):
So you'll see the pear treeswith wine bottles tied to the
tree.
No way.
So the bloom.
And you can Google thisafterwards and check it out.
Oh my gosh, so that the peargrows inside of the bottle.
And that's people look at, howdid you get the pear like?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
that in a bottle.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's amazing they actually grow the pear in the
bottle on tree.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I have learned something amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
And then they put that distilled brandy in it, and
that's what a pear William isGot it so we're going to take
that pear William and just kindof do as little as possible to
it, Because again you're goingto hear me say this don't lie to
the food.
Let that speak for itself.
We're going to put a little bitof gelatin in there and let
that kind of congeal, and we'lltake the lollipop and dip it in
(27:14):
that gelatin, that pear-williamgelatin.
I still haven't decided whetherI want to put a little creme
fraiche or sour cream in thatgelatin to make it white or not.
And then I'm just going to kindof, like a candied apple, just
roll it in the Pop Rock.
Oh my gosh, this is homemade poprock too, and the pop rock is
also it's going to be made alsowith the pear William and all
that type of stuff.
How?
About that and the pop rocks.
(27:35):
It's not the Captain Originalhere, it's been done.
I've seen it before.
I don't know if it's been donewith foie gras, but I've seen it
used on savory applications andI figured that would just be.
It would be fun.
How fun.
That's a fun little note like,hey, here's what's coming on the
journey.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, you have the Mills, johnny Cakes and-.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
The Anson Mills Johnny Cakes.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Anson Mills Johnny Cakes with Sloop Point Trout
Again local.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, the studio here is right off of Sloop Point
Road, five minutes from my house, and there's right at that
marina.
Right there, you know, they'recatching speckled trout.
So again, we're going tocelebrate that with Anson Mills,
which is a South Carolinaboutique, high-end milling
company.
When we order our grits for therestaurant they grind them on
(28:25):
Monday.
So you have to order, you know,and Sherry, she orders it for
us.
I tell her what to get Monday,so you have to order, you know,
and Sherry, she orders it for usand tell her what to get, so
they actually grind the grit toour spec, whatever kind of grit
white, yellow, blue, red toorder, and then they send it and
it's perishable.
So we have we.
We keep our grits in thefreezer, it's not like it could
(28:46):
sit on the shelf.
So that's again just acelebration of local and the
quality that our region has.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
You mentioned the Changing Ways.
Farm chicken with boiled peanutchicken liver, mousseline,
mousseline.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You go in any gas station around here and you see
boiled peanuts.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
It's obviously a thing okay.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
And chicken livers fried chicken livers at the
Scotchman, or whatever it'scalled.
It's a thing.
I love fried chicken livers.
I love chopped chicken liversfried chicken livers at the.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Scotchman or whatever it's called.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It's a thing I love fried chicken livers.
I love chopped chicken livers.
I think I asked my wife tomarry me because she said she
likes fried liver.
And you just take the two andyou're making a mousse to smear
in a local chicken breast andkind of roll it up and make it
look like a fancy littlepinwheel.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
To highlight that whole thing, it's Ghost Fleet,
it's changing ways.
Changing ways it's.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Surf City Crab and Seafood Market and they're
donating the crab and they'redonating the hog nose snapper
inland seafood out of Charlotte.
They're donating local product.
Nice Okay, and some artisanalproduct as well.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Looking at the dinner menu too, like you've
incorporated, like you said,like country ham is big here in
our area, but so are black-eyedpeas and buttermilk and pot
liquor hoop cheese.
Hoop cheese is a big thingaround here If you were born and
raised here, you know what hoopcheese is.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yeah, I met my wife.
I didn't know what hoop cheesewas.
I'm like what is this strangecheese that I keep finding in
these off-road gas stations?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Duke's mayonnaise, like that's what you have in the
kitchen.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I grew up on Hellman's, but that's a bad word
down here.
So, yeah, it's just takingfundamentals and putting the
ingredients that we have at handas the stars.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
You've embraced them in this menu though yes, and I
think if anyone thinks of ahigh-end restaurant as like I
don't even know what's on themenu, I don't know these things
Well, if you're local here,you're coming to an event that
has these things that you'vegrown up with.
They've just been incorporatedin a very creative way, and I
love that about this menu.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I just played with your mind because I'm using a
big word like mousseline andthen Duke's mayonnaise.
It's like what's happening hereso great?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Talk about pot liquor for a minute, because a lot of
people don't know what potliquor is.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Well, pot liquor is the juice that you stew your
greens in.
Yes, you know collards, turnipgreens, mustard greens, the way
I make mine, and I refer back toOld Glory and Georgia Browns in
DC, which were allSouthern-inspired restaurants.
Oh, okay, our potlicker.
We cook our collard greens inchicken stock and Newsky's bacon
(31:26):
.
Onion garlic, a little bit ofmolasses.
Cider vinegar White House cidervinegar it has to be White.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
House.
It has to be White.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
House.
Yes, and that's kind of thebasic of what a pot liquor is,
but it's not a pot liquor untilafter those greens have stewed
in it.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
And we, even on the menu right now, our Buehler's
pork.
We take that pot, liquor we itout, we we marinate our pork in
it.
Wow, so so you know you're kindof doubling down on the flavor.
You got this beautiful, fatty,delicate pork and then you got
the collard greens, but thenyou're emulating that flavor of
(32:02):
the collards by marinating thepork in the braising liquid of
AKA, the potlicker that we cookthose greens in.
So it's a very harmonious dish.
Marrying the two togetherExactly, it's like how many
things can I use this watermelonfor?
I'm going to use the juice, I'mgoing to use the rind and I'm
going to do this.
I'm going to make it with thisand that, and it's like nothing
went to waste.
(32:22):
You're respecting theingredients.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So there's six courses in this dinner.
Yes, they're all coming out inlike one at a time, right Paired
with a wine, if you choose tohave the wine pairing.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Correct.
We're offering it kind of twoways, with the wine pairings and
without.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So let's just go through this menu really fast.
So you're not servingblack-eyed peas, you're serving
black-eyed pea lard crust.
For that, the Carolina tomatopie.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We're making flour out of black eyed peas.
I've never heard of that before.
Just grind it and that's it.
It's going to be a mix of blackeyed pea flour and regular
flour, and I don't know.
My grandmother made pie crustout of lard, you know that's not
a new thing, yeah.
So it's just again, it's not atwist of words, or it's not
(33:12):
anything fancy, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
hey, man, I'm just making things your grandmother,
great-grandmother, your mothermade I'm just doing it the old
way.
Let's talk about the she-crabcake.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It's not she-crab soup, unless you have crab eggs
in it.
