Did you hear we have new t-shirts?

Henry

Gone Girl

Ninth Street Bakery / Open Durham

Did you know that Ninth Street Bakery in Durham sits on the site of the first public library in North Carolina, estalished in 1897?

 

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More: http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/first-main-public-library-five-points-east

Snack Attack at Ninth Street January 17th

Community Soup-Making January 10th!

Our Committment to Vegan Food

As time moves on, we have continued to provide diners with an impressive array of vegan (and many GF) lunchtime food choices.  To list some of our vegan options (including sweets), we offer our:

• Falafel
• Thai Curry Bowl
• Dal Curry Bowl
• Savory Filled Hand Pies
• Sweet Filled Hand Pies
• Pumpkin Maple Walnut Cupcakes
• Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
• Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Mounds
• Superchunk Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Homemade Hummus Sandwich with Roasted Red Pepper
• Black Bean Chili
• Stuffed Flaky Savory Tartines

Many of our longtime diners are aware that Chef Matt Props has moved on to work at a larger corporation, and we wish him the best.  While the Bakery has never been exclusively vegan, we intend to keep these great items running and potentially add on more so that the vegans in the Triangle have really good choices when they dine with us.  I was recently reminiscing on the old days of working with Matt and decided to collect some of my favorite blog posts from his tenure:

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/03/chef-matt.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/06/nsb-in-transition.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/03/weekend-update-on-corndogs-and-feeling.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/03/new-staff-addition.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2013/11/weekend-update-korean.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2013/10/dantes-inferno.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/03/katya-what-shabbat-means-to-me.html

http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/01/ramen-remix-wrapup.html

Durham DOUGH Recap

Last Saturday, we launched our first community-driven pitch party, Durham DOUGH. Four community organizations presented their projects while the audience enjoyed Dal and Thai Curry Bowls. The presentations featured youth conservation and faith projects, a puppet troupe for at-risk youth, a talent show for developmentally disabled adults and teens, and a start-up pecan milk company supporting North Carolina pecan growers. Rachel Atkinson, the entrepreneur behind Native Beverage, the local pecan milk company, took home the winnings. A big thanks to our presenters and all those that turned out to eat and vote. We look forward to launching our next pitch party in February!

Got a community benefiting project? Let us know (at ninthstbakery at gmail dot com) and we'll give you a chance to win some dough.

Durham DOUGH Ballot

Audience Members

 

Youth Faith Conservation Network

Reality Ministries

Scrappet Nation

NSB's Best of 2014

• Non-NC Food Truck: Outta My Huevos, Charleston, SC.   
• Anticipated Opening: Josh Munchel at Counting House  
• New NSB Pastry Item: Tie: Ham and Cheese Croissant; Vegan Superchunk Cookie
• Beer-Drinking Bar: Surf Club
• Date Bar: Bar Lusconi
• Beer Intelligence: Ben Fletcher
• In-house Blog Post: Gastronomical Intensity
• New Bakery: Boulted Bread
• Baking Blog: Smoke Signals
• Food Writing Rediscovered: The Taste of Francoise
• Pizza: http://blog.ninthstbakery.com/2014/08/breakfast-pizza-from-nsb.html
• NSB Food Photo: Little Man Rolling Matzo
• Food magazine: Lucky Peach
• Food destination: Skylight Inn
• NSB Themed Menu: Valentine's Day 
• Internet Food Photo: Young Tony Bourdain
• NSB Baking Contest Winner: Christopher Johnston's Stollen
• Food Story: A Toast Story
• Transformation of Space: Monuts Dos
• Egalitarian Cookbook: Good and Cheap
• Local Food Justice Initiative: Double Bucks
• Best Indian: Tower Indian Restaurant
• Best Smell Coming Out of the Oven: NSB's Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies 
• Best Cookbook: Heritage by Sean Brock

Chanukah Party Recap

To the shouts of "Gimmel!", we fried potato pancakes (latkes) all night and gave away driedels and gelt to the kids.  Earlier, Brian and I peeled and fine-grated forty pounds of potatoes and twelve pounds of onions (there was a little bit of crying).   Big shouts to Kathy Jo, Esme, and Kevin, Alyssa and Levi, Adam, Lindsey, and Sam, and Nat, Harris, Madeline, and Margot for coming through.  Big shouts to Brian for helping so much (including three hours of continuous frying) and Nate for crew-ing the night.

Farmer's Market in Winter

Now that the hours have changed for our Farmer's Markets (now 10AM-noon at Hunt Street, 9AM-noon at South Durham Farmer's Market), it's time to recognize the crew that supports our endeavors in what is sometimes less than appealing conditions.  In the cold and wet this past weekend, Michael, Danielle, and Amanda were out slinging babkas, mandelbrot, pastries, breads, Pan Forte, Stollen, and all the other good things we bring to the public.  In addition, Nate, Kim, Adrian, and Christina have been regularly working the markets too, and to them we give our greatest thanks.  We hope that you will join us at the market soon - local farmers still have delicious Fall/Winter crops, plenty of greens rich in antioxidants, as well as root vegetables for your next stew, soup, or roast!

