Virtuoso Life - September/October 2011 - (Page 124)
Charleston’s husk. artful veggies at town house. John ShieldS and Karen Urie ShieldS Town House 132 E. Main Street, Chilhowie, Virginia; 276/646-8787; www.townhouseva.com north Carolina’s outer Banks. Smack in the middle of Nowhere, Virginia, Town House attracts culinary-minded nomads. After working together at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, the Shieldses relocated to tiny Chilhowie, where they craft forward-thinking cooking with local ingredients. up to D.C. because its food scene has really grown up in the past ten years.” Culinary philosophy: K. Shields: “Seasonality. If strawberries are the most delicious thing at the market now, why would you buy blueberries? As a chef, all you have to do is be creative and bring out the flavor of what you are doing with ingredients.” Favorite restaurants: J. Shields: “I love everything that chef Sean Brock does at Husk in Charleston.” (76 Queen Street, Charleston, South Carolina; 843/577-2500; www.huskrestaurant.com) “New York’s Meatball Shop is also awesome. It’s more casual and less of a five-star dining experience.” (84 Stanton Street, New York; 212/982-8895; www. themeatballshop.com) What to order: Preserved cucumber with almonds, pickled rose petals, and spinach mousse; oyster soup with buttermilk, grapefruit, and lemon verbena. Why ChilhoWie? J. Shields: “Here, we are closer to food. Either we grow it, or local farmers grow it. We have a garden out back, and we go foraging as well. We do our own preserves so during the winter we have product as well.” Favorite vaCation destination: K. Shields: “We tend to go to Charleston, South Carolina. We also shoot Bryan Voltaggio VolT ResTauRanT 228 N. Market Street, Frederick, Maryland; 301/696-8658; www.voltrestaurant.com This Top Chef star and culinary wunderkind (he and his brother Michael were both finalists in season 6; Michael won) turns modern, seasonally driven American cooking on its head. Classically trained, Voltaggio spent nine years working with chef Charlie Palmer of Aureole fame before setting out on his own in his native Frederick, Maryland. Volt’s two dining rooms offer either à la carte or What to order: Shiitake velouté with pine nut sabayon, chili oil, and opal basil; pork head cheese with green strawberries, ramps, garlic shoots, and pickling spice vinaigrette; halibut with asparagus, Maryland blue crab risotto, and yuzu air. 1 24 VIRTUOSO LIFE (HUSK) PETER FRanK EdwaRdS/THE nEw YORK TImES, (OUTER BanKS) GaRY CaRTER/CORBIS tasting menus. Request table 21, the chef’s table plunked down in the kitchen.
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