Henceforth the name.
Okay, okay so we're going to doa little riff on that and we're
just going to make the crabcakes that we serve.
They're delicious and we'regoing to wrap it in phyllo, but
in between the phyllo layers I'mgoing to put the hydrated crab
eggs in there to make it ashe-crab galette.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
And that way you're going to have that nice light
crispy, with that salty, crabbyroe.
That's just kind of like thequiet bass player in the back.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Let's see the tea-smoked squab.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Squab is pigeon.
It's a petite game, bird.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
How are you going to serve that?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
What I'm going to do is I'm going to put a very light
smoke on it with tea, this dish.
Originally I was going to do ittobacco-smoked my wife being
from growing up in a tobaccofarmer's thing and everything
else and I kind of changed mymind on that.
I didn't know how people weregoing to take that or not.
(34:17):
So I found some Carolina growntea, so we're going to use some
Carolina black tea and kind ofuse a little Asian accent on
there.
It's not going to have Asianflavors but the technique of
using the Koshi rice and the teaand some orange peel to put a
very light smoke on there.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Then we're going to take the carcasses, we're going
to take a fancy word offal forguts, all the guts, the hearts,
the livers and all that stuffout Offal O-F-F-A-L and that's
going to be a part of thesuccotash that's going in there.
So the dewberries mymother-in-law, gladys, has
(34:59):
already picked them in thespring and I've had them in my
freezer.
She walks to the end of thestreet so I live right behind
Carol Sue Farms in thatneighborhood and they have all
sorts of blackberry and dewberrybushes.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
So she.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
So she goes.
She went up there and shepicked a bunch of dewberries.
That's the inspiration for thatI'm like okay, let's do it.
Again, everything is so local,yeah the berry is going to
really accent that gaminess ofthe squab and the earthiness of
the succotash and give that kindof sour, sweet twang to the
nage.
And a nage is nothing more thana very heavily reduced stock to
(35:35):
the point it's almost the syrup.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
So yeah, that was kind of.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
That was kind of the inspiration.
I just wanted to show off atoot to snoot kind of meal, you
know it's a what Toot to snoot,toot to snoot, yes, and I'm kind
of using all different elementsof the pig.
I'm really excited to showcasethe flavors of my new home you
know, and showcase the BeachShop and Grill family and what
(35:59):
it is that we do there.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
You really have Like.
I've never seen a menu embraceso many different local farming,
whether it's aquaculture oragriculture different local
farming, whether it'saquaculture or agriculture.
I've never seen anyone use itto this degree and incorporated
not just in one part of a dishbut in multiple parts of the
dish to come together and createone dish.
It's really beautiful.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
It was a collaboration.
It takes a village.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Have you tried all of these in different little ways
and had everyone taste it andfigure out which way was the
best way, like, how did you testdrive your menu?
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Through my life I've done many, many things.
I mean I had like the Frenchgarlic sausage for the study in
pork.
I've made that a hundred times.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Having barbecue restaurants and making my own
sausages, for that I know, and Iknow how the flavors are going
to come together.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
The black-eyed pea lard crust.
Is that not brand spanking new?
Or you've done that before.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Gerald, if you're listening to this, you are going
to help with the pie crust.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
You're not just doing desserts, but that's right Okay
.
So we're talking about Gerald'sdessert.
Here we have the cantaloupesemifreddo.
Semifreddo which means halffrozen.
So you've got the cantaloupefrozen, semi-frozen treat that's
on top of a buttermilk spicecake with the marshmallow cream.
But then you have country ham.
(37:24):
Who combines that?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know I'll tell you why.
I mean Gerald, he has done thiscantaloupe semifreddo and it's
fantastic.
And he gave me a few choices.
He's like, hey, what do youthink?
And honestly I didn't even readthe whole thing and I heard
texting and I responded to himand I said you had me at country
ham.
You read it and in my mind Iknow how it's going to taste.
(37:50):
You got that sweet kind ofearthy umami from a cantaloupe.
You got the chill from thesemifreddo but that creaminess,
that mouthfeel that it's goingto give.
You got that twang from thebuttermilk spice cake.
You're going to have those warmspices in there.
That's great for the time ofseason.
The event's going to be inAgain.
You got the earthy honey.
(38:11):
You got that honey going intomarshmallow, which he's making
his own marshmallows, which isessentially almost like a
meringue with gelatin in it.
Then you got some heat coming infrom that Asian spice and it's
like, ooh, it's going to wakeyou up a little bit.
And who doesn't like, nowadays,salted caramel?
That's where the country ham'scoming in.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Boom, boom boom.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So you're kind of getting hit, but it's all
homogenized, it's making sense.
That's a part of the journey.
It's got to make sense and eventhough we're using fancy
culinary terminology that youcan Google and find out and be
like oh, this is just a jelly.
Oh my, why didn't you just saythat?
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Because I would not be fine, that's true, that's
true, that's true.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
We're very blessed to have Gerald In the words of
Gerald McGuire.
He completes us.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's not often that we get treated to an event such
as this in our area and I thinkit's going to be spectacular.
Let's tell the folks how toreserve their seat for an
evening in coastal NorthCarolina.
The price for that seat, bothwith and without the wine
pairing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Sure Well, the easiest way to book a
reservation, and it is limited.
We're only selling 65 tickets.
To keep this a very intimatenight, is to go to the Beach
Shop and Grill's website andjust click make a reservation.
It's right in front of you.
Or you can do the same by goingto the James Beard website
click the event, do search BeachShop and Grill and we'll pop up
Again.
(39:45):
The event is September 28th.
It starts at 5.30 PM.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
How long do you think the whole experience is going
to last?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I'd say about the reception, about an hour and
then probably about two to twoand a half.
It's going to be an evening onthe Carolina coast.
You know, don't be in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
No, don't be in a hurry For something.
This like this, you can't.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Because, truly, I'm the one who's honored to be able
to cook for my guests.
It's that simple You're cominginto my house, I'm honored to
cook for them.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
You're going to be walking around and I'm going to
be In it.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I'm going to be knee deep in it, man.
I may pop my head out thekitchen door and the price is,
without wine, $110.
With wine pairings, which Itruly recommend, if you like,
wine, is $170.
This is a very it's reasonablypriced of what you are getting
here.
And again, thank you to ourvendors and their donations For
(40:37):
those who haven't donated, I'lldeal with you later and a
hundred percent of the proceedsgo to the foundation to better
the future of our business.
So if you guys enjoy reallygood restaurants, this is a
great way to share your supportfor them.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
All right, insiders, you know the drill, so I will
have those links for you in theshow notes.
