Just The Bill, Please: Peculiar Times

I was flattered when Aubrey Williams approached me about being a contributor to Chapelboro.com. My original task was to have been to chat about food in our part of the world — to talk about restaurants perhaps, about people in the food business here, about the farmers who fuel our restaurants and, maybe the occasional recipe.

Then, suddenly, we’ve found ourselves living in the most peculiar of times. Everything is serious and everything is different. I told her, half-jokingly, that it seemed frivolous now to squabble over what kind of mayonnaise to use. But honestly, it does. Someday, maybe, if the world backs off, but not now. So please indulge me if I launch this series on a serious note.

The food scene here, of which we are all so fond, is suddenly in peril. Hundreds of people are out of work, and the suppliers and growers who served them are feeling this as well. I’ve said a million times that my colleagues were one of the best things about my career as a chef. They are people worth knowing and worth knowing about. So with your permission, I’ll start more somberly than is my custom. We can argue tomato versus vinegar later on.

People who know me know that I am a habitué of restaurant bars all over town. This is often where I eat. When I was working, I never cooked at home. I spent sixty plus hours a week in a kitchen, why in the world would I make all of that mess in my own house on my one day off? I retired a year ago, and now I like to go out even more than when I was working.

But suddenly, all of my watering holes are shut down. Different places are trying different strategies to get through this. Mostly, it’s takeout, but honestly, in most restaurants that will never make ends meet for the whole staff. Places that were already geared that way, like IP III and Neal’s Deli, have a better shot at that, but truly sit-down restaurants like Lantern and Elaine’s have already tried it and called it quits. I had some delicious barbecue that Brett Jennings was selling out of the back door of Elaine’s on Sunday, but that was their last day of takeout.

I’ve decided that the best thing I can do right now for this community is to show the public who’s doing what. For instance, there are small food stores around here that are good shopping choices for several reasons. They aren’t being mobbed, their shelves are mostly full, and like as not, your money will stay here in your community. Cliff’s Meat Market has a well-stocked meat counter, and you can also buy onions, garlic and limes. Salvador Bonilla brings fresh North Carolina seafood from Carteret County to Tom Robinson’s every Thursday. La Nueva Guadalupana has a meat counter too, as well as every kind of dried bean and pea you can imagine, rice, chilis, huge papayas and fabulous popsicles. They even had toilet paper for a while last week. Also, all of these stores have plenty of parking — not that it matters to me, since I ride a bicycle most places. I live in Chapel Hill right behind the fire station and the town hall. These are all businesses near me, but there are small shops in neighborhoods all over town. Check them out.

“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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Just The Bill, Please: Peculiar Times

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