2011 JBF Awards America's Classic: Crook's Corner, Chapel Hill, NC

2011 JBF Awards America's Classic: Crook's Corner, Chapel Hill, NC

Hubcaps decorate the flanks of the corner building on the fringe of this college town. A pink fiberglass pig stands atop the roof. The dining room does double duty as an art gallery. From the bar, you may order a cracker plate, piled with house-made pimento cheese, and a block of cream cheese smeared with pepper jelly.

Since 1982, when restaurateur Gene Hamer and chef Bill Neal opened the doors, Crook's Corner has carried the torch of regional foodways, employing and inspiring a generation of young culinary talent—including two James Beard Award-winning chefs.

Bill Neal was one of the first American chefs to explore the cultural import of the regional food he worked to revive. He brought academic rigor and provincial pride to the professional restaurant kitchens of the region.

Since Neal's untimely death in 1991, Gene Hamer has served as the restaurant's steward, while Bill Smith has overseen the kitchen, cooking iconic Crook's dishes like shrimp and grits, hoppin' John, jalapeno hushpuppies, and persimmon pudding. In more recent years, Smith has added his own flourishes, including house-corned ham and honeysuckle sorbet.

—Christiane Lauterbach (Atlanta Magazine)

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• America's Classics
• Crook's Corner
• Chapel Hill
• NC

[k9deda315]

Congratulations To Crook's Corner and Bill Smith!!!