Robert McDuffie - McDuffie Center For Strings - Part 1

This is one of the moments I love when it comes to working with the Moonhanger Group restaurants. I am a huge music fan, so to be able to sit down with one of the world's greatest violin soloists was about as good as it gets for me.

Robert McDuffie is a very accomplished musician. He studied at Juilliard. He has toured the world as one of the most sought after violin soloists playing today. He teamed up with composer Philip Glass to record Glass's Violin Concerto No. 2 “The American Four Seasons”. He is the head of Mercer University's McDuffie Center For Strings at the Townsend School Of Music. With all of that, if you ask me, the best thing about Robert McDuffie is, he's from right here in Macon, and he still loves his hometown.

McDuffie just took some of the very talented artists from the Center For Strings to New York where they performed “The American Four Seasons” at Le Poisson Rouge on February 4th.

I sat down to dinner with McDuffie in December around Christmas time. We had a wonderful conversation about music, his career, The Center For Strings, and Macon. This is just Part One in a multi-part conversation with violinist, Robert McDuffie.

RR: I saw you last Saturday at the Grand Opera House. It was really cool that PBS decided to come to Macon to record the concert. But, I'm sure you had a hand in making that happen. How did you do it?

RM: Actually this was a Mercer initiative. The McAfee family, who endowed the Townsend School of Music, wanted to do this for years. When I came on the scene six years ago they were still talking about it. I said, "Let's just be patient. Let's just wait til we have a real product to show." You don't have that second chance to make a first impression so you want it to be really good. It was then that I was dreaming of starting the Center For Strings. I knew it would be good eventually and even just after a few years I thought we sounded good enough to present to the country.

Larry Brumley

When Larry Brumley, the Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications at Mercer, was still at Baylor he used a production company called Brandenberg Productions that did Christmas At Baylor about 8 or 10 years ago. They did really good work. They do a lot of the Boston Pops specials. So they came in and produced the thing. Former musicians who are now heading up the company and had a really good track record. They're very well respected and I liked them a lot.

From what I understand GPB is going to use it as their pledge show December 2013. Then we're just going to just throw it out to 300 PBS channels around the country and see who picks it up. I was honored to be asked to MC the thing. I still love my home town and I'm proud of it. And I want more people to know about it.

**Just then our server, Michael Collins, visited our table to explain the menu. One of the items available for that day was a Southern Style Lasagne. The lasagne was completely crafted in house. It was made with smoked BBQ chipped pork, creamed collards, a ricotta cheese made by our Sous Chef, Dan Couch, corn meal noodles made by our Chef de Cuisine, Brad Stevens, and a tomato sauce made by our Executive Chef, Doug Sanneman. After Michael explained the new items, we turned to conversation on the Dovetail dining room.**

RM: This is a great room.

RR: Thanks. If you could only imagine what this room used to look like. This entire upstairs was all storage and junk and stuff that had been thrown in corners since 1976 when The Rookery first opened. It was nothing but saw dust and dirt. The idea came about after us doing all the Locavore Specials downstairs at The Rookery. People really took on to it so we began to think, 'Why don't we do an entire restaurant like this. We have all that room upstairs.' So we went to cleaning this space out and tearing it out. I wish I could put in your head what this room looked like before because watching it evolve, when the day finally came when it was ready I looked around and said, “I can't believe we did this.”

The coolest part is, the wood around the base of the bar, the wood behind the kudu head -the multicolored slats- and the wood in the wine cabinets in the private dining room is also multicolored, that's all wood where we tore out the floor to build the staircase. So that's all wood that we reclaimed to make some of the fixtures up here.

Amy Schwartz Moretti

RM: I have to tell Amy about this. Amy Schwartz Moretti, who runs The Center, she and her husband Steve Moretti would love this.

RR: Steve actually worked with a friend of mine, Floco Torres. He won the Gateway Macon, Macon Music contest.

RM: Didn't Steve produce the album?

RR: Yes he did.

RM: Well what do you think we should order? I'm not going to get too much. I think the tapas sounds like a good idea.

RR: Well my favorite is the Put-Ups. Why don't I order one of those and we can split it and then you can order one of the small plates and I'll do the same.

RM: Well we have to go with the lasagne, don't we?

RR: Go for it!

