The Factory Café’s 2017 Fall Harvest Supper was one for the books. For last October’s dinner, chef Ray showed off his skills in the kitchen (and on the grill). Our café team also presented another beautiful Valentine’s supper last week and, after a great response from our community, is excited to announce a new dinner series: The Factory Supper Club. The first of its kind in The Shoals, Chef Ray and team are hosting dinners in March, July, September, November, and December. Each dinner will feature a four-course meal with beer and wine and a casual and unique dining experience. Don’t miss out on the chance to be a part of our inaugural Supper Club—tickets are available now for our March event with limited seating. (Look for tickets for the others closer to the event.) This series is a perfect pairing to our ongoing Friends of the Café Dinners, More below about our last Fall Harvest Supper—looking forward to seeing you at The Factory Café.
Our fall menu featured favorite staples, enhanced by the smoky flavor of The Factory Café’s new Traeger grill. The evening started off with passed appetizers and a specialty cocktail. Conway Cup oysters were served with cocktail sauce made from Harvest Roots Kimchi, and deviled eggs (sourced from St. Florian Fiber Farm) were paired with Harvest Roots Curtido. Autumn Me Crazy was the drink of the night and featured red sangria mixed with cider from local brewery, Singin’ River Brewing Company, in a glass rimmed with pumpkin spice sugar.
The first course included chicken wings from Joyce Farms, smoked in the Traeger, and served with a north Alabama classic—white BBQ sauce and pickled celery. Toasted ciabatta bread was topped with Bonnie Blue goat cheese, roasted carrots supplied from Bluewater Creek Farm, and a lime-carrot glaze. We were introduced to Bonnie Blue—who makes award-winning cheeses from their farm in Waynesboro, Tennessee—at our local farmers market this year. An Oktoberfest brew from Madison, Alabama, Blue Pants Brewery paired perfectly.
Next came a salad of local lettuces, turnips, and beets, harvested from our friends at Bluewater Creek Farm, and a Burnt Honey-Sweet Potato Dressing made with honey from Sourwood Honey in Savannah, Tennessee. Sourwood honey is extremely aromatic with a distinctive rich honey flavor. The Sourwood tree is common in the Appalachia region and blooms in late June through the month of July, during a period when few other flowers are blooming. The salad was served alongside Vila Nova’s Vinho Verde.
Pork from Bear Creek Farm was smoked in the Traeger Grill and served up with Ferro Verde from Anson Mills and a turnip puree, with turnips from Bluewater Creek Farm. The dish was topped with muscadine BBQ sauce and paired with White Hart’s Pinot Noir.
The fourth and final course was the sweetest. Mississippi Sweet Potato Cake was served with a Semolina Pudding and citrus and Gruet’s Demi Sec.
It was a night to remember, and we couldn’t have done it without all our partner farms and purveyors. Thanks especially to Harvest Roots Ferments, St. Florian Fiber Farm, Joyce Farms, Bluewater Creek Farm, Hines Family Farm, Sonlit Meadows Farm, Bear Creek Farm, and Bonnie Blue Farm. Another thank you to Melissa Bain with Alabama Crown—who assisted with all the beautiful wine pairings; Susan Rowe for the lovely flowers; and thanks to Traeger Grills whose wood pellet grill gave our courses a beautiful flavor.
Follow The Factory Café on all our social media channels, check out all of our upcoming events (like The Gathering—our annual community picnic with added programming), workshops from The School of Making, and, of course, our daily lunch menu, and tours.