Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i Garden & Gun

EDITOR’S LETTER My Charleston MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE IN ONE OF THE SOUTH’S FAVORITE TOWNS DAVID DIBENEDETTO Senior Vice President & Editor in Chief By Charleston standards, I’m a newbie, especially when you consider the city was founded 350 years ago. I moved here from Manhattan a mere twelve years ago to join Garden & Gun shortly after its launch. The Lowcountry was not a foreign landscape to me, as I had grown up two hours south in Savannah, and its coastal environs had long beckoned me back. My landing couldn’t have been softer. My wife, Jenny, and I rented a carriage house that had been built in 1785, and on our first morning, we sat in the tiny courtyard and drank mimosas as the downtown church bells rang,…

JUBILEE South by South America AREPAS MEET CRAWFISH, AND VENEZUELA MEETS CAJUN COUNTRY AT PATACÓN BY JOHN T. EDGE PHOTOGRAPHS BY DENNY CULBERT Illustration by Michael Spitz We make arepas like they make in the city of Maracaibo,” Elimar Mendoza says, referring to the Venezuelan port and oil center. A college student, Mendoza works the counter and makes tres leches cake at Patacón Latin Cuisine, a Venezuelan restaurant on the fringe of downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. Across from a pizza joint, down from a kickboxing studio, Patacón does business in a corrugated tin box of a building that once housed a plumbing supply company. “These are not Colombian; they put cheese in their dough,” Mendoza tells me, with what might be a slight frown. “These taste like home.” This is a…

CHS, S.C. FOOD & DRINK CHARLESTON BY THE DISH FROM AN ELEGANT SEAFOOD PILAU TO A SUBLIME SMOTHERED PORK CHOP, THESE TEN DISHES TRAVERSE THE BEST OF THE CITY’S CONTEMPORARY FLAVORS, ALONG WITH A FEW MUST-EAT CLASSICS By Hanna Raskin THERE’S LATELY BEEN MUCH HAND-WRINGING in Charleston over the state of the local restaurant scene, which a decade or so ago scaled previously unimaginable heights: As openings and accolades mounted, trusted writerly types with epicurean chops called it one of the best places to eat in the world. They weren’t exactly wrong. Current anxieties have been stoked by downtown rents, which have risen sharply, and the availability of restaurant workers, which hasn’t. Yet neither challenge has seemed to slow the rate of restaurant openings. Some longtime players wonder if new…

CHS, S.C. OUTDOORS CHARLESTON’S WILD SIDE SOME OF THE CITY’S BEST ASSETS ARE THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN HERE THOUSANDS OF YEARS By Chris Dixon WHETHER YOU’RE HAVING A BEER AT SALTY Mike’s or standing in line at the Harris Teeter, there’s a good chance you’ll hear somebody talking about the trout bite or how the surf ’s looking at Folly Beach. That’s because the tidal creeks and rivers, spartina marshes, moss-hung forests, primeval swamps, and windswept islands that surround the Charleston peninsula like a verdant halo are as deeply woven into the cultural fabric as benne wafers and joggling boards. While new subdivisions and traffic stress out locals, it’s also true that partnerships between a coalition of land trusts and federal, state, and private landholders are conserving tens of…

Stylish Stays These downtown hotels blend comfort and panache 86 Cannon, Cannon Street Gus and Sully—a pair of cockapoos—greet guests at this three-story Charleston single house turned inn. Local interior designer Betsy Berry, whose portfolio includes the Connaught Hotel in London, gave the historic home a modern makeover without sacrificing its classic architectural details. Berry is working similar magic on a set of new suites housed in the 1880s cottage next door. The Dewberry, Meeting Street Developer John Dewberry transformed a hulking bureaucratic blight of a building into a midcenturymodern showpiece, with in-room details such as custom Stickley armoires decorated in botanical patterns by local artist Becca Barnet. At the Citrus Club, the hotel’s rooftop bar (the Holy City’s highest), beverage director Ryan Casey’s tiki-inspired drinks are photo-worthy in their…