**As we finished deciding, Michael returned to take our order. McDuffie ordered the Southern Lasagne and I ordered the revamped Duck Breast that now comes with a rutabaga risotto. Sadly, I was so caught up in the conversation that I forgot to take a picture of the Southern Lasagne. Even worse the chefs only ran that dish that one day. - ): sorry! - After the orders were placed we began to talk about how the idea of the Center For String began to first take shape.**

RM: I wanted to bring something really great here. Kirby Godsey, who hired me back in 2004, said, “Just put Mercer and Macon on the national map in music.” Well, obviously not the music that Macon is famous for but classical music. I didn't know what that was going to be.

RR: How long had you been away before this opportunity came up?

RM: Oh, I've lived in New York for 38 years. I moved up there when I was 16.

RR: So, 16, you went to Juilliard and you never left New York. Was the city, for you, everything they said it would be?

RM: And still is. It's a privilege to live in New York. I may play in New York once or twice a year so I don't contribute to the city as a performer. Being a soloist, I'm just traveling most of the time. I've been doing that 30, 35 years.

So we worked out a situation where I would just come down once a month back in 2004 and see what could be done. So, I had my 3pm scotch on the veranda at the 1842 Inn, and played golf with my best friends, and saw my parents and just had a great time but I wasn't doing much because there wasn't much to do. There was a fledgeling string department but they weren't even music majors. They were education majors.

RR: You mentioned that you had your 3pm scotch. What's your favorite scotch?

RM: I'm not a big expert. I'll take a single malt. Glenlivet. I like a Knockando. I keep McCallan at home.

RR: You keep McCallan at home? What year?

RM: I'm cheap. 12!

*laughter*

RR: The reason I ask this is because earlier today Wayne (Temple our mixologist), Chef (Doug Sanneman), and I were talking about an article that I ran across. A guy in Atlanta paid $94 thousand dollars for a bottle of 55 year old Glenfiddich. Glenfiddich made this batch of scotch that they named after the granddaughter of the original Glenfiddich distiller. They've been holding it back. They have some in reserve. On her birthday this year they released a limited number of bottles to auction. At auction, this guy in Atlanta paid $94 thousand for this ONE bottle.

We sat down and we did the math on what it would cost if we had the bottle here and someone wanted one drink.

RM: And?

RR: With our normal percentage of mark-up, it would be $16,000 for one drink.

RM: I would have to borrow that money from Amy Schwartz Moretti, my director, to get that glass.

*more laughter*

RM: That's really crazy.

Well I think the 1842 Inn had Glenlivet. So I would just do my thing.

But then, it could have become a boondoggle for me down here. But I really just love the town. I got tired of hearing, “Macon has such potential.”

RR: Don't we all tire of hearing that.

RM: “It has such great bones. If only we could do something with Macon.” You know, all that kinda of stuff. And I realized how great Mercer was. How impressive both Kirby's and Bill Underwood's visions were for the school.

A lot of people like to say Kirby teed the ball up for Underwood and Underwood hit it 350 yards down the middle of the fairway. Underwood's initiatives were really impressive to me. I felt that if we could get something started here, it would not only help put Mercer and Macon on the map in not only in classical music but in education. We would be part of a rising tide of excellence that was happening. So that's when I decided to make the pitch to the university to start a conservatory for strings.

I identified ten of the top performers from around the country who were at the top of their professions. Concert masters of major symphony orchestras, principle cellists, major soloists, to great pedagogs and they bought into having a conservatory experience but with a specific curriculum that would prepare them for real life.

RR: That is fantastic. When you mentioned that Saturday, I could have jumped out of my seat. I wish every musician had the opportunity to go through that, no matter what the style of music is. To learn, this is what you need to know about what you're getting into. Yes you need to be able to play great music but you also need to know how to write a contract. How to read a contract...

RM: How to negotiate. How to raise money.

Musicians just aren't empowered in the real world. In many ways classical musicians, especially orchestra musicians are taken for granted. I just want my kids to be ready for whatever happens. I don't know exactly what's going to happen but I might be able to predict after having toured as a soloist with orchestras for 35 years and seeing how they work.

You've got a board of directors, a non-profit board, you've got the management, and at the bottom, you've got the musicians. The talent. Hopefully one day it will be inverted where it will be Musicians, board, management.

The chairman of the board of directors of a major non-profit, that's in charge of a symphony orchestra should be a member of the orchestra itself. A board, especially a non-profit board, who actually donates money to be on a board instead of receiving money if you're on a corporate board like American Express. These people want something beautiful to happen in their town, so they want to support the symphony orchestra.

