#4: Southern Traditions

Last weekend we hosted our fourth You Pick Two event.  We invited a good friend of ours, Chris Keller.  He is co-owner of a salon on U St. in DC called Parlour.  I admire him for the risk he took in starting his own business.  I hope to someday strike out and start up my own business, but it's a scary thing to go out on your own like that.  He and his business partner Rebecca have established a thriving business in a bustling part of town.  Chris is also a close friend of mine and we have been through a lot together over the past decade or so.

Chris brought his boyfriend, Tyler Mains.  He's a young artist who is a visual manager at Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase, MD.  I was with Chris when he met Tyler last year during DC's Gay Pride event.  You could tell from how they chatted that it was a good match. He's very talented and has been able to make a living in the art world, which is not easy.  They have been dating almost a year now and I am very happy for both of them.  Tyler brought two friends and co-workers from Bloomingdales, Gail Viraldo and Adebimpe Abanishe.  They were both very nice people and a pleasure to have over for dinner.  Gayle is a cook herself so I was very happy that she enjoyed the meal.

Hummingbird cake.

For food, I wanted to choose something that Chris would enjoy.  Chris, for lack of a better word, eats terribly.  That's a little harsh, but somewhat true.  He loves rich food and can make some of the best midnight nachos, purely from things you can find at any CVS.  He's also very thin, which is not fair if you ask me.  He came by for dinner several years ago and Kevin made one of his favorites dishes, Chicken and Peaches; it involves butter, canned peaches, and Bisquick.  Chris loved it.  Kevin is from the south so I wanted to play on that and I decided to do a traditional southern meal. 

After talking with Kevin, I thought because it is the south, I had to do something fried.  I've made fried chicken before but it just that didn't seem special enough for this - so I made chicken fried steak with sausage gravy.  It was very rich and incredibly good.  The sides consisted of southern staples black-eyed peas and collard greens, both modernized a little bit.  And to top it all off I made a hummingbird cake.  Red velvet is a little more expected, so I wanted to branch out and try something else.  Hummingbird cake is called that (supposedly) because it is so sweet that it could attract hummingbirds.  This one was sweet, but fantastic.  I will be posting the recipes from the menu below over the next couple weeks. 

MENU

Southern Traditions

March 15, 2014

Cocktail

Orange Mint Julep

Bulleit bourbon, orange bitters, simple syrup

Starter

Cheese Wafers

Cheddar cheese, salted butter, cayenne

Main

Chicken Fried Steak

Bottom round steak cutlet, sausage gravy

Sides

Collard greens

Organic greens, smoked ham, red wine vinegar

Black-eyed peas

Pork kielbasa, aromatic vegetables, chicken stock

Sweet

Hummingbird cake

Three-layer cake, cream cheese frosting, toasted pecans

Guests

Chris Keller

Tyler Mains

Gail Viraldo

Adebimpe Abanishe