Brunch at Supper

South Street's casual but upscale, farm-to-table Supper got me in the door last year with their deviled egg happy hour (so good, they still do it), and this year they got me in the door for their brunch — specifically their Southern-themed Dixie biscuit with pimento cheese, and their red velvet waffles.

What sounded like two plates right up my alley, ended up being a wrong turn. These two dishes weren't bad, but I went in there with preconceived notions of what each dish should be, and the reality did not match.
The tender, buttery cat head biscuit (named so because it's the size of a cat's head) was perfect. The scrambled egg inside the biscuit was perfect (ham was omitted), as well as the side of grits, even though, for $13, the portion was small.

But hold up. What the hell kind of pimento cheese is that? Did Supper's chef replicate oozy, fake grocery store pimento cheese made from unnatural and un-pronounceable ingredients (not saying Supper uses those ingredients, just describing a tub of Ruth's or some other such brand), instead of making thick, visibly grated, home style pimento cheese? I'm simultaneously impressed and appalled.

I'm impressed that someone made pimento cheese from real ingredients and got it to actually taste like fake pimento cheese (I actually hanker for fake pimento cheese occasionally, but know that it is a sin).

Appalled because I'm afraid pimento cheese virgins will come to Supper and leave thinking that this is how pimento cheese is supposed to look, feel, and taste — and I'm not even taking into account Supper's pimento cheese's elevated spiciness, because spicing up pimento cheese is a personal preference that is neither here nor there.

Do you care? No, you don't. You're going to find it yummy, oozy, and cheesy.
The red velvet waffles are topped with an airy, sweet, cream cheese frosting, accentuated with pecans and god-awfully-good, bourbon-soaked cherries. (Wish life was a bowl full of these cherries!) Only waffle in shape, the red velvet waffles are doughy without crispy edges, like cake batter poured in a waffle iron. I would have preferred a tried-and-true, crispy waffle recipe made red and with a bit of cocoa powder thrown in than Supper's more literal interpretation.
Been on a hush puppy kick lately, what with the Southern restaurant revival going on all over the nation, so had to give Supper's a try. Their light, crispy, fried cornmeal nuggets topped with grated Parmesan are great, and are leading the pack of the few I've recently tried in Philly (Cooperage's are misguidedly paired with sweet jam; and Catahoula's are too gritty, especially when served undercooked). I'm still waiting for someone to make hush puppies with diced onions, though, to match my hush puppy traditionalist expectations.

Supper has the creative license to make whatever they like (and it did taste good) how ever they like (that's kind of why it's fun to eat out), and if I want pimento cheese a certain way I should just make it at home (and I do), but my only real concern with this post, since most of y'all don't run into pimento cheese often, is that you trust me when I tell you that pimento cheese normally does not taste or look like what we had for brunch at Supper. That is all.

Signed,
Pimento Cheese Traditionalist

Supper
926 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-592-8180

Pimento Cheese For Grilling

This is not a post on grilled pimento cheese sandwiches (just like regular grilled cheese sandwiches, but better), but this is a post on pimento cheese made specifically to throw on top of burgers on the grill.

What's different about grilling pimento cheese than regular ol' pimento cheese? The absence of mayonnaise. You see, when mayonnaise gets heated to high temperatures it separates and gets all ookey, and that's not what you want on your grilled 'mento cheese burger.

This fabulous idea of taking out the mayonnaise and subbing cream cheese as the binder (some make regular pimento cheese with mayo and cream cheese, but I never have) came to me via Matt and Ted Lee, the cutest, receding-haired James Beard-winning cookbook authors and Southern foods purveyors from Charleston, SC.

This grilling pimento cheese has no mayonnaise, and is formed into a rectangle and chilled so it can be sliced and thrown on top of burgers on the grill, but I sneaked some slices for my lunch sandwiches and it's just as tasty cold as it is melted on the grill.