They may not know how to pronounce or spell Prokofiev, or Shostakovich (Don't worry. I didn't know either. I had to look it up. -RR) but they want the right thing to be done and they want the experts to do it. They will follow any pied piper. I think that leader needs to come from the musicians. I think the world is shifting towards self governing orchestras right now instead of having boards and management decide so much.

As great as the musicians unions have been for us, especially during the 50s and 60s when the typical orchestra musician made $5000 a year. The unions saved us. They came in and fought for our rights. They fought for rehearsal rights, you know? It's kind of gone too far the other way now, where musicians are being treated and have allowed themselves to be treated as rank and file employees instead of as artists.

It's gotten to the point where management especially, in many cases are looking at the musicians – who have worked 4 hours a day since they were 6 years old to get to where they are – as airport baggage handlers, or as assembly line workers. They're not. They are artists. Artists who deserve to determine their own future but they need to have the tools to do it.

Nobody has the tools to do it! I went to Julliard I didn't know anything when I came out! I came out, there was nothing.

RR: Well, how did you get over the hump?

RM: Well, there was a much greater margin for error when I came out. Many more slots were available. Orchestras were doing pretty well. The NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) had given a lot of money to orchestras and I think that kind of backfired on them.

I'm talking about the symphonies even though there are so many facets of the music world. The large majority of conservatory graduates end up in symphony orchestras that's why I keep bringing them up.

The conversation continued on with more interesting stories from the world of music. Check back with us soon to read more about what the Center For Strings is teaching its students and where it is headed in the future, from my conversation with Robert McDuffie.

Roger

Samuel Adams Barrel Aged Beer Dinner Menu

For years wine has been the go to drink of choice when it comes to pairing with a meal. However, now we see more and more pairings with beer.

Epicurious has a FAQ sheet for how to pair beer with food. If you type "Beer Pairings" in the search on HuffingtonPost.com, you get a list complete with what beer to pair with Thanksgiving dinner, beer and cheese pairings, and even what to drink with Kentucky Fried Chicken (I don't really suggest you try this pairing, but who am I to judge if you give it a shot?)

My point is, times they are a'changing! Now more people see beer as a drink that helps accent and highlight flavors in food. We even had a very successful run of dinners at The Rookery called "Unveil The Ale". At "Unveil The Ale" we spotlighted a hard to find beer for this area and paired it with dinner and an album. We all sat around the bar and talked about beer and food. It was a lot of fun, as well as delicious, and informative.

We had been scratching our heads trying to figure out how to revive the dinner and a beer concept when we were approached by a Samuel Adams representative about helping to introduce their new Barrel Room Collection to middle Georgia. It was like lightning struck and we had our answer. Dovetail was going to host our next beer pairing dinner!

We were all excited and bubbling with ideas as we tasted the new beers. Chef Doug Sanneman was shouting out flavors and possible combinations as soon as the beer hit his tongue. We sat down and created a four course meal that starts where it all started for Samuel Adams, their Boston Lager. Then brings you up to date with the brewery by carrying you through three of the new Barrel Room Collection beers.

Dovetail is usually closed on Mondays but for something as special as this we have decided to open our doors to the very special 40 guests who will join us. That's right, this dinner is limited to the first 40 guests who make reservations.

Chef Doug Sanneman and Dovetail present:

Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection Dinner

Course 1: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Pear and Golden Raisin Tartar
bacon marmalade, bleu cheese mousse, shaved toasted pecans

Course 2: Samuel Adams New World Tripel
Lump Crab Salad
macerated kumquats, fennel dressing, micro mint

Course 3: Samuel Adams Stony Brook Red
Dill Crusted Lamb Rack
roasted garlic cauliflower, harissa, caramelized carrots

Course 4: Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour
Banana Fig Goat Cheese Dumpling
banana ice cream, cardamon creme anglaise, toasted coconut

Dinner is served with a 12oz pour of each beer and is $85 per person. You must make reservations for this special event. Seating is limited to the first 40 reservations. To reserve your seat, call 478-238-4693. You must reserve your spots with a credit card number.

We are excited about this special event and look forward to reserving your spot.
See you soon.

Roger

Dovetail's Valentine's Day Menu

Chef Doug Sanneman and the rest of the Dovetail chefs have prepared a very creative Valentine's Prix Fixe menu for February 14th.

Guests who joined us for dinner this New Year's Eve are sure to want to have reservations for this special four course dinner. The four course meal is $85, the first course is served with a glass of champagne, and the dessert is prepared by Pastry Chef, Ashley Dunn.