DUE SOUTH ADVENTURES Field Studies STEADY YOUR AIM, DIAL IN YOUR CAST, FLY A FALCON, OR CRAFT AN HEIRLOOM-QUALITY BAMBOO ROD AT ONE OF THESE EIGHT ELITE SPORTING SCHOOLS By Nic Brown Susanna Love Whether you’re an armchair adventurer who’s long dreamed of casting a tight loop into a mountain stream or a lifelong wing shooter looking to fix a bad habit, there’s an expert who’s ready to help. Study under one of the world’s finest bamboo-fly-rod makers, a falconer who can perch a peregrine on your hand, and instructors eager to teach you how to cast through the wind to hook a bonefish on the flats or even get you playing polo with the pros. Whatever your interest, these schools in the South and beyond offer fresh thrills and…

CONTRIBUTORS Daniel Wallace WRITER AND ILLUSTRATOR “My strength as an illustrator is that, apparently, I’m incapable of embarrassment,” says the writer and amateur artist Daniel Wallace, who wrote and sketched “A Southern Family Portrait” (p. 30). There’s freedom in staying humble, Wallace says. “I kind of peaked in third grade—but if you are terrible at something and accept that fact, then you can just enjoy it.” Wallace has written six novels, including 1998’s Big Fish, which became an Oscar-nominated film. The director of the creative writing program at UNC–Chapel Hill, he is at work on a memoir. Latria Graham WRITER Carlo Nasisse Each winter, Latria Graham nurtures a tableful of seedlings, sprouting Cherokee Purple tomatoes and okra, before planting outside. “We’ve got a bit of folklore around here,” the Spartanburg,…

INTERVIEW Renaissance Man WITH HIS LATEST ALBUM AND COOKBOOK RELEASES, ALEXANDER SMALLS CELEBRATES HIS SOUTHERN ROOTS By Latria Graham PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTIN BETTMAN Alexander Smalls has crammed his corner apartment in Harlem with color—leopard-print cushions dot yellow couches, and jewel-colored drapes from his travels in Ghana sweep the floor—creating a warmth that matches the acclaimed chef and restaurateur’s welcome. As he enters his kitchen, dubbed his “laboratory,” to prepare something to eat, classical music at turns lulls and roars, apropos—his first act as a baritone earned him a Grammy and a Tony for a cast recording of Porgy and Bess. Smalls, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, traces both of those passions to his family’s roots there and in the Lowcountry, and the heritage coastal recipes he was raised on.…

BOOKS Justice at Last A JOURNALIST RECOUNTS THE CIVIL RIGHTS–ERA COLD CASES HE HELPED SOLVE By Jonathan Miles The murders occurred in the 1960s, the victims ranging from an eleven-year-old Alabama girl finishing her Sunday school lesson to Mississippi’s most valiant voting-rights activist. The killers, however, didn’t face justice until the 1990s and later. The reason for the decades-long lag is familiar to any observer of Southern history: The victims were black, the killers were white, and while the times may have been a-changin’, that change—in the deepest Deep South—came slowly. Less known, however, is one of the main reasons those killers faced justice at all: Jerry Mitchell. Mitchell was in his third year as a low-level courtroom reporter, at Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger, when he happened into a screening…

ANATOMY OF A CLASSIC Mudbug Love AN ALABAMA CHEF WITH NEW ORLEANS ROOTS SHARES HIS TAKE ON CLASSIC CRAWFISH ÉTOUFFÉE By Kim Severson PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHNNY AUTRY Food and prop styling by Charlotte Autry Bill Briand, whose father ran hospitals for the U.S. Navy, grew up with the kind of experiences only children of military families understand. Don’t expect the other kids on the base to make friends with you, because they know they’ll be leaving soon. And get used to telling people you don’t really have a hometown. That’s why Briand fell so hard for New Orleans when the family landed there for good. He was in the eighth grade, and he knew almost from the start that it felt like home. “I just got so engulfed in being…

