xmas day.

Christmas Day in my family has always been a day to indulge in some great comfort food around a fire. Just because we are in South Carolina doesn't mean that tradition was going to stop. Charged with making some breakfast for everyone this year, I made a 'strata' - sort of a savory bread pudding with swiss chard, sausage, caramelized onions, garlic, french bread and eggs.

We also have a homemade persimmon pudding that some of my parents' friends give to us every year with locally grown persimmons. Yum indeed.

still waiting for finn.

Went today to pick up the cake from Baked. A very cool shop - somewhat out of place with the very trad-happy style of most of the lowcountry cookshops surrounding it, but still seemed to be a welcome addition. Jars of cookies were calling my name. I went with oatmeal.
A view to a kill.
They served Stumptown Coffee, wet dream of any coffee geek. They are a microroaster of Portland, Oregon. Also have a branch in the ACE Hotel, next to Clyde Common. They look cool as hell, though I've never been there. I got a cup of coffee, which was actually not as great as I thought it would be. Maybe an espresso was more representative of their skills?

awesome.

This video may have just convinced me to start drinking Miller High Life Light. "Keep those tall blonds cold."

teeter's pizza.

"Two fingers on every hot slice."

Can't explain. All I can say is I've made pizzas for them in the past.

charleston thai.

Went for lunch today to a great place in downtown Charleston called 'Basil.' One of the coolest signs I have ever seen, it was a neon sign adorned with a 'cruiser' on top - cruisers are very popular in a lot of foreign countries, Thailand being one of them. I can't remember the name of the most popular brand, but they've started to sell them in NYC. I wonder if the one at the top of the sign is the same kind...
For lunch we had a couple of things, all of which were stellar. The place had a great energy, and we opted to sit at the counter where you could see the line staff preparing all of the hot items. It was really cool to see how this kitchen was arranged - not like any restaurant I've ever worked in before. It was like a mash-up between a short order Waffle House-esque arrangement and a Thai street food vendor.

The food was so clean and multi layered -- the soup was served in the contraption above. You can't tell from the picture, but there was a flame that burned through the cylinder in the middle the entire time we were eating the soup, keeping it all simmering and releasing the most insane smell.

Definitely plan on going back.

best birthday cake.

So I'm heading to Charleston, SC in the morning to be there for the birth of my son, Finn. Not only will it be the celebration of his first (day) birthday, but it will also be Christmas. Now obviously, how do you welcome a beautiful new being into this world when his birthday could be on the same day as Christmas?

The first step: the best birthday cake possible.

BakedNYC (located in Brooklyn) recently opened their first outpost in Charleston. Very different slice of life than Brooklyn, but a great place for foodies, as well. SO, in anticipation of my own monumental event, I decided to special order a birthday cake for Finn from Baked (they've been in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, etc.). I went with the sweet and salty, because if he is anything like his Dad, he's going to love caramel and sea salt.

They describe the cake as: "Dark chocolate cake infused with a salty caramel, caramel chocolate ganache and topped with fleur de sel." Wow.

This little guy is gonna have it good.

fried chicken.

Though I'm trying to keep swizzle a blog focused on my love of the drink, I couldn't resist snapping this photo as I strolled through the kitchen before service on Wednesday evening. Wednesday's have become our fried chicken day, and it's been well received from the day we began running that daily special.

In my opinion, it's one of the biggest deals in the Louisville restaurant world - a hidden gem of great proportion that even the largest men struggle to complete. Let it be known, there is always a take-out box in the mix post-Chicken frenzy.

Anyway, I couldn't resist the shimmering golden brown skin and thought I would share with my three blog readers.

Also, an interesting bit of information: the Sterns, who write the 'Road Food' column for Gourmet, called Henderson, KY (my hometown) "the fried chicken capital of the solar system." No lie. There is a place called Bon Ton Mini Mart that makes the best fried chicken you've never had.

By the way, all three of you: I am so so sorry. But thank you for continuing to read.

agitate daily.

With the help of many willing friends and coworkers, my initial bitters attempt, labeled "agitate daily," is nearing completion of stage one, with many people having agitated it daily.

sloe gin fizz.

My good friend Dean Roethemeier lives in England and looks like a bird when he runs. He is a Marketing Executive with a very well known horse farm. That basically means he gets paid a lot of money and gets free laptops and nice things and still gets to have a good time doing it, drinking Pimm's and watching horse racing for a living.

He just emailed me and will be coming home for the Christmas season, complete with two bottles of fresh sloe gin he bottled himself - apparently there is a field of slow berries right behind his house that he uses. And of course, a couple of dope-ass bottles with the cool caps on top help, too.

Anyway, we will be consuming Sloe Gin Fizzes to celebrate the passing of 2008; I'm also hoping to get my hands on some smuggled 'Pimm's Winter' for the restaurant. We shall see.

final product - steamed buns.

Finished the steamed buns. Not the best, but I diagnosed the problem for the next time. Luckily my brother was pouring the "Bee's Knees" for his house cocktail, and those things were going down like water. He bought a case of Stellar Gin for the evening and it was well received by all.

The final product - my version of a Momofuku Steamed Pork Bun. The buns really came out great - not as pretty as the real thing, but pretty damn close; and tasty, too. The quick pickle of the cucumbers (thanks to Proof Sous Chef Cody Stone) were an awesome addition, but I just didn't cook the pork right, so in the end they weren't that great. I tried to roast them but it left too much fat - I think next time I will try a braise and try to get rid of a lot of the fat but keep the meat tender and juicy. Stay tuned.
Above are the steamed buns before proofing the very last time. They were a hassle to roll out (all 40 of them), but it was a promising sight afterward.

james beard cocktail.