They will be clickable and soyou just go there and click.
It'll take you straight to thereservations where you can get
your tickets, and then alsoyou'll be able to have just the
link to the restaurant there ifyou want to just go and visit
them outside of this specialevent.
It's always a wonderfulexperience even without this and
(41:17):
the six courses and the winepairings.
Just going to the Beach Shopand Grill is it's a special
occasion place.
It's where you just feel likeyou're.
You're getting to do somethingreally special, because the menu
is always amazing and it doeschange throughout the year too,
which is also nice, becauseevery time you go in there you
get to try something new, andit's special.
So thank you, listeners, forjoining us today.
(41:38):
I really appreciate you alwaysand thank you again, chef Jim.
It has been such a pleasuregetting to know you.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
It's been my pleasure .
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
It's been fun.
I've really enjoyed theconversation today.
My pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
It's been fun.
I've really enjoyed theconversation today.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Thank you, me too.
Just so everyone knows.
This was supposed to be like a20-minute conversation that we
were just talking about JamesBeard and I'm like, nah, we're
going to turn this into a wholeepisode.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
And I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I appreciate you giving me the extra time today.
Thank you, you bet, and I fullyexpect the next time I see you
and Cheryl with you.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Oh, they already know that they're coming.
Okay, I've done enough talking.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
All right, well, thank you so much.
Hey, if you enjoyed today'sepisode of Topsail Insider,
please show your support byclicking the follow or subscribe
button on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
You can also follow us onFacebook, Instagram, twitter and
YouTube.
Please also go toTopsailInsidercom and join our
mailing list by clicking on theMake Me a Topsoul Insider button
(42:34):
.
While you're there, you canclick the Send Me a Voicemail
button and let me know exactlywhat you're thinking your
message just might be on anepisode of Topsoul Insider.
You can email me at krista attopsoulinsidercom, or call or
text me at 910-800-0111.
Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
(42:56):
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around, topsail.
Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all
about the businesses and eventsin the beautiful coastal towns
in the greater Topsail area ofNorth Carolina Coming up,
executive Chef Jim Foss fromBeach Shop and Grill is here
today to talk about a veryspecial event they're hosting on
(00:21):
September 28th.
It's called An Evening inCoastal North Carolina and it's
a part of the Friends of JamesBeard Benefit Series that's held
around the United States and itsupports the James Beard
Foundation programs.
It is going to be a culinaryexperience that you do not want
to miss and we have all thedetails for you today on Topsail
(00:42):
Insider.
The details for you today onTopsail Insider.
It's time to indulge andexperience the finest coastal
hospitality on Topsail Islandwith Saltwater Resort and Suites
in Surf City, north Carolina,designed to exceed your
expectations.
Guests can enjoy elegant suitesfeaturing premium, luxurious
(01:03):
bedding, fully equipped kitchenswith dishwashers, 75-inch flat
screens en suite, washers anddryers, and gorgeous ocean views
.
With the grand opening of theirnewest location, you can now
relax in their saltwater pooland modern clubhouse.
Perfect for unwinding,socializing and private events.
(01:23):
Perfect for unwinding,socializing and private events.
Book your next beach getawaytoday at saltwatertopsailcom or
call 910-886-4818.
Saltwater Resort and Suitesredefining luxury on Topsail
Island.
(01:51):
Come on out to Surf City Linefor the best made-from-scratch
beach and bowls on TopsailIsland.
Treat yourself to theirdelicious bowls with shrimp,
steak, fish, chicken or pork, orenjoy their peel-and-eat shrimp
, beach break salads and more.
They offer a full bar servinghandcrafted cocktails,
incredible margaritas and theyproudly serve North Carolina
craft beer.
The line boasts the biggestdeck on the island with three
(02:12):
levels for listening to livemusic, relaxing in the sun or
head on up to the top deck toenjoy your meal with ocean views
.
Visit Surf City Line NCcom fortheir full menus.
The best service and beachvibes on the island await you at
2112 North New River Drive.
Whether you're a local orvisiting from out of town,
(02:35):
celebrating a special occasionor just soaking up the sun with
family and friends, it's alwaysa great time at Surf City Line.
Always a great time at SurfCity Line.
Hello everyone and welcome toTopsail Insider.
My name is Krista and I am yourhost.
Today we are talking to ChefJim Foss.
(02:55):
He is the executive chef atBeach Shop and Grill in Topsail
Beach, north Carolina.
Welcome, chef, jim, and thankyou so much for joining me today
.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Oh, it's so great to be here.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Awesome, so glad to have you.
So we are here to talk aboutyour upcoming James Beard
Foundation benefit dinner.
It's called An Evening inCoastal North Carolina, but
first I just want to bringeveryone up to date on what's
going on at Beach Shop and Grilland talk about your team a
little bit.
Cheryl, who's now the soleowner of Beach Shop and Grill.
She's really guided therestaurant's culinary experience
to new heights over the years,and she has a talented team of
chefs.
She has a beautifully curatedmenu that changes throughout the
(03:34):
season, and y'all use locallysourced ingredients from a lot
of local vendors here, which Ilove, and she has an amazing
wine list.
Her wine list, I believe, isaward-winning.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And then you have these really special events, and
this is an amazing event.
It doesn't happen often in ourarea, or have there been any
other ones in our area?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Not to our knowledge.
I believe we may be the firstones in the Wilmington area that
actually hosted a beard event.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm telling you guys, pay attention, because the menu
that's posted online that we'regoing to talk about today it's
a six course menu.
You start out on the patio withthe oyster station and you're
getting wine pairings throughoutthe entire experience.
You go and you have a sixcourse meal that you're sitting
down for, followed up with themost interesting dessert I've
ever heard of.
That we'll talk about in detail.
(04:24):
I just want to talk about yourteam a little bit.
How long have you been workingwith Cheryl and what has that
evolution been like?
You said you've been with herfor how long?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
This is my fourth season.
Fourth season.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So you've been there for a lot of the evolution of
this menu.
Her vision of the menu.
What has that been like for youand your team?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
To me it's been a challenge and I love challenges
in a good way.
It has enabled me to reallykind of bond a little bit with
Cheryl and her vision and thedirection in which she wants to
take the Beach Shop and Grill,which is really to a casual,
fine dining Southern restaurant,really boasting and focusing on
regional favorites.
We got this bounty the ocean,we got the intercoastal, We've
(05:12):
got hog farms, chicken farms.
We really do, and a lot of greatthings really right here at our
fingertips, and why wouldn't wejust take advantage of that and
really the vision ofcelebrating the food.
We're just the cooks.
