The evenings of Nov. 23 and 24, chef Clayton Rollison will welcome chef Vivian Howard to Lucky Rooster Kitchen + Bar for pop-up dinners with dishes from her cookbook, Deep Run Roots. The chefs have collaborated on the menu and guests can savor their efforts on either Friday or Saturday night following the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks to Woodford Reserve and Old Forester, there will be bourbon pairings available for each menu item. Chef Howard will be on-hand to greet guests during the dinners and copies of her cookbook will be available for sale ($45) and for her to personalize. Reservations are extremely limited and available from 5 to 8:30 both Friday and Saturday nights. Please call 843-681-3474 to reserve your table.
“I am extremely honored to have chef Vivian join me for these dinners that showcase her cookbook,” Rollison said. “I’ve watched her PBS series, A Chef’s Life, and look forward to showing her the island and all the great products and produce we have here.”
Rollison said he also looks forward to partnering with Woodford Reserve and Old Forester to create bourbon pairings and special cocktails for the evening.
Chefs Howard and Rollison’s a la carte menu for the pop-up dinners includes the following:
Snacks
Rutabaga and black-eyed pea samosas with cilantro buttermilk
Cool cucumber crab dip with house-made saltine crackers
Starters
Local oyster pie with leeks, garlic, tomatoes, tarragon and saltine crackers
Butterbean hummus with charred okra and marinated peppers
Ceviche with local oysters, apple, garlic, cilantro, scallion
Creamed rice with country ham, celery, onion, pot liquor, herb salad
Spoonbread and sausage ragout with mushrooms, onion, pepper, tomato
Entrees
Whole local fish with gingered collards, pickled cucumber noodles and miso sauce
Sheepshead fish with lentils and apple
Braised lamb with citrus sweet potato butter and okra oven fries
Braised chicken thighs with dirty faro, greens, jus
New York strip with pickled rutabaga relish, grits, jus
Desserts
Banana pudding with house-made benne seed wafers, meringue
Apple crisp with Captain Crunch ice cream
Chocolate orange beet cake with cream cheese walnut icing
About Chef Vivian Howard:
Born in Deep Run, North Carolina, to tobacco and hog farming parents, Vivian Howard learned early on to appreciate the ebb and flow of eating with the seasons. After college, she moved to New York for a desk job, but found the city’s restaurant scene more intriguing. Howard worked her way up, learning from the city’s most influential chefs. In 2005, Howard and husband Ben Knight left New York to open a restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina. Chef & the Farmer serves seasonal, regional cuisine with a fine-dining back bone. Rooted in traditional recipes and strong relationships with farmers, much of the restaurant’s foodstuffs are sourced within 60 miles. Howard now has two additional restaurants, Boiler Room in Kinston and Benny’s Big Time in Wilmington.
In 2013, “A Chef’s Life” debuted on PBS, documenting the experiences and customs of the people in the coastal plains of eastern Carolina through their interactions with Howard and the restaurant. Ending after six seasons, “A Chef’s Life” is the only television series to win a Peabody, Emmy, and James Beard Award. In 2016, Howard published Deep Run Roots, a New York Times bestseller that won the IACP award for “Cookbook of the Year.”
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