brix° wine bar

Heifer Project- Down Home Foodie

nathan — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:33:02 +0000

Katie Robbins- The Down Home Foodie- is a project that is both selfless and noble. She has the full encouragement and support of brix° and Executive Chef Nathan Fountain on her endeavor and we hope she can count on your support as well. Go to http://downhomefoodie.blogspot.com/2011/12/heifer-project-campaign.html for more information on Katie’s work with Heifer Project.

Brix Externship Blog Week Six– August 17, 2011

nathan — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:32:01 +0000

Last week we said goodbye to the kitchen as we served our last meals on Saturday
night. We took a PBR, walked past the bar where several of our evening guests were
congregating and sneaked out the side to the veranda, where our outside tables
are situated to plop down on a chair and silently raised our bottles to each other,
congratulating each other, that we completed this once in a lifetime assignment. The
rain played with the street lights and car beams as we stared at the downtown Lexington
scene, where besides the muted voices from inside nothing but raindrop sounds reigned
the night. We felt extraordinarily satisfied, that we in six weeks time had mastered to run
the brix° back of the house to the satisfaction of their management. Those long hot hours
and sore feet and backs had been worth it in retrospect, because neither of us ever could
have dreamed, that we would be sitting here reflecting on what we just had accomplished
in a mere six weeks time: we had grown into real chefs. We now have the confidence,
that we can swoop into a like situation with no trepidation. Chef Nate came out with
his PBR in hand and sat with us in silence for awhile. He then spoke and said that he
wanted to thank us for giving him some time these last weeks to accomplish tasks, that
he otherwise had to do in his spare time and that we had surpassed any expectation that
he could have had. (He had done his homework ahead of time by talking to various
CIV staff before taking us on). The last guests left the house thanking us for the lovely
evening they had.
It may look to you reader as if we are only talking about pride and praise in this week’s
blog and yes we are, because we think that only people who have been in similar
situations can grasp how this feels.
There are still two weeks to go before our externship comes to an end. This coming week
we visit several farms who supply their product to brix°. We will experience that side of
the cycle of local and fresh product, that graces brix° tables every evening; product that
comes to us at the back door of the kitchen nicely cut up and ready for prepping and
storing in our freezer or walk-in. We are excited to experience this part of the cycle. We
are especially apprehensive to be involved in dispatching cute bunnies and a bunch of
chicks. But about all of that read next week’s blog.
Chef Nate, Hunter and the two of us ended up roaming the streets of Lexington in search
of nightlife visiting all of them: two noisy establishments. At 1 am we were ordered to
leave the last one per city ordinance. Once outside the glistening streets of downtown
Lexington, as we walked back to our Dutch Inn place of lodging, only presented us with
the sound of dripping water just before another downpour started, surprising Nate and
Hunter who had to run off into the night seeking shelter.
Erik/Sandee

Brix Externship Blog Week Five– August 8, 2011

nathan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:51:36 +0000

Long, long Wednesdays, those 14 hour days.
This week we want to talk about our Wednesdays. It is the first day of our week and all
the fresh product for this week arrives at our back door, or if we still need something we
walk a block over to the weekly farmers market, where we hope to find what we need
and if something strikes our eyes, Chef may come up with a use for it. This week for
example he found beautiful white oyster mushrooms from Botetort. The menu add-
on for this week: vegetarian mushroom pasta, which was such a hit that we fully sold out
on Saturday evening. Because of zucchini flowers we also had zucchini polenta. So back
to Wednesday prep days: besides making our daily bread and pasta, we need to have all
newly delivered vegetables and proteins cleaned, and prepped. The very tasty little
multicolor carrots look best on the diner’s plate with about a quarter inch stem left on
top. But right there on top is also most of the sandy dirt that needs to be brushed off. The
rabbit comes nicely cleaned and dressed but is not cut yet and we need to get at least 4
plates served from one rabbit, which means cutting front and back legs as well as
tenderloins, saving the rest for stock. We make stock from everything that is left over:
rabbit stock, pork stock, chicken stock, mushroom stock and vegetable stock. The carrot
leaves are sorted out for garnish. This is also the day to make marinades and sauces,
define the soup of the week (these last weeks were cold soups, because of the summer
weather).

