Man Bites Food Blog

A little over two weeks ago, Prince’s Hot Chicken received the prestigious America’s Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation. My colleague and I sat down with the queen of cayenne herself, André Prince Jeffries, to inquire about the award and her trip to New York for the ceremony. I won’t delve into the oft-told story of hot chicken, save to say that it’s Nashville’s one truly indigenous food and inarguably the tastiest dish ever devised for purposes of revenge. If you need a refresher course, start with this excellent short film by the Southern Foodways Alliance and Joe York. Here are a few highlights and factoids gleaned from of our interview with André, which was, of course, a pretty flimsy excuse to devour some soul nourishing, painfully delicious hot chicken.

On the overall experience of winning a James Beard Award: “Exhilarating!  ‘Course it hasn’t hit me yet and my bank account doesn’t know it. But exhilarating.”

Prince’s is not going anywhere: André brought a crew of 11 including her daughters, niece and grandchildren to New York for the ceremony. Andre’s niece, Kim Prince, who helps André with media inquiries and technology, accidentally caused a mild uproar when she posted the following on the Prince’s Facebook page about their upcoming trip: “Is NYC ready for HOT CHICKEN's Royal Family? The Princes of Music City are on the way!” Immediately, a few panicked Nashvillians begged the Princes not to relocate. Meanwhile, excited Nashville ex-pats and hot chicken enthusiasts in and around New York urged the Princes to “Bring it on!” Even at the airport, strangers recognized André, and seeing her family in tow, gave them the third degree to make sure they planned on coming back.

Arriving in style: André and her party kept photographers at the Beard Awards waiting, but it was not a diva-like attempt to show up fashionably late. It was their cab driver’s first day on the job, and he had no clue how to find Broadway (rougher days may be ahead for this fellow). After the cabbie repeatedly asked THEM for directions, the Princes eventually got out and walked a good ways to the event.

Receiving the royal treatment: At the awards ceremony André was treated much like a celebrity as Marcus Samuelsson, Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali and more rolled out the red carpet for her – check out the great photo on the right of the latter two and André (from Prince's Hot Chicken's Facebook page.)

Celebrities and notable food personalities that have darkened the doorway of Prince’s in recent years: Thomas Keller (of The French Laundry), Guy Fieri (who brings his family in on a semi-regular basis),  Adam Richman (of Man vs. Food fame), Top Chef’s Carla Hall, and Tom Parker Bowles (son of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall).

Sean Brock, of Husk in Charleston (and now Nashville), is a big fan of Prince’s as well. At this year’s Charleston Food + Wine Festival, he prepared every item on the menu for André. “I was like a wagon wheel going out of there,” recalls André.

Jerry Seinfeld stopped in after a recent TPAC performance and hung out at Prince’s for over an hour, talking with everyone in the restaurant. He went with the mild (not too shocking), but he did try a bite of his associate’s hot, to which he remarked, “That’s suicide.” In a bizarre coincidence more fitting of his epoynymous scripted sitcom, Seinfeld ran into a former chaffeur of his from many years ago in LA — only at Prince's. 

“It’s not negotiable right now.” The phone at Prince’s still rings off the hook with people making all kinds of offers for the secret family recipe — they even receive requests from overseas. This is the all-purpose answer given to quiet the many voices.

Milk and ice cream: For those afflicted with a seemingly unquenchable hot chicken-torched tongue, the Princes suggest milk, buttermilk and ice cream. Many guests swear by lemonade.

Chicken vision: Moments after sitting down with us, André accurately identified the spice levels of our hot chicken merely by looking at it. (Two differing heat levels were represented on our plates.) 

Late-night at Prince’s: André typically works the night shift at Prince’s, including the breakneck 4 am Friday and Saturday night shifts. Describing the always lively and sometimes raucous environment, her daughter Simone, a veteran of the kitchen at Prince’s, says “It’s like being in Night Court.”

Hazardous materials: It’s a rookie mistake to touch or wipe your eyes after coming into contact with hot chicken, but imagine how difficult it is for the employees. Simone told us that keeping the cayenne off their skin is a struggle, and it involves wearing gloves at all times and sometimes even a breathing mask. As glamorous as a night at the James Beard Awards, interviews in Garden & Gun and other publications, and speaking engagements at food festivals may seem, it’s still hard (and sometimes painful) work for everyone involved in keeping the restaurant afloat. But it’s a labor of love, and André mentioned multiple times that she’s most proud of having kept it in the family all these years.

We're thrilled to announce that we've released our revamped and expanded list of Birmingham's best restaurants of 2013. Birmingham may not possess as many restaurants as Atlanta or get the "Nowville" acclaim of Nashville from trendy magazine spreads, but it's inarguably one of the South's best dining destinations (if not the best), boasting some heavy hitters in the restaurant world with serious Southern chops. From superstar restaurateur/cookbook author Frank Stitt's acclaimed restaurants (Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega, Chez Fon Fon) to fantastic barbecue (Big Daddy's, Saw's, Bob Sykes and more), great pizza (Bettola) and contemporary Southern dining (Hot and Hot Fish Club), the Ham has enough excellent options to make any dining decision difficult. For our complete list of great locally owned restaurants, follow the link. www.localeats.com/q/Birmingham-AL-restaurants/. Below is a small selection from our press release, which can be found in its entirety here. 

