Food Town

[quiet electronica] - [Ricky] You got a community of restaurateurs and chefs and cooks, man, that really wanna take care of the people.

- [Woman] It's a business of pleasure, whether it's scent or taste or memory.

- [Scott] Your restaurant is your life.

I mean, I've seen families grow here, kids born here.

- [Gray] What we're really doing, it's about being part of the fabric of this town that we've chosen to live in.

[quiet electronica] [door clanking] - [Phoebe] Good morning.

- [Baker] Good morning.

- What time did you get here?

- [Baker] 10, right at 10.

- Yeah.

You pulled, and did you bench immediately?

- I benched them for half an hour, and then they warmed up too much.

They were moving faster than I could bake them.

- Yeah, and then the pear rhubarb croissants?

You've done them all?

- Ah, I have the-- - I can do those.

- [Woman] Oh, okay, or just the crostatas?

- Whatever you want me to do.

- I'll do the paste.

- Okay.

It's never pleasant, I don't think, for anybody to set an alarm for 1:30.

Do we have any pears in the walk-in or are they all out?

I usually have about three hours of sleep.

The first hour is hell.

Yeah, they're getting softish.

I mean, they're just gonna ripen really quickly.

Perfectly ripe d'Anjou pears, and my favorite kitchen knife that the rest of the kitchen makes fun of me for that because it's a really crappy knife.

- Phoebe, I don't see walnuts.

- I know we have walnuts.

- [Baker] Okay.

Because they're labeled "deez nuts" and not walnuts.

- [Phoebe] I, yeah.

[Baker laughs] I can tell this is good pastry, how stiff it is.

It's pliant, but it doesn't give like a yeast dough.

It has a mottled appearance where I can see actual butter flecks.

Once you're in the thick of your day you're just, you're rolling, you're really, really rolling.

[quiet Americana music] I had so little of a plan.

I just thought I'm gonna set it up so people can come and sit down and order a coffee and order a sweet and then leave.

Sold first through a community-supported pie program.

Then I sold at farmers' markets and then opened the shop in 2010.

I think we should sell about a half dozen, maybe.

What drew me to baking initially was I had been a line cook, and I hated it.

Hated being the only woman in the kitchen.

So when I had an opportunity to move over to baking, it clicked.

It's a business of pleasure, whether it's scent or taste or memory.

You know, a lot of baking is constantly battling memory.

I never claim to make a better lemon chess pie than someone's grandmother.

[birds singing] [door squeaks] - [Ricky] Didn't sleep, you know.

A little anxiety.

Thoughts come here and there.

Ebbs and flows, in and out.

Being still in the moment to focus for, you know, whatever's to come.

- [Woman] Hunter, your lunch is ready.

- [Ricky] Saltbox was basically trying to answer a question that my wife asked me.

Alright babe, take it easy, I love you.

Have a good day.

- [Child] Bye, Mommy.

- Take it easy, love you.

Take it easy, bye bye.

"Hey babe, where can I get a good fried fish sandwich?"

Bye bye son, have a good day man, I love you man.

Ciao baby.

I couldn't tell her where to get a good fried fish sandwich.

[motor hums] When I opened up Saltbox over on Mangum Street, in Little Five Points, Durham was on the verge of transitioning.

You know, I've seen that happen; I've seen that sort of evolution in a city or small town.

All of a sudden you know, it's this way and then it starts transitioning.

Durham was healthy, so I felt comfortable.

I felt like okay cool, this makes sense to me.

So James over here at the whole tilefish, ringtail porgies, whole black bass; we'll see what they bring.

- Word.

We doing the bass whole today?

- No, too big; the whole fish gonna be croaker.

Yeah, croakers ain't no jokers.

[laughs] - I think it need a little more vinegar, I'm not sure.

- Um, yeah vinegar okay but more salt and pepper on that.

- [James] More salt, okay.

- Yeah that's all right.

- Okay.

- [Ricky] All right now.

I believe a lot of chefs would tell you the same thing, they like things that are simply done.

We're so easily, very impressed by somebody who is doing something more avant garde and over the top.

For me that's fakery.

[synth drones] [birds sing] [traffic rumbles] [synth resonates] - [Michael] When you walk down the rubble street, you don't see the restaurant; it's at a declined angle.

You see the first window, a very small sign of something going on.

And then you see the second window as you pass by, which is a little bit bigger; it's a gradual movement.

And when you get to the next one, you notice that it's actually a restaurant.

A small unassuming wood sign with simply the letter M. To be honest and frank, I didn't know anything much about Durham at all.

