Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Best of 2018

Local Instagram Story: Kelsey Dawson


Sandwich Shop: Ko Kyu Na'mean

Public Sculpture: Gay Scissors on Foster

Downtown Style: Sarah Thornton

Local Tweet: Major the Bull


Farmer Styles: Gordon and Vera, 10 Mothers Farm

Vegetable Art: Phil Blank, https://www.instagram.com/p/BoZ8mrxnWVw/

Hardest Working Restaurateur: Oren Weiss, Soom Soom Pita Pockets

Value: Pupuseria Anita

Anticipated Opening: The Basement Kitchen at Accordion Club


Action Bronson Video: https://youtu.be/-pMk7-BevBc

Pizza-making Nerdery: https://youtu.be/TyvM2fb9kdM?t=10m3s


Bartender: Kelsey Dawson (Ponysaurus, Accordion Club)

Brunch: The Happy Meal at Accordion Club (Hatch Breakfast Burrito, Chileback, Shitty Plastic Toy, Pony High Life, Sundays only)

Pop-up Dinner: Little Rocket Man

Local Baking Instagram: http://instagram.com/mere_berry

Beer: Edward, Hill Farmstead

Donut: Cruller, Jack Tar Diner

Album: Jassbusters, Connan Mockasin

Song: Big Shot, Kendrick Lamar

NSB Charitable Action: Sending relief to Duplin County via Just Florence

Soup: Posole, Guanajuato

Beards: Finn Katz; Joel Guerreo

Local Beer: Hopfly Anniversary IPA

Beigel Bake, Brick Lane

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Squirrel Hill, PA

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and communities affected by the Tree of Life Synagogue tragedy. Props to all who attended the vigil Sunday in CCB plaza - while I never thought I would have to recite Mourners Kaddish with Major the Bull, I prayed for the day when we can ban assault weapons in the US and put a dent in these psychotic shootings that leave communities ripped apart. 

Please contribute by being as politically active as you feel comfortable and opposing legislators that work against gun regulation.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Bread is an intensive surface

Image result for dogon egg deleuze

"The Earth is a body without organs. This body without organs is permeated by unformed, unstable matters, by flows in all directions, by free intensities or nomadic singularities, by mad or transitory particles"

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

J Gold, Belated Obit

J Gold, the food critic who democratized the nation's palate, RIP. If you haven't seen City of Gold, this is a must-watch for any self-proclaimed foodie. In many ways I think of him in my travels to try every mediocre restaurant in Durham, tingling with those very mixed up feelings of futility, anthropology, discovery, banality, and a requisite amount of anticipatory excitement. May we all be as obsessed with something as Gold was with the cultural landscape of gastronomy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/obituaries/jonathan-gold-dead-los-angeles-food-critic.html

Sunday, September 30, 2018

MTN Venice Ramen

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmzRtCcFE0l/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=aorsz6xtsx8z

little rocket man closes / a tribute to toast

one of my favorite menus from the now-closed little rocket man.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnWUP90AJ5A/?taken-by=littlerocketmandurham

the initial ideas for the menu were:

Carolina Jammer - ricotta, jam, herbs
Avo - Avocado, masala, almonds
Pan con Tomate - Cherry Tomatoes, olive oil, flake salt
Scuttlebutt - hard boiled egg, pimenton aioli, pickles, herb mix
(tribute to saltie)
Mama's Boy - Butter, Cinnamon, Sugar
use unsliced bricohe, unsliced country loaf

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

To Be a Baker

Image result for chad robertson
Chad Robertson

To Be a Baker

what does it take?

a personality type.
a calm neurotic

like chad robertson
tall and rangey
to be a baker
waking before daybreak, working physically hard before daybreak,
it's a push to the last loaf,
here you stand before the oven, to stand underground and bake bagels,
carry the flour back centuries to
your ancestors, with
poppy seed, sesame, and flax.  

It’s a blue planet,
Powered by calories derived from bread,
The technological revolutions,
In our Modernity,
There was bread,
Religious warfare,
And the bread as ritual.

An evolution,
Of bread and of society,
From bourgeosie to poverty,
In every neighborhood and shtetl.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Underground Man

"Er ligt in der erd un bakt beygl."
"He lies underground and and bakes bagels"
- Old Yiddish saying to describe a person depressed.