Valentine's Day Menu

Amuse Bouche

Lobster Wellington
picked lobster in puffed pastry, grilled corn, avocado salsa, served with a glass of champagne

Appetizer (Choose One)

Heart Of Palm Salad
heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, artichoke hearts, blood orange vinaigrette

Trio Of Hearts
chicken heart satay, pastrami beef heart, stir fried pork heart

Quail Risotto
Carolina plantation rice, country ham, quail breast, pumpkin seed molé, silver medal cheddar, quail egg

Entree (Choose One)

Coco powder and coffee dusted Kobe flat iron
curry roasted carrots, shaved Brussels sproust, flash fried coconut

Seared Grouper
beluga lentils, spinach, rustic tomato sauce

Roasted Chicken
wild rice risotto, dill carrot cream sauce

Dessert

Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake
wildflower honey ganache, clementine and grapefruit sauces, topped with a truffles duo and micro mint.

Our regular menu will be unavailable on February 14th. Be sure to get your reservations made early. Call 478-238-4693 to make reservations. You can also book reservations online at OpenTable.com. http://www.opentable.com/dovetail-macon

Wishing you a special Valentine's Day.
Roger

Lima Bean Hummus Lettuce Wrap Recipe

 The Lima Bean Hummus in Dovetail's Put-Ups appetizer is a favorite. It's easy to understand why. That little southern twist of using lima beans instead of chickpeas makes it memorable and once you taste it, you're hooked. It's one of those things where you want to say, "Why didn't I think of that?!" It seems simple enough to make but the problem for most people is that they don't know how to make hummus in the first place.


As far as hummus goes, we know it tastes good, but what exactly is it? Hummus is a middle eastern dip or spread made from chickpeas. The earliest known recipe comes from 13th century Egypt.

In its most basic form the ingredients to make hummus consist of chickpeas, sesame oil, lemon and garlic. It is usually served with olive oil and a flat bread or pita.

The secret to making smooth hummus is to peel the chickpeas after cooking them. Sounds like a pain in the bones right?

Well guess what? We aren't worried about all of that because we are going to be working with lima beans!

Here's what you are going to need to make the lima bean hummus.

 Ingredients
1 cup of dried lima beans
1 Mediterranean lemon
2 garlic cloves
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Lettuce leaves (Bibb or Romaine)
Sriracha chili pepper sauce

Preperation
 Soak the lima beans overnight in water.

Drain the beans and then cover in pot with fresh water. Add one teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Let the lima beans cook until the are soft.

Drain the beans and then add them to a food processor along with the juice of the lemon. We are very lucky to receive Mediteranian lemons from our friend Mrs. Charlotte Hope. She grows them in her yard. However, if you can not find a Mediterranean lemon, a regular lemon will do just fine.

Puree the beans and lemon juice while drizzling olive oil. We use Georgia Olive Farms Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This is a very pleasant tasting olive oil and you can't beat that fact that it is grown and produced right here in Georgia. Let the mixture puree until it has reached a smooth consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer hummus to a bowl, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Place lettuce leaves on plate and top leaves with a heaping portion of hummus. Chef Sanneman used a pastry decorating squeeze bag to add some design as he put the hummus on the leaf. This could be the added little presentation needed when serving these at a party.

Finally top each one with a drizzle of olive oil and Sriracha chili pepper sauce, for a little extra color and just a touch of heat.

Easy, healthy, fun to serve, and most of all delicious!

Enjoy.
Roger

Cocktail Recipe: Rocky Mountain High Manhattan

When our Mixologist, Wayne Temple, walked into the office today, I didn't give him a chance to speak. I told him I wanted a new recipe each week that I could share on The Dinner Conversation.

I watch Wayne make amazing cocktails every day and I thought it would be cool to share some recipes that you can try at home.

Wayne started the Cocktail Recipe series off with a simple one. The Rocky Mountain High Manhattan. This Manhattan features Breckenridge Bourbon, a petite sirah, and some hints of chocolate.

A classic Manhattan usually consists of whiskey, a sweet vermouth, and bitters. The types of whiskeys used in a Manhattan are Rye, Canadian or blended, bourbon, or Tennessee whiskeys. If you use Scotch whisky, sweet vermouth, and bitters, then the drink is called a Rob Roy.

The classic Manhattan is usually stirred with ice and then strained into a Martini glass. It can also be served over ice in an Old Fashioned (low ball) glass.