So we're taking this beautifulpiece of hog nose snapper and
making that the star of a dishand being able to pair that
(05:35):
beautiful fish with anoutstanding wine that's award
winning and really just elevatesthe experience.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It is an experience, yes, perfect word.
Let's talk experience.
Yes, perfect word.
Let's talk about your journey alittle bit.
Where did your culinary careerbegin and then what inspired you
to be a chef?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, my culinary career, I guess, began when I
was a young kid, growing up inNortheast Philadelphia, and I've
just always been intrigued byfood, by cooking, and instead of
watching normal Saturdaycartoons, I was watching Julia
Child and Jacques Pepin.
My parents got a littleconcerned about me and it just
(06:14):
grabbed me.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It had me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And there's nothing else.
I'm the luckiest person in theworld, even to this day, and I
consider myself lucky back thenthat I just always knew I loved
this craft.
I loved culinary arts and thecelebration of food and the
transformation of it from theraw product to what ends up on
your plate, and the joy that Ifeel watching people's
(06:38):
expressions and their happiness,and also the sadness that I
feel when people aredisappointed with the dish that
I've put out.
So it really works both ways,and I'm my own harshest critic.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Tell me about how you transitioned through your
culinary career in differentlocations and how you ultimately
ended up here in Topsail.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Well, from Philadelphia I graduated high
school and in the early 80sthere was two really prominent
schools for culinary arts theCulinary Institute of America in
Hyde Park, new York, andJohnson and Wales in Providence,
rhode Island.
So I chose Providence.
Honestly, I chose Johnson andWales because I'm like, oh, new
England.
I had this vision ofcobblestone streets and clam
(07:21):
chowder and I learned a lot.
And just going through school,having some jobs, I worked at
some really good places up theredoing prep a place called Al
Forno which was a premierrestaurant in Providence.
Remember Todd English, who's avery well-known chef who opened
olives in Boston and a fewolives and figs nationwide.
(07:44):
He was my sous chef, didn'trealize he was going to become
what he became, but just littletidbits like that along the way
that have helped groom me and myculinary journey.
And then I eventually got a jobwith Marriott upon completion
of school and worked with themfor a while and at the time my
executive chef had a job offerto go to the Hershey Hotel in
(08:08):
Philadelphia and it's notbecause I was from Philly or I
had wanted to go back.
Well, I was curious, but he'slike hey, Jim, you want to come
and be my chef de cuisine downat the Hershey Hotel.
Chef de cuisine, it was oneunder the executive chef, Gotcha
Okay.
So, I was the guy whocoordinated the a la carte
restaurants and we had three ofthem at the time and I oversaw
(08:31):
the banquet chef and the othersous chefs.
You moved up quickly.
Well, a lot happened.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I'm kind of giving you the cliff notes, the
nutshell version yeah, yeah,yeah, I'm giving you the cliff
notes here.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Then he left and I assume of notes here Then he
left and I assumed that role ofhim when the Hershey's since has
sold out and it became theHilton and Towers and during
that transition not that I wasoverly looking, but I had a job
opportunity to go to the BarkleyHotel, which is on Rittenhouse
Square in Philadelphia, which isthe oldest four-star,
(09:01):
four-diamond hotel in the city.
It was a very prestigious rolefor me.
So I went there as executivechef and that's when I started
kind of coming out on my own andbugging Developing a name for
yourself, sort of you think.
It happened a little bit at theHershey too.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Oh, it did Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
When doing some events.
There was a popular eventcalled the Book and the Cook in
Philadelphia was a popular eventcalled the Book and the Cook in
Philadelphia, where you know,famous chef cookbook authors
would come in for a week andvarious restaurants all over the
city would host them and cookfor them.
Yeah, so I was able to workwith Emeril Lagasse, norman Van
Aken, jasper White.
(09:39):
Just brush elbows with somereally, really good, talented
people and again you just pickup these tidbits and you learn
things that you may not realize.
You learned until 10 yearslater.
So I did the Barkley for a while, and during that time is when I
did my first off-site beardevent at the Penn Club in
Manhattan.
It was a beard sanctioned event.
(10:00):
And it was me, philippe Chin,george Perrier from Lebec Finn,
and we went up and we hosted areception there.
So that was-.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
This was your first connection with the James.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Beard With the Beard House, and pretty much because I
stalked Mildred Amico back thenand I was like the young kid
who's constantly calling hey,hey, can I do it now I really
want to come up and do one, andit just forged a great
relationship.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Very, that's so cool.
Very cute, by the way.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, I could be persistent.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
You fanboyed.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yes, and then Barkley Hotel sold, unfortunately and
truly.
It was probably one of mygreatest jobs.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I loved it there.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
It was very old school European flat tops and
polished and maitre d's and allthat type of stuff and it was
during then.
One of my greatest honors was Igot my certified executive chef
and from the American CulinaryFederation I was able to host
the American Academy of Chefsdinner.
(11:03):
Very big honor in doing that.
So I was pretty young.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
How old were you at that time?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Oh gosh, I think I was maybe 24.
My passion is what really droveme on that and then doing some
high-end dinners there.
Unfortunately, the Barclayssold to a condo developer so
there was no need for that and Iwas scrambling looking for a
job.
And I got a job in Penn StateState College, pa, as corporate
(11:28):
executive chef for a very smallcompany.
There was only three hotels,but I did all the food and work
in the cities or something likethat I would have.
I guess that's where I reallyreally started getting into what
(11:49):
is coined nowadays asfarm-to-table or seat-to-table
or things like that.
But for me it's like I wouldpick up a carrot and be like hi,
mr Carrot, I'm going to do somebeautiful things to you.
It sounds so wrong, but it wasso right to me.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But again it's that celebration of the ingredient
and we're just the cooks.
Mother Nature did the hard work.
We're just here to not screw itup.
And then from there I found aconnection in Washington DC and
I went and this was about asix-month-long interview process
.
I had to do tastings in.
The company was called CapitalRestaurant Concepts and they had
(12:27):
several restaurants in the DCmetro area and I had to go do
tastings in each of the concepts.
We had Palo's, an Italian one,we had Old Glory, which was
barbecue, j Paul's, which was aregional mid-Atlantic saloon,
and they offered me the job ascorporate executive chef, nice,
and so I spearheaded the menusfor that and that's where my
(12:51):
connection with Mildred from theBeard House really came into
play and I started doing a fewmore beard events and so on and
also developing some differentconcepts.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Some of these combinations that you're doing
are things that I never wouldhave thought of, and we're going
to go back to that dessert onthis menu here.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
That's all Gerald.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Is that Gerald?