Pimento cheese is my favorite cheese (it's really more of a cheese spread), and I only know of a few people that don't like or won't try this Southern delicacy, and those people are usually mayonnaise adverse. Now, haters really don't have any excuse to not try pimento cheese.See this jar of Cento sliced pimentos? While there are many brands of jarred sweet peppers out there, I grew up aware of only this brand, and also not knowing that roasted red peppers had any purpose other than pimento cheese. I'm a little more worldly now, but this small Cento jar will always say pimento cheese to me. Feel free to use any brand of jarred roasted red pepper you like, or even roast your own.

Pimento Cheese For Grilling
makes enough for about 4-6 large sandwiches
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt and Ted Lee

8 ounces, extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces roasted red peppers, diced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon onion, grated
salt and pepper, to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. (These pictures reflect a double batch.)
Mix ingredients until incorporated. (I like to use my hands, but a spoon will work, too.)
Turn mixture out onto a clean surface, and shape into a rectangular block. Wrap pimento cheese block in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until ready to use.Cut pimento cheese block into slices, and top burgers on the grill with slices.

Pimento Cheese Happy Dance

You don't know how excited I am to see the presence of grocery store pimento cheese at the newly re-fabbed Superfresh on 5th and Pine St. in Philly! I've kept my eyes peeled for tubs of this glowing orange cheese spread for the past seven years since arriving in the area, and have yet to spy one*.

Make no mistake about it, grocery store pimento cheese** is not a thing like real pimento cheese - saying grocery store pimento cheese tastes like real pimento cheese is like saying Nacho Doritos tastes like cheese nachos - but this junk food is a guilty pleasure of mine that can now be had at any time (crossing fingers that it stays stocked), and not just when I go home to South Carolina once or twice a year.

*I can't be everywhere all the time, so let me know if you've spied pimento cheese being sold somewhere.

**Some grocery stores down South do carry real pimento cheese made by small local businesses.

Southern Beach Diet

Woo, buddy! I'm back and feelin' great. There's nothing a week-long pimento cheese and wine cleanse won't cure!

I'm doing my Charleston, SC vacation in three installments:

• Restaurant Food Porn
• Banana Pudding Smack Down
• The Most Mind-Blowingly Best Thing Ever
  

Let's start with the restaurant food porn, since it's the longest post. (Yeah, I'm making you wait for the freakin' fantastic deliciousness, because I'm afraid to tell you about it before I drop the goods into my safety deposit box.)

I ate out, on average, only about once a day, and, of course, that doesn't even scratch the surface of the good food available in and around Charleston. When not dining out, I thrived on pimento cheese sandwiches and leftover potato salad and coleslaw from the Fourth of July cookout. I ain't complainin'.

The Glass Onion, a new soul food restaurant in West Ashley, was our first stop after landing. The term soul food always gets me. To me, what people call soul food its just simple Southern food, and that's what I'd say The Glass Onion serves in their casual, order-at-the-counter restaurant.

If every bar and restaurant in Philly would add deviled eggs to their appetizer menu, I'd die and go to heaven. Of course, then I couldn't order them. At 75 cents apiece, I was tempted to order a dozen, but the two I did order were filled with perfectly tangy devilish-ness.

The Glass Onion's homemade, inch-thick, bread and butter pickles are amazing. So much so, that the counter person recommended them first when we asked for help with ordering a side.

Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich with a side of homemade pickles. Gooey from the grilling, their pimento cheese is good, but a tad salty for me. Take away a pinch of salt, add a pinch of sugar, and call it good.

Boy ordered the mustard fried catfish po-boy. Good stuff.

Out of all the places we ate, you'd find me back at the Glass Onion first. It's my style of restaurant - my comfort food done well at a reasonable price in a relaxed atmosphere.

Next up is Al di La, a Northern Italian restaurant and bar in West Ashley. It was dark inside, so I didn't take pics of the beet salad, portabello pizza, and butter bean linguine that the three of us shared. The butter bean and handmade linguine ordered without the pancetta might have been the best thing I ate the entire trip.