Task Switching

Baking is a controlled task switching exercise.  I might have three doughs to mix, one rack in the oven, three employees forming loaves, and a meeting about to walk in in an hour.  There is a necessary schizoid property to this that goes beyond your everyday short order cook kind of multi-tasking.  It is a sensation of juggling that ends up feeling like a runner's high.  Ernest Hemingway always liked to finish the day by leaving his last sentence unfinished.  To conceive of work as a flow, where one might drop in like a wave, is a means to be enmeshed in the world, and to achieve an immanence impossible in ordinary life.  The moment you tie up your apron like it was an obi, you enter into a world where you might as well be tapping a spiderweb with a tuning fork, and waiting for the resonance, set a whole series of events into motion.

Change is Person to Person

I never knew about Instagram until someone literally showed it to me on their phone.  Same for Snapchat.  Same for Google Maps.

Change is person to person.  If I put one loaf of good bread in a person's hands, that could be a transformation.  If we are generous, perhaps that could transform someone's day.  Maybe they will be generous with the next person they meet.  Maybe if we change the codes, and bake the good breads, we will feel the benefits of this difference.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Ms Jacqueline Retires


Ms. Jacqueline has been on extended medical leave and now has decided to retire.  We will miss her dearly here at the Bakery.  Ms. Jacqueline Wilkins was the heart and soul of our operation for twenty-one years.  She started as a bread slicer in 1996 and moved up to eventually run the cafe and become head purchaser.  She has seen Durham and the Bakery grow and change over the years and has many stories about the old times before Downtown Durham became the bustling urban hub that it is now.  Her welcoming spirit and infectious warmth are unique.  She is one of the few people in Durham who might send off a customer with a "Have a blessed day" and it truly felt like a small blessing.  Ms Jacqueline intends to enjoy her retirement with her loving husband Theodore.  Humble as she is, she denied multiple requests from us to throw her a retirement party, so if you wish to send a message along, please contact me (Ari) and I can give you her email address.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Fried Chicken Beard Award

With the closing of Nana's, and several years since Magnolia Grill closed, I have taken note of this shift away from white tablecloth restaurants and towards a culinary approach to traditional American Soul Food.  Franklin's BBQ won best chef in 2015, Rodney Scott won in 2018, along with a pastry win for Dolester Miles of Highland Cafe who makes traditional Southern desserts like Peach Blueberry Cobbler.  Some might say this turn began with David Chang winning Rising Star chef in 2007 (also nominated in 2006) with his ramen revolution.  Whatever the case, we are seeing a sociological shift here where once eating out was rare and mostly for the rich.  Culinary students were taught how to prepare charcuterie and foie gras with the expectation of working in a fine dining restaurant.  The restaurateurs of today are not opening fine dining restaurants - those are only for the super-wealthy (e.g. Alinea, Eleven Madison Park).  Restaurateurs of note are opening fried chicken spots and pizza joints

I think the takeaway from this is that good fried chicken is just as exalted as foie gras.  Fried chicken will never be refined (your fingers will still be greasy at the end), but diners now recognize the difference between KFC and something they are going to pay $16 a plate for.  They are not only purchasing the dialed-up, dialed-in comfort food, but they are enjoying it more than a stuffy meal that demands a jacket, tie, and certain degree of etiquette.  American foodways have experienced a seismic shift in the years since Iron Chef began on the Food Network.  New culinary celebrities are democratizing the food landscape and making room for ethnic food stars that previously only cooked in the shadows of restaurants like Nana's.  We are "enlightened" now to the use of local ingredients.   At the same time large swathes of North America still eat highly processed foods from big box store corporations.  Will the foodie revolution trickle down the demographic ladder as the soul food revolution has trickled up, or will the whole thing look in retrospect like Elvis appropriating an entire musical blues genre without apology, reference, or footnote?

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Beer Pilgrimage: Hill Farmstead

I reconnected with an old friend from college, Shaun Hill, who has since become the bees knees of craft beer.  

His brewery, Hill Farmstead, was voted best brewery in the world according to Ratebeer.com in 2017, and has been voted #1 5 out of the last 6 years.

Normally I scoff at rankings as such, and was ready to be disappointed.  Instead, I can tell you without hesitation, that Hill Farmstead is the real deal, head and shoulders above other top-notch brewers that are doing unfiltered "hazy" beers.  He said that a customer came in and asked, "Do you have any New England IPAs?"   Which is hilarious because Shaun started what became that trend.  He was literally five years ahead of the rest of the pack.  And even though other brewers brew hazy now, they are not doing it with the intentionality and attention to detail necessary to craft at similar quality to Hill Farmstead.