While its origins are a bit hazy most people say that the Manhattan was first created at the Manhattan Club in New York city. The cocktail is said to have been created by Dr. Iain Marshall (what a great title for the creator of a classic drink to have) for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (also known as Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J Tilden. The banquet was such a success that people who attended the banquet began to ask for the cocktail they were served that night by the name of the club.

"I want the Manhattan cocktail."

But there's one problem. Lady Randolph Churchill would have been pregnant and in France at the time of the banquet so the story is most likely untrue, but it is a good one.

While the original Manhattan cocktail was a mix of American whiskey, Italian vermouth, and Angostura  bitters, Wayne Temple changes things up a little bit.

Breckenridge Bourbon comes from Breckenridge, Colorado, a town better known for its skiing than for making bourbon. However, this small batch distillery uses snowmelt water to give its bourbon a unique taste.

He also uses California Green Truck Petite Sirah from Red Truck Wines in the place of sweet vermouth. This Mendocino county, California wine is made from organic grapes.

Then he adds Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters. Fee Brothers has been making bitters since 1864. While bitters are always a must have at any bar, a selection of Fee Brothers flavored bitters helps to add multiple depths of flavor, making your cocktails unique.

Finally, he garnishes the drink with a brandied cherry. This is a simple process that adds that little something special to your garnish. Put a handful of cherries in a mason jar and cover the cherries with brandy. Let them soak for at least 24 hours. The longer they soak, the more the tastes mingle.

We have seen a growing trend amongst men in Macon to ask for a drink to be served in a rocks glass that is usually served in a Martini glass. It seems more men see the Martini glass as feminine because of all the flavored martinis that are served now a days. However, this is all a matter of taste.

Temple decided to serve this creation in a rocks glass since Breckenridge Distillery was kind enough to send Dovetail a case of really cool rocks glasses with their logo on it.

Wayne Temple's Rocky Mountain High Manhattan
(Serves one)
2oz Breckenridge Bourbon
1oz Green Truck Petite Sirah
6 dashes of Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
Garnished with a brandied cherry

Add the bourbon, petite sirah, and bitters to your shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into glass. Garnish with cherry.

It's as simple as that. Now all you have to do is enjoy and start a good conversation with your guests.

Roger

What was the best thing you ate in 2012?

The other day I sat down to dinner at Dovetail but before I ordered I asked Chef Doug what I should order that I didn't have a picture of already. He instantly said, "Try the salmon. That salmon is a great dish."

I said ok but really I was thinking...come on. It's salmon! How special could it be? 

Dovetail's Grilled Salmon with
dill hollandaise

I guess I should have known better. We are talking about a dish by Chef Doug. When I sat down to dinner that night, I ordered the Farmhouse Salad and the Grilled Salmon. I. Was. Blown. Away. The salmon was topped with a dill hollandaise and it was fantastic! It came with herb infused Carolina Gold rice. This rice was so good that it could have been its own dish. It also came with a pea and corn relish that complimented all the other flavors perfectly. I have to apologize to Chef Doug for ever doubting him. My description doesn't do it justice. Trust me on this, just try it.

Shortly after that I read Gourmet Live's "The 53 Best Things We Ate This Year". It included picks from Hugh Acheson of 5&10 in Athens and Empire State South in Atlanta. He said the best thing he ate this year was the bologna sandwich at Au Cheval in Chicago. 

As soon as I saw the article my mind flashed backed to Dovetail's Grilled Salmon. I knew without a doubt that that was the best thing I ate this year. Then I began to wonder what others thought the best thing they ate this year was. So I turned to Twitter and began to ask some of the people we followed what their favorite dish of the year was. Here's what we learned about eating good in 2012.

Our very own Chef Doug Sanneman said the best thing he ate this year was the Goat Vinduloo and Lamb Chettinad at Bombay City here in Macon, Georgia.

L'Etoile's Foie Gras: photo courtesy of
Terrell Sandefur

The dynamic Macon foodie duo of Terrell Sandefur and Priscilla Esser both agreed that Chef Michael Brisson's foie gras at Martha's Vineyard's, L'Etoile was easily the best thing they tasted this year.

J.M. Hirsch, the Food Editor at the Associated Press and author of High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking, told us the best things he ate this year were meals prepared by Chefs April Bloomfield and Seamus Mullen. He also went on to name Tyler Florence's fried chicken as one of the best things he had in 2012. You can read more from J.M. Hirsch on his blog Lunch Box Blues.

Chef David Crews of MDCC Culinary School in Mississippi and Crews Culinary Investments said the Pimento Cheese Burger at Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, Mississippi was his favorite this year.

