Buttermilk Road: Menus and Memories

Remembering my sweet pop-up eleven years after it all began

Photo courtesy of Heidi Ross / 2012

Each plastic bin containing all of my vintage plate ware weighed approximately seventy five pounds. There were about seven of them. The plates (and bowls, and b&b’s, and mugs) contained within them were found in mint condition in their still unopened bat shit and bird shit covered boxes from their original 1950’s manufacturers. Back all those years ago before the yoots discovered all the cool stuff and put it on IG (“get off my lawn!”) you could still find really good, undiscovered treasures in a random, nearly abandoned warehouses masquerading as “wholesale products” in places like Chattanooga. This particular one was run by a one eyed man and his dog. He’d lost the eye in a pony, not horse, riding accident. He was definitely on opiates. The warehouse was also definitely where he lived, with the bats and the birds. I only knew about it from my friend who was born and raised in Chattanooga. It was 2011, I had a crazy idea for a “movable restaurant” (they soon became called Pop-Ups, a better name probably) and she said she knew exactly where I could find my dishes. That dark and dank warehouse had boxes upon boxes from floor to ceiling. We spent almost five hours opening and sorting through as many as we could, with no gloves or masks (youth is such a beautifully idiotic thing) and we left with over twenty boxes of vintage plates, bowls and side plates and mugs, all perfectly patterned and sturdy as hell from the mid-twentieth century diner aesthetic, for a literal steal.

After about two dozen washings out in the yard with the hose (the bird shit was also vintage) they became the centerpieces of Buttermilk Road and all its iterations.

Our catch phrase became “Bringing People Together One Biscuit at a Time” and our motivation was to turn traditional restaurant dining upside down - bring the family meal to a whole city. Sharing a bowl of food and a bottle of wine (or whiskey, as the case sometimes was) with someone you aren’t related to might be unnerving for some, but that was the general idea. Wanna get to know people in your town? Ask them to pass the radishes.

From a very early point in my career, I was tired of most of the austerity and ego drive that a lot of kitchens seem so hell bent on. Plus, I was anything but a safe bet for banks to write a big restaurant loan to in order to build my own - two kids on my hip, not an asset to my name, no rich family member to step in and buy me a lifestyle. So, this was really my only option. I borrowed other people’s places and made them my own for a night. This was some serious scratch life building stuff. But I sure excel at making a nice something from a bucket full of nothing, and this was a time when the Nashville credo was “a rising tide lifts all boats”, so it was ok by me.

When I think about my trajectory in food, specifically in the arena of serving it to others, I feel most proud of how Buttermilk Road came to be and how it grew - or maybe I should say, how I grew during the course of its six year run. And, it’s not at all shocking to me that I still run “moveable restaurants”. I don’t tote my two ton vintage service ware with me anymore, and most of them happen in France, but this impermanence seems to be part of my shtick. Which makes it all so much more fun (and important) to remember how good and fun and important it was to who I am as a cook.

Menu memory lane, for a cook like me anyway, is like looking at photos of your kids when they were little. You know exactly how they have grown.

Here’s a peek at my first menu ever for Buttermilk Road:

This menu has been inspired by some of my favorite people – each course has something that I’ve learned from one of my chefs, one of my friends or one of my family members. As I begin this endeavor, it is important to me to pay homage to what I’ve learned and whom I’ve learned it from. Being an inspired cook, or an inspired ANYTHING, brings everyone around to their own strengths and style. I have a very strong sense of who I am in the kitchen and I give full credit to the fact that I have worked with some of the best – be it James Beard nominated chefs or my great-aunt in Virginia.

Sunday, July 8th Menu

Appetizers and a Cocktail:

Mason Jar Mint Juleps, Sumac Spiced Kettle Corn, Farm Fresh Deviled Eggs with Chow-Chow and Benton’s Bacon, Spicy Boiled Peanuts, Pickled Gulf Shrimp

First Course:

Spinach Salad with Kenny’s Farm Blue Cheese, Roasted Leek and Warm Benton’s Bacon Vinaigrette

Second Course:

Grilled Clanton, Alabama Peach and Homemade Ricotta Pizzette with Wild Rocket

Third Course:

Braised Avalon Acres Chicken and Summer Vegetable Pot Pie over Carolina Gold Buttered Rice

to be served with a selection of Yeast Rolls, Cast Iron Buttermilk Biscuits and homemade preserves

Fourth Course:

Cantaloupe Sorbet with Watermelon Granita garnished with Maldon Sea Salt

Family Style Cookie Plates to Share

Drew’s Brews Coffee and Aperitif (TBD)

A later menu in 2012 - this was our vegetarian evening. All of our menus were hand written or printed by a local printmaker.

