UNDER the TABLE, SUNDAY SUPPER CLUB: a family styled dinner put on by Joeseph Jacobson, Blake Faries and Charley Scruggs for the Harvest Hope Food Bank

 

Blake Faries is a swell ol pal and charley’s homeslice. No really, he’s a cool cat. Charley and Blake get together for meals sometime and their conversations are like":

“food!”

“food?!”

“food!”

“food food food”

“mm, food, have you tried, food?”

“fancy food”

I just sit there and nod.

Then I found out that Blake was coming to do a dinner at Oak Table with Charley and the executive chef at Oak, Joe Jacobson and I said  Heeeyyy, cut me a slice of that and pretty much all out crashed the party. (by crashing I mean texting charley to see if I can cover the party). Imagine a weedy hipster in heels ducking in and out of a busy kitchen with a camera, being in everyone's way and slipping on everything possible. I mean seriously, who knew chefs are actually accomplished figure skaters?

So I kind of though I’d set up some lights on a table and dabble in the art of food photography in a corner somewhere. I lugged my lamps and cords and gear in the rain three blocks under an umbrella from the parking garage. Again….Heels, what was I thinking? Oh right, to look someone presentable….well thanks rain. I arrived a la wet-cat-chic.

Then came the food, glowing and beautiful. Straight from the window to the table. They were going to cook an extra plate so I could take pictures but they had a few extra show up = no extra plating. This ended up being really cool because I ended up more in the kitchen and I could glimpse the every fascinating sneak peak of what my spouse does at work.

………….

THIS EVENT was called “UNDER the TABLE” and it will be the first of many hosted dinners on Sunday nights.

It’s like a mystery date with food. you reserve your spot and sit family style at a huge table and prepare to be wowed. The best part, the profit goes towards the Harvest Hope who feed over 38,000 people a week. It gives the diners new chances to explore beyond the normal menu. They will be doing these each month so be sure to check out who’s the guest chef and reserve your spot. It’s $50 dollars for a HEAP load of food and you can  bring your own wine and beer.

Here’s the news promo they did last week to promote the dinner:

wltx news report: Oak-Table-Goes-Under-The-Table-for-Harvest-Hope

Joseph Jacobson, the executive chef at oak, is really great about cutting food waste and keeping a tight kitchen. I‘ve never been in a commercial kitchen so organized and clean. He uses pigs raised from local farmers in SC and uses almost every part. Skin goes to pork rinds, bones for stock, sausage, tongue…everything is artfully incorporated.

This dinner started with the pig and ended with the pig (until dessert that is).

COURSE ONE: There was a charcuterie board put together by Chef Parker Hennington that included pork rillettes, head cheese, chicken liver pate parfait, pate de campagne, house-smoked bacon, Tanglewood Farms duck proscuitto, chicharones, assorted seasonal pickles and mustards.

COURSE TWO: Chef Blake put out Tuna Crudo with blood orange fennel salad, blood orange gel, City Roots microgreens, lemon pressed extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

COURSE THREE: Next Blake did a manchester farm’s quail roulade with pickled ramps, red win jus and City Roots microgreens

COURSE FOUR: Joe brined two whole pigs for over a week. Slow roasted them overnight and presented them in a pan with fresh rosemary and herbs. The drippings were made into a bourbon sauce and the whole thing was set on the table for people to serve family style.  It was served with grilled vegetables and fingerling potatoes.

 

      

COURSE FIVE : was by the cutest chef, sir Charley. It was a dessert celebrating lemon and had six different components. It was lined up on the plate so you could sample individually but all together they were like an abstract lemon meringue pie. There were samplings of fresh lemon curd, citron yogurt, lemon caviar, preserved Meyer lemon, Galliano sorbet, lemon essence foam and a salted rye cracker.

COURSE SIX:  Charley’s second dessert was foie gras “debbies” ….yeah those things we used to trade for from our lunch box, but classy and with a deep chocolate richness. He put a little honey roasted  peanut puree on the plate and some salted  peanut powder and finished it with a Cromer’s boiled peanut. You get the whole salty/sweet experience.

    

By the way, did  you know that the walk- in cooler is not for keeping your food cold? It’s for 6+ chefs to relax with a beer after a long night in 41 degrees. I went back into the kitchen at the end and was like “ where did everyone go!?” …..the cooler.