Mama Erickson's meatballs: photo
courtesy of Michael Erickson

Michael Erickson, Director of Marketing for Fifth Group Restaurants which owns, La Tavola, Ecco, El Taco, Lure as well as others, says his Mom's meatballs were the best thing he ate this year. When asked if he minded if I quoted him in the blog he said, "Absolutely not! My Mom's meatballs deserve oodles of recognition." I agree. Nothing beats mom's cooking.

We heard from the music loving foodies at Kitchen Mixtape. They talk to chefs about music and they talk to musicians about food. Great idea because I know I love to listen to music while I cook. Their picks for the best thing they ate this year was the Lobster Laksa at Sky On 57 in Singapore and The Elvis waffle sandwich at Bruxie in Orange County, California.

Oysters Dovetail

I asked Moonhanger Group's co-owner, Chad Evans, what his pick for the best thing he ate this year was and without even blinking he named Dovetail's Oysters Dovetail. Then I said, "Now you don't have  to name one of our dishes. Think of every place you've been this year." He traveled quite a bit looking at how different restaurants he admired made their creativity work for them. He thought for a little bit and then looked back at me and said, "Oysters Dovetail". It's great when you believe in your own restaurant that much. It's easy to share a plate you believe in. Our Oysters Dovetail is a southern take on Oysters Rockefeller. We use Benton's country ham, collard greens, cornbread and aged cheddar. It's one of our most picked dishes for a reason.

Alexander Lobrano eats at some of the best restaurants all around the world and then he writes about what he's tasted for magazines like Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler, as well as many others. He's lived in Connecticut, Boston, New York, and London and now he's living in Paris. So with all of that experience in tasting great food, I couldn't wait to hear what his picks were. He chose the Smoked Eggplant with tamarind peanut sauce at Makphet in Vientiane, Laos and the Parmesan Cream Ravioli at Glass Hostaria in Rome, Italy. You can read more about great food from around the world at his blog, Hungry For Paris. You can also read more in his book, Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City's 102 Best Restaurants.

I asked my good buddy and Macon's favorite morning weather meteorologist, Felicia Combs, what her pick for the year was and she told me about a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookie Cake Bar recipe - be still my heart! - she found on Pintrest from Christy Denney's blog The Girl Who Ate Everything. Combs said the recipe was, "very simple, but the most indulgent dessert" she's found. She warns that they are very yummy but have a glass of milk on the ready when you try them.

David Dibenedetto, the Editor-In-Cheif of Garden & Gun magazine, said his pick for the best thing he's eaten this year was General Tso's Duck Skins from McCrady's Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina.

Atlanta Journal and Constitution Food Writer and blogger, John Kessler, took a trip to one of the world's most revered restaurants this year. He visited Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. Of all the wonderful things he tasted while he was there, he says the Reindeer Moss was his favorite.

We bite into clouds of fried reindeer moss that shatter into hundreds of crisp filaments and fill your mouth with something you recognize from ever having played in the woods, but never thought of as a flavor. It makes you want to kiss the person you’re dining with on the lips.

Now that must have been some amazing tasting food! Bravo, Noma.

Chris M Walsh, Executive Editor of Zagat/Google blogs, says though he, "didn't make it to Dovetail in 2012", the meals he had at Alinea in Chicago, Babbo Ristorante Enoteca in New York, and O Ya in Boston were at the top of his list. And we understand if he couldn't make it to see us because he was at those places. Those are some mighty fine restaurants. No worries, we'll have a seat for him whenever he can join us.

And lastly, Matthew Schoch, Senior Editor of PBS Food told me that the best thing he had in 2012 was the meal he enjoyed at Chef Jose Andres party at the Food & Wine 2012 Classic In Aspen. That could have been enough of a show stopper for me right there. Think about it. The Senior Editor of PBS Foods tells me he was at Chef Andres party at the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and he had the best food he had all year long. I'm sold. End of blog post.

But then Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods, also chimes in and agrees with Schoch saying the event is his favorite as well, "Every year."

You don't have to tell me twice (or I guess three times). I am already plotting how I can make it to Aspen in June for the 2013 Classic.
Hmmmm...I wonder if they need a DJ?