"Recently a young baker came to visit and asked how it was possible to have your own bakery without a patron. This is a very, very good question. I told him you can build anything yourself if you are willing to wait for it. And in that time you must work. You must work harder than you want, longer than you can and with such tenacity that you forget what you’re working towards. In that time you must hold one thing in mind ~ that you are not looking for money, you are looking for truth. This is artisan. This is handmade."

Via: http://smokesignalsbaking.tumblr.com/post/101842919273/waiting-in-limbo

Charleston Food Tour: Highlights

Like Venice, Charleston has the feeling of a city once occupied, now reborn as a tourist destination. The College of Charleston incongruously sits in the middle, so your hip coffee spot might be on a fraternity row, and frequented by students in leggings rolling out of bed at 1PM.

The Southern food on hand is largely of good quality, as has been frequently described by NPR. Between walking the Battery and admiring the pretty houses, here are some food highlights:

- Black Tap Coffee: Hardwoods, Counter Culture pour-overs, friendly baristas.

- Minero: Sean Brock's taco spot.  You can get a Tecate with lime with a proper taco, but I would have enjoyed this more if it was served off a truck.

- Husk: Sean Brock's flagship.  Extra Southern.  Nerd Southern.  Carolina Gold rice in abundance.  Salads were the highlight.

- Recovery Room: Dive bar.  Upon asking if they had any house cocktails, the bartender muttered something unintelligible followed by "...mostly cold beer".

- Faculty Lounge: Grad student dive bar with an impromptu dance floor.  Dark and hard to find (it looks like a shotgun apartment with no sign), which lent to its authenticity.  

- The Ordinary: Mike Lata's oyster spot.  Thumbs down for food (the raw shellfish just wasn't fresh enough, and most had been imported from afar).   Thumbs up for ambiance/decor (tall airy ceilings with the pretention of an epic New York restaurant) and the kindly service.

- Charleston Farmers Market: Many open air food stands here.  Highlight was Outta My Huevos.  Possibly one of my favorite chicken biscuits ever with almost a quarter pound of pimento cheese and pickled jalapeños on top.   Surprisingly few farmers at the market (probably less than at Durham Farmer's Market), and some were reselling SC produce purchased elsewhere.  I guess no one cooks at home in Charleston, you just go out.   

- Xiao Bao Biscuit: Laid back place, simple, small bowls of food.  Hipster waitstaff brought the informed city recommendations and energy.  The highlight was the the black bean encrusted fried chicken.  

- Artisan Meat Share: Sloppy sandwiches made from in-house cured meats.  It's one that we could have skipped, but I was still hungry.  Good picnic food for nearby Hampton Park.

- The Belmont:  This cocktail bar brought the sexy though the cocktails themselves didn't convert the extra point.  Art Deco vibe.  Fun infographic-laden cocktail menu with legend (e.g. icons for sweet, sour, rocks, citrus, boozy). 

- Gin Joint: Good drinks. Gross food (did I really need to pour the buttermilk over that butternut squash cornbread and eat the whole thing?).  

- Folly Beach: A good place for snacks from home, especially Ninth Street Bakery Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot.

Get Your Thanksgiving Pie On

Pickups Start Monday the 24th

 

On Ketchup

http://gladwell.com/the-ketchup-conundrum/

Piebaker Jarrett at the Helm

Many thanks to Val Jarrett for leading a class on piebaking.  I think all the participants came away with great pies and instruction.  You can tell from the mix of intensity and humor on her face how seriously she takes her pie.  Val decends from multiple generations of Pennsylvania pie bakers.  Photos by Christa K.

Via Smoke Signals

Good Things Come to Those Who Bake

Found at Flour Bakery, via DJB

RIP Charlie's

My father's favorite waitress of all time, Marie

 

On June 27th, 2014, the venerated Boston breakfast spot Charlie's closed its doors after 87 years in business.  It was my father's favorite restaurant.  He had been going every Saturday morning without fail for nearly a decade.  When they closed, he didn't know what to do with himself on Saturday mornings, both gastronomically and spiritually.  Charlie's was the kind of diner where the waitresses knew your order, customers sat in the same seat every time, regulars got preferential treatment (including someone to watch out for your illegally parked car), the food was unpretentious, and the coffee excellent.

To be honest, at first I didn't understand Dad's attraction to Charlie's.  He had never had a local bar that he went to, so this must have been some kind of replacement?  The customers generally sat alone, except for the tourists.  Their most famous dish was the Turkey Hash, which to me sounded more gut-busting than Scrapple.  The tables were topped with linoleum, the muffins dense and sugary, the lighting fluorescent.  The hash brown potatoes, though delicious, were fried in oil for several hours on a cast iron skillet and would make my stomach ache throughout the remainder of the day.  My Dad's favorite dish of theirs was the cheese omelet, which to their credit was light and fluffy and finished under the broiler though filled with orange American cheese.

The last day I visited Charlie's with Dad in mid-May, I think I got it.  I was watching the two brother-owners work, Chris and Arthur Manjourides, who had inherited the business from their own father.  As Chris plated an omelet, Arthur scooped a serving of hash browns down onto the plate silently and like clockwork. My pancakes took on a new meaning as I realized the sweat and toil that had gone into this place, that Arthur and Chris were simply trying to serve the people of Boston honest food in a comfortable place.  After that morning, I had thoughts of frying eggs and making Babka French Toast on Sundays for our Ninth Street customers.  Maybe someday we will get there.