Ben Thompson – C-VILLE Weekly

Former Clifton Inn chef at home in meat market

What happens when a meat market hires an acclaimed fine-dining chef? Timbercreek Market is about to find out.

When Timbercreek Farm owners Sara and Zach Miller opened the market in July 2015, their aim was to bring directly to consumers the same produce from their farm that had long been served at top restaurants around town. In addition to their own farm’s produce, the market offers products from other local farms and purveyors, and a cheese counter run by Flora Artisanal Cheese’s Nadjeeb Chouaf, recently named best cheesemonger in America. Now they have landed Tucker Yoder, the former Clifton Inn executive chef once named one of Charlottesville’s rising stars.

Yoder’s arrival coincides with the introduction of the market’s dinner service, launched shortly before former chef Allie Redshaw left to pursue other opportunities. Served Thursday through Saturday at tables in the market, with a full selection of beer and wine, dinner allows Yoder to apply his talent to local, seasonal produce.

There is recent precedent in other cities for a partnership between a butcher and a chef with Yoder’s chops. But, will it work in Charlottesville?

No one should know better than Ben Thompson, who boasts a background in both fine dining and butchery. The ace student of the Culinary Institute of America went on to work at two of the nation’s best fine-dining restaurants before returning to Virginia to open The Rock Barn, a pork butchery that became an instant hit among area chefs. Thompson knows cooking and he knows meat, and he was a perfect dinner guest at Timbercreek.

In a pleasant twist, though, several of our meal’s standouts were meatless. For a vegetarian riff on Bolognese, Yoder replaces meat with local pumpkin, but otherwise follows the traditional method of gradually layering flavors. First, he caramelizes onions, garlic and pumpkin. Next, he adds tomato and caramelizes some more. Finally, he adds pumpkin stock to collect the pan’s flavors, and reduces the liquid. Atop housemade garganelli, the sauce delivers a deep flavor, rich in umami from the patient caramelization and reduction. Sara Miller, a devout carnivore, admits it’s her favorite dish on the menu. Thompson also called it a “highlight,” praising Yoder’s “mastery of simple technique without all the frills.”

With a chef as devoted to technique as Yoder, even the bread course warrants a pause from conversation. The fresh sourdough with housemade cultured butter could be a meal in itself, particularly alongside the grilled local radishes that Yoder delivered to our table.

But, this is a meat market after all. And there was plenty of meat. Thompson’s single favorite bite of the night was a cube of mole-spiced headcheese, served on a platter of housemade charcuterie. Yoder brines the meat of the head of a Timbercreek pig and then boils it in stock flavored with spices common to a Mexican mole sauce. Next, he dices it, adds more mole-style seasonings, and molds it in a terrine with stock. “Tender, chunky, porky, balanced,” said Thompson.

Thompson’s favorite entrée, meanwhile, was pork belly braised in broth spiked with black garlic, served with spicy greens and charred tomato pozole. “Perfectly seasoned, tender, rich,” said Thompson.

My favorite dish was the one Yoder himself likes best, too—a tart of chicken liver mousse with a crust of crushed Ritz crackers. Served in a thin sliver with pickled onions and malt vinegar, it had the harmonious combination of flavors that is the mark of a great chef. The dish is so delicious, in fact, that it has even generated a following of sorts on social media.

In addition to a menu of starters and entrées, there is a weekly changing selection of simply prepared butcher’s cuts of beef and pork, each served with a choice of sauce and two sides. While our rib-eye was great, the sides were just as notable, especially the Yorkshire pudding. With British heritage, I have eaten this all of my life, and Yoder’s version rivaled any I have ever had. And it didn’t hurt that I spread on the bone marrow butter that came with our steak.

Yoder’s aim for Timbercreek’s dinner is to create “something that represents the place and the seasons and of course the products raised on the farm,” he says. At Clifton Inn, he used to prepare intricate 10-course tasting menus with wine pairings, at more than $100 per head. Now, he cooks at a market, with a menu that even includes a burger. Some might think it an odd home for a chef with Yoder’s résumé. But our dinner was excellent. And, to Thompson, it makes perfect sense to task Yoder with the challenge of showcasing excellent local ingredients that change at Mother Nature’s whim.

“Tucker’s creativity and ability to be nimble with seasonal offerings,” Thompson said after our meal, “will be a great fit for the market.”

Contact Simon Davidson at eatdrink@c-ville.com.