Yes, he couldn't be here todayand I was really disappointed.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Me too.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Tell me about Gerald, how long he's been with y'all.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Well, this is Gerald's second season.
Gerald is a very, very talented, kind soul.
We're fortunate because hisstyle of desserts and his style
of cooking really parlays whatit is that we're doing at the
Beach Shop and Grill.
So as far as the vision ofdoing that fine dining Southern
Carolina coastal cuisine, it'spart of his roots.
(13:38):
He's local.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is he?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
He's from the area.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And he understands the ingredients, he understands
the people and our guest andhe's very, very talented and has
some skill and he knows how toutilize that and put that forth.
So it makes sense for the restof the menu, from the start, to
the appetizer, to the cocktailor wine, to the entree and then
(14:02):
the final, the dessert.
You got to end strong on thatbecause, most people that's what
they remember is that lastthing that they ate.
Walking out, that's the lastimpact that you're making to
that guest and he just runs withit.
Man, we're very blessed to havehim.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We talked about how Gerald is from this area, which
I think is so cool.
How did you end up here inTopsail?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, my wife is from North area, which I think is so
cool.
How did you end up?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
here in Topsail.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Well, my wife is from North Carolina.
How did y'all meet?
So I was at Myrtle Beach BikeWeek and me and my friends.
We went out to a place called Ithink it was 2001.
And my wife picked me up in thebar.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
She approached you.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, yeah.
She thought I was a golfer andthen realized I had a custom 12
and a half foot chopper and yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's so funny.
Was she from this area?
Does she live here?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, she's from Stokes County, north Carolina,
which is northwest of theWilmington area, and we did the
long distance relationship for acouple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Were you in DC at this time.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And got married.
She moved up to DC with me.
Oh, how'd she like that Withher daughter and I think she
cried for about a week.
It was a culture shock for herfrom being rural North Carolina
into all of a sudden oh my gosh.
I'm living in a small place inAlexandria, virginia.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
The traffic through there is crazy, oh gosh yes, so
scary.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yeah, I do not miss 395 or 495.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I don't know, 17 is pretty bad through here too.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, it has its moments.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
yes, All right.
So then she said I've hadenough of this, let's go south.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
No, no, I mean she had a career.
She started doing governmentcontract work and did work for
NSA and all that type of stuffand she's still doing that now?
Oh, she is Okay, yes, With thethings going on with COVID and
the one thing about DC itdoesn't matter whether you're
Republican, democrat,independent.
Everything is based off ofpolitical climate and it was
(16:07):
just a bad time politically andthere was a lot of rioting and
with COVID there was curfews andrestrictions and you couldn't
go out to restaurants and Ireally don't know what it was
like down here.
But businesses were closingleft and right, and our last
stronghold, georgia Browns.
We had to close after almost 25years, with a year left on the
(16:30):
lease.
We closed it and sold it.
My wife and I just looked ateach other and said all of our
children are in the state ofNorth Carolina.
We vacationed in Oak Island foryears and years and loved the
area, I said why don't we moveto coastal North Carolina?
That's our end game, that'swhere we want it to be
eventually, and my criteria wasI want to be near with the water
(16:54):
.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I said I don't care and she said, okay, this is
where we're moving, because Ilove the ocean, I love fishing
and I just I want it to be beachperson.
And it wasn't about the moneyfor me and I didn't need to make
gobs and gobs of it, thank God.
It was time for me to just kindof chill out a little bit and
(17:16):
try to enjoy some of the thingsthat I didn't do my own doing
when I was younger.
Just enjoy life for a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
All right, so let's talk about the James Beard
Foundation, because there'sprobably some people who don't
live in the culinary world andthey want to just know who's
James Beard.
So what can you tell me aboutJames Beard and why he is such
an important figure in theculinary world?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
James Beard is a pioneer of American cuisine.
He was a cookbook author and TVpersonality and just loved food
and he was a big foodie and hewas involved in a lot of events
and galas and he reallyspearheaded a big movement in
our country.
He started in his house, hisbrownstone, on the East Village
(18:07):
on 12th Street in Manhattan.
He would host elaborate dinnersand so on and so on and really
was all about teaching peopleand that's what the real premise
of the James Beard Foundationis.
It's an ongoing celebration oflearning, of giving back and
being recognized for not onlyculinary excellence but also
(18:31):
from a restaurateur standpointand from being a sommelier, you
know the celebration of't.
as fortunate as others get thatchance to really follow their
dream, and that's what the truemeaning of the foundation is.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I know that there is the James Beard Awards, and
that's a prestigious award forchefs to win.
It's a great thing for theresume as well.
What about scholarships?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
for the resume as well.
What about scholarships?
They do give scholarships toaccredited universities,
culinary or hotel restaurantmanagement things that are
indicative to the business.
Cheryl really gets behind,supporting women and further
enhancing their success in ourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I did read where the James Beard Foundation also has
programs in place that supportwomen specifically yes, and for
Sherry, that's very close to herheart.
In addition to the women'sleadership programs I did notice
too when I was doing myresearch they have a great
diversity and inclusion programas well.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh God, the foundation.
What I just spoke about isreally just a big overview of it
, and there's so manysubdivisions.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yes, that kind of fall into play under that
umbrella and, yeah, it's good,it's great to get some
recognition and notoriety fromthe James Beard Foundation.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Who decided, and when did you decide that you want to
have this James Beard benefitdinner at the Beach Shopping
Grill?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, cheryl and I just kind of spoke about it and
I said do when did you decidethat you want to have this James
Beard benefit dinner at theBeach Shopping Grill?
Well, cheryl and I just kind ofspoke about it and I said do
you want me to give him a call?
And she said sure.
So I called Isabella Wojcik andI said hi, jim Foss, remember
me.
And she oh my God, yeah, that'sgreat how you doing and this
and that.
And I said we'd like to do aJames Beard event and she said
cool.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
If you're going to do something with that title
attached to your event.
What are the requirements?
Is there anything specificoutside of the proceeds are
going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All proceeds, 100% of everything, goes to the James
Beard Foundation, and theircharitable causes Got it, so we
do not see a dime.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
And you mentioned that your mentor is going to be
at the event.
Is there anyone else from theJames Beard Foundation that's
going to be at the event?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
From the foundation.
Yes, they're going to besending somebody who sits on the
board of directors down torepresent the Beard House.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So it's going to be fun having them there.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
All right, let's talk about the event details.
Give us the date and the timeand the format for this event.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, the event's going to be on.
September 28th Starts at 5.30pm.
We're going to start out withan elegant, romantic champagne
patio reception.
We're going to have a liveaction station.
Ghost Fleet Oysters are goingto be there shucking their
oysters.
