We’ve hosted many special dinners (over 200, actually) at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, but amazingly, we just held our first ever special brunch last month—and we traveled all the way to Ireland for inspiration. Seriously!

It all started back in 2013 when our Catering Manager, Caitlin Doyle, won a staff scholarship to study at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland (pronounced “ballee-mah-loo”). World renowned for its Slow Food philosophy and first-class culinary education as well as a dedication to sustainable, organic farming, the school welcomed Caitlin as an intern for a three-month program.

Caitlin hadn’t done much cooking in a professional kitchen when she was offered the opportunity—and, as the manager of the Roadhouse at the time, she didn’t think she could carve out the time, either—but, with the support of everyone at the restaurant, she decided to go for it.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” says Caitlin. “I didn’t have much time to think about it or do much research. Looking back, I probably should have, but I hit the ground running.”

Caitlin began working in the kitchen the day after she arrived. “The first couple days were pretty difficult,” she explains. “I think they were expecting someone with much more experience, but I put my head down and did what I was told. I learned a lot. The first couple of days was a lot of prep, and then we hosted a big breakfast for all the incoming students.”

Memories of that big breakfast and others during her internship, Caitlin says, were a big inspiration for the Irish Brunch. She’d already collaborated with Chef Alex Young for a Balleymaloe-inspired dinner upon her return, and she’d been wanting to do a brunch for over a year. The Cookery School takes great pride in their morning menu, transforming the lackluster continental breakfasts that Ireland is known for into a truly great meal that includes handmade breads and jams, poached fruit, and hearty, nutritious grains—Caitlin wanted to re-create that.

The menu for the Roadhouse’s Taste of Ireland included Irish breads (making the bread in the early morning hours was one of Caitlin’s fondest memories at Ballymaloe), a porridge flight, and the latke-like boxty topped with smoked salmon and crème fraîche. There was also a fantastic buffet that featured Irish bacon and sausage, Cornman Farm’s lamb stew, fish pie made from a recipe by Chef Alex’s mother, Dublin coddler and more.

“It was really hard to pare down the menu, for sure. I probably had a list of 50 things I wanted to do,” Caitlin says with a laugh, adding that she pored over Ari and Alex’s Irish cookbooks during the planning stage. “With a little bit of time, I was able to find a good mix of dishes and a good mix of tastes.”

We couldn’t agree more, and our guests really loved it, too, many counting the boxty and fish pie among their favorite dishes. When asked if she would like to make the Irish Brunch an annual thing, Caitlin (very wisely) wouldn’t make any promises.

“We’ll see!” she said.

Fingers crossed, and in the meantime, here’s some photos from the event:

While there is nothing like corned beef and cabbage for dinner to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, starting off the holiday with a traditional Irish breakfast is just as important. Actually, beginning any morning at Zingerman’s Roadhouse with our stone cut Irish oats is always a great idea. There is nothing quite like stirring in a bit of golden butter or sprinkling on a dash of brown sugar to round out the warm, hearty goodness. For our Irish Special Brunch on March 18th, we will be offering these humble oats three ways, one of which is fermented.

Fermenting is a flavor saver!
It’s interesting to think about how long the art of fermentation has been around, considering all the ways we enjoy it today. It is one of the oldest forms of preserving food, dating as far back as Neolithic times. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to indulge in all the cheese and wine we do today, and these are among the earliest foods that were fermented! It has always been a natural way to prepare food, use up every last scrap and to cut back on the labor of cooking. In addition, it makes certain foods more nutritious, and improves their flavor and texture. Food become more shelf stable, and the process synthesizes essential vitamins, such as B12.

Oats are like a fine wine.
Typically when we think about fermented food, we might conjure up images of yogurt, pickles, maybe even kimchi. One might not actually consider oats as a food that might improve with age. Yet grains benefit from fermentation by becoming more digestible, and by developing more intense flavors and softer textures. Many cultures cook with fermented grains, and fermented oats were historically at the forefront of the Irish diet. As a family staple, they would be cooked into a porridge, then kept in a pantry for weeks, continuing to ferment and solidify until every last bit had been sliced into cakes and griddled. In this manner, the need to mill the oats was significantly reduced, and nothing was wasted. The taste would evolve into something more complex over time, the nuttiness of the oats deepening. The fried cakes would become golden and crispy, and stay soft on the inside.

What will you put on your oats?
These days, one might not keep their oats fermenting in a drawer. However, a simpler approach is to soak them in 2-3 times their volume in water overnight, for 24 hours, or for even a few days depending on how much you want to amp up the flavor. A particularly delicious twist to this method would involve swirling in milk or yogurt, using lacto-fermentation to help develop a creamier, sweeter porridge. After the oats have soaked, bring them to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and stir until they reach an even consistency. Toss in a few ripe berries, drizzle in Irish honey, and spoon up a richness of flavor you won’t find in any packet of instant oatmeal. The fermentation helps break down the structure of the oats, so you are reducing the cooking time. This way you can focus more on how you want to personalize your bowl of Irish yumminess.

Or register now for the Irish Special Brunch at Zingerman’s Roadhouse and enjoy Chef Alex Young’s Irish brunch favorites, including his fermented oats. Reserve your seat for Taste of Ireland today.

Zingerman’s Roadhouse recently hosted Biscuits for Your Outside Man, A Fundraiser Dinner for the Music Maker Relief Foundation. The night featured eclectic sounds of Grammy Award winning musician Dom Flemons (a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) and a delicious Southern-inspired menu from Chef Alex Young.