COLLECTIONS Fair Feathered Friends A FLORIDA MAN RAISES CHICKENS AS RARE AS HEN’S TEETH By Diane Roberts PHOTOGRAPHS BY FREDRIK BRODEN Some people raise chickens as a hobby; some raise them for food. Paul Bradshaw raises chickens to champion conservation. Or as he puts it, “to protect poultry genetics as a critical hedge against rapid environmental change.” As a result, his hundred-acre farm in Gadsden County, Florida, thirteen miles from Tallahassee, now hosts the most diverse—possibly the most important—collection of rare chicken genes on God’s green earth. Black-copper Marans, prize-winning French birds that lay dark mahogany eggs, strut around next to Ayam Cemanis, an Indonesian variety with iridescent black feathers and skin, a black comb, black legs, eyes as dark as deep space, and bones, organs, and muscles in black…

Bar None These great new places to eat are also excellent places to drink. Get started with these cocktails Erik Estrada, LowLife Bar Rum purists like to point out that real daiquiris aren’t frozen, but this charismatic bar on Folly Beach proves that piña coladas are well served by a run through the slushy machine. Finished with a float of Angostura bitters, the cocktail is distinguished by fresh fruit juice and a blend of savory spices. Dr. Melfi’s Medicine, Melfi’s The latest from Charleston restaurateur Brooks Reitz (Little Jack’s Tavern, Leon’s Oyster Shop), the Italian restaurant Melfi’s exudes an appealing mix of glamour and fun, summed up by a light and bright negroni sour, shaken to a froth in violation of bartending orthodoxy. Armoise Vert, Maison French cooking is enjoying…

CHS, S.C. ARTS & CULTURE CREATIVE PURSUITS TAKE IN THE BEST OF THE CITY’S ARTS SCENE, FROM TINY PORTRAITS TO PUBLIC MURALS TO A NEW SPOT FOR JAZZ By Sandy Lang NOT LONG AFTER ITS FOUNDING IN 1670, Charleston was already a destination for artists and art seekers. In the 1700s, the seaport was the first place in America where artists painted masterful portrait miniatures on thin slices of ivory—mementos kept close in lockets and pockets. A collection of these prized tiny works is the focus of an entire gallery room at the Gibbes Museum of Art. The 1905 Beaux-Arts building serves as a repository for many of the city’s art treasures, including works by the South Carolina–raised pop-art icon Jasper Johns, Charleston-based figurative and still-life artist Jill Hooper, and…

RECIPE 1 CHEESE GRITS CAKES Yield: 8 servings Tommy DiGiovanni, the chef de cuisine at Arnaud’s in New Orleans, makes grits cakes with yellow stone-ground grits baked with cheese and cut into disks. “Think of the grits cake kind of like a biscuit,” DiGiovanni says, “and top it with whatever you want.” At the restaurant, he serves them with traditional Creole-style grillades—veal scallopini braised in a rich brown gravy. But they go just as well with country ham and redeye gravy, tomato sauce, or chili. INGREDIENTS 1 qt. milk ¾ cup butter, divided 1 cup yellow stone-ground grits 1 cup grated Swiss cheese Salt and pepper, to taste 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese PREPARATION Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine milk and ½ cup butter in a 2-gallon saucepan or a…

LETTERS “I have worried that my yearning for old-time Florida is a bit unhealthy” SUNSHINE STATE OF MIND Everyone up North wants to escape the snow and the blustery cold and dip their toes in the warm tropical waters in Florida. And what better way to find out where to go than to read the December 2019/ January 2020 issue of Garden & Gun? Kay Worley via Facebook I have worried that my yearning for old-time Florida is a bit unhealthy. But it seems that others suffer the same as I do. In “Old Florida,” it was as if Rick Bragg grew up next door to me in my little town in Central Florida. I miss it every day. Anne Lineberger Charlotte, North Carolina GOING NUTS I travel to Missouri…