Birmingham, AL (PRWEB) May 06, 2013 

LocalEats®, a critically acclaimed iPhone and iPad app, online dining guide (LocalEats.com), and the publisher of the Where the Locals Eat series of dining guides, has released its 2013 list of the best locally owned restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama. Restaurants selected include everything from established fine dining destinations and cutting-edge contemporary hotspots to the best barbecue joints, diners and purveyors of country cookin’ alike. Whether upscale or down-home, these restaurants are beloved by locals and compose the distinct dining fabric of Birmingham. LocalEats has also designated category winners by cuisine and chosen the city’s “Top 100 Restaurants,” which are searchable on the website and mobile apps.

All selections are made by the LocalEats editorial staff, who research local media and relevant dining blogs, monitor social media, survey food-savvy locals and travelers, and take into account their personal dining experiences. There are no national chains listed, and restaurants cannot pay for inclusion. Unlike most restaurant apps and websites that rely on user comments and contributions for content, LocalEats is one of the only curated restaurants guides.

“The restaurants we feature in Birmingham display why it’s such a desirable dining destination,” says LocalEats editorial director Pat Embry. “We’ve attempted to capture the diversity of this truly unique dining culture, and we’re proud to present our picks for the best independently owned restaurants in Birmingham.”

Photo Credit: Earthsound (David Gunnells).

Given B-ham's great restaurants, Vulcan should eschew the hammer and spear for a fork and knife. 

Our friends over at Livability (www.livability.com) recently approached us while compiling a list of the Top 10 Foodie Cities 2013. They asked our opinion on some tough questions, namely, “How do you define a foodie?”  You'll find snippets of my answers about foodies and foodie cities here, but I couldn't help examining the topic in greater detail. 

I started my response by putting a little distance between myself and the word, stating that’s it’s really not everyone’s favorite word around the office. Many in the food writing world find it cringe-worthy, thinking it’s too cutesy, too broad or simply overused.  The backlash has been well documented. As loaded and problematic as “foodie” is though, I felt that dismissing and thumbing my nose at it defeated the purpose of the exercise. So I set out to explore just what this word encompasses (pardon my tardiness to the party). Let’s take on the more positive and broader implications first.

A foodie can be someone dedicated to the pursuit of discovering or creating the most satisfying meal possible. “Foodie” does not have quite the same high-brow implications as gourmand or connoisseur. It can apply to restaurant enthusiasts of all varieties, be it a lover of diners, a burger blogger, or someone who keeps tabs on every new restaurant in their area. It extends well beyond love of restaurants, with innovative home cooks, expert meat curers and smokers, food photographers and even gardeners. The guy who makes his own beef jerky is foodie. So is a dining critic who mostly deals with high-end restaurants. You’d even categorize a friend hell-bent on finding respectable poutine south of the border as a foodie. Although a foodie need not necessarily have such a hands-on relationship with food, thanks to the empowerment of the internet. It can merely be someone who enjoys thinking and writing about the subject. The unifying tie is a passion for food and the willingness to go to great lengths for a memorable dining experience. Hence, it’s a pretty broad and democratic term — inclusive of any who are taken with the pursuit, creation or discussion of all things food.

Now, for the backlash. As just discussed, “foodie” casts a pretty wide net. While the generous would characterize this as inclusive, critics of the term find it maddeningly vague.  Is it really a useful word if it applies to a seasoned dining journalist, a cookbook author who re-purposes junk food, and anyone who writes snarky restaurant reviews on Yelp alike? Furthermore, to counter the concept of foodie as a knowledgeable explorer of food, one could characterize a foodie as a shameless follower of trends. As the hipster is to music and/or fashion, so is the foodie to dining. There’s the person who always has a phone out at the table to check-in at the fabulous restaurant du jour or post food photos via Instagram (admittedly I’ve been obnoxious food photo guy). Foodies love restaurants with menus that repeatedly use the word artisanal and include self-congratulatory diatribes on their superior sourcing practices. As for the foodie at home, everyone has a friend who takes any opportunity to mention their CSA or look down at you for not painstakingly making your own chicken stock. Let it be noted that these instincts come from a good place: eating sustainably, supporting local vendors and taking a DIY approach with food at home are worthy pastimes. Unfortunately, locavorism (to use another oft-hated term) has become a haven for pretension and snobbery. Not to mention it’s a cost prohibitive club to join — but that’s another discussion entirely. With some foodies, it would seem the enthusiasm and enjoyment of dining takes a back seat to cultivating a foodier-than-thou persona. Such are the more insufferable connotations that the word foodie can conjure.