Kids can eat with the grown-ups at Fry’s Spring Station

I don’t like kids’ menus. Beyond their uniform content, what troubles me most is the message they send to kids that there are two different types of food—one for adults to enjoy and another to keep you quiet in the meantime. As a food-lover and parent, I can’t see how this helps to cultivate a passion for food in children. Admittedly, in a pinch, I have sometimes resorted to chicken tender-as-babysitter. But, more often than not, when we eat out we skip the kids’ menu.

Some restaurants make this easier than others. Lately, when I ask my children where we should go for a family meal, they usually say Fry’s Spring Station. That’s music to my ears because since relaunching under new management in April, the Italian-American restaurant is much improved, and, unlike many kids’ favorites, appeals to adults, too.

The new team includes an impressive pair: culinary school classmates Ben Thompson and Tommy Lasley. After finishing top of his class at the Culinary Institute of America, Thompson worked at Thomas Keller’s Per Se and The French Laundry before opening the Nelson County butcher The Rock Barn. Lasley, a former chef at Orzo, was once named one of Charlottesville’s four rising-star chefs. After successfully overhauling Ivy Provisions, the two turned their efforts to Fry’s Spring, which, having opened in 2010, was due for a reboot.

“Every time I walk in, I am amazed,” says my daughter, Ryan, 8, who calls it “so cool” that Fry’s Spring Station was once a service station. Indeed, that was the use of the building for more than 70 years. The recent refurbishments, including updated wood floors and handsome tables of reclaimed wood, give the place a polished, airy feel without disturbing the original structure. The favorite remnant of my son, Chase, 7, is a glass garage door that forms one wall of the L-shaped bar and slides open to the patio, providing a view back into the restaurant from outdoor stools along the indoor bar. That’s where we usually sit.

On our most recent visit, though, we sat at one of the large community tables indoors because we invited my children’s friends, Anne and Edward Flick, also 8 and 7 respectively. With a menu as large as Fry’s Spring’s, some things are inevitably better than others, so the key is to find your favorites. With company, though, we decided to branch out from our standard orders. Chase, then, passed on his penne with tomato and basil, which he calls “the best in town.” Ryan resisted her charcuterie platter, showcasing The Rock Barn’s outstanding capicola and other cured meats. And I skipped my favorite appetizer: warm, just-pulled mozzarella as well as another go-to order, manciatta—a dressed salad served atop flatbread made from pizza dough with olive oil and herbs. It’s fun to tear off pieces of the bread and, like injera, use it to grab pieces of the salad.

Chef John Schaible. Photo by Sanjay Suchak

A massive hearth oven is the centerpiece of the kitchen, which, under Lasley’s guidance, is manned by chef John Schaible, who worked with Lasley at Orzo and with Thomspon at The Rock Barn. Their menu is well-suited for sharing, with salads, sides and pastas all offered in small and family-size portions. At Ryan’s urging, we ordered a steak-topped Caesar salad of rough-chopped romaine with a spot-on, housemade dressing. We also added two pizzas, our first time trying the pizza in all of our visits, but certainly not our last. A hybrid of styles, it had the char and quality ingredients of Neapolitan and New Haven pizza, but the denser, satisfying texture of a neighborhood pizza joint. It struck me as the kind of pizza to enjoy at the bar with a beer. And I returned to do just that, pairing a Champion Fruitless IPA with Lasley’s favorite pizza, the Farmer John. Two sunny-side up eggs, prosciutto, sliced tomato, chives, cheese and arugula all rest on a house white sauce of ricotta and garlic confit pureed with salt and pepper.

But back to our dinner. With the Flicks’ father, I shared a calzone of smoked ham, Tillamook cheddar, pesto, spinach and onion. My favorite dish of the night, it captured the restaurant’s ethos—a warm, comforting, uncomplicated dish, elevated by attention to detail.

Drinks also appeal to all ages. My kids like to try the various flavors of all-natural Puck’s fountain sodas, but are happiest when returning to their favorite vanilla orange, which Ryan says tastes like a creamsicle. “I’m getting that next time,” says Anne, after trying Ryan’s. For big kids, there is a small, well-chosen list of affordable wines, plus a draught and bottle selection to satisfy any beer geek.

So, how did the Flicks like their first trip to Fry’s Spring Station? “Two thumbs up,” says Anne. “It’s fun and has yummy pizza!” says Edward. Sounds like a win to me. And, perhaps best of all, there was not a word about the kids’ menu.