I walked around in the vicinity, and ate at the restaurants.

And I noticed that they're all good.

I was literally walking in, eating like eight meals a day.

They were just all good.

- [James] Yeah, there's them pulling in now.

- [Ricky] 250 to 300 pounds of fish a week.

- [Delivery Guy] Good morning.

- [Ricky] Hey buddy, you doing okay?

- [Delivery Guy] Not too bad, how about you?

- [Ricky] Fresh fish, it smells of nothing, and the gills are bright, and their eyes are clear.

- [James] Bam!

[laughs] - [Delivery Guy] Croakers.

- [Ricky] It's a high dollar product here, man.

It's not like chicken and pork and ground beef.

I'm constantly trying to master my ability to get the most out of it.

[sharpener scraping] [motor humming] - [Michael] If one chooses to find and acquire good ingredients-- - [Man] Hi Mike, how you doing?

- [Michael] They can do that.

It costs more, yes.

That's the thing you do have to pay a lot more for it.

Overnight deliveries, you know, they don't come cheap or free.

[laughs] - [Ricky] Where can I put my knife in it to make sure I get all the meat off?

I'm thinking about how clean I'm working.

- [Michael] Each cut of fish has different textures, different amount of sinew.

All your body's in synch when you're cutting the fish, just the action of knife flowing, being able to use as much of the blade as possible with less force; it's a fluid movement.

- [Ricky] That's when you use a small boning knife that's flexible, because the idea is that you have to hit those bones with the tip of the knife, clear path of thought, right?

I've got to get to that point.

Creative people are always sporadic, man.

Like I said fragmented, you know, choppy.

You're everywhere, and nowhere sometimes.

We try to get to a place where we can like, float.

[quiet digital music] - A double cappuccino to go.

- To go, sure.

- [Gray] Yeah, thanks.

- They're pretty good.

- Cool, thank you so much.

What was happening here both with restaurants and farms, it was just really starting to kind of blow up a little bit, but in a very homegrown way.

At the time it was not that expensive to get in the business so we said if we're going to do this ever, this is the time.

Got in a little Honda Fit as myself, my eight months pregnant wife and our two cats and drove across the country and opened Toro.

It is nice if you can pick those up and mix them in there.

Your Saracene olives, actually that's Kaesi olives, bad idea, let's go a different route.

Spicy mustard flowers, radicchio, anchovies.

It's a pretty classic combination, radicchio and anchovy anyway, and then the mustard flower will just give it this little kick.

The flowers are really pretty, so make sure you get some of those on top, okay?

That's it; show it to these guys.

- [Cara] Hey Keller can I see you out here?

Go over the special salad.

- So you guys, Jack, we've got a special salad today.

It's radicchio Castelvetrano with, so basically the tips from the flowering shoots from the mustard greens.

George provided us all those from his farm.

Like most of our stuff at Toro, it's super simple.

Calabrian chiles and anchovy vinegarette.

If we have a philosophy about food at all, it's sort of-- Dig in.

Get the, out of the way.

We feel like the ingredients are so fantastic.

We don't want want to show ourselves on the plate.

Let's go a little heavier on the mustard flowers on that.

- A little heavier?

- Yeah, a little more flower.

[synth drones] [traffic rustles] [arpeggiator throbs] - [Kelli] I'd say the first two years every time we hit a slow week, I would just panic.

Like oh that's it, everyone's sick of sandwiches; they don't like us anymore.

[wheels crackle and click] - [Phoebe] Hungry?

- [Friend] Yeah, a little bit.

- Are you going to get food today?

What do you think of, today?

- Probably one of the specials.

- [Kelli] Each day of service is different, because I'm dealing with people, so people make it unique.

[laughs] - It's good, right?

- It's definitely herby, like actually-- - But yeah it's like this whole fear of being there by myself on stage, what do I do?

And so you leave that space empty.

- Thank you very much, we'll bring it right out.

Hello!

I immediately try to make eye contact and smile.

Good to see you.

[giggles] - Good to see you.

Um, twin swears by what she calls a tomato-based rotini soup.

- Yes.

- So you're constantly moving back and forth, in the dance.

[patrons talking] - [Server] The sausage is really good.

- [Diner] Which one?

- [Server] The rotini, it's an Italian sausage.

- Is it hot?

Don't burn your tongue.

- [Girl] I'm not.

- Would you like a copy of your receipt today?

- [Customer] Um, no I don't-- - [Kelli] I really do want to build a miniature relationship while they're at the counter with me.

