Chef Travis Robinson takes G2B upscale

There's no surprise in stating the G2B Gastropub in Durham is a terrific restaurant. But the place, curiously located on the backside of an office building on Shannon Road, has been through a lot of change in recent months.

It started last summer, when the popular eatery briefly closed for a makeover to install a nanobrewery. Longtime Executive Chef Carrie Schlieffer was excited about the opportunities this created for entirely house-made beer pairings.

G2B Executive Chef Travis Robinson

Then, in fall, Travis Robinson quietly joined G2B kitchen. By December, Schieffer departed to open Bar Virgile for Chef-Entrepreneur Scott Howard and the restaurant's new public relations team announced G2B's "reopening" with Robinson as executive chef.

It's enough intrigue for a soap opera, but the good news is that all is well on all fronts. Schlieffer is happy at her gig, and Robinson has injected a new energy at G2B, which has boosted its pub-focused menu to feature elegant, upscale courses and stunning desserts.

Tim and I enjoyed a recent dinner as Robinson's guests. It's hard to imagine that the food or service is any less exceptional for those who make their own arrangements - which we heartily recommend.

We dined on a week night, choosing to be seated on the "restaurant" side, which delivers a more elaborate menu from the "pub" side, which now features bar-height tables and chairs. (The pub menu also has been tweaked, but popular demand recently returned G2B's outstanding burger to the list.) With the exception of a cluster of angular red leather clubs chairs, the space otherwise flows one to the next with the focus still squarely on action in the open kitchen.

We started with one of G2B's new beers, the appealingly crisp and wintery Rye Amber ($4) served in gorgeous stemware said to enhance the aroma. Other options available that day from Brewer Andrew Christenbury, offered in generous samples, included a creamy porter and hoppy IPA. Ever the good neighbor, G2B maintains its commitment to pouring other North Carolina craft beers.

Our drinks arrived with a pair of savory gougeres tucked into a tiny tin bucket and warm, butter-brushed herb rolls. This was followed later by a curious amuse bouche, chewy cocoa macaroons sealed with mild bone marrow butter.

Among the tempting appetizers we chose the Spanish Octopus ($12), in which perfectly charred chunks were served with earthy cranberry beans, piquillo pepper and the citrus zing of kumquats. We also ordered a pair of fresh Chadwick Creek oysters ($2 each) with a light Asian pear mignonette. They were tasty, but not nearly so good as the lightly tart and more imaginative wild elberberry garnish recommended by our server.

Our dinners were beautifully presented, though my Flat Iron Steak ($25) from Mill's Family Farm in Mooresville was the winner over Tim's coastal-caught Golden NC Tilefish ($24). The steak was rare for my taste (surprisingly, I was not asked about preference), but it was both tender and robustly beefy. It was served atop a pillowy, pale green puree of parsley root with grilled bok choy and delicate mushrooms.

The seared tilefish was a bit bland but surrounded by savory and perfectly cooked parsnip and lion's mane mushrooms in a soupcon of roasted vegetable dashi broth.

Pastry Chef Deric McGuffey appeared unannounced with a series of four showstopper desserts ($10 each). Each assembled seasonal and top local ingredients in deconstructed precision.

The Roasted Sweet Potato Bavarian was enrobed in a spiced red wine-yuzu geee and mind-blowing bits of candied salsify. Even better was the Confit Pineapple, in which a coconut custard - topped with caramelized white chocolate and passion fruit glaze - was flanked with wafer-thin slices of pressed pineapple. What really made the combination sing was the dusting of pink peppercorn that garnished the plate. Tim, who likes neither pineapple nor coconut, was reluctant to share.

The next two offerings were equally dazzling. The Espresso Parfait cleverly paired creamy a frozen mousse banded by a coffee gelee with bites of date cake and a crunchy haystack of shredded phyllo. The Warm Guanaja Chocolate was perhaps the most artful of the treats, with a fermented, almost boozy soft chocolate tart joined by bites of almond terrine, malted milk dots, devil's food cake and roasted banana ice cream tucked under delicate leaves of dehydrated chocolate.

It takes a light touch to make all that come together, and a playful spirit to follow it with a yet another sweet - a parting gift of small minted chocolate truffles rolled in crushed nuts. Combined, it's impossible to leave without thinking about when you'll next return.

The Big Leagues: Fullsteam and Cackalacky aim to go nationwide with a new brew

This post first ran in the Independent Weekly on Jan. 2.

Sean Lilly Wilson and Page Skelton are on a mission. Call it their manifest destiny. They're also on a tight deadline.