In the backyard of the restaurant is an extensive herb garden, which is getting trimmed
each Wednesday as we define flavor profiles for the week. You get the general idea: brix°
is having a main menu, but always enhanced with the specials of the day/week as product
comes through our kitchen on Wednesdays. Chef also visits the Saturday farmers market
in another location, but most of the purchases there are to make up for product that has
sold out or has become low in availability. We do all this multi-tasking while serving
guests as they come into the house, because the customer experience is our livelihood.

This Friday and Saturday Chef left us the kitchen to run, as he went to neighboring
Staunton (Staunton Grocery) to help out a chef (Ian Boden) who lost most of his kitchen staff for those days. His
confidence that we can run the kitchen by ourselves is such that he does not hesitate to
help out a colleague in need on the busiest days of the week.

Sandee and I were also very proud of the fact that one guest at the end of Saturday
evening came to the pass (the counter where kitchen staff passes plates to the service
staff) and told us, that he had enough fine dining experience to be able to tell us, that
what we served that evening was: “fine dining” in the true sense of the word in looks,
aroma and taste experience. Those of you that live nearby and never have dined at brix°,
please do yourself the favor of coming in for an evening of fine dining in Lexington VA.
Till next week, Erik and Sandee

…can compare to the best eateries in Charlottesville and Richmond.

nathan — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:55:27 +0000

July 24, 2011

I recently ate at Brix and couldn’t have been more impressed. Fantastic sweet corn risotto that was creamy and rich without being too heavy nor too sweet; roasted beets that constituted my first enjoyable experience with that particular root; the steak was perfectly cooked–with an interesting spice combination of chermoula and cumin. The portions were more than fair for the price, and Brix offers a terrific selection of wines. The service was friendly and spot-on (Lindsay offers the perfect combination of there-when-you-need-her without hovering), and we really enjoyed chatting with the owner, Hunter Smith. Perhaps most impressive, the chef (Nathan) was out of town when we visited, but two guest chefs who had trained with Nate presented a terrific menu. I have traveled to Lexington a number of times, and Brix is easily the best restaurant in town…and in fact, can compare to the best eateries in Charlottesville and Richmond. We’ll definitely go back–keep up the good work….

Brix Externship Blog Week Four– July 31, 2011

nathan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:10:32 +0000

Did we tell you, that it is hot in the kitchen? Well summer with temperatures 100 degrees
and over make you realize, that there is heat and there is heat. Well we are here to tell
you that the kitchen last week was hotter than the weeks before, but at the same time the
human body does at certain times like these not act as a thermometer, it just screams hot.
We returned from a vacation week back in Norfolk, where temperatures were even higher
and stayed mostly cool inside all week, not even cooking that week as it was restaurant
week. This Wednesday we found Chef Nathan in a scrubbing mode with parts of the
kitchen strewn around him, not what you call a kitchen ready to open in three hours. Chef
told us about a few disasters that happened during our week off: first and most
importantly – the freezer had stopped working and opening the freezer door welcomed
him with a stench of indescribable force. So we were waiting for new deliveries and the
restaurant would not open till dinner time. Also a shelf in the kitchen came out of the
wall when he wanted to take equipment down. Because we were closed for the week all
fresh food had to be prepped for the coming week and all meats also when they
eventually arrived later that day.

Bread and pasta normally takes up the morning hours before opening for lunch. We now needed to multi task also carrot and turnip prepping as well as pre-preparing the dishes that are featured on the menu up to the finishing stage of our cooking during dining hours. That Wednesday turned out to be a hectic day and because there were few customers that night we could keep on working on thepreparation of dishes that we would feature in the days to follow, as well as prepare food to be frozen for future use.Believe us an empty freezer is not a good thing in a restaurant, because normally its content saves us from having to tell customers we are out of something.