The menus became such a wonderful exploration for me - all of them some tug at a memory or a person I love. Most of them celebrated the South or New Orleans (in the south, but to my mind, it’s own category) and I started to feel clearer about the kind of service and experiences I wanted to provide. More food, more revelry, more fun, more reasons to stay and engage and be in the moment of the evening.

September 2nd, 2012

(Wine pairings option courtesy of Robin Ridell)

Appetizers and Cocktails:

Bourbon and Fresh Ginger Beer Soda with Peach Swizzle

Pimento Cheese, Summer Ham and Pickled Shallot Crostini

Pulled Pork Gougeres w. Spicy BBQ Sauce and Local Cabbage Slaw

Edna Lewis’ Cheese Straws

Spicy Boiled Peanuts

First Course:

Lemon, Salt and Olive Oil Rubbed Kale Salad 

with Savory Benne Cracker Bits, Grated Kenny’s Farmhouse Norwood Cheese and Pickled Peaches

Second Course:

Roasted Avalon Acres Quarter Chicken

with Creamed Fennel, Leek and Red Potatoes

Sides for the Table to Share:

Lisa’s Biscuits and Yeast Rolls

Sour Milk Cast Iron Corn Bread

Roasted Local Okra

Skillet Charred and Buttered Corn w. Tarragon and Shallots

Lady Pea and Lima Bean Salad

Refrigerator Pickled Cucumber with Vidalia Onion 

Third Course:

Drew’s Brews Coffee Service

Cornmeal Buttermilk Custard Cake with Vanilla Roasted Cherries and Cream

Our brilliant wine director and dear friend Robin Riddell-Jones / Buttermilk Road at BurgerUp / Photo Courtesy of Heidi Ross

Midstream I was gaining confidence to talk about food that was not in the Southern cannon, but also in my family history. I’ve shied away from talking about my mother’s Mexican and Indigenous family, because I’m obviously a white woman in this world and there are so many other cooks out there who grew up in the culture in a way I, sadly, did not. But I was finding my stride right around the time I asked Teresa Mason if I could borrow Mas Tacos for a night. This felt like a perfect place not only to explore my family, but to also study some cuisine that had nothing to do with my french technique practice or the south. as most people were experiencing it at the time. I started in Mexico with my Nana’s recipes and worked my way down Central and South America finding beautiful dishes I wanted to learn.

Red Snapper for the Tapado / Buttermilk Road at Mas Tacos Por Favor / Photo courtesy of Gina Binkley

Buttermilk Road Sunday Supper at Mas Tacos Por Favor

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

Cocktails and Beverages:

Agua de Jamaica / hibiscus flower tea

Margarita de Pina y Nopal / Pineapple and Cactus Margarita

Caipirinha Punch / Brazilian Cocktail w. Cachaca, Lime and Sugar

Appetizers:

Pepitas Enchiladas / Chili Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Esquite:

Warm Mexican Street Corn Salad

Pupusas con Queso y Chiccaron con Curtido / Salvadorian Street Pies with Cheese, Crispy Pork Belly and Cabbage Salad

Acaraje con Vatapa y Caruru / Brazilian Black Bean Fritter Stuffed with Sprimp, Hot Chili Paste and Green Tomato Salad

First Course

Garnachas con Mi Abuelita’s Canitas con Chile Verde y Ensalata de Aguacate / Mexican Fried Masa Tortilla with My Nana’s Green Chili Pork and Avocado Salad

Second Course:

Guatemalan Garifuno Tapado / Traditional Guatemalan Seafood Stew w. Coconut Milk Broth

Third Course:

Coffee Service

Cajeta Ice Cream with Spiced Pepita Brittle

Buttermilk road at Mas Tacos Por Favor / Photo courtesy of Gina Binkley

Me and the crew eventually made it up to New York, taught some baking classes, threw a big NYC Buttermilk Road Sunday Supper and had a ball.

Many more iterations were to be had: partnerships with friends to promote their new books, fundraisers at Arnold’s where we poured heavy and passed the literal collection basket to raise money, and, as a capstone, had a very special night cooking at the Catbird Seat in Nashville.

I’m spending some time today remembering the things I’m proud of and this is top on the list. We live in a time when everyone’s attention span is so fleeting, mine more than anyone’s. And, you know, life keeps moving and you don’t really get the benefit of reflection unless you really set an intention around it.

This week I am writing prep lists and pack sheets and product purchases for my retreats in France coming up next month and, honestly, I’m having a stupefying moment of glee at the kind of work I have built for myself - despite the troubles, the lack of assets, the constant pivoting to make it all work.

Not for nothing, not a single thing in my life went according to plan.

Yet it’s all going more beautifully than I ever could have imagined.

Love, L