'After parties' give TerraVita fans another chance to revel

The extraordinary collaborative meals presented by some of the best chefs in the South, and the thought provoking discussions lead by artisans and sustainable food advocates, often leave fans of the TerraVita Food and Drink Festival wishing they could stay for just a little bit more culinary magic. This year, they can.

For its sixth annual festival, organizers are opening formerly closed doors with public "after parties" that give lucky ticket holders a chance to rub elbows with trendsetters whose work is changing the way people outside of the South view our gastronomic achievements. It's a chance to connect with thought leaders who will participate in two days of Sustainable Classroom sessions, chat with chefs and producers who mindfully usher ingredients from farm to table, and make lasting connections with others who feel passionately about our Southern foodways.
"The events each have their own vibe with great food and drink," says TerraVita founder Colleen Minton. "The after parties we held in the past were small, private gatherings for participants. We're happy to open it up this year so more people can enjoy the experience. They offer a great chance to engage the chefs, distillers, producers, writers, and all-around movers and shakers in a relaxed, low-key environment."

For example, the day need not end with Thursday's traditional Carolina Table: East Meets West Dinner (now sold out). Stars will continue to shine as the evening shifts to Lambs & Clams After Party mode at Weathervane at Southern Season (9-11 p.m., $55). This bash is perfect for so many of us wannabes unable to make the annual pilgrimage to Lambstock, Craig Rogers' celebration of all things lamb for industry insiders at Border Springs Farm in Virginia. For this after party, Lambstock's legendary Lambs & Clams feast, a partnership with Travis Croxton of Rappahanock Oysters, will be recreated with several major players in Southern food and drink.

Among those joining Rogers and Murphy will be Brandon Carter of the soon-to-open FARM Restaurant in Bluffton, SC; Kyle McKnight of Highland Avenue in Hickory (recently named one of the South's best restaurants by Southern Living); Josh Munchel from Counting House in Durham; and Jay Pierce of the Marshall Free House in Greensboro. Beverage options will be provided by Cathead Distillery in Mississippi, Crude Bitters & Soda of Raleigh, Fullsteam Brewery of Durham and Mystery Brewing of Hillsborough, wines from Piedmont Wine Imports of Durham and the fledgling End of the Vine of Chapel Hill, as well as coffee from Winston-Salem's Krankies.

Following Friday's first day of Sustainable Classroom sessions, TerraVita introduces a new dinner event: HILL FIRE: Pits, Spits & Grills (5:30-8:30 p.m., $75). The Carrboro Town Commons will become a pitmasters haven as celebrated Southern chefs grill everything from pig to seafood and vegetarian options. The truly all-star lineup includes: Jason Stanhope (2015 James Beard "Best Chef - Southeast") of FIG in Charleston; Ashley Christensen (2014 James Beard "Best Chef - Southeast") of AC Restaurants in Raleigh; Sam Jones of Skylight Inn of Ayden; Joe Sparatta of Heritage and Southbound in Richmond; Clay Trainum of Autumn Olive Farms in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley; Wyatt Dickson of Pig Whistle and, with partner Ben Adams of the soon-to-open Picnic in Durham; among others. Cary baker Norma Kessler of Sweet Arielle and Deric McGuffey from G2B in Durham will be providing signature desserts.

The Film and Fare After Party (9-11 p.m., $40) will follow at TOPO Distillery. The highlight of the event will be screening of special footage from Original Fare, a PBS series in which globetrotting host Kelly Cox searches "for the best ingredients on earth." The third season of the food and travel program recently launched on PBS stations nationwide. Nibbles will be provided by two great talents based in Cary: Lionel Vatinet of La Farm Bakery and Steven Deveraux Greene of Herons at The Umstead Hotel & Spa, each of whom will incorporate Raleigh's Videri Chocolate and Sunburst Trout from Canton, North Carolina, in their creations. Drink options include craft beer from Cameron Read of Edmond's Oast in Charleston and cocktails byTOPO Organic Spirits and Asheville Distilling Company.

Tickets for these and all other TerraVita events are available online at TerraVitaevent.com.

This post first appeared on WRAL Out and About.

