Holy Shiitakes!

This is where my shiitake mushrooms come from. They are fiercely protected by this beautiful guardian.  I love visiting my growers Alice and Rick Harty at Harty Farm in Red Hill, NC.

                 

So here are some brunch options.  On the left is our Fried chicken and waffle with and without peaches and cream.  And bringing up the rear is the fried chicken salad.  That's maple syrup and buttermilk celery dressing that accompanies the fried chicken.  On the right here is a sample of my home made bacon.  I thick-slice rashers from fresh, local pork belly and add salt, pepper, thyme, and maple syrup. Then I par bake to set the seasoning and finish them on the grill to order!

Here is the lovely Wendy tending to the dining room during brunch on the 2nd and we were almost full at this point.  

Mornings at Farms

We rely on our local growers for the freshest, best ingredients. We have met some amazing and talented people who are supporting us with their produce and meat. Some of our favorite and most visited spots are Arthur Morgan School and Camp Celo and fortunately they're right next door to one another. We go super early on the way to work. It's beautiful!

Here comes the Wine

This is one of my favorite things...

We were so excited to get our sign!

This is Russell - one of our beloved cooks. He's also really good at hanging up signs!

The bar is complete and beautiful!  Thankyou Jim!  I look forward to seeing happy customers sitting here.  Won't you come visit?

Bar Update

This is the top of our beautiful cherry wood bar. It should be finished and completely installed in the next day or two. We can't wait!

It's a tough job...

and I'm happy to do it! 

Last weekend we decided to try out the "Asheville Brew's Cruise", all in the name of research, of course. Asheville was just voted "Beer City USA"(tied with Portland, Oregon to be precise).We visited several local breweries, tried many amazing local beers and met lots of great people dedicated to the craft of brewing. It was an excellent adventure and I highly recommend it to any beer lovers out there!

We discovered some real gems, both beer and people.

Renaissance Revolutionaries!  That's who is running this show here.  The pay is low but the rewards are endless.  Now was it "measure twice"?  Soon to come - The Most Beautiul Bar in the World!  As conceived by this man- my father-in-law, Jim Gardner!  One of the original Revolutionaries!  Thanks Jim.

blasting away the residues of other businesses

After acquiring a building and its contents important decisions must be made about what to keep and what you will need to buy.  With either choice you must impart yourself upon your chosen objects and make them yours or a reflection of you.  For example, there were several layers of sloppy paintjob on these paper towel dispensers so "Sparky" got to grinding on them.  You can see the result in the background.  These were then painted with a nice silver and mounted in the bathrooms.  Reclamation is a major theme here and my wife is the master.  It's also what I am up to with that beastly fryer. More on that later....

Where's Nate?

The hot water is not working. Nate went into the wall to investigate, while the man from the gas company scratched his head and laughed at me for taking pictures. We still haven't figured it out...

So Much Better

We are really starting to get somewhere with all this painting. Good friends and good beer make everything so much easier! 

Painting

Nate's Own Private Kitchen Nightmare

This fryer came with the restaurant. All Nate has to do is clean it!

Ugly on the inside...

So the building was not as cute on the inside as it was from the street. We were in need of a serious paint job (among many other things...)!

The building that will become Knife & Fork

Welcome to our little blog!

So, here we are, two weeks into our new lives in the mountains of North Carolina and one week into the creation of our very own restaurant... There's A LOT going on! A friend suggested we start a blog. Ok Aaron, here's the blog! We're going to post some things to bring you up to date...