All in the Numbers

By Haskell Harris | February 20, 2009 | Design

Awhile back I posted about my friend Matthew Thompson, who has a wonderful carpentry business in New Orleans. Every now and then, he'll jot off a note with a picture of something he's working on and yesterday he did just that (see below).

I never cease to be amazed by what inspires him...

I have attached a picture of a set of wooden stadium seats that I just finished for a client who saw the ones in my house that I made many years ago. I remember as a little boy sitting in such seats at Hestand Stadium in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, watching the high school team play, somewhere around 1965. Originally, I copied these from the movie That's My Boy! starting Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, a football movie in which the hapless Lewis becomes the best player on the team. The stadium scene shows thousands of these seats, I believe, and they made such an impression on me—the repetition of them—that I went out and made a set the next day at Jefferson County Mill, where I worked as a boy and a teenager. 

These very ones in the picture were made over the Christmas holidays, and I finished them about two weeks later, working intermittently on them. They are constructed from red heart pine that I have salvaged from demolitions around town. The detail is my own. I used a flat oil ochre color for the striping and borders and a flat black for the oval background. The numbers are a flat green oil that I found in the shop. The oval motif is copied from a Mississippi state highway sign, #604, that I saw outside of Pearlington, Mississippi, very early one morning, just as it was getting light. I admired its simple industrial marking. All that detail is covered with a deep walnut stain and sealed, a way to give it some depth.

Matthew

Underrated

By John Currence | January 7, 2009 | Food

New Orleans, LA
Commander's Palace
I will get beaten up on this, I know, but here's the deal. Tory McPhail inherited the job that nobody should want—executive chef. On top of that, Commander's is the spot every New Orleans' food critic loves to take aim at. Enter Tory, age thirty-five, excellent young talent and a guy everyone enjoys working and drinking with. Tory gets lots of credit in my book. His food is deft and interesting, plus he gets bonus points for reinventing the food of South Louisiana without bastardizing it. (Tory is a native of the Pacific Northwest—not Bayou Lafourche.)

Commander's continues to shine in the wake of Katrina (reopening after almost two years of renovation) and in spite of citywide labor trials, manages to do an impressive job with dining-room service. Dinner or Sunday brunch at Commander's is a quintessential New Orleans experience though the food rarely gets the lauding it deserves.

Memphis, TN
The Beauty Shop
Nobody but nobody does funky like Karen Carrier and the Beauty Shop is testament. She spent years overseeing the operation of Automatic Slims, her original stab at a Clinton-esque mecca (that's George Clinton, not Bill), which captured the feeling of a Sergio Leone set–cum–opium den and served the greatest crispy duck you have ever eaten. At the same time, she was building a small empire of operations. She has sold Slims and now devotes most of her time to the Beauty Shop kitchen. Like the John Waters–style decor, the food and service are equally fun and interesting. There is absolutely no way to nail down the cuisine with a label or a category. It's simply solid, playful, and devoid of any pretense whatsoever… And if you can find anyone more fun to run around with in the wee hours, I'll kiss your bouffant.

Jackson, MS
Walker's Drive-In
If you find yourself  yourself in Jackson, just go here. The menu could not be more representative of the man at the helm than it is—simple, well executed, and as solid as the August day is long. Jackson is not a town that jumps to mind when one thinks of fine dining, but Derek Emmerson is dragging that into line. In a town that is a little fickle in its support of independent eateries, Walker's thrives nonetheless. My recommendation is to go during soft-shell season. I am convinced Derek has made a deal with Legba and pure crustacean bliss is the result.

Clarksdale, MS
Ramon's
My friend Wright Thompson is a man of giant appetites and he knows how to sniff out a joint like few others. About a year ago when he suggested that a group of us load up and ride the fat hour that the drive is from Oxford down into the Delta for "the best fried shrimp in the world," I thought, momentarily, that he was an idiot. I went merely to ride around in his truck, drink whiskey, and ultimately dis the "best fried shrimp in the world." Turns out I was the idiot. I'd walk through broken glass on my knees to eat those shrimp. There's a little Italian on the menu as well that includes equally well-fried chicken livers and red sauce over pasta. Load the car with whiskey and Tums and go now.

An Over-the-Top Gift

By Haskell Harris | December 18, 2008 | Design

Last weekend, I visited the very entertaining and talented New Orleans artist Matthew Thompson, who makes the most beautiful wood furniture and custom millwork that I've ever seen.

This trip down to see his work was particularly memorable.

He had just finished a gorgeous dresser (pictured below) as a wedding present for one of his apprentices at Silvarum (the firm he started years ago in Bywater). My amateur photos don't do it justice. It's made of walnut, French lacquered (20 coats!), and hand painted. The motif down the middle is a plumb bob, which is my favorite part.

On the afternoon of the big event, he delivered it to the New Orleans Museum of Art (where the wedding was held) and put it down among the stacks of other gifts for the lucky couple.

When they saw it for the first time, their expressions were priceless.

All the groom could say was "It's over the top, Matt, it's over the top. Thank you so much."

And they spent a good deal of the reception talking about where it would go in their first house together and showing their guests.

They will probably have it the rest of their lives.

How cool (and more important, meaningful) is that idea?!

I love it. It made me think, too, that anyone close to a couple getting married (parents, grandparents) could commission a gift like this.

Heirloom-quality furniture is so hard to come by these days, so if you are interested in having a piece made or just knowing more about Matthew Thompson's business, call or e-mail (he doesn't have a Web site): 504-945-0435 or silvarum.llc@gmail.com.

And stay tuned for a few other posts about other things he's working on...

I am Big Bad Chef

By John Currence | November 24, 2008 | Food

I was born and raised in New Orleans and made my way north to Oxford, Mississippi, in 1992 to open my first restaurant, thereby unwittingly beginning my true education in Southern food. For those of you who are unaware, New Orleanians don’t really consider themselves Southerners; not because we feel “above” the sometimes pedestrian stereotypes and implications of “Southern” or because we are necessarily any more cosmopolitan than the South might suggest, I just always got the feeling we simply didn’t think about it that much…or care. In fact, beyond eating, drinking, and being Catholic, I can’t really think of what we concerned ourselves with.

My grandparents lived in Georgia and North Carolina when I was growing up, and every summer my brother and I were packed off to spend a couple of weeks with each set. It was during those visits that I got my first true introduction to the rural South and was initially exposed to the foodways of our corner of the country. Days with my maternal grandparents were regularly spent picking tomatoes, shucking corn, or shelling peas.. Relatives and friends raised pigs, chickens, and cows, so I saw it all and had a tacit understanding of where our food actually came from.

My father loves to hunt and fish as much as anyone I know, and he tried to instill this love in my brother and me from the time we were capable of wielding the equipment needed to participate. Hunting and fishing helped deepen my respect for nature and the world in which we live.

My mother spent a tremendous amount of time in the kitchen when I was growing up. Travel abroad with my father fueled her interest in cooking, and because there was little she ate that she wasn’t prepared to attempt to duplicate, my brother and I benefited, greatly.

So, it is no surprise I have ended up in the restaurant business. My name is John Currence. I am chef/owner of three restaurants (Big Bad Breakfast, Bouré, and City Grocery) in Oxford, Mississippi. During the course of this blog experience, I will introduce you to some of my favorite people, places, and things in the South. I’ll try to show how some of the artisanal foods I find end up on our tables, on our menus, and in our recipes, and how the friends I make along the way influence my thinking. I’ll pass along my favorites and hopefully will learn some new ones from you as well. I think you’ll be surprised at what all is out there. I certainly am…