Nice, I love Ghost Fleet.
They're great guys, cody andCarrie.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I want to get them on the show and guess what?
Put in a word for me.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I will.
You want me to call them?
I'll call them right now.
They're so passionate about itand they're going to be working
the event.
They come from a mile away fromthe restaurant.
What people would say where doyou get your oysters from?
I do you get your oysters from?
(21:56):
I love saying this.
I say walk down to the end ofthat street.
When you hit water, look atapproximately one o'clock and
you'll see the oyster pots rightout there, that's our oysters.
Wow, that's so cool.
I love it.
It's like it makes me gleam andshine.
It's like, no, you don'tunderstand.
It's like right there.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You truly are farm to table as much as we can be Sure
.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
There's four seasons and with the seasons come
different things, and we're notgetting as much produce as we
can get in late August or inJanuary.
So whenever possible, of course, and within reason, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
As we get to the menu , though, you'll see, like, how
much you're utilizing localfarms, but continue on.
So we're going to have thepatio.
We're going to have the patio,we're going to have that action
station.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
We're going to have past hors d'oeuvres mini chicken
ballantines from Changing WaysFarm and Holly Ridge for
featured nerd chicken.
We'll have some foie graslollipops with the hair William
pop rocks on it Kind of a nicelittle fun thing to eat.
New river clams from new riverclam company.
We're going to have a charcoalgrill out there so we're going
(22:57):
to be grilling some, some clamsand oysters right in front of
our guests.
And it's going to be great whenreal celebration of our region.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
So about this reception before we move on?
That starts at five 30, it'sout on the patios.
What are you giving with theoysters at the oyster station?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, we're going to offer some condiments.
We're going to do a pickledwatermelon rind and moonshine
mignonette.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Let's talk about that for a minute.
Certainly Does it ever havereal moonshine in it.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Does it really?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Pickled watermelon moonshine.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Can I say it's legal.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yes, yes, yes it's legal moonshine.
Yeah, you can buy moonshine atthe ABC store.
I believe yes.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yes, we burn the alcohol off and then we mix it
with watermelon juice.
That we just juice watermelonwith that and then we just take
the watermelon, we take the rindand we almost make like a bread
and butter pickle out of it andjust dice it nice, small and
sexy.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, and that's going to be one of the
condiments going with it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
The grilled oysters.
Talk about the country ham,part of that grilled oyster
equation.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Well, we again local.
We're using Lady Edison countryham.
That is America's version of afine prosciutto.
Whatever region I'm in orcountry I go right for, okay,
what is this area known for?
What does it?
Do you know what are the foodsthat are indicative to this
(24:23):
region?
I don't care whether it'scentral Pennsylvania, new
England, and country ham is abig one, it's huge here and
there's people that just do itand do it right.
So it's going to be that reallybriny oyster from the location
of where Ghost Fleet's farm is.
It's so close to the inlet.
It really gives it that nicebriny flavor.
On there You're going to havethat umami from the oyster plant
(24:45):
also known as salsify, which isit's a tuber, it's a root, and
we're going to roast that togive it that flavor and going to
give it a little more of thatsalty, fatty flavor, that
balance with the Lydia Edisoncountry ham on there.
So of course I see the oystersright there in the charcoal
(25:06):
bubbling a little bit.
You're hitting it with thisbeurre blanc made from the
champagne that we're going to beserving with the reception
having that roasted oyster plantin there.
It's just a proper bite rightthere.
That sounds amazing and Irecommend you start with a raw
one.
Just go plain, jane man, eat it, celebrate it.
Don't lie to the food, just letthe food speak for itself and
(25:30):
just kind of morph through.
And then we're going to betempting you with all those
other delicious Scooby snacksfor the reception Okay, one of
the Scooby snacks is the foiegras lollipop with the pop rocks
.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Everyone remembers pop rocks, right it was so fun
to eat, but you know how tocreate those yourself.
Tell me how you came up withthat concept for the lollipops.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
You know it's what's old is new and just going back
to proper pate making 101.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
You're looking at me like I know this stuff.
I have no idea how you make anyof this.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So for culinarians out of there, you're just making
a basic foie gras pate and thenchilling it and you're just
using a little ice cream scoopand you can re-scoop it out and
it's still going to be firmenough that you're going to get
like a little jawbreaker sizefoie gras ball and then we'll
just skewer it.
The pear gelée it's just makinglike a pear jelly.
Okay, with pear William andpear William it comes from
France and they actually growthe pear in the bottle.
(26:31):
So you'll see the pear treeswith wine bottles tied to the
tree.
No way.
So the bloom.
And you can Google thisafterwards and check it out.
Oh my gosh, so that the peargrows inside of the bottle.
And that's people look at, howdid you get the pear like?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
that in a bottle.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's amazing they actually grow the pear in the
bottle on tree.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I have learned something amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
And then they put that distilled brandy in it, and
that's what a pear William isGot it so we're going to take
that pear William and just kindof do as little as possible to
it, Because again you're goingto hear me say this don't lie to
the food.
Let that speak for itself.
We're going to put a little bitof gelatin in there and let
that kind of congeal, and we'lltake the lollipop and dip it in
(27:14):
that gelatin, that pear-williamgelatin.
I still haven't decided whetherI want to put a little creme
fraiche or sour cream in thatgelatin to make it white or not.
And then I'm just going to kindof, like a candied apple, just
roll it in the Pop Rock.
Oh my gosh, this is homemade poprock too, and the pop rock is
also it's going to be made alsowith the pear William and all
that type of stuff.
How?
About that and the pop rocks.
(27:35):
It's not the Captain Originalhere, it's been done.
I've seen it before.
I don't know if it's been donewith foie gras, but I've seen it
used on savory applications andI figured that would just be.
It would be fun.
How fun.
That's a fun little note like,hey, here's what's coming on the
journey.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, you have the Mills, johnny Cakes and-.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
The Anson Mills Johnny Cakes.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Anson Mills Johnny Cakes with Sloop Point Trout
Again local.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, the studio here is right off of Sloop Point
Road, five minutes from my house, and there's right at that
marina.
Right there, you know, they'recatching speckled trout.
So again, we're going tocelebrate that with Anson Mills,
which is a South Carolinaboutique, high-end milling
company.
When we order our grits for therestaurant they grind them on
(28:25):
Monday.
So you have to order, you know,and Sherry, she orders it for
us.
I tell her what to get Monday,so you have to order, you know,
and Sherry, she orders it for usand tell her what to get, so
they actually grind the grit toour spec, whatever kind of grit
white, yellow, blue, red toorder, and then they send it and
it's perishable.