- I'm going to do the crostini and the salad.

- [Kelli] Okay you got it.

It's always wonderful having new people, but the regulars are where it's at for me personally; it just makes my day.

Hi, how are you.

Hi Kala, good to see you!

- [Billy] We met at Pop's not long after it opened; it had only been open for a few years.

I was at that point sous chef; she was hired as a server.

She had a boyfriend, so that made it kinda hard.

Yeah I think we hit it off pretty immediately.

- [Kelli] It's pretty much most of our adult life, has been spent together, married.

- [Victoria] How are you?

- I'm doing great, how are you today Victoria?

It's so nice to see you.

[laughs] - [Victoria] You too.

Crostini and salad.

- [Kelli] He's the creative side, so when you're going through a creative process, you need to sound that off of somebody who has more of a reality-based side, who can say why that won't work.

- [Billy] I'll sulk for a second, and then I just get another idea.

[laughs] - It has both of those ingredients in it, a texture, but it's like a smooth potato soup, but the flavor is like bright lemon-- And I think if we didn't work together we wouldn't see each other, [laughs] and that would be bad for our marriage.

[slow Americana music] - [Billy] I don't want to talk to all those people.

- [Kelli] I don't want to make all that food.

[water running] [machine humming] - [James] How we doin', how we doin'?

- What's going on, y'all got shrimp today?

- Redskins win one game, you come up here all confident.

- [Patron] Come on, now.

Let me get the shrimp plate.

- [Ricky] At the end of the day, if you're in the restaurant business, and you're serving food to customers, it's their food, not your food.

- I'll tell you, I'm James, and this is Chef Ricky okay?

- [Ricky] Hi greetings, how are you?

- [James] I can do a quick one of those-- - [Ricky] I can say this is my house, you know.

So when people come in here I want them to feel good.

Doing all right, man?

- Yeah I'm good man, how about you?

- [Ricky] Good.

- [Patron] Enjoy your birthday?

- Yes I did; yeah it was raining real hard though.

- [Patron] Yeah, that's all right.

- It's all good.

And there's a lot of restaurants that are like that, see that's the thing.

You've got a community of restaurateurs, and chefs and cooks man, that really want to take care of the people.

And I believe that.

I've got two more left.

- Two more?

Okay I have exactly two orders on the catfish.

[synth arpeggiates slowly] [traffic hisses] [patrons and staff talking] - I'll come back for that.

- [Cook] Okay.

- [Waiter] Going to have to move that to set it down.

- Come here baby, come here, come here.

- Thanks, thank you.

It's a lot different now than it was five years ago.

You know five years ago we just had Toro.

[cellist sawing] And now we have Toro and Littler, and are working on building out The Jack Tar.

We will have created a couple of places that are going to outlast us.

We've got seven different versions of it?

- [Staffer] We've got six.

- Six?

- [Cook] First, second, third, fourth.

- [Gray] We're working on our grind mix for the diner.

I think 500, we'd get more of a-- [grill sizzles] When you're building a dish, especially a dish that's going to be like, on your menu for the next however many decades-- - [Cook] I mean, they're definitely better than the straight chuck.

- [Gray] You know, I think it's important to pretty much get it perfect.

Now let's try, just for kicks, 50% chuck, 20 short rib, 20 brisket, 10 fat.

- 20% short rib, 10% fat.

- Yeah, 10% beef fat.

There it is; there's our secret formula on film, perfect.

[synth resonates] - Any changes, or do you get any of that tile fish, or-- - No.

On the risotto, we'll go through 'em.

- Oh you use it on the risotto now.

- [Chef] Right, it was on the risotto and I switched back to that wild mushroom mix.

- [Scott] Well let's go take a look at it.

- Yeah, she's got some on her station.

- Turn it down.

Listen to it.

If you start seeing it boiling, you've got to turn it down.

A lot of chefs have come outta here.

You've got your venison bones with your veal stock on that, right?

It looks good.

You know after 25 years, letting go is a hard thing to do for someone with an ego that thinks that it only runs if he's there.

- I've got plenty of all of that.

[Scott laughs] All right Waffo, are you set?

Veal stock tonight?

Half the wine industry has worked for me.

We could almost get the marrow out of those bones, some of those bones anyway.

And the other half of the restaurant industry here has worked for me.

- What are you talking about, the ice cream or the peach?

- [Scott] The ice cream.

- Oh okay.

