The Owl - Feedback

**Hubbitron** · 28 Jul 2012, 08:20 PM

Ip, please gtfo of here with this shit.

Btw great job icarus. I spoke with people whose kids live in your area and spoke very highly of the Owl.

**Fe 26** · 29 Jul 2012, 12:47 AM

Get fucked, Hub.

**icarusfall** · 06 Sep 2012, 01:39 AM

So, I sent this email to one of our purveyors today. It helps define the direction of The Owl's future.

Farmer, (he always starts his emails "Chef,....")

We were last week voted the number 1 restaurant in Greenville on Tripadvisor.com, Town magazine is doing a story on our cocktails in their next issue, and Edible Upcountry is coming to do a feature on us for their winter quarterly. Things are happening for us very quickly. And yet I find myself restless and unchallenged with creating dishes that stimulate my brain. We have always served red meat scarcely, only doing our first "steak" on our 6-month anniversary. I don't find any interest in rich meat w fatty, unctuous, sauces riding on top of some bit of disguised veg.

One of our founding principles was to not only provide what Greenville would find forward-thinking dishes, but to stimulate our own minds and tastes. I'm finding people giving me what I find is undeserved praise for unchallenging food. There are some things we've done that have swung for the fences, and about half of them have fallen flat. The ones I enjoy the most have all been the vegetable dishes. Not vegetarian, but vegetable. Outside of challenging us as cooks (coming almost exclusively from a place of MEAT MEAT MEAT), it's simply the way of the future. As you're unquestionably aware, kitchens operate in an unsustainable paradigm that boggles the mind when given any real thought.

I'm not looking to change the entire world and lead a squeaky-clean carbon-free existence. I'm just looking to… well… fuck shit up a little.

With that in mind we are going to be slowly moving our menu towards vegetable as the Center of the Plate item. I'm looking to you for some guidance on what we can expect from yourself and nature in the coming 2 months. Perhaps to even help us with some ideas for cooking some things in unusual ways. We'd like to be working more closely with some of our local purveyors, and doing a better job of challenging the upstate's tastes.

What do you think?
-A

**James** · 06 Sep 2012, 02:10 AM

kitchens operate in an unsustainable paradigm that boggles the mind when given any real thought.

So that line caught my eye. Care to clarify? Farmer might get it, but I kinda don't. Then again, I'm fairly carnivorous.

James

**icarusfall** · 06 Sep 2012, 03:18 AM

Honestly, I'd just recommend you start by watching the documentary Food Inc. and googling someone named Joel Salatin. This will do a much better job of it than I will.

The industrial farming complex is tearing the planet (and our bodies) apart. 99% of restaurants buy from these sources.

**Fe 26** · 06 Sep 2012, 08:14 AM

Personally, I'd just want the last paragraph. If I'm in the business of making money with someone, I could do without everything above it.

Though, I'm sure everyone will let me know how wrong they feel I am.

My background is development and factory shit. I'd consider most of that to be fluff and be annoyed if I got it in the mail.

Just my opinion though. Farmers might love it.