Never in my wildest imagination did I foresee coming to the middle of North Carolina and having one of the best meals, EVER. I mean seriously, I’m in Greenville, where chain restaurants rule the world! In my initial research of Greenville restaurants, I didn’t find out about Chef & The Farmer. While I was in Greenville and doing some additional research on urbanspoon, I found out about it. It was tricky though, as it is in the teeny town of Kinston, 30 miles from Greenville. But man, if I hadn’t discovered this place while I was here I would have been kicking myself in the ass, HARD. Chef & The Farmer is a world-class restaurant… literally in the middle of nowhere. Who’d have though? Certainly not this girl.

The executive chef and co-owner is a veteran of NYC restaurants, and you can tell. Folks, she learned her chops from Wylie Dufresne and Jean George Vongerichten. Now I don’t really know much about famous chefs of this world, but even I’ve heard of Wylie Dufresne and Jean George Vongerichten. They’re like seriously famous and world renowned. If she learned from them, then you know she knows her stuff. And damn, does she know it. The chef and the other co-owner transformed what used to be a mule stable into an amazing restaurant space. It’s even decorated with paintings by the other co-owner. It’s truly an inspirational spot.

I sat at the food bar, which is beautiful in and of itself, but which is even more amazing because it’s at the kitchen. And you get to watch the free show. I absolutely love watching the action. And there’s nothing better than literally watching your food being cooked. It’s an art form people, and every time I watch this stuff happen, it still boggles my mind. And I absolutely loved the wheat grass decorations.

Really, it was like a free dinner show. And man, is it warm! I’ve never seen so many big hunks of ribeye being cooked in my life. Just look at the size of those suckers! And I also heard them sawing more ribeyes. Yes, I said saw.

Oh the menu. Everything looked amazing. I was torn between many items. But I worked with the server and made some excellent choices. While I was eating, I was thinking about coming back the next night to try some other dishes. It almost happened. And well, it really should have. No matter how obvious it would have been that I was just there the night before.

Some complimentary bread. All of this bread is made in-house. The focaccia is baked with lavender and sprinkled with sea salt. The other bread is sourdough. The butter was dreamy and creamy. See those hunks of butter behind the wheat grass? I was that close to the ingredients!

I started with the carrot soup with citrus lump crab and crouton. Now I’m weird about carrots. I like raw carrots, I like carrot juice, but I dislike cooked carrots. During the discussion with the server, she told me it was made with cooked carrots and carrot juice. But she encouraged me to go for it. So I did. And I liked it! It definitely did have a somewhat cooked carrot taste, but I still liked it. And the crab? Amazing. And the crouton? Amazing as well!Everything about this worked. It was a perfect starter.

I was torn between ordering the fish or the scallops. The server agreed that it was a tough decision. But she said I should go with the scallops, and am I glad I did! There were three large fresh seared scallops. These just melted in my mouth! See the brown drizzle on the plate? That was bacon jus. Yeah, it was baconrrific! The orange drizzle was a pomegranate xyz. Also quite amazing. The veggies included thin strips of carrot and daikon and adorable half turnips, perfectly pan-fried. I just can’t even describe how perfectly everything went together. Everything just worked! And I savored every perfect bite.

Onto dessert! I’m usually a creme brulee nut, and they did have it on the menu. But I decided to go outside of the norm, and get this upside down apple cake. The server recommended it and said it’s definitely the most out there dessert on the menu. There was an apple cake, along with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. The ice cream is homemade! Garnished with a slice of dried apple and edible pulled sugar. Unbelievable! As was the entire meal and experience. It is really hard to believe that I had a meal of such caliber here, in the middle of nowhere. This is an amazing restaurant. It would be amazing in a big city, like NYC or San Francisco. Kinston, NC is one lucky small town!

It finally got really cold, as in snowing cold, and I get certain cravings whenever the temperature gets that low. I could eat this all the time, but I really want it when it’s cold. Ddukgook is traditionally something that’s eaten on new years day. Why? There’s probably some real historical and cultural reason, but I say it’s because it’s friggin tasty, that’s why. Do you need a better reason than that?

So don’t freak out folks, but I decided to actually make this. Yes, I made it myself in my very own kitchen, with my very own hands. Crazy, I know. It helps because it’s quite easy. There can be some variations on the recipe for this, but the concept is quite sound and similar among all recipes. So here’s mine.