Take it Inside: Kamado Grille restaurant amps up the backyard grill experience in North Raleigh

First things first. It's "Ka-mah-do," as in the egg-shaped, Japanese-style ceramic grill, not "ka-moe-do," as in komodo, the largest living species of lizard.
In the age of Game of Thrones with dragon eggs surviving fire, that's an important distinction.

And while Kamado Joe Grills are designed for outdoor use, the new Kamado Grille restaurant in North Raleigh has a dozen of the cherry red grills inside the kitchen, where their intoxicating smoke is captured by a massive exhaust and fire-suppression system designed by CaptiveAire.

You read that right. Led by Eric Gephart, formerly of The Chef's Academy in Morrisville, they are burning hardwood charcoal inside the restaurant, practically around the clock. The entire system, which soon will include temperature settings for individual grills, can be monitored by staff and tweaked off-site through a phone app.

The fast-paced kitchen action can be viewed by diners from live-feed cameras that relay images of line cooks grilling meats, fish and vegetables to big screens in the sunny dining room. Be patient and you might get to see someone "burp" the heavy lid to minimize the potential for flying sparks. That quick jiggle is crucial, considering they can roar to 1,100 degrees. Most menu items cook at a relatively moderate 500 to 700 degrees, while slow smoking is dialed back to around 250 degrees.

Built on the same footprint of the long abandoned Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, the huge open space—complemented by ample outdoor seating and a grass bocce court—is designed to resemble a HOA-friendly great outdoors, complete with stone garden walls, burbling water features and trees that stretch toward skylights.

Co-owner Tom Allen is the clever guy who gazed admiringly at the Kamado Grill on his Wakefield deck and conjured this clearly franchise-able concept (opening soon in Greenville, South Carolina, Wilmington and Charlotte, with more to come). Allen appreciated the way the ceramic grill, similar to a Big Green Egg, quickly generates and holds heat, allowing foods to sear quickly and retain moisture. A former executive with Outback Steakhouse, he emailed Kamado Joe with his brainstorm, getting an enthusiastic call from the owner just 45 minutes later.

A change in color indicates a temperature change. Hotter grills turn a darker red.
Indy Week photo by Alex Boerner.

Allen believes Kamado Grille makes one of the best burgers in town, and that claim may leave you with your jaw hanging open. Or it might be just the after-effect of the stacked mouthful ($11) topped with a patty-covering round of custom-cured pancetta, grilled onion, pepper jack cheese and "secret sauce." You won't miss the absence of fries with creative sides like red quinoa salad with butterbeans. Other sandwich options a include a Reuben ($11) with corned beef slow-cooked overnight, pulled pork ($9.50) sourced from Heritage Farm near Goldsboro, and a smoke-free lobster roll ($14). If the tender buns taste familiar it's because they're made by Cary's La Farm bakery.

Note that La Farm owner Lionel Vatinet's irresistible white chocolate baguette is used in a bread pudding ($6) drizzled with "bourbon dream sauce." That's my idea of dreamy, but maybe not yours. See if you can resist the chocolate and seasonal fruit cobblers ($6) baked in personal cast iron pans or a selection of ice cream, sorbet and gelato ($3.50).

But we digress. Before dessert, consider an entree (maybe juniper-brined pork prime rib for $16.50 or maple-miso glazed Scottish salmon at $17) or a few appetizers (are you a sucker for $12 lamb lollipops? how about $10 oysters Kamadofeller with andouille, spinach and smoked gouda?). Grilled flatbread options include the $13 ocean BLAST featuring bacon, lettuce, avocado, shrimp and tomato.

If you're stumped, you can ask a friendly server for advice, but the iPad ordering system allows you to bypass such interruptions. If you want to silently signal that the only ongoing service you want is beverage refills or plate clearing, ask for a lapel pin.

On the other hand, if you crave interaction, know that Kamado Grille offers free classes (with tastings) on Saturday mornings to help fans learn the fine points of ceramic grill cooking. This includes a visit to the "retail center" where they can buy accessories and grills ranging in price from the $499 portable Joe Jr. to the $1,499 party-sized Big Joe.

Or, for a more modest investment, and a welcome break, let them do the cooking for you.

