Here's Georgia chef Hugh Acheson's answer to a recent blog post by Atlanta critic John Kessler that asked the question, "Is he also serving his food in hubcaps?" The post was a response to a Twitter spat between the chef and the critic over serving drinks in mason jars, and in it Kessler quotes Seattle-based cocktail expert Robert Hess asking about hubcap dinnerware.
And sure enough, last night Acheson tweeted a photo of a dish served on a hubcap at his Atlanta restaurant Empire State South. Acheson described it as the "next plate to 'jump the shark.'" Also: "We are workin on a spinner version too."
The hubcap dish, a "very special special" according to Acheson, was put together by ESS's Executive Chef Ryan Smith. Smith tells Eater: "It's pretty much pork belly and pepperoni, with baby carrots, romanesco, swiss chard, oyster mushrooms, and parsnip. Kinda inspired by Michael Bras if you will..." The French chef Michel Bras' salad, the gargouillou, is one of his signature dishes that assembles dozens vegetables, herbs, leaves and flowers (see a video clip from the documentary Step Up to the Plate).
The dish was plated on what is ostensibly a sustainable hubcap as it was acquired (aka foraged) from a junk yard. But don't go ordering it since it was, according to Smith, "definitely a one time thing" as a response to Kessler. Or maybe do try ordering it to give them a hard time? When asked if there was a name for the dish, Smith answered, "I think a cool name could be huba huba."
· Mason Jars as Barware: Enough Is Enough? [ACJ]
· All Hugh Acheson Coverage on Eater [-E-]