Ddukgook – Korean Rice Cake Soup

Ingredients (for 2 big ass servings):
Dduk – sliced rice cake
Beef – however much and whatever cut you like (stew meat, steak, whatever)
Water (or theoretically, broth)
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped
Green onion – sliced
Eggs – 3-4?
Sesame oil
Fish sauce – 2 tbsp
Salt
Pepper
Nori – 1 sheet

1. Take 3-4 cups of the dduk and soak it in water
2. Take 2 egg yolks and 1 egg white, mix with a fork, add some salt, and cook it in a pan so that it’s a thin sheet (like a giant extremely thin egg pancake). Once cooked on both sides, slice it into skinny strips as a garnish
3. Cut up the beef into small bite sized strips/pieces and cook it up in a pot with some sesame oil until browned on the outside
4. Add 8 cups of water to the pot (or chicken broth, or a combination), lower heat, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes
5. Add the dduk, garlic, and fish sauce to the pot, increase the heat a bit, and let this all cook up until the dduk are all floating to the top
6. Add the green onion
7. Take the rest of the eggs, mix it up with a fork, add a pinch of salt, and slowly pour the egg mixture into the pot. After waiting for about 5 seconds, stir the mixture slowly until the egg is cooked
8. Add a little more sesame oil if you want, add some black pepper
9. Take the nori sheet and grill it over a burner until it’s crunchy and then crush it up into bits
10. Ladle the ddukgook into a bowl and garnish with egg strips and nori flakes
11. Shovel into mouth and chew

It’s obvious that I like to go out to eat. But it never fails that just because I have a food blog, everyone wants me to pick the place. Why? I, for one, do not like to force my will upon others. Plus, I can be indecisive. So I love it when others pick. But hey, I’m proud to say I picked Oyster House. And then after I picked it, it turned out that it’s the favorite or second favorite restaurant of two of my friends. Why did they not tell me this before? So Oyster House used to be Samson Street Oyster House, before it closed, got a facelift, and renamed itself. I’m not sure what it looked like before, but it sure is sparkly now. There’s a big bar and oyster bar area in the front, along with high tops. The back half is for tables. It’s cool and casual, but not like fish market casual or anything.

They do have a full bar, and we did partake. We got some of the famed oyster house punch, but of the non-summer variety… more on that in an upcoming post. They have buck a shuck here, where one oyster is featured as the day’s $1 oyster. This happens weekday nights during happy hour and late on saturday nights. How could I pass this up?

We went on thanksgiving weekend, so it was a strange time to go. Because of the lack of people eating out during this time, they actually ended up only having 3 varieties of oysters, period. So the ones above were the buck a shuck, some kind of oyster from jersey. I’m not like a raw oyster connoisseur, but I liked these just fine. Listen, you’re talking to a girl who gorged in 10 cent oysters during grad school… oh Alligator Grill of Austin, how I miss you! Ok, back to the oysters… In addition to the buck a shuck, there was another variety from canada and one other one from somewhere else. These were all east coast oysters.

See the ones in the back whose shells are more scallop shell shaped? Those are the canadian ones. While R preferred these more expensive canadian ones, T did not like them at all. He said they tasted metallic.

So what does one put on raw oysters? Well, it’s up to you. You are provided with lemon, horseradish, cocktail sauce, vinaigrette, and hot sauce. And you can use none, one, more, or any combination of the above. I am not into horseradish, so I first squirted lemon juice on all my oysters. Then I experimented with different combinations of everything. In the end, I decided that cocktail sauce, with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the way to go. The vinaigrette with a tiny shot of hot sauce was the runner-up. Any more than a tiny dash of hot sauce is too much for me. I learned this the hard way.

While everyone filled up on raw bivalves alone, I had to try the clam chowder. While it was a good chowder with good flavor, big chunks of fresh clams, and well-cooked potatoes, this chowder is not thick. It’s cotton-pickin watery! And watery chowder is so strange to me. While it tasted great, it just wasn’t chowdery enough for my liking. I like me a thick and hearty chowder that would break plastic spoons!

The service was good. Our server was a good sport and she kept up with all our punches. The buck a shuck is only available at the bar or any area with a stool, so if you sit at a table, it does not apply. I definitely recommend taking advantage of this deal!

Oh, and afterwards, we went to RAW. Did you know they have lounge in the back that plays music? I had no idea! Well, it totally wasn’t my scene at all, but they do have these incredibly giant sumo decorations on the wall and show some strange sumo videos.  But if you’re into really expensive bottle service with really terrible music, then this is the lounge for you!