Foodie is a term that is constantly evolving, as our own tolerance for the word fluctuates. You could even argue that intolerance for the word itself is its own brand of snobbery. I wouldn’t argue for outright banishment of the word, but would suggest that we use it sparingly. As for the positive and negative connotations discussed above, drawing the line between the two — laudable food exploration and pretentious posturing — is difficult. At what point do our foodie tendencies and demands put other people out? I’ve no doubt caused family and friends to roll their eyes when I demand we leave the interstate (or paved roads in some cases) to find a ramshackle barbecue joint off the beaten path. Where do you make the distinction between seeking out/sharing a wonderful food experience and bragging about your dining exploits? It’s a fine line, and highly subjective. I suppose “foodie” is in the eye of the beholder. 

The Beale Street Music Festival just announced its lineup a few day ago, so we figure this is as good a time as any to call attention to our recently revised and updated list of Memphis's best restaurants. With only two months until Memphis in May, it's important to start thinking about your eating itinerary while in town. After all, one cannot live off corn dogs, funnel cake and other festival foodstuffs alone. Restaurants new to our Memphis Top 100 include The Brass Door, Cafe 1912, Fuel Cafe, Hog & Hominy, Local Gastropub, and Rizzo's Diner. We've also added a handful of local favorites: Aldo's Pizza Pies, DeJavu, Marlowe's Ribs & Restaurant, Sakura Japanese, Sekisui, The Slider Inn, Stone Soup Cafe & Market, and Tom's Bar-B-Q. 

Post list-creation, I stopped through Memphis on a 20-hour whirlwind trip the weekend before last. The reason for the visit was attending the swan song of beloved (yet dilapidated) Midtown music venue, the Hi-Tone. As per usual, my real motive remained cramming in as much food tourism as possible during my brief stay. My travelling companion and I squeezed in a couple Memphis classics around the concert. Upon arriving in Memphis we wasted no time at all, driving directly The Bar-B-Q Shop. This Midtown institution, which lays claim as "The Home of the Dancing Pigs," gets an A+ for exterior and signage alone, with cute window drawings of the aforementioned upright swine tango-ing. But kitsch value aside, the barbecue is the star of the show here and no secret among Midtowners - even at 3:30 in the afternoon, most tables in the joint were occupied. Their signature barbecue spaghetti is well worth a try (order it as a side if you don't want to commit all the way), as are their excellent chopped or pulled pork sandwiches on buttery Texas toast. This time around, I went ribs - there's no better city on the planet for ribs, so when in Rome ... Unable to resist the option which let me try a little of both, I opted for a half-wet/half-dry rack. The wet ribs were solid, but the dry were in a class of their own, heavily seasoned and not needing an ounce of sauce for additional flavor. 

I'd gladly eat barbecue consecutive meals while in Memphis and have accomplished just that on previous occasions, but this time around we visited our favorite Memphis seafood spot, Half Shell in East Memphis (there's a Winchester location as well). It may not be the type of restaurant to make a New York Times 36-hours piece or other lists of the city's trendiest restaurants, but Half Shell truly is where the locals eat. Thematically, Half Shell's decor is some bizarre hybrid of tropical tiki bar, Mardi Gras, and cozy, wood-paneled lodge. When it comes to the food, they excel with fresh seafood and some of the best Cajun cuisine I've had outside New Orleans. Their etouffee (often a risky order outside Louisiana) did not disappoint, with an impressive depth of flavor. The fried oyster po' boy was exemplary as well, with a substantial French roll that held together nicely and sizeable fried oysters. Alas, there was no more time for eating adventures. Finishing at the Half Shell, which I might also mention has great access to I-240, was a wonderful way to conclude the stay. 

Laissez les bons temps rouler! It's the fattest Tuesday of the year: Mardi Gras! This means King cake, crawfish, po' boys, and the responsible imbibing of hurricanes, hand grenades and Sazeracs (not necessarily in that order). Mardi Gras marks one last chance to cut loose a little before Lent and the obligatory pressure to not eat certain things. At LocalEats, we're of the opinion that New Orleans possesses one of the planet's superior dining cultures. Take a look at our list of the best restaurants in New Orleans, and in the spirit of debauchery and celebration, enjoy these Fat Tuesday-related links. 

Anxious about choking on the baby in the King cake? Why not take it in liquid form with The King Cake-tini. 

Southern Foodways and Eatocracy celebrate a New Orleans tradition that often flies under the radar (as far as national attention): the sno-ball.

Taking on one of NOLA's most iconic foodstuffs: the Famous Ferdi Special po' boy at Mother's.

Want to avoid the raucous crowds, lines at the bar, and the flying beads and cabbage? Serious Eats provides recipes for 12 cocktails to celebrate Mardi Gras at home.

We're not always on board with the cupcake crazies, but we could down with some  Gumbo Cupcakes. 

Screenshot our latest iPad update.