This was also the week in which we changed stations from Sandee cooking
the past three weeks at the back station, where pastas, soups and salads etc. are prepared
for service going now to the front station for the coming three weeks, where the other
half of the menu is being cooked. So this week both of us depended on each others
advice on how to cook the now “new” dishes at these different stations. What chef wants
is to have us leave his kitchen having cooked each menu item sufficiently long, so that we
will always remember how to do it again. Phrases like: “Have the green beans hit the
screaming hot pan and not a second earlier?” will always stay with us just like “Carbonara
needs to completely mix in raw egg not cooked egg so flip, flip, flip the pan like crazy”.
That means to you, loyal readers that live close by and want to visit us while we are
cooking your meal: our last day in the kitchen will be Saturday August13. The following
two last weeks of our externship will be: one week visiting farms that supply the
restaurant and work and learn there about biological farming and one week helping in the
dining room with the serving staff and learn more about pairing the wines of the
restaurant with the dishes that come from the kitchen.
Till next week: Sandee and Erik

brix° back at it!

nathan — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 02:10:36 +0000

We love the size of brix°. Small, tight and easy to manage; it is exactly what we wanted it to be. The down-side to the issue is that- if brix° is operating, then Hunter and I are here and chances are that the limited waitstaff is here as well. The long and short of it is; we needed a break and Rockbridge Regional Fair week is the summer week to break.

A couple of (actually decent) fair rides and a few insanely hot days later, here we are. Open again and the interns are hard at it, prepping the entire menu in just a few hours. not much fun but definitely rewarding. And yes, the braised rabbit is in the house, maybe to stay. Somerset Farm’s rabbit brood suffered a bit and Dick lost several bunnies to the aforementioned insane heat. Hopefully those days are behind us and we can get those bunnies doing what they have become famous for doing. My recommendation is… Barry White. Get Barry broadcast to the breeding hutch and kick the situation into high gear. Pretty soon the bunnies will be doing it like… well, bunnies. Upon hearing the news that we are out of the rabbit, guests give us “the sad face” (as it has come to be known. Grown adults presenting the full on pouty lip and wistful puppy dog eyes will soon cease to haunt me; and Berry White will have broken into a new market. What do you think Dick?

Take the opportunity to come in while the local produce is coming in at a furious pace and before we welcome back students and their families.

Braised Rabbit with Black Garlic and Cinnamon

nathan — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:21:15 +0000

We are particularly proud of this dish. It is a seamless union of cinnamon, black garlic, almonds, pancetta, saffron and sherry. Our guests tend to agree. It is difficult to keep this item in house. Apparently, brix° diners are far more ravenous than rabbits are proliferate! We will continue to try our best to have this in when you arrive… no guarantees… talk to Dick Wager if you need to harass someone… he needs it! (just kidding Dick)

(Photo coming soon)