Just came across this image the other day and thought I would share it with the three people that I know for sure read the blog - it's the set-up right before dessert service at the James Beard House dinner in October, where Chef Michael Paley was cooking for his second time with Proof.

I put the cocktail together (paired with manchego and house made quince) - it was Cava, sherry and gala apple sorbet from Il Labrotorio del Gelato. It was refreshing as hell and was a great cold sip after a successful dinner event.

That's Michael in the background on the right, leaning up against the wall after expediting so many plates in such great time. You can see in the background some of the diners, in the small room at the front of the James Beard House.

steam buns dough ball.

feast upon this proofing glory. in the process of letting the buns rise one last time and then the real fun begins.

momofuku steamed pork buns.

After eating at Momofuku Sssam Bar twice during a 3 day trip to New York earlier this year, I can't seem to shake a serious craving for David Chang's Steamed Pork Buns - an addictive little snack that Frank Bruni dubbed "the city's most perfect finger food."
After reading Bruni's most recent re-review of Ssam (linked above, three stars), I started salivating again, and I knew it might be a bit before I got to inhale the little gems again. Being a subpar cook, I thought, "Screw it - I'll make them at home."
I found the recipe, from Chang, on Martha Stewart's website (this guy has been on every media outlet ever.) Above you see the "mise" for the bun dough, which I put together at the restaurant. Just some yeast, AP flour, high gluten flour, salt and sugar.
The real fun begins tomorrow, when I try to put it all together. Luckily, a lot of the leg work has been done, as Chef Michael Paley, of Chef Michael Paley fame, kindly hooked me up with some lovingly prepared berkshire pork belly from Eden Farms in Iowa.

I can't wait.

orange bitters.

Of course, I had to alter the location of the jar to make the picture look cooler - that's the box from Chris Constentino's 'Boccalone' salumi shop in San Fran Ferry Market Plaza.

Anyway, gave my first shot at bitters this afternoon with some orange bitters. Completely threw this together and expect them to suck - but if they don't - hey hey hey.

I started with some Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. In a jar added pith of an orange, juniper berries, cinnamon, star anise, sugar, black pepper, clove. Added the rum and the water...we'll see what we have in a week.

In other news, the Rock Hill Sour sold great tonight - Louisville loves the egg whites, I've learned.

new cocktails tonight.

Did some quick work on the cocktail list for this evening at Proof.

Added a 'Rock Hill Sour' with Rock Hill Farms bourbon, our house made sour and an egg white - a subtle tweak from our Repeal day offering - which was a hit.

Also threw on the Sazerac and the Milk Punch under the 'Classic Cocktails.' Yum. Working on some house made bitters tonight and if that's a success - ginger beer (very excited), and then Beet Beer (I envision something like a beet lambic?)

Two Sazeracs and you'll be taking out hipsters left and right. (Shout out to Jared and Larry of 732/Basa for that one.)

elderflower rigging.

St. Germain Elderflower Liquer has been a huge hit in the cocktail world over the last year - it's appeared in some (extremely delicious) form or another on a bevy of the nation's best cocktail bars, and I think that's owed to its pristine, clean, crisp, subtle sweetness and compatibility with a number of spirits.
Back in October, when I went with Proof/Michael Paley to the James Beard House, I was able to pick up a bottle at Crush Wine Co. and smuggle it back to the Bluegrass. We threw it on our cocktail list as a special, and it went fast.
Since then, I've had an elderflower jones.
Luckily, my friend and Proof sous chef Seadon Shouse likes to go to IKEA (in Cinci) with his fiance, and they make the trip probably once a month. Last time he went, he brought me back a bottle of Fladersaft, IKEA's Elderflower Concentrate. We used it for a week in a Prosecco & Elderflower Cocktail (prosecco, elderflower, grapefruit), and it was a hit. But alas, we ran out again, quickly.
The picture above is what happens when you beg Seadon and another friend that lives near the IKEA in Cinci to fill your coffers with elderflower concentrate.
On the far left is another Seadon discovery - Lingonberry Concentrate, which we will be using on New Year's Day brunch in my 'Lingonberry Fizz.'

love this logo.

final repeal menu

Here is the final version of the cocktail list we used for the event last night. I love the old school font - I bought it online about a year ago and it really set the menu apart from our traditional offerings. Love the skull, too.

Click the image for a bigger version. Make sure you read the bottom of the menu!

moustache party.

We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the repeal of the "Noble Experiment" yesterday at Proof. In celebration we had the staff dress up in their best 1920's gear. The ladies really brought the pain with the flapper gear in full effect, making the men look like we didn't try.
I must say, the gentlemen rolled out the fake moustache with much panache - I ran down the street the day before to purchase a whole supply from Caufield's. We even had customers rocking the fake 'stache before it was all said and done. The drinks, of course, were the highlight, and we sold a ton of our original "Whiskey Sour" (Jack Daniel's, house made sweet & sour, egg white), and plenty of the "Milk Punch" (bourbon, milk, rum, simple syrup). Needless to say, the froth was in full force.
It was a night for the ages. Enjoy.

Matt O'Connel; busser.

Jeni Pittman; bartender.

Rob Honneger; busser.

Marcia Miller; server.

Jeni again, the danger pose.

Kristi Reynolds and Hamza Agallah, servers, a la Great Gatsby.

Hamza in thought.

Kristi.
Meg Glasser; server.

Benjamin Smith, Esq.; manager.

yours truly. and one more time...