Looking forward to even better eats in 2013!
Happy New Year!
Roger

Terrell Sandefur - SoChi Services - Part 1

Always interacting with social media, Terrell Sandefur

I recently got a chance to sit down and have dinner at Dovetail with Terrell Sandefur from the SoChi Gallery. Terrell is a busy man. Not only does he have a wife and two kids, but he's a driving force behind Macon's film festival, MAGA. He also runs SoChi Services, which provides promotions and social media management. And of course he runs the SoChi gallery, one of downtown Macon's beautiful event spaces. So, he's very rarely at a lack of things to do, but he knows how to make all of his time taking work fun. 

For example, as soon as we sat down at the table a server came over and sat a bottle of Vixen vodka in front of him and said, "This is for you." That's never happened to me before. Nor too often to him either from the surprise he displayed.

As we began talking, Terrell told me of a new client he recently picked up and has been managing their social media, Hanger On The Wharf, in Juneau, Alaska.

TS: I just got recently - two months ago - a new account in Juneau, Alaska. That's my furthest client away. But it's a restaurant, it's a big restaurant. And, you know, I'm not there! I'm learning how to promote food that I've never seen, smelled, tasted. It's not as easy as actually going to dinner and taking my own pictures and describing the quality. Because I have no idea, not yet anyway. They're flying me out there in the spring.

RR: That's cool.

TS: And it is unbelievably gorgeous out there.

RR: I'm sure. Any place in Alaska is going to be absolutely beautiful.

TS: And their restaurant is right on the water. It's right on the wharf. So you look out, when you're there, you see the wharf and then the mountains. And it is completely picturesque. It's a big place for cruise ships. They'll get a thousand people coming in the restaurant at one time.

RR: Oh my God! That's a restaurant nightmare. Even when we get tour buses and they stop outside, your heart stops and all you can say is, “Here we go.”

TS: It's weird how I got this gig. A friend of mine from Atlanta was out there and is friends with the owner. The owner graduated from Auburn. I'm not real sure how she ended up finding her way to Juno, Alaska but she's been there for a long time. And she has four restaurants out there. She was talking to my friend about how she's killing it and she has so many employees but where they're failing was in social media. And she says, "I don't have the time to do it and I don't know how to do it and our competition are real focused on it."

And my friend says, “I've got THE person for you. He's in Macon, Georgia.”

So she calls me on the phone and says, “How would you feel about running social media for a restaurant in Juneau, Alaska.”

I said, “I'd be all over it.” The next day she gives me a call and she hires me right then. So, it's been a bit of a challenge because my contact is not the owner but one of the managers. And I tell her, “I can do anything with a photograph. If you can get me a photo of the daily specials or the signature dishes, I can research and flower it up.”

RR: Photos drive Facebook more than anything else.

TS: Yeah. So I'm going to be out there. I'm going to be out there for several days with my camera, my iPad, I'm going to interview the chefs. And I'll have to do it all in a few days to last me months.

RR: Well once they see, while you're taking pictures and posting them out there and they see the response, they'll get more into making sure they send you pictures every day.

TS: I have pulled some pictures. I've searched Food Spotting, any kind of social media where they post pictures. But now I've pulled what I can pull. I've even posted on their Facebook page, “If you're dining with us tonight please check in on Foursquare or Food Spotting and take a picture of your dinner. We'd love to see it.” I'm baiting them.

RR: That's perfect, we do the same thing. We hear more than anything else, with The Rookery, the posting of the specials everyday gets people excited. They say, 'I've got to go down there. I've got to have that for dinner.' So pictures make a big difference.

**Just then Allan Bass walked up to tell Terrell about Vixen Vodka which is a Colorado distilled Vodka owned by three Atlanta, Georgia ladies. A representative had been trying to send Terrell, an avid vodka drinker, a bottle since they met at the Macon film festival but couldn't get in touch with him. Allan, a representative from Quality Wine and Spirits, happened to bring by a bottle for Dovetail to sample and then passed it on to Terrell at the request of of Vixen. This sexy, playful vodka has “wild times” written all over it. The idea for the vodka was conceived on a girls weekend at St. Simons Island.

We began to talk about our orders for dinner. Terrell was eyeing the smoked and grilled pork rib chop with a leek and shiitake savory bread pudding. I notoriously order the Put-Ups as an appetizer. This time I planned to order it again because Chef Doug Sanneman had just added a smoked trout dip to the line up and I really wanted to try it.

