It’s August. Does anyone else feel like we’re perched on the proverbial razor’s edge again? At least, we’ve had to learn flexibility during all this. Masks are back pretty much everywhere I go. I’ve already had one regular meeting return to Zoom. The Cat’s Cradle and The Haw River Ballroom are both now requiring proof of vaccination for entry. Students are piling back into town and we think about what happened this time last year as we await our orders from health officials.
Happily, we are not in one of those places where the weather has gone completely haywire, so we are having a really glorious growing season. Good tomatoes have persisted much longer than usual. It’s a crazy year for flowers. I’ve had excellent luck choosing cantaloupes. And a few days ago, I rode my bike around downtown and found absolute bounties of figs, peaches, grapes, pomegranates, still green persimmons and pecans growing by the roadside. I’m not telling where, but some of these are at places where it’s ok to help yourself.
Our restaurants soldier on, tweaking as they go. The Root Cellar has begun expanding their menu back. Omelets have returned, as has their lunch offerings. Lantern has discontinued take-out and disposable dishes, but still isn’t serving inside. They occasionally surprise us with things like doughnut pop ups too. Mercato began asking for vax cards and got a picket line for their efforts. Happily, around here, that made them seem heroic, and people made a point of going there for dinner. May I recommend the Pizza Margherita? Last winter we had good citizens huddling around sidewalk braziers in front of places like The Carolina Brewery. Now, as people are getting skittish again about being inside, they are looking for dinner in restaurants like La Résidence, Tandem and Aki Hana that have big, shaded outdoor dining areas, hopefully with fans.
Probably the biggest news comes with your check. Places all over the Triangle are getting rid of tipping in an attempt to meet living wage standards. There are a couple of different approaches being tried. Lantern and Acme simply add it on. Glasshalfull raised their prices to accommodate higher wages. This has been tried before around the country without success but it feels like this time, it may take hold. So many popular place acting in concert and people have gotten used to the fact that nothing is the same anymore.
Apropos of the agriculture and of the weather, I offer this all but effortless recipe:
Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes
With possible the exception of sliding shishito peppers into the toaster oven, this is the absolute easiest of summer recipes. It’s perfect for this time of year and this kind of heat. And if you are clever, you can keep it to one pot.
I’m all over the place when it comes to pasta. I have made it from scratch, but I frankly can’t imagine doing that at home for one person. For a while I was a spaghetti partisan. I love eating cold spaghetti while standing in front of the open refrigerator. Lately, I’ve been won over by radiators, or “radiatores.” They are fat, convoluted and hold sauce well. And quite good cold as well.
Serves 4
- 5 cups cooked pasta of choice
- 3 medium to large ripe summer tomatoes
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- (1 thinly sliced scallion and grated parm, if you like)
I like to make this a one pot meal, so I boil water and cook the pasta in the same pot that I will finish the dish in. While the pasta is draining in the sink, I cut the tomatoes into large dice. You don’t need to seed or peel them. I merely discard the stem. Put the butter in the probably still hot pasta pot and put it on medium heat. When it’s bubbly, but not brown, add the tomatoes.
Turn the heat up a tiny bit and cook until the tomatoes begin to juice, maybe three minutes. Run hot water over the pasta, shake it and add it to the tomatoes. Turn the heat up a little more and cook just until it begins to bubble a little around the sides.
Add salt and pepper and serve. Put the scallions and parmesan on top, if you like (I keep changing my mind about this).
“Just The Bill, Please” is a regular column on Chapelboro.com penned by local culinary legend Bill Smith. Born and raised in New Bern, Bill Smith spent 25 years heading up the kitchen in Crook’s Corner — and over the years, he accumulated the accolades to match his incomparable takes on classic Southern food.
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