Going Nose to Tail at Crippen’s
When you look in to the surprisingly sophisticated Boone, NC world of food, more often than not you’ll find Jimmy Crippen involved in some way. Take the Blowing Rock Winterfest (founder) and the Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival at Blowing Rock . Jimmy also founded the Food Festival’s Fire on the Rock chef competition.
Hear about these Blowing Rock festivals and their history below. If you’re reading this via RSS Feed or Email Newsletter and have difficulty listening to the audio clip below, click here . There’s a rather long introduction in the audio clip below, but then it’s all Jimmy.
Jimmy Crippen interviewed by WineFairy, VinVillage.com 3/4/2011
Okay. Enough about the man. Let’s talk about his restaurant and the exceptional meal PIC and I enjoyed there last month.
Crippen’s had JUST reopened that evening after a complete remodel. Accomplished in just three days after months of plannin. Dining room tables, chairs and other furniture had been placed on new carpet as it was laid earlier in the day. Only possible negative to choosing this evening for our dinner visit was the faint scent of new carpet. Don’t know if we just got used to it or if the air cleared, but after a few minutes, we didn’t notice it anymore.
Chef Stan Chamberlain had entered two dishes in the Best Dish in North Carolina contest that were intriguing: Ox-Tail Terrine Salad and Toungue & Cheek (braised & Grilled beef tongue and pork cheek). Best Dish NC is “a statewide regional contest of the best menu items created by chefs that use local products and ingredients. Best Dish NC focuses on the creativity of the entries and the ingenuity of how local ingredients are used in the preparation and presentation of each dish.”
Only on the menu for the month of June, these dishes were featuring local food, which Crippen’s uses normally, but were also an attempt at educating the dining public about nose to tail use of “beasts”. As Jimmy was “working the room”, he noticed I’d ordered the Tongue & Cheek and came over to chat. First he said, “I see you’re being brave” 
Then he mentioned that a local farmer had told him he’d had to slaughter 6 animals just for tenderloins and that he and Chef Stan wanted to demonstrate alternative portion use.
Later, I discussed this with Kevin Schwartz , Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. Both he and Jimmy talked about how large producers have the resources to more easily dispense the less desirable parts of their animals, but small, local producers are forced to either loose these portions or get very creative in their merchandising efforts.
Our meal began with a wonderful bread selection offered from a tray by a server who moved from table to table using tongs to deposit selections on bread plates as well as three ramekins of “accoutrements”: white bean dip, whipped butter and scotch bonnet chili oil (with chili). Lovely.
For my appetizer, Ox-Tail Terrine Salad ($12) – an interesting mix of sweet and a little tart topped with deeply flavorful oxtail, this was a beautifully presented salad of wilted frisee (picked that morning), pickled radishes, Crippen Estate berries and Ripshin goat cheese topped with sorghum vinaigrette. I much prefer this interpretation of an ox-tail terrine to the more jelled version, but am not totally convinced it should be called a terrine .
As an aside, Ripshin Goat Dairy has been certified as “ Animal Welfare Approve d “. This is especially interesting to me because College Daughter and friends were assigned Eating Animals as summer reading. In response to their shrinking away from eating meat, I’ve been explaining to them that many farmers are researching and implementing extremely humane and caring treatment of their animals. My next “ Talk to a Farmer ” interview with a rabbit farmer will go in to this further.
PIC ordered one of the many stars of the meal: Wild Mushroom Soup ($7) . Not only was this gorgeous to look at, it had an incredible depth of flavor. Along with the wild mushrooms, it was made with white wine and truffle-dusted almonds. I literally could have made a meal out of Crippen’s bread and this soup.
Chef Stan Chamberlain created a beautiful Tongue & Cheek ($24) dish: braised & grilled beef tongue and pork cheek, mustard greens, smoked fingerling potato salad and Crippen Crab Apple gastrique . Both meats were tender and richly flavored. My only concern was that I could still see some taste buds, which was just a tad off-putting. Otherwise the tongue was trimmed well. And both vegetables were done perfectly, but the smoky potatoes had to be noticed as different and delicious.
PIC’s entree was fabulous. He chose Horseradish Crusted Oven Roasted Wild Caught Salmon ($28) . Top to bottom, a winner! Flaky salmon stacked on Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, surrounded by Soy Fried Shallots and a stir-fried vegetable mix, all resting on a Mirin Butter Sauce. A delicious Asian-influenced approach to salmon!
PIC stuck with Iced Tea with his meal and I loved the way my glass of 2008 Leaping Lizard Cabernet Sauvignon ($7.50) complimented my food.
Topping off our meal, we split the generously portioned Chocolate Dipped Port Wine Pear ($8) . Sweet pears, roasted almonds, port wine reduction – need I say more?
Service at Crippen’s was impeccable other than waving down the bread tray for a second piece of bread. Not only does owner Jimmy Crippen greet and seat people, he works the room throughout the night. Chef Stan Chamberlain also made one or two appearances in the dining room, moving from table to table for a few words with diners.
Throughout our meal, we enjoyed music from a keyboardist in the dining room. As we were leaving, we talked to him for a few minutes and he told us he was anxiously awaiting a piano that would shortly replace the keyboard. Very nice.
Crippen’s offers exceptional fare in a few different dining spaces: porch, smaller room in front, rear dining room and even on the front lawn, under umbrellas. An entirely lovely location.
There are a couple upcoming events at Crippen’s you might want to check out: a Visions Cellar Wine Dinner on July 14th and a Robert Craig Vineyard Wine Dinner on July 21st.