In fact, the next morning after my visit, I woke up at 4am, completely humbled, realizing that nothing I will ever do in life, in bread, in art, will likely ever come close to the excellence Shaun has achieved in beermaking.

I have written previously about the perfectly realized chef in his philosophical domain in reference to Francis Malmann.  Shaun Hill is the first person I could say I met in the flesh who satisfies that criteria.  He is making beer perfectly in tune with his person and his philosophy, and the result is sublime.

In the hour and a half we spent together, it was clear that Shaun's nose is only part of the equation.  He is detail oriented on a level we normal folks cannot comprehend.  He is tirelessly seeking moments of transcendence in beer, and I was extremely proud to see him getting the recognition he deserved.  People spotted him in the taproom and came up just to say how certain beers really impressed them and congratulated him on the expansions to the brewery that he's made in recent years.

We spoke also about the future, and it's clear that Shaun is tied to the family land there, having purchased adjacent properties with hope of conserving the land and protecting its wildlife, trees, and watershed.  He seemed interested in the idea of responsible development in his little neck of Greensboro, VT, where perhaps people might find not only a dirt road leading up to a world class brewery, but an entire community of people sharing in the land and its beauty.

Some highlights:

"We brew 50 wine barrels worth of Anna, and I sample each one at the end of two years aging, and the one that makes my hair stand up on end becomes an Ann."  We tasted that beer - it's nuance and complexity was amazing.

Tasting a young unaged beer that would become this year's Leaves of Grass.

Harlan

Edward

A young Vera Mae for which the yeast had not even been dropped.  It's interesting that Shaun crowd-sources folks to pick the 60kg or so of dandelion needed for this beer.

Two pilsners, one aged, and one unaged.  These might have been some of the finest pilsners I've ever tasted.  I asked Shaun if he felt like he could compete with the pilsners of Germany and Western Europe - he said emphatically "yes".

Shaun showing us the barrel-aging program

Shaun and Ari

Ann

Beer Menu

Pilsner off the fermenter

A Hill Farmstead logo miche Alex Ruch from the Bakery produced especially for the occasion
The taproom

Retail to-go sales

Edward at The Bench in Stowe.  Literally a perfect pour

Monday, May 21, 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

Manifest VI: MAZE


Thanks to everyone who came and participated in Manifest VI.  It was epic! Thanks especially to Mel Benson for the beautiful photos!

Cinco de Mayo came early to Ninth Street as Zeke Firestein and Adam Sobsey hosted our sixth Manifest Dinner.

The chefs gave guests a small taste of Maze Taco, their current pop-up.  Sobsey kicked off the celebration with specialty sangria and margaritas.

Our gratitude also goes out to our partners for this dinner, End Hunger Durham, an action circle of the Durham Food Farm Network that strives to create a food system in the community that provides healthy food for all.  Not only did End Hunger help to introduce new guests to the dinner series, but their willing volunteers stayed until the last plate was clean.

And finally, thank you to the Ragweed Brass Band who were able to provide the group with lively entertainment before the storm!

If the Manifest menu sounds too tasty to miss, check out the Maze Taco pop-up hosted at Ninth Street Bakery Wednesday through Saturdays beginning at 5:30pm and going until late night until May 5.  If you don't want to miss the next Manifest, email info{at}ninthstbakery.com to be added to our mailing list.

MANIFEST VI
15 April 2018

to benefit End Hunger Durham
by MAZE TACO
Zeke Firestein & Adam Sobsey
Music by Ragweed Brass

DRINKS
“The Margie”: a White Wine Margarita
House Made Red Sangria

MENU
Beef Liver Pate (Sangria, Ancho, Caramelized Onions)

Pozole Verde (vegan)
The hominy for the pozole was made from Chalqueno Cremoso landrace corn from Mexico. We got the corn from Masienda, who help supply heirloom corn from local Mexican farmers with top restaurants around the world. The corn went through a process called Nixtamization, an ancient Mayan technique, to turn the corn into hominy. 

The “Tijuana Caesar” Salad (Romaine, Hard Boiled Egg, Parmesan, Anchovies, Lime Vinaigrette)
The Caesar salad was invented in Tijuana by an Italian immigrant who owned restaurants in The United States and Mexico. After a large Fourth of July rush in 1924 they were out off almost all food so they used what was left to create a salad table side to add some extra flair.

***
Beef Barbacoa  •  Pork Carnitas  • Chile-Roasted Pollo  • Black Beans (vegan)
Salsa Roja, Salsa Verde, Salsa Habanero
***
Dessert by Mel Benson:
Tres Leches Cake

Tortillas provided by La Superior Tortilleria.