So we have we.
We keep our grits in thefreezer, it's not like it could
(28:46):
sit on the shelf.
So that's again just acelebration of local and the
quality that our region has.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
You mentioned the Changing Ways.
Farm chicken with boiled peanutchicken liver, mousseline,
mousseline.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You go in any gas station around here and you see
boiled peanuts.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
It's obviously a thing okay.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
And chicken livers fried chicken livers at the
Scotchman, or whatever it'scalled.
It's a thing.
I love fried chicken livers.
I love chopped chicken liversfried chicken livers at the.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Scotchman or whatever it's called.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It's a thing I love fried chicken livers.
I love chopped chicken livers.
I think I asked my wife tomarry me because she said she
likes fried liver.
And you just take the two andyou're making a mousse to smear
in a local chicken breast andkind of roll it up and make it
look like a fancy littlepinwheel.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
To highlight that whole thing, it's Ghost Fleet,
it's changing ways.
Changing ways it's.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Surf City Crab and Seafood Market and they're
donating the crab and they'redonating the hog nose snapper
inland seafood out of Charlotte.
They're donating local product.
Nice Okay, and some artisanalproduct as well.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Looking at the dinner menu too, like you've
incorporated, like you said,like country ham is big here in
our area, but so are black-eyedpeas and buttermilk and pot
liquor hoop cheese.
Hoop cheese is a big thingaround here If you were born and
raised here, you know what hoopcheese is.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yeah, I met my wife.
I didn't know what hoop cheesewas.
I'm like what is this strangecheese that I keep finding in
these off-road gas stations?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Duke's mayonnaise, like that's what you have in the
kitchen.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
I grew up on Hellman's, but that's a bad word
down here.
So, yeah, it's just takingfundamentals and putting the
ingredients that we have at handas the stars.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
You've embraced them in this menu though yes, and I
think if anyone thinks of ahigh-end restaurant as like I
don't even know what's on themenu, I don't know these things
Well, if you're local here,you're coming to an event that
has these things that you'vegrown up with.
They've just been incorporatedin a very creative way, and I
love that about this menu.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I just played with your mind because I'm using a
big word like mousseline andthen Duke's mayonnaise.
It's like what's happening hereso great?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Talk about pot liquor for a minute, because a lot of
people don't know what potliquor is.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Well, pot liquor is the juice that you stew your
greens in.
Yes, you know collards, turnipgreens, mustard greens, the way
I make mine, and I refer back toOld Glory and Georgia Browns in
DC, which were allSouthern-inspired restaurants.
Oh, okay, our potlicker.
We cook our collard greens inchicken stock and Newsky's bacon
(31:26):
.
Onion garlic, a little bit ofmolasses.
Cider vinegar White House cidervinegar it has to be White.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
House.
It has to be White.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
House.
Yes, and that's kind of thebasic of what a pot liquor is,
but it's not a pot liquor untilafter those greens have stewed
in it.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
And we, even on the menu right now, our Buehler's
pork.
We take that pot, liquor we itout, we we marinate our pork in
it.
Wow, so so you know you're kindof doubling down on the flavor.
You got this beautiful, fatty,delicate pork and then you got
the collard greens, but thenyou're emulating that flavor of
(32:02):
the collards by marinating thepork in the braising liquid of
AKA, the potlicker that we cookthose greens in.
So it's a very harmonious dish.
Marrying the two togetherExactly, it's like how many
things can I use this watermelonfor?
I'm going to use the juice, I'mgoing to use the rind and I'm
going to do this.
I'm going to make it with thisand that, and it's like nothing
went to waste.
(32:22):
You're respecting theingredients.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
So there's six courses in this dinner.
Yes, they're all coming out inlike one at a time, right Paired
with a wine, if you choose tohave the wine pairing.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Correct.
We're offering it kind of twoways, with the wine pairings and
without.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So let's just go through this menu really fast.
So you're not servingblack-eyed peas, you're serving
black-eyed pea lard crust.
For that, the Carolina tomatopie.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We're making flour out of black eyed peas.
I've never heard of that before.
Just grind it and that's it.
It's going to be a mix of blackeyed pea flour and regular
flour, and I don't know.
My grandmother made pie crustout of lard, you know that's not
a new thing, yeah.
So it's just again, it's not atwist of words, or it's not
(33:12):
anything fancy, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
hey, man, I'm just making things your grandmother,
great-grandmother, your mothermade I'm just doing it the old
way.
Let's talk about the she-crabcake.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It's not she-crab soup, unless you have crab eggs
in it.
Henceforth the name.
Okay, okay so we're going to doa little riff on that and we're
just going to make the crabcakes that we serve.
They're delicious and we'regoing to wrap it in phyllo, but
in between the phyllo layers I'mgoing to put the hydrated crab
eggs in there to make it ashe-crab galette.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
And that way you're going to have that nice light
crispy, with that salty, crabbyroe.
That's just kind of like thequiet bass player in the back.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Let's see the tea-smoked squab.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Squab is pigeon.
It's a petite game, bird.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
How are you going to serve that?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
What I'm going to do is I'm going to put a very light
smoke on it with tea, this dish.
Originally I was going to do ittobacco-smoked my wife being
from growing up in a tobaccofarmer's thing and everything
else and I kind of changed mymind on that.
I didn't know how people weregoing to take that or not.
(34:17):
So I found some Carolina growntea, so we're going to use some
Carolina black tea and kind ofuse a little Asian accent on
there.
It's not going to have Asianflavors but the technique of
using the Koshi rice and the teaand some orange peel to put a
very light smoke on there.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Then we're going to take the carcasses, we're going
to take a fancy word offal forguts, all the guts, the hearts,
the livers and all that stuffout Offal O-F-F-A-L and that's
going to be a part of thesuccotash that's going in there.
So the dewberries mymother-in-law, gladys, has
(34:59):
already picked them in thespring and I've had them in my
freezer.
She walks to the end of thestreet so I live right behind
Carol Sue Farms in thatneighborhood and they have all
sorts of blackberry and dewberrybushes.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
So she.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
So she goes.
She went up there and shepicked a bunch of dewberries.
That's the inspiration for thatI'm like okay, let's do it.
Again, everything is so local,yeah the berry is going to
really accent that gaminess ofthe squab and the earthiness of
the succotash and give that kindof sour, sweet twang to the
nage.
And a nage is nothing more thana very heavily reduced stock to
(35:35):
the point it's almost the syrup.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
So yeah, that was kind of.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
That was kind of the inspiration.
I just wanted to show off atoot to snoot kind of meal, you
know it's a what Toot to snoot,toot to snoot, yes, and I'm kind
of using all different elementsof the pig.
