Did you miss me? I sure missed you.
Allow me to reintroduce the concept: This is the Weekly Dish, here to deliver food news and experiences. We took a brief hiatus but recognizing the people of the Upstate may be missing bite-sized food knowledge and sip happenings, we thought it was high time to return.
We’re sliding in right on time to bring you a recap of euphoria SpringFest event, Forever 21, hosted at Society Sandwich Bar & Social Club in downtown Greenville April 17. The event was 21st birthday-themed in honor of euphoria’s 21 years in existence. With that, the team at Society shook up nostalgic cocktails that harkened the days of masking liquor – sweet and mawkish.
Stephen Phillips, Oscar Chena and Society chef and co-owner Chris Rosensteel, divided the evocative meal into four courses each paired with a cocktail.
The Neon Nights stood out for its incredible commitment to balance.
It’s no secret we love ramen for its complexity. Ramen exists to us in a window of contradictions – as sentimental as mom’s bone broth on a sick day, as complicated as its tares and aromatic oils rendering it a standalone soup.
It’s also no secret that Rosensteel has managed to carve out space for himself that honors traditional ramen’s complexity and his own upbringing thousands of miles away from Japan – making Society’s ramen perfectly creative without pretentiousness nor pining for its origin.
Neon Nights featured coconut matcha ramen with duck breast, chili crisp, and glazed carrots topped with furikake and bulls blood beet. Despite the earthiness of furikake, matcha and bulls blood, what really came through was succulent duck breast that wandered just a hair past richness but was balanced by a whiskey-forward cocktail “What’s my age again?” – a nod to a popular Blink-182 song.
As the song goes, “nobody likes you when you’re 23.” Luckily, euphoria is still two years and oodles of noodles away from it.
Bite sized bits:
- The Rabbit Hole in West Greenville is now serving pasta Thursday nights. Each night will feature a different pasta dreamt up by chef Victoria Pessolano.
- Rise Bakery, also in West Greenville, will now serve Roman-style pizza every first Friday.
- “The Soil Remembers,” a film by James Beard Award winner Rioin Oshiro about James Beard Best Chef southeast finalist and Urban Wren alum Taylor Montgomery, will premier at Camelot Cinemas May 3 then play again at Zen Greenville June 5. The June 5 showing will come with a five-course dinner designed by Montgomery. Tickets for the film premier can be purchased on Eventbrite. Tickets for dinner and the show can be purchased at montgomeryskyfarm.myshopify.com.