Since summer, the longtime friends have been quietly developing a bold business plan to introduce a new beer they hope will expand the Fullsteam brewery brand from the Carolinas to the farthest reaches of the beerisphere. And they have chosen Jan. 27, National Kazoo Day Eve, for the loud and buzzworthy launch of Cackalacky beer.



Page Skelton (right) of Cackalacky hot sauces and Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam
are collaborating on a "Cackalacky" ginger pale ale that will be added to the
brewery's year-round lineup. (Photo by Jeremy M. Lange)

"Fundamentally, I'm a gut-instinct kind of person, and my gut says this is the beer that's going to change things for us," says Wilson, self-titled Chief Executive Optimist at Fullsteam. "We do a lot of seasonal and one-off beers, but we don't want this to be ephemeral. We want this one to last."While the beer is named Cackalacky, it contains none of the "famously original" zesty condiment made from sweet potatoes that Skelton created a decade ago and still produces in Chapel Hill. The beer's distinct flavor profile is ginger pale ale.

"Our Southern beer philosophy is subtlety and nuance, a little pleasing suggestion of a thing rather than over the top," Wilson says, drawing a comparison to Fullsteam's Carver lager, which is made from, but doesn't especially taste like, sweet potatoes. "We approached this beer the same way. We continually try to defy expectations."

Skelton recalls being thrilled at the idea of calling it Cackalacky. "We did market research and found that nobody wanted to drink a Page Skelton," he says with mock sobriety. "Honestly, we've been talking about a collaboration for a long time but hadn't landed on the right idea. This is what finally made it happen."

Some Fullsteam fans sipped early batches of the beer last spring. Production Manager Dave Haydysch used both fresh and candied ginger to create its balanced, yin-yang flavor. Head brewer Chris Davis is the mastermind for tweaking the original recipe for large-scale production.

"We want Fullsteam to be a landmark brew for the South, and we think this will be a landmark beer that tells the story of what is possible," says Wilson, who has been deliberate in developing beers built on products from and relationships with local growers. "We will remain provincial in our sourcing, but we want to be evangelical in our reach."

"Cackalacky is slang for North Carolina, and that's part of the fun," adds Skelton. "I mean, doesn't it sound like fun to walk into a bar and order a Cackalacky? Who wouldn't want to try it?"

Win Bassett, executive director of the N.C. Brewers Guild and social media manager for All About Beer Magazine, was one of those who savored the early samples.

"If it's anything like what I tried, I think it will do quite well," Bassett says. "But it's really difficult for any beer to make it big on the national level."

Bassett says the buzz about North Carolina beer is well acknowledged. Asheville has dominated the BeerCity USA contest in recent years, and four in-state breweries won medals at this year's Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

But competition is growing. North Carolina now boasts 73 breweries, four of which opened this month. Only a handful of them market their suds beyond the state lines, and none have achieved national distribution, Bassett says.

Still, he thinks Fullsteam is smart in putting its money on such a distinctive beer style. "I'm fairly familiar with the national scene, and off the top of my head I can't come up with a widely known ginger pale ale, or even a craft-level ginger beer," he says. "It really is unique."

Fullsteam's Wilson thinks of it as a "crowd-pleasing beer" and believes the crisp flavor would complement burgers, pizza and spicy Thai food. He and Skelton are still debating a logo concept that will capture the brand's broad appeal.

"We want to be clear that this is not a novelty beer," says Wilson, adding that the design also needs to look great on a can, which is part of the larger distribution plan. "If we're going to tell the story far and wide, we want a lighter environmental package. But we still want it to look as great as it tastes."

In anticipation of the beer's success, and to generally increase Fullsteam's capacity, Wilson plans to trade out some brewing tanks this summer for larger models. "It will probably be the last big growth mode we do here," he says, quickly adding that he has no intention of relocating the 2-year-old tavern, which has become a de facto community center where locavores and others interested in culture and civic life congregate.

"We're definitely not moving," he says, grasping the long wooden bar to make his point. "Any further expansion would be off site because we are committed to staying right here."

Wilson and Skelton are looking forward to the Jan. 27 launch party at Fullsteam for Cackalacky. They are eager to gauge the response of patrons but admit the debut really has little connection with National Kazoo Day.

"No reason, other than it's just fun," Wilson says with a grin. "I call some of our events here 'beautiful stupid.' If we can meet our deadline and celebrate Cackalacky beer with kazoo karaoke, or a kazoo-off, then we will have met our mission."

Update: The print version of this article listed the launch date as Jan. 28; the date changed after publication and is now Jan. 27.