I did snap a picture of our toast to the butter bean -- a most amazing, creamy little bean that is difficult to find outside of the South and, apparently, the UK. The boy had some butter beans in London and is in love. We somehow forgot to smuggle a bag of butter beans on to the plane, so if anyone out there knows where butter beans are hiding in Philly, let me know.

Since the bean-lovin' boy had never heard B-52's song Butter Bean, an ode to the buttery little bean, we played it for him. He doesn't get the B-52's, but it's still great.



I had lunch on the porch of Cru Cafe in downtown Charleston because my sister mentioned that they had the best macaroni and cheese. I'm there!

The menu only has a couple of veggie options. I got the butter lettuce salad with candied pears, walnuts, Gorgonzola, and honey sherry dressing salad. I was surprised to see it all shredded and already dressed. Shredded is kind of fun, but there was too much of the dressing that didn't quite jive with the other ingredients.

A couple of days after eating Cru Cafe's four cheese mac and cheese (Fontina, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Pepper Jack), I saw their mac and cheese highlighted in an article about, I don't know, I think it was something like "The 50 Best Foodie Finds in Charleston." My verdict -- Not!

Is it good? Yes, you'll love it! My sister loves it, and she's a food snob. But this is what I call restaurant mac and cheese - a crock of baked shells (not macaroni! Cru used orecchietti) swimming in a cheese sauce (I like mine without sauce).

Next is Fleet Landing, a touristy seafood restaurant that sits on the water in downtown Charleston. Somehow, this makes my second trip to this restaurant in two years, but we went on the Fourth with a friend's family and their small children for the sole purpose of watching fireworks from the prime viewing location.

Fleet Landing does not have many veggie options, and their kitchen is not flexible. On a previous visit they refused to take an ingredient out of the dish that could have easily been taken out. This visit, they refused to deliver a bunless hot dog to one of the children, and the waiter reported that the kitchen yelled at him for asking about vegetarian accommodations. Like I said, we were there for the kids and the fireworks.

Pimento Cheese and crackers. Again, too salty.

Lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing. It's hard to mess this up. Simple and nice.

The wood in the lower left corner is the edge of our bar table at Vickery's. Nice view!

Vickery's in Mt. Pleasant is another touristy restaurant and bar, but you can't beat the view while dining! And the food is actually not that bad.

I had the fried green tomato tower. This was really good with the salty feta cheese and tangy tomato sauce with basil.

The artichoke dip, pimento cheese, and tomato and feta topped bruschetta at Vickery's were good, too. When you hear bruschetta, you don't normally think artichoke dip and pimento cheese, but if you live in the South you'll get used to these bastardizations. The pimento cheese was very mayonnaise-y.

Our last lunch was at Boulevard Diner, a Southern foods diner in Mt. Pleasant. I went for the vegetable plate of sides, but be careful! Like most Southern restaurants serving up veggies, they're often seasoned with meat. Collards and most beans (green, butter, black eye, etc.) will usually have meat in them. Our server assured me that the stewed okra and tomatoes didn't have meat, but they did!

The squash and onions were right on! (If anyone know where to get yellow crookneck squash in Philly, let me know. The straight neck yellow zucchini-like squash around here is not the same!) The fried okra was good, but I really prefer okra stewed and slimy. The coleslaw and cornbread were decent, but nothing to write home about. On the whole, classic Southern sides done well.

The boy got a grouper cake with sides of sweet mashed potatoes (awesome! should have ordered that), fried okra, and cornbread.

Cupcake in downtown Charleston makes cute cupcakes like this red velvet cupper, but they're impossible to eat. Pretty, but not functional. I suggest you peel off the wrapper, grab all of the icing with the wrapper, then slather icing on cupcake as needed. Or how about icing the cupcake traditionally so it can be eaten normally?

Up next: Banana pudding smack down!