Our New Pasta Maestro

  This is Josephine Gordon, mastering her pappardelle skills, and testing the recipe, under 'Zen Ken,' our fearless leader.  Toss this with some buffalo bolognese, organic baby spinach, Italian marinated olives, shaved pecorino toscano, and toasted pine nuts.  This was a great dish.  Simple sells.  Nice work little chef!  

The Coolest . . . .

piece of service ware I have ever used in a kitchen!  I love the fact that our customers are comfortable bringing things in, like surfboards, and asking us to present a birthday dessert on them!  I enjoy nothing more than giving someone flavors that they have never experienced and I also get really excited when someone brings a surfboard into the kitchen for me to serve food on!  This was a 'longboard.'  The picture doesn't give a very good perspective of the size.  

Local Chef Challenge

  Jimmy Crippen, owner of Crippen's Country Inn & Restaurant, is organizing and hosting a local chef challenge called 'Fire On The Rock' through the month of March.  There will be sixteen teams of three preparing three courses each every Tuesday and Wednesday until April.  The final competitions will be held April 17th & 18th.  This competition began a few years back as a Blowing Rock event.  It has now grown to include Boone, & Banner Elk.  There are talks of eventually doing regional competition and having a state competition.  The event is part of the Blue Ridge Wine Festival and sponsored by the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.  Tickets are available through the 'Fire On The Rock' link.  This is a great opportunity to experience the culinary creativity of The High Country!