Dave Henderson

Adam Sobsey

Monday, March 19, 2018

Manifest V: Pour

What a menu! Thanks to all our guests who joined us at Pour Taproom for Manifest V. The performances from Dan Enarson and Grace Henley were especially moving. We were able to raise $850 in one night for JusticeMatters. Please email info at ninthstbakery.com if you would like an invite to our next event in April.  Extra shout-outs to Andrew, Andrea, and Anne for being super-volunteers.


Manifest

Menu 11 March 2018
A Benefit for Justice Matters

Beers, Wines, Ciders as Selected by Pour Taproom

*****

Sprouted Wheat Miche with Olive Oil

Roasted Vegetable and Greens Salad with Lime Citrus Vinaigrette and Green Chickpea Hummus

Fingerling Patatas Bravas

Greens, Garlic, Stock

Sliced Steak with Fermented Black Bean Sauce 

Meringue with Cinnamon Cream

Brandied Raisin Couronne

Sour Cream Apple Honey Tea Cake 

*****
The 10 Commandments of Manifest

1.     Communal tables
2.     Prix Fixe: A Planned, Rather than Selected, Variety.
3.     Priced So All Can Afford to Eat
4.     Health, Freshness, and Real Foods
5.     Facilitate Culinary Creativity via (Ingredient) Deconstruction
6.     Less Waste
7.     No servers, No Tipping
8.     No Cult of the Chef
9.     Use the Venue for Performance
10. Good Hospitality is Not a Service to Rendered but a Gift to be Shared

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Manifest V


Manifest V is coming and it's going to be epic.  100 tickets, hope you can join us!


All proceeds to benefit Justice Matters.

Online ticket sales are here.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Team Spotlight: Maury



No conozco bien a Maury. En este caso, parezco ser el valor atípico. Durante su año y medio como parte del equipo de Ninth Street, Maury aparentemente ha contribuido a cada parte de la panadería. Él es el panadero detrás de las galletas, muffins, brownies de NSB, y la lista podría continuar. Cada bien horneado representa a otro miembro del equipo al que Maury ha trabajado, entrenado y alentado. Cuando sus compañeros de equipo se refieren a él, no hay nada más que palabras amables (y tal vez una historia divertida). Ahora, como gerente del café, Maury es responsable de una "comida familiar" para cada turno, asegurándose de que después de un largo y agotador día de pie, sus colegas puedan esperar una comida caliente y nutritiva antes de salir por la puerta. Si le preguntas a Maury, este es su pan y mantequilla, literal y figurativamente, su lugar favorito es el café, en la estación de emparedados, y está orgulloso de poder brindar un beneficio inesperado al resto del equipo. Por todas estas razones, Maury y su tranquila sonrisa se pueden agregar a la lista profunda de colegas que hacen de NSB la panadería que a todos les encanta visitar.

I don't know Maury well.  In this case, I seem to be the outlier.  During his one and a half years as part of the Ninth Street team, Maury has seemingly contributed to each part of the bakery.  He's the baker behind NSB's cookies, muffins, brownies, and the list could go on.  Each baked good represents another team member that Maury has worked beside, trained and encouraged.  When his teammates refer to him, there are nothing but kind words (and perhaps a fun story).  Now, as the cafe manager, Maury is responsible for a 'family meal' for each shift, ensuring that after a long, tiring day on their feet, his colleagues can look forward to a hot, nourishing meal before heading out the door.  If you ask Maury, this is his bread and butter - literally and figuratively - his favorite place to be is in the cafe, at the sandwich station, and he is proud to be able to provide an unexpected benefit to the rest of the team.  For all of these reasons, Maury and his quiet smile can be added to the deep roster of colleagues that make NSB the bakery that you all love to visit.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Team Spotlight: Rachel


Rachel's mantra: "keep doing what you love.".  Putting this advice into practice, she has been part of the Ninth Street team for a year, and does not expect to depart any time soon.  Rachel is no stranger to food service.  Throughout her career, she has worked as a relief cook and in a variety of other roles within the industry.  However, arriving at NSB, she was new to bread baking and relied on bakery owner, Ari, to teach her everything she knows.  Now a knowledgeable baker, Rachel has earned her place at the bread table, where she lends a hand to each step in the process.  Her favorite?  The challenging brioche.  Beyond bread, what keeps Rachel doing what she loves at Ninth Street?  Without hesitation she points to her colleagues on the team.  Unlike her past teams, she compliments the work ethic, pride in product and attitude of those around her.  Having witnessed the energy and enthusiasm that Rachel brings around the table, I'm sure the compliment is mutual.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Team Spotlight: Felix