Brix Externship Blog Week Three – July 18, 2011

nathan — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:10:43 +0000

brix° is a one of a kind type of restaurant, that was conceived by Hunter and Chef Nate to
be distinctively different than any other restaurant in Lexington and surrounding areas.
First, they only serve small plates, which guests distribute by spooning the plate content
to their own tasting plates. This means, that a table of two normally selects 4, 6 or more
small plates from the menu to share. Second, the menu shows a very extensive wine list
sold by the glass to pair wines to the menu choices. A cheese plate requires a different
wine than a crab cake. This would not make it a very different type of restaurant by itself,
but Hunter and Chef Nate went a few steps further: they contacted local farmers to supply
the restaurant daily or twice a week with their produce and protein. Granted the above
mentioned crab cakes are not local of course, but if you ever have the opportunity to
taste them, you will find that the flavors and purity of content will make you believe that
Lexington has the ocean nearby. Chef’s recipes make the local flavors of fresh produce
and beef or rabbit shine by first and foremost highlighting their own character and flavor.
If you do not like beets, you should try brix° baby beets or small super fresh turnips. A
plate of corn risotto will make you appreciate corn that was harvested yesterday. Chef
has a Mediterranean range of spices, he often uses to create a final component to your
savoring of flavors. All in all brix° will wow you, if you are the type of guest that likes to
have small bites of multiple plates and have a wonderful evening of trying everything,
while also drinking many different glasses of wines.
Not only do guests finish their plates and thus present us with minimal waste, we in the
kitchen are very green in our approach to waste. All compostable items go in the bin that
Mitch comes to collect for his farm, from which he supplies us produce and we have in
the front area of our store room multiple bins for glass, cans, plastic and other metals
for recycling. Our garbage can is almost never full for weekly collection and all edible
remains goes through Hunter’s stomach or he kindly offers take home packages for
employees.
This past week we got Tuesday evening the message to meet Hunter at brix°, where we
learned, that Chef Nate had to leave for Virginia Beach because of a death in the family
and wouldn’t be back till after the weekend. Hunter wanted us to consider keeping the
restaurant open, as he thought Chef Nate had us taught us well enough for us to go
solo this week with Hunter’s assistance where needed. We conceded, that we knew
the procedures by now, but it was still a scary prospect to be without the Chef around
to fall back on. In the end we found ourselves the next morning on the farmers market
buying produce for the week and placing orders to be delivered to brix°. It turned out to
be a week with two reasonably busy days and two days that were very slow and looking
back we are pleased to have had this opportunity to run the kitchen by ourselves, with
Hunter providing us ideas and creating two new dishes for us to offer that week. Both
of us created a dish that Hunter approved for service, so all in all it may be difficult to
be back after next week (brix° is closed for a week) being externs again, which as we all
know are students in a learning situation saying “yes chef” all the time. To be fair to Chef
Nate however, he challenges our minds, he has us taste his creations and he requires us to

comment on or suggest add-ons or deletions to his dishes.
Till the beginning of August when we resume this blog

Brix Externship Blog Week Two – July 10, 2011

nathan — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:05:23 +0000

We were really surprised to find that Chef Nate put us in front of the stove that very, very
first Wednesday night as line cooks to put out plates cooked to order for the guests.
Luckily John was there to do the real work on the front station that night. The front
station does the steaks and wok hot green beans and croquettes and crab cakes and
desserts. The back station, which was our domain that night, has to plate salads and make
cheese plates as well as cook pasta dishes. But to get up to speed and we mean that
literally with 10 different orders to bring to the pass (culinary term for window where
Chef inspects and then hands out our creations to the front of the house servers – that
very Wednesday night it was Amanda), was for us like starting a 10K race with no prior
training runs. Mind you we had started at 9am that morning and had all morning and
afternoon washed and chopped veggies, so our feet and backs were starting to complain.
We were lucky that there were not too many guests in the house that night. I came to love
doing dishes that night watching Sandee handling the burners, cooking orders with Chef
hovering from a distance watching and coaching her. The sounds of a restaurant dining
area from the kitchen is like a happy buzz of talking and clinking of glasses with voices
we recognize, such as Hunter’s distinctive laugh and Amanda’s “order in”. But when we
are hustling in the kitchen, those sounds are background noises. That night we earned our
first burn marks and blisters. Around ten pm Mitch came through the back door to collect
the compost bin (about that aspect of the kitchen read next week’s blog). As the guests
went to the dessert rounds, our station came to a halt with one cheese plate, that at long
last reached the pass amidst dessert plates. The cheese plate was ordered as an appetizer,
but in the confusion of all the other orders that night it never got delivered on time and as
such became a dessert plate. We retired to the bench in the back yard with a PBR (the
traditional reward for the staff during the mid afternoon lull times and at the end of the
shift). When the last guests leave, the kitchen comes to live again as we clean up our
stations and store the remaining food in the refrigerators, do the last dishes and send
clean glasses and silverware to the front of the house for polishing. It is during this end of
service time that Hunter comes alive with jokes and compliments about the quality of the
food orders Chef did not pass for delivery to guests, which he always consumes. A good
night of flawless dishes leaves him hungry and almost grumpy. It is also at this time that
we start cleaning. As with all cleaning jobs in any home we start from the top (only
unlike your home we do the following every day): shelf and surface wiping, stove top
cleaning, sink cleaning and dust bin emptying, after which floor sweeping can begin. Not
to go into too much detail: we are using food friendly chemicals to disinfect all areas in
the kitchen including an enzyme liquid to disinfect the floor which after sweeping get a
sturdy wet brushing. It is only then that the lowest workers on the totem pole, the two of
us – and on Wednesdays with extra input of John – can rest and join the bosses at the bar
for a last PBR (for those of you that tried to puzzle out what those letters mean a few
sentences above: Pabst Blue Ribbon), and have the recap of the day with input and advise
from Chef and Hunter before we leave for bed. Believe you me around 11pm 12 am
nobody is to be seen in downtown Lexington as we shuffle home downhill to the Dutch

