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With all the nonstop fun at Punch Bowl Social (bowling, shuffleboard, foosball, karaoke, giant bowls of boozy punch), it takes a special menu to stand out in the vibrant, industrial loft-meets-hunting lodge setting. That menu has arrived.
The seven-restaurant group has partnered with Bravo TV’s Top Chef judge and Southern restaurateur superstar Hugh Acheson for a menu overhaul. He spoke with us about the new, seasonally focused, Southern-inspired menu items that he’s developed for Punch Bowl Social.
Acheson is known for taking Southern classics and staple ingredients and altering them in thought-provoking, delicious ways. Unexpected flavors turn up often with him, like za’atar on fried chicken. At his Athens, Ga., restaurant 5&10, he’ll make hummus with boiled peanuts and pair pickled watermelon rinds with feta cheese and arugula. Healthier options and seasonal awareness are also calling cards for Acheson. When Punch Bowl Social’s CEO and founder Robert Thompson reached out to him, “I was amazed with Robert’s vivacity and excitement, and what he was trying to accomplish,” Acheson says. “I’ve never fallen in for doing a ton of consulting, but because they’re a few units and growing, I can catch them in their ‘tween’ phase, before adolescence. I can teach them what I know about food and why I’m good at what I do.”
Pimiento cheese is something you bring out for company in the South. But it’s been making its way north in the past few years, where it’s been very welcome indeed. Acheson calls it a “cultural touchstone.” In his version, on Punch Bowl Social’s appetizer/small plates portion of the menu, the iconic cheese/mayo mixture is served with pullman toast and topped with a layer of unctuous-sweet bacon marmalade.
Black-eyed peas are just emerging in mainstream menus as an ingredient to watch. On the other hand, hummus is familiar. “There’s a popularity of hummus that’s really interesting to me,” Acheson says. “We’d been doing it for 10 years before it was everywhere.” He recalls Middle Eastern food that he had growing up in Ottawa, and the addition of black-eyed peas represents “where I speak from and where I live and my community.”
Acheson took the menu’s existing charcuterie board and upped the ante in a simple way by adding pickled vegetables. “Chefs want to figure out what the customer wants to eat, but they also cook for themselves. I really experience food in a healthy way,” he says. “With pickled vegetables, I wanted that level of some healthy things that would be really appealing.” The veggies add sparkle and acidity to prosciutto and burrata with mustard and onion jam adding another dimension to the board.
“This isn’t really Southern,” Acheson says. “It’s something that’s popular in, like, Pittsburgh. But food is déjà vu. The epitome of comfort food is something that makes you feel good and brings a twinkle to your eye. I don’t want to make food that’s pompous, but I want to elevate food.” The bologna in this sandwich is actually mortadella, thinly sliced to maximize the crisp-edge factor. Coarsely chopped Italian olives add a punch of flavor to cut through the richness and keep this item away from “gut bomb” territory, he adds.
Acheson calls this “agrarian bibimbap” and it’s loaded with complex carbs and veggies, with a perfectly poached egg on top. Healthy choices like this are something that Acheson has valued for a long time. After all, he was the one who spoke out against Paula Deen’s butter-soaked Southern cuisine back in 2012.
This sandwich makes use of an interesting, somewhat under-the-radar creation from Alabama, white barbecue sauce. The chicken is spiced with za’tar and a zingy-sweet frisson from the first bite. Acheson says the different flavor profiles here reflect what he does and how he has steered Punch Bowl Social in a new direction. “Their culinary team is really strong; I’m not really the quarterback, I’m more the baseball manager,” he says. “I’m more of a strategy person. I can design you an amazing restaurant, but if there’s not heart and soul in there every day, you’re not going to be successful. What sets you apart is the passion for what you do every day.”
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