- [Scott] I know the ice cream's supposed to be-- And the main thing that I've told those guys over the years is it wasn't a privilege for people to come into your restaurant, it was a privilege for you to have people to come into your restaurant.

- Okay.

- [Scott] And I think we need some acidity in there for sure.

What is this, Audrey?

- It's elderflower syrup.

- [Scott] Is it a liqueur?

- No.

- [Scott] When did we start getting that?

- [Audrey] It just came in.

- [Server] You don't much, a half ounce at the most.

- [Audrey] Yeah it's just not bigger.

- Did you try it?

- [Audrey] No not yet, but I know what it tastes like.

- Okay.

That's going in a steak right now?

- [Audrey] That's going in a steak.

[electronic music] [synth hums slowly] - You like that English mule, I know that.

That ginger and turmeric syrup from a farm.

- I want that.

- Cheers, sir.

- Thank you, sir.

- [Man] I appreciate that, thank you.

- [Scott] It's really beneficial for us to eat in our restaurants.

Because we can look at the room and see how things are going.

They're my sales force; they're not my waiters.

Thank you sir.

- You're very welcome.

- [Scott] A lot there.

[laughs] - Okay so we have house-cured bacon.

This is a Cabrie, which is goat milk brie cheese.

We have the candied pecans, whole grain mustard, salami, crostini.

- [Scott] It's like I say to a lot of people, the fact of the matter is, you're coming here from four o'clock to 10 o'clock; you can't do anything about what's going on outside.

So focus on what's going on inside, here.

I mean use it as an escape if you even need to.

- [Audrey] Did you enjoy the mussels?

[slow Americana music] [grill sizzles] - [Gray] I think in the restaurant business, once you feel like you're good enough, then you're dead in the water.

We're good, but we can get better, and any time you can get better you should get better.

I'm not even really about the plate of food; it's about the experience.

So it's the food, the service; it's the room, the space.

The point isn't really how delicious it is; the point is, you make someone's night better.

- All right, are we ready to order over here?

- [Woman] I think so.

- You think so?

All right, what can I get for you guys?

- I'm going to get the M Special.

- The M Special, all right.

And then for you sir?

- [Man] The futomaki.

- [Waitress] Got it got it.

Anything else?

- Sushi by nature is very simple, very basic thing.

Two light omakases; that's wasabi and ginger.

Pay attention to all the small details.

Yellowtail, bigeye tuna from Hawaii, and salmon.

Not just with the food but the way it's presented and how it's presented.

[organ resonating] Many people haven't been introduced to so many dishes, being able to understand each specific ingredient, where it comes from, and why it's special, and those are the fun things.

There's always learning.

[patrons talking] All right folks, sorry about the wait.

Your negi sushis.

From your left to right, you have Japanese seaweed, madai, and then the second one is alfansino.

You see them checking every detail out: is the rice too tightly packed or what is the form like?

And they put it into their mouth and without even trying to they get a little, nice smile on their face.

It's really a special moment, that first bite.

[slow Americana music] [patrons talking] [arpeggiator warbles] - [Man] When did you move back here?

Because I know Toro obviously was-- - We jumped in car, literally eight months pregnant.

- Yeah, oh wow.

- And drove across country.

Opened Toro a year later, so I know how old Toro is based on how old my child is.

- [Gray] You know, when you think about it, it takes two to three years to open a restaurant.

But honestly, not as brilliant as this.

- [Woman] So Cole is actually wearing skinny jeans.

- [Gray] No no no, it's Levi's 514s.

You know, and then another couple of years to really get it on its feet and stabilized.

- You're showing people that?

Wait till you see this.

- [Woman] Oh we saw it.

- Unbelievable.

Hey Dennis.

- [Gray] So it's like we're about to have a third restaurant and by the time you open three restaurants and they're all solid and rolling, that's 15 years, that's most of that kid's home life.

You've got to decide what track do you want to be on?

Did you want to have a shot at winning a James Beard Award?

Or do you want to spend time with your kid?

And for me it's an easy choice.

[fireworks popping] - [Scott] I've got some loyal people over the years.

Worked for 10, 12 years for me.

That's not normal.

Not in this business.

I mean I've seen families grow here.

[Stratocaster chiming] Kids born here.

Your restaurant is your life; if you're into the restaurant business, it is your life.

- [Gray] We're out.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- Thank you.

- [Cara] Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Bye guys.

- [Gray] To me what we're really doing is we'll have created over 100 really good living-wage jobs in Durham.

I'm more proud of that than I am of anything that we do, being part of the fabric of this town that we've chosen to live in.

[slow Americana music]