Brix Externship Blog Week One – July 3, 2011

nathan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:48:02 +0000

*Chef’s note- The extern blog is completely un-edited (except for a couple of spelling changes) and they are encouraged to “tell it like it is” for the general public. There are no secrets at brix°.

It was in the streaming rain that we drove up to The Dutch Inn in Lexington VA

to begin our journey as externs at brix°. We had no idea what to expect and we are quite

certain neither did Chef Fountain. “We” are Erik and Sandee, a retired couple, who have

just graduated from the Culinary Institute of Virginia (CIV) in Norfolk and we are here

at brix° to satisfy our externship requirement for our degrees. We pretty much begged

Chef Fountain to give us this chance – two unproven wannabes- because of his willingness

to teach, his commitment to fresh and local produce, and the size of the small restaurant

(only 30 covers). Because that means we would have one on one instruction and the two

of us might even keep up “on the line” during busy nights, because at school we would

be “on the line” with two teams of 8 students serving 32 covers. And as far as fresh and

local produce we were looking forward to experience how Chef Fountain would highlight

the freshness of products, something we almost never have an opportunity to taste

anywhere in the world. All this made moving to Lexington for two months a commitment

to 10 weeks of “will our bodies survive the onslaught of 13 hours a day standing on your

feet” a true adventure.

It is funny to walk early in the morning in our CIV whites down Washington

Street towards brix° for our 9am meeting with Chef Fountain to find out what our day

would look like. As I walked in the small Co-op next door to the Dutch Inn for shampoo

which we forgot, the lady at the register asked what we were doing in town. As I told her

that we would work at brix°, she asked if Hunter was still working there as if we were

there to take over the restaurant; another lady we passed wondered if we were going to

teach the brix° staff new things instead of the other way around. What some chef whites

may do to perception.

As soon as we walked into brix°, Chef Nathan told us to follow him and stagier

John Stallard to the weekly Wednesday Farmers market, which is just one street over.

We were introduced to many of the producers of the fresh and local vegetables that we

are going to work with in the kitchen during the next ten weeks. We met Mitch Wapner

of Paradox Farms (did you know he comes daily at the end of the night to collect our

compost bin) , Don Huffman of Fox Ridge Farms, two interns, Chad and Rachel, of Stonehouse Farm,

Farmer Brown with his jellies and Rebecca Tilson of Broadview Ranch where much of brix° proteins are being

reared following the age old method of daily moving the cattle from pasture to pasture

like the bisons did. They also seem to have acorn fed pigs. The free range chickens bring

wonderful brown eggs. We hope to visit a few of the above during the coming weeks. So

please invite us, we would love to come. Of course the personal highlight of the market

visit was stopping at Annie Roller’s stand and buy her delicious sticky buns.

So back to the kitchen with all the fresh purchases and here our real work started

cleaning and prepping for the days to come. In the weeks to come we love to tell you

much more about our daily lives in the brix° kitchen.