Most days you will find Felix in the back pastry room at NSB crafting any of the pastries enjoyed at the bakery - bear claws, danish, cinnamon rolls, croissants - Spanish tunes playing in the background. In fact, Felix trained me in pastry preparations on my first day at the bakery. For hours he laminated and cut dough while I formed and trayed. He may not be a man of many words, but when I requested a change to a Reggaeton station, he obliged, and teacher and student quietly bonded over Latin dance beats. Having only joined NSB 7 months ago, Felix has already seemingly mastered his craft, knowing the distinct process of each pastry by heart. He represents one more example of how our each individual makes the Ninth Street team special - kind, patient and willing to teach.

If you have time this weekend, come sample some of Felix's fine work at the bakery or at either of Durham's Saturday Farmers Markets.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Pete Wells Takes to the Pulpit

"Some of the mythology of food culture died last year, I think. The chef as avatar of sensual indulgence; restaurant work as a demimonde where rules dissolve in a pleasurable after-hours haze..."

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/dining/sexual-harassment-restaurants.html

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Team Spotlight: Taylor


Author's note: In celebration of a successful year and in anticipation of a new year full of growth and camaraderie, we want to begin 2018 by introducing you to the members of the NSB team.  From our 'family' to yours, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Taylor never planned on becoming a baker.  However, three years ago when she received an unexpected job offer in the bakery at a local specialty store she accepted  and hasn't looked back.  In the years following, a string of fortunate opportunities have allowed Taylor to learn and grow across the spectrum of bread, flaky pastries and cakes (you can check out her creations on Instagram - @taylorsbakedgoods).  In August 2017, Taylor's journey led her to the Ninth Street team.

To say that Taylor has her hand in a majority of the baking at NSB is not an understatement. Taylor fills her weeks with responsibilities ranging from prepping dough to forming pastries to slicing bread.  Most recently, she has been appointed the principle cruffin baker.  If you are new to the cruffin concept - a flaky croissant dough baked in a muffin tin, rolled in sugar and filled with pastry cream - I suggest you do your research at the bakery or farmers' market ASAP.

As if her weeks weren't full enough, on Saturdays you can also find Taylor at one of the Durham farmers' markets.  It has been during these early weekend mornings at the NSB stand on Hunt Street that I've gotten to know Taylor.  While she has taught me the secret touch needed to set up the tent and the best method to display the bread, she also served as my introduction to the culture of the bakery.  Taylor told me that far more than at her past positions, she enjoys the good team and friendly coworkers at NSB.  Ninth Street is a bakery that accepts individuals at all levels and allows them to work at their own pace - as long as they put care into a quality product. With those traits in mind, I can't think of a better ambassador for the team.

Here's to you, chef.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Team Spotlight: Ronnie


Author's note: In celebration of a successful year and in anticipation of a new year full of growth and camaraderie, we want to begin 2018 by introducing you to the members of the NSB team.  From our 'family' to yours, we look forward to seeing you soon.

INTRODUCING RONNIE

"Treat your coworkers like family," Ronnie told me when I requested advice on the best way to integrate into the Ninth Street team.  We were walking through the process to open the bakery's cafe on an unseasonably warm Sunday morning - one of my first days.

As a one-year veteran of NSB, Ronnie has become the primary closer for the cafe.  You can find him there most days. It didn't take long for me to witness Ronnie acting on his own advice. He exercised patience, leading me to the back-up stock of napkins, and then to sugar and then reminding me to keep an eye on coffee levels.  There was only kindness as he answered and re-answered my questions.  Ronnie extends this same willingness and enthusiasm to our other colleagues - taking on whatever additional tasks need to be accomplished during down-times at the cafe and even filling in for delivery drivers when needed.  This is what Ronnie says he likes best about Ninth Street - never feeling stressed because the team is willing to help accomplish whatever needs to be done.

While soft-spoken, there should be no doubt that Ronnie has become an expert in all things related to the cafe.  He can gracefully and succinctly compose any sandwich order before I can even find the listing on the menu.  Ronnie shares his knowledge to offer suggestions and guidance based on dietary preference or craving.  Looking for something sweet?  Ronnie's favorite is the blueberry cream cheese danish.  And next time you stop in for lunch, be sure to catch Ronnie behind the sandwich counter and ask him to whip you up another favorite - the Italian.