This post first appeared in Indy Week.

Love the dough: Master baker Lionel Vatinet shares his passion for bread

This article was first posted at Indy Week.

Indy Week Photo by Jeremy M. Lange

Lionel Vatinet, master baker and owner of La Farm,
teaches bread-making classes at the bakery.

People who shop at La Farm Bakery in Cary might not know what it means that a master baker is running the show, but the dough knows.

In Lionel Vatinet's presence, lively lumps of dough full of bubbling yeast become smooth and compliant.

"You have to show eet who is in charge," Vatinet instructs in his deeply French-inflected voice as he covers a butcher block table with hand-formed boules, batârds and classic baguettes. "You don't want to tear the dough, but you have to work it. You have to love the dough."

Vatinet, author of the new A Passion for Bread: Lessons From a Master Baker (Little, Brown), has been in love with dough since his childhood in France—a fact in evidence from the portrait on the book's title page of him cradling a loaf nearly as big as he is.

Demystifying the experience of making bread is as important to Vatinet as waking at dawn to make it himself for loyal customers. A graduate of the elite Les Compagnons du Devoir Guild, Vatinet holds his teachers in the highest regard for showing him how to convert his passion for baking into a brilliant career that has taken him around the world.

Vatinet has shared his gifts with top culinary students for years, notably at the prestigious San Francisco Baking Institute. He leads bread and pizza classes every month at La Farm and at the Cary home he shares with his wife and business partner, Missy. They recently installed a wood-fired brick oven to expand teaching opportunities.

For those unable to enjoy these hands-on experiences, Vatinet aims to share his expertise and inspire home cooks to become avid bread bakers through his book. The handsome volume contains more than 400 photos that demonstrate step-by-step techniques, as well as his "7 Steps to Making Great Bread."

"When I first said how many photos I wanted in the book, I thought my publisher would faint," says Vatinet. "I want people to learn what dough should feel like in their hands, how good it smells and how much better it is for you than commercial breads. People say they are afraid of yeast and don't believe they can make bread like La Farm. But they can."

A Passion for Bread also contains dozens of popular recipes from the La Farm Bakery, several of which will be prepared by Fearrington House Chef Colin Bedford at a brunch event on Nov. 10.
While La Farm's flavorful breads get a boost from a custom oven that coats the dough with a timely spray of steam—the new outdoor oven features a steam spigot—Vatinet shares tricks of the trade for creating a similar environment in the average home kitchen. He also discusses the importance of using the best local and organic ingredients, such as North Carolina-raised and -ground wheat and local honey, to yield the tastiest loaves.

Vatinet is a key player in the North Carolina Organic Bread Flour Project. His wheat and rye flours are sourced exclusively from Carolina Ground Flour in Asheville. He plans to add its white flour as soon as the crop is viable.

"This is how bread has always been made in my village in France," he says of the practice of relying on local and regional ingredients instead of cheaper commercial brands. "It is what they call terrior. It's what gives bread its unique flavor, as well make it healthy to eat. It is good for the immune system."

Home bakers may not have easy access to artisanal ingredients, yet Vatinet advises that they purchase only organic and unbromated flours. "The use of bromates has been prohibited in Europe for years," he says. "It has been linked to cancer. I will not use it and strongly recommend that home bakers do the same."

Educating customers, and being educated by them, has led Vatinet to tweak his breads over the years.

"The South is known for softer breads and biscuits, so we had to develop an audience for crusty, chewy bread," he says, cringing at the mention of factory-made, long-lasting soft white bread. "Good white bread is delicious, but I do not think of that as good bread. To me, bread is an everyday commodity not meant to last for weeks."

In a bow to customers who enjoy crumbly cornbread, Vatinet created his hearty Frenchman's Corn Bread with local, stone-ground Yates Mill cornmeal. Cinnamon Raisin Pecan bread is a seasonal favorite. He also makes a moist and savory rye bread that makes Northern transplants feel at home.

"They are called Yankees, no?" he says with a playful gleam in his eye. "We make different breads on different days, and we have customers who come every week to get their favorite. They come in and shout to me, wave their hands. Let me tell you, it is a pleasure to make people happy with bread."