STYLE Clutch Move THE DALLAS SIBLINGS BEHIND LEATHEROLOGY FORGE A NEW MODEL FOR LUXE GOODS By Elizabeth Hutchison Hicklin PHOTOGRAPHS BY KELSEY FOSTER WILSON When Dallas natives Rae and David Liu left home for college (Columbia and Georgetown Universities, respectively), moving back wasn’t part of the ten-year plan—and the siblings had plans. Rae studied accessories design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and went to work for Alexander Wang as the designer’s accessories development manager. David ended up in senior management at Google in London. But with age and distance came perspective. “As we got older, we began to gravitate back toward home to be closer to family,” David says. The children of first-generation Americans who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan nearly forty years ago and founded a…

The Truckers Return New music from the Athens, Georgia–formed favorites Drive-By Truckers THE UNRAVELING If you’re a fan of Drive-By Truckers, chances are you know the band’s political leanings. If not, then the seminal Southern outfit’s twelfth album, The Unraveling, won’t leave any doubt. That said, the album doesn’t beat you over the head with polemics. Rather, blistering numbers such as “Armageddon’s Back in Town” and “Slow Ride Argument” come from a more emotional, nuanced place. Even the overtly titled “Thoughts and Prayers” and “Babies in Cages” find cofounders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley gazing inward, offering deeply personal takes in trying to make sense of where we are and how we got there. —M.H.…

Edge of Reality Two new novels toy with the imagination Pride of Eden (St. Martin’s), Taylor Brown’s fantastical tale of wild animals, poachers, and protectors, spans from the savannas of Africa to Savannah, Georgia. Brown layers primal drama atop surreal sights of the South, as when “a lone pony, feeding from a bed of delicate ferns on the putting green,” catches a whiff of a lion. Over one fever-dream day in Mississippi, a cast of misfits rotate through cabdriver Lou’s Town Car, beginning with a fresh-out-of-Parchman convict palming a twelve of Bud Light. Blotted with jet-black humor, The Last Taxi Driver (Tin House) is the lauded author Lee Durkee’s first novel in twenty years. This ride is worth the wait. Jacqueline Stofsick (3) —CJ Lotz…

DRINKS Southern Whiskey, Scottish Brogue IN THE VIRGINIA FOOTHILLS, OLD WORLD AND NEW UNITE IN A BOTTLE OF SINGLE MALT By Wayne Curtis PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHNNY AUTRY Food and prop styling by Charlotte Autry I was very naive as to what the business entailed,” Gareth Moore says. “When I first went to the distillery, I was like, ‘Um, where’s the on button?’” Moore is the CEO of Virginia Distillery Co., which makes American single-malt whiskey in the foothills of west-central Virginia. The business was the dream of his father, George, an Irish immigrant who had a passion for Scotch. After selling his information technology business in 2011, the elder Moore set about pursuing a singular goal: to make a whiskey that could join a flight of top-notch Scotches without embarrassment.…

TOOLS One-Dish Wonders COMBINING BAKING DISH AND HOLDER, THESE VESSELS GIVE YOUR FAVORITE CASSEROLE A STYLISH SPOT ON THE TABLE Styling by Alison Hoekstra PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSH GRUBBS FOR THE TRADITIONALIST Leave it to the interior design icon Bunny Williams to create a baking dish and rattan sleeve combination for Ballard Designs that elevates the humble casserole ($99; ballarddesigns.com). FOR THE MINIMALIST Sleek and timeless, the silver-plated Vertigo baking dish holder and glass dish by Christofleallow food to shine, too. Even if that food is topped with a cracker crust ($980; christofle.com). FOR THE VINTAGE LOVER Available to hold eight-by-eight-inch or nine-by-thirteen-inch dishes, these bamboo-inspired pieces by Dessau Homenod to sixties style in Palm Beach ($175–$195; bellacor.com). FOR THE OUTDOORSY TYPE The elegant, branchlike antlers that anchor this serving vessel…