I'm really excited to showcasethe flavors of my new home you
know, and showcase the BeachShop and Grill family and what
(35:59):
it is that we do there.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
You really have Like.
I've never seen a menu embraceso many different local farming,
whether it's aquaculture oragriculture different local
farming, whether it'saquaculture or agriculture.
I've never seen anyone use itto this degree and incorporated
not just in one part of a dishbut in multiple parts of the
dish to come together and createone dish.
It's really beautiful.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
It was a collaboration.
It takes a village.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Have you tried all of these in different little ways
and had everyone taste it andfigure out which way was the
best way, like, how did you testdrive your menu?
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Through my life I've done many, many things.
I mean I had like the Frenchgarlic sausage for the study in
pork.
I've made that a hundred times.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Having barbecue restaurants and making my own
sausages, for that I know, and Iknow how the flavors are going
to come together.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
The black-eyed pea lard crust.
Is that not brand spanking new?
Or you've done that before.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Gerald, if you're listening to this, you are going
to help with the pie crust.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
You're not just doing desserts, but that's right Okay
.
So we're talking about Gerald'sdessert.
Here we have the cantaloupesemifreddo.
Semifreddo which means halffrozen.
So you've got the cantaloupefrozen, semi-frozen treat that's
on top of a buttermilk spicecake with the marshmallow cream.
But then you have country ham.
(37:24):
Who combines that?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know I'll tell you why.
I mean Gerald, he has done thiscantaloupe semifreddo and it's
fantastic.
And he gave me a few choices.
He's like, hey, what do youthink?
And honestly I didn't even readthe whole thing and I heard
texting and I responded to himand I said you had me at country
ham.
You read it and in my mind Iknow how it's going to taste.
(37:50):
You got that sweet kind ofearthy umami from a cantaloupe.
You got the chill from thesemifreddo but that creaminess,
that mouthfeel that it's goingto give.
You got that twang from thebuttermilk spice cake.
You're going to have those warmspices in there.
That's great for the time ofseason.
The event's going to be inAgain.
You got the earthy honey.
(38:11):
You got that honey going intomarshmallow, which he's making
his own marshmallows, which isessentially almost like a
meringue with gelatin in it.
Then you got some heat coming infrom that Asian spice and it's
like, ooh, it's going to wakeyou up a little bit.
And who doesn't like, nowadays,salted caramel?
That's where the country ham'scoming in.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Boom, boom boom.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
So you're kind of getting hit, but it's all
homogenized, it's making sense.
That's a part of the journey.
It's got to make sense and eventhough we're using fancy
culinary terminology that youcan Google and find out and be
like oh, this is just a jelly.
Oh my, why didn't you just saythat?
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Because I would not be fine, that's true, that's
true, that's true.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
We're very blessed to have Gerald In the words of
Gerald McGuire.
He completes us.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's not often that we get treated to an event such
as this in our area and I thinkit's going to be spectacular.
Let's tell the folks how toreserve their seat for an
evening in coastal NorthCarolina.
The price for that seat, bothwith and without the wine
pairing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Sure Well, the easiest way to book a
reservation, and it is limited.
We're only selling 65 tickets.
To keep this a very intimatenight, is to go to the Beach
Shop and Grill's website andjust click make a reservation.
It's right in front of you.
Or you can do the same by goingto the James Beard website
click the event, do search BeachShop and Grill and we'll pop up
Again.
(39:45):
The event is September 28th.
It starts at 5.30 PM.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
How long do you think the whole experience is going
to last?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
I'd say about the reception, about an hour and
then probably about two to twoand a half.
It's going to be an evening onthe Carolina coast.
You know, don't be in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
No, don't be in a hurry For something.
This like this, you can't.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Because, truly, I'm the one who's honored to be able
to cook for my guests.
It's that simple You're cominginto my house, I'm honored to
cook for them.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
You're going to be walking around and I'm going to
be In it.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
I'm going to be knee deep in it, man.
I may pop my head out thekitchen door and the price is,
without wine, $110.
With wine pairings, which Itruly recommend, if you like,
wine, is $170.
This is a very it's reasonablypriced of what you are getting
here.
And again, thank you to ourvendors and their donations For
(40:37):
those who haven't donated, I'lldeal with you later and a
hundred percent of the proceedsgo to the foundation to better
the future of our business.
So if you guys enjoy reallygood restaurants, this is a
great way to share your supportfor them.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
All right, insiders, you know the drill, so I will
have those links for you in theshow notes.
They will be clickable and soyou just go there and click.
It'll take you straight to thereservations where you can get
your tickets, and then alsoyou'll be able to have just the
link to the restaurant there ifyou want to just go and visit
them outside of this specialevent.
It's always a wonderfulexperience even without this and
(41:17):
the six courses and the winepairings.
Just going to the Beach Shopand Grill is it's a special
occasion place.
It's where you just feel likeyou're.
You're getting to do somethingreally special, because the menu
is always amazing and it doeschange throughout the year too,
which is also nice, becauseevery time you go in there you
get to try something new, andit's special.
So thank you, listeners, forjoining us today.
(41:38):
I really appreciate you alwaysand thank you again, chef Jim.
It has been such a pleasuregetting to know you.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
It's been my pleasure .
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
It's been fun.
I've really enjoyed theconversation today.
My pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
It's been fun.
I've really enjoyed theconversation today.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Thank you, me too.
Just so everyone knows.
This was supposed to be like a20-minute conversation that we
were just talking about JamesBeard and I'm like, nah, we're
going to turn this into a wholeepisode.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
And I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I appreciate you giving me the extra time today.
Thank you, you bet, and I fullyexpect the next time I see you
and Cheryl with you.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Oh, they already know that they're coming.
Okay, I've done enough talking.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
All right, well, thank you so much.
Hey, if you enjoyed today'sepisode of Topsail Insider,
please show your support byclicking the follow or subscribe
button on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
You can also follow us onFacebook, Instagram, twitter and
YouTube.
Please also go toTopsailInsidercom and join our
mailing list by clicking on theMake Me a Topsoul Insider button
(42:34):
.
While you're there, you canclick the Send Me a Voicemail
button and let me know exactlywhat you're thinking your
message just might be on anepisode of Topsoul Insider.
You can email me at krista attopsoulinsidercom, or call or
text me at 910-800-0111.
Thank you for listening andsupporting Topsail Insider and
(42:56):
our local businesses andnonprofits.
These are our neighbors and ourfriends, and together we build
a mighty and a beautifulcommunity I'm super proud to be
a part of.
I'll see you around, topsail.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.