Ever the foodie and always thinking of promoting the places and items he enjoys, Terrell asked if we could go into the kitchen to take pictures of our orders because the lighting in the kitchen is so much better. Which led us to talking about some other restaurant marketing he has done in the past.**

TS: I did marketing for HendersonVillage in Perry, the country resort with an amazing restaurant. I did some serious chef dinners for three years. I'd do them every three months, where I'd bring in the hottest chefs from Atlanta, some from Savannah and a few from Macon, and they'd do a 6 or 7 course dinner. Each chef would do one course. I'd bring them down to Henderson Village which was great because I could give them a place to stay. So they'd have a room, a house, a cottage, or a room in an older house. See, Henderson Village brought all these old houses on what used to be a plantation. Some of them were slave quarters which means they were one room but they were redone and amazing. These chefs would come in for the publicity. I'd have Atlanta press and media come down. One time Food Network came down and filmed it. That was hot!

RR: I bet that was fun.

TS: All these food critics would come in to write and that's how I got these chefs. They would come in and do a themed dinner on whatever was in season. One year we did a pecan dinner. One fall we did a wild game dinner. I brought this guy in from Miami who was from Cuba. He hand rolled cigars at one event!

RR: Wow. That sounds amazing!

TS: And he was in an Armani suit! He wasn't a slouch. I did wild game, cigars and a scotch tasting at that one dinner. That was probably my favorite dinner. And they all sold out within minutes. Well, my first dinner it took me two weeks to sell 100 seats at $100 a ticket.

RR: That's still impressive.

TS: My second one sold out in two minutes. What I did was I sent one email blast to everyone who came plus other foodies. Everyone had heard about it so they were either pissed that they missed it or they were elated that they were there for the first one. So I think everyone who was at the first one came to the second one. And it just kind of rolled from there.

Now everyone is like, 'Why don't you do it in Macon?' But I don't have anywhere to put them up. I don't have a client that has a hotel that will give me rooms for free, which Henderson Village did. They said you can take these room and use it for press and for the chefs.

And I'll tell you. Several of the chefs went on to be on Bravo's "Top Chef" and a few of them won it.

RR: That's fun stuff.

TS: Richard Blais, he did two or three of them for me. A few years later I was in Atlanta at a Starbucks and Richard was there and I talked to him. And these girls were walking up and going, 'Richard, Richard!!' And I was like, “Well, you certainly have a lot of fans.”

RR: He's a rock star. He's a rock star chef right now.

TS: And he said, “Terrell, I'm on a TV show right now. You ever heard of Top Chef?”

I said, “Yeah.”

He said, “I'm in the top three right.”

That was the first year he was on it. I was like, 'I didn't know! Sorry! I don't really watch much television.'

-Laughter-

Then I had Hector Santiago, who's got Pura Vida. Richard's got HD1 hotdogs in Virginia Highlands. They're basically next door neighbors and they were both on Top Chef!

** After we ordered another round of drinks we began to talk about Macon.**

RR: I think Macon is turning a corner. We've seen in the last five years, a lot of things change so much in Macon. With consolidation coming up on us and more people getting involved and doing things, I think we're looking at a period where Macon can take a really good turn. It's an opportunity for us to do really good for ourselves and make a really good showing.

TS: Obviously I'm a believer in the city. I'm a believer in downtown. I've been downtown since 2005 at the SoChi Gallery. I've seen a lot of cool new places open and few have closed really. It just takes time to get the local folks to come down here. What I think it's going to take to come downtown, it's going to be event driven.

RR: I agree. It's definitely something we see when Cherry Blossom happens, we're bust. Bragg Jam, we're busy. We just did the beer festival, it's something that drew people into downtown. Everybody benefited from it. I want to see the businesses do more about about working together to help each other. If there's something going on at one place, everybody promotes it because it brings people into downtown.

TS: That is one of Macon's failings. The lack of synergy. We have all these little groups that are doing their own thing. Why aren't they all working together? Everybody's got the same end goal but they aren't joining forces to make it happen. And I don't know how to make it happen.

Because if one of us wins, we all win. Not everybody can come and eat at The Rookery. It's not everybody's cup of tea. Or it may be your cup of tea today but not tomorrow. If there's options for people then it will become a destination. If they just come down for a Rookery burger and that's all they ever do downtown, then eventually they'll stop coming downtown. So we need to promote each other and support each other.

**Stay tuned for part two for my dinner conversation with Terrell Sandefur where we talk in depth about the Macon Film Festival and how it came to be.

The Macon Film Festival is coming up, Feb. 14-17, 2013. If you purchase and All Access pass before December 31st, you can get a discounted rate of $75 per pass. It includes access to all screenings, early seating to special screenings, and access to all officially sponsored after parties.