SOUTHERN STYLE Natural Showcase DISPLAY YOUR WILD TREASURES WITH PANACHE By Haskell Harris PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILLIAM AND SUSAN BRINSON GLASS MENAGERIE An arrangement of cloches in varying heights and sizes from both Bloomist($48–$68; bloomist.com) and Terrain($68–$178; shopterrain .com ) forms the ideal home for all manner of organic beauty, from shells to birds’ nests to butterflies. As your scavenger hunts continue, accommodate a new discovery with ease by adding another cloche to the collection. CABINET MEETING Vintage department store displays in Havana, Cuba, inspired the design of this throwback piece by Homart, but it could easily be mistaken for something straight out of the Maison Deyrolle, Paris’s famed museum of taxidermy. Use it to bring your own diorama of fossils, abandoned hornets’ nests, antlers, and geodes to life in a library…

HOME & GARDEN THE HOME STRETCH CHARLESTON’S HISTORIC PROPERTIES CONTINUE TO IMPRESS, BUT MANY ARE ALSO MAKING STRIDES AT TELLING A FULLER STORY By Allston McCrady TWO DECADES AGO, THE LATE CHARLESTON matriarch and consummate storyteller Emily Whaley decided to publish a small book of horticultural advice. The book’s scope quickly expanded, weaving together tales of rural life, foxhunting, ballroom dancing, bridge playing, custard making, and, yes, plenty of garden pointers, such as not overdoing the sculptures: “There’s such a thing as too many dancing girls!” Little did she know that Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden would inspire fans far and wide to come knocking at 58 Church Street for a glimpse of her alternately blooming tulips, azaleas, and camellias. And they still do. Today the garden is lovingly…

G&G’S CHARLESTON BOUTIQUE Join us at Fieldshop for Southern-made finds and more Nestled inside the lobby of the Dewberry hotel, Garden & Gun’s Fieldshop celebrates the beauty of Southern-made goods. Colorful Lowcountry-designed Brackish bow ties adorn shelves alongside playful earrings by Molly Virginia Made, hardy canvas field bags from Alabama’s Tom Beckbe, and cloud-soft blankets by South Carolina’s Covered in Cotton, the latest winner of our Made in the South Awards. The shop also hosts pop-ups and events: Mark your calendars for early March, when heirlooms take center stage in coordination with the Charleston Antiques Show.…

Spring Showcase The city’s annual arts festival brings a highly anticipated debut Come May, Charleston’s theaters, churches, and more fill with performances from a worldwide roster of dance troupes, musicians, actors, and acrobats during the annual Spoleto Festival USA, founded in 1977 as a counterpart to Spoleto, Italy’s arts festival. This year’s Spoleto (May 22–June 7) will bring the world premiere of a new full-length opera by MacArthur Fellow and Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens. Omar is based on the life of Omar Ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim African man who was brought to Charleston in 1807. The true-life story has largely remained untold, and the premiere will also give audiences a first look at the College of Charleston’s refurbished 1920s-era Sottile Theatre after a major renovation and mural restoration…

RECIPE 2 SHRIMP AND GRITS Yield: 4 servings Raised on Edisto Island, South Carolina, the author Theresa Jenkins Hilliard learned to make shrimp and grits from her grandmother, whom she honored in the cookbook Mama Doonk’s Gullah Recipes. “She used basic seasonings, but she had a way of capturing the essence of the flavor of the shrimp with every bite,” Hilliard says. Use this recipe as a framework, as generations of cooks have done on Edisto Island—in season, Hilliard swaps in fish or fresh oysters for the shrimp. INGREDIENTS 4 slices bacon 1 medium onion, chopped 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour 15 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined Salt and pepper, to taste 2 cupscooked white grits PREPARATION In a cast-iron pan, fry the bacon. Remove meat from the pan, and leave…