“This is our 12th annual African American Foodways Dinner,” said Ari Weinzweig. “It’s the single dinner that we’ve done more than every other dinner.” Past events have honored Malinda Russell, whose 1866 cookbook was the first written by a Black woman, as well as soul food and African American street vendors.

This year’s sold out event raised over $3,000 for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, an outstanding non-profit organization that provides direct financial support to working-class musicians 55 years or older, who have yearly income of less than $18,000 (the average income for the over 400 artists they serve is $5,000 a year) and are rooted in the Southern musical tradition. The organization offers a variety of services, including monthly stipends for groceries and medical care, a professional development program that produces CDs for artists to sell, and a program called Cultural Access, which gives these wonderful musicians access to play venues, like the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival.

For this dinner, Music Maker Relief Foundation founder Timothy Duffy was on hand and spoke on what inspired him to start the organization. “The music that created our American vernacular after The Great Migration—there’s people in the culture that created this music that hold on to dear traditions,” said Duffy. “The record business never helped these people….I engaged in a program to partner with musicians hand in hand to make a better life for them and a better life for us, so we hear this treasured music.”

Flemons stressed the cultural significance of the music and the relief it has historically provided to African American artists and their audiences. “There’s such heavy history with all this music here,” he says. “There’s a lot of oppression, there’s a lot of misrepresentation, and a lot appropriation that’s been within the culture. One of the things that has made it so we as a people have been able to move forward has been those good times and finding a way to laugh. Almost like a little release valve…just like we’re getting together tonight.”

The menu, which was inspired by tracks from Music Makers’ new food-themed compilation album “Biscuits for Your Outside Man,” was a hit. Starting with fluffy, buttery biscuits, it also featured cabbage pie with Broadbent smoked sausage, cornmeal fried catfish, BBQ ribs, black eyed peas with noisette vinaigrette, chicken pot pie, and baked macaroni and cheese. Dessert was cherry pie and banana pudding served with a Nilla wafer and fried fat back (per Dom’s very special request!).

Check out the photos:

Every Mardi Gras carnival needs a king, and Zingerman’s Roadhouse is proud to welcome Jimmy Galle of Gulfish to our party on February 28th. We will be celebrating Mardi Gras by paying tribute to a long-standing New Orleans landmark Galatoire’s. The Bourbon Street restaurant established claim to fame in 1905 with its upscale French Creole menu and festive atmosphere, making it an ideal Mardi Gras destination. Both the Roadhouse and Galatoire’s use freshly sourced fish from the reputable supplier Gulfish, resulting in seafood dishes with a high caliber of flavor that the Roadhouse will present at its Mardi Gras Special Dinner.

“If you want it and we have it, you know we’ll bring it”-Gulfish

Gulfish was started up by Jimmy Galle, who grew up in New Orleans, to provide chefs with the freshest and finest seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. The fishermen catch the fish to order, then Gulfish ships it themselves so that it only takes 18-24 hours from the water to the restaurant. Several times a week, the Roadhouse receives photos of fish on the boats from Jimmy, allowing us a direct, first-rate selection of seafood from small operation fisherman.

Our slightly sweet red snapper, mild tasting pompano, and meaty Gulf shrimp all come from Gulfish. Jimmy asserts, “I can tell you the name of the guy who caught it, the boat it came in on, what dock it came in on, and when it came in.” Gulfish supports fisherman who follow the principles of sustainable fishing, and with each order, provides us with an opportunity to do the same. The result is a royal quality of fish on our menu that larger fleets cannot match.

While Jimmy will not be arriving by traditional riverboat for our Mardi Gras celebration, his insight into New Orlean’s cuisine and the importance of fresh seafood will be parade worthy. His sovereign attention to the superiority of Gulf fish will be present in every bite of the Red Drum en Papillote Sardou and the Seafood Gumbo we will feature on our menu for the dinner.

To view the menu and purchase tickets for the Mardi Gras Special Dinner #205 on February 28th, just click here.

When Jean Galatoire moved to New Orleans from the small town of Pardies, France in the late 1800s, he brought with him a repertoire of classic French dishes. By using New Orleans ingredients to recreate these classics, he developed a menu for the restaurant he opened in 1905 that would integrate the zeal of NOLA’s cuisine with familial French dining. While Galatoire’s focus on Creole tradition immediately appealed to the upper echelon of New Orlean’s society, their culture has always remained an unpretentious testament to the vigor of Bourbon Street. Over the decades, the Galatoire family has maintained their restaurant as an integral part of New Orleans, never wavering on its history of impeccable service and refined cuisine, nor it’s festive charm.

Chef Alex Young’s menu for our Mardi Gras Special dinner #205 is an acknowledgment of the impact Galatoire’s has made on New Orleans dining. Just as Zingerman’s prides itself on using regional ingredients, Galatoire’s is known for incorporating local product into their dishes so that their menu reflects only the best of what New Orleans has to offer. Both the Roadhouse and Galatoire’s use freshly sourced fish from the Gulf, resulting in seafood dishes that present the highest quality flavor. Chef Alex will feature a mildly sweet Red Drum en Papillote Sardou for Mardi Gras that will exemplify this quality in a style that reflects the créme de la créme of Nola’s Creole cuisine.

Join us on Tuesday, February 28th, as we celebrate with additional delights, such as Filet Mignon March de Vin and Seafood Gumbo. As for dessert, the King Cake Bread Pudding will be the life of the party, of course!

Here’s a sneak peek at the full, festive menu:

Appetizer:
Roasted Duck Crepe
with port sherry glacé

Soup:
Seafood Okra Gumbo
with crab and shrimp

Salad:
Crab & Avocado Maison
with creole mustard aioli

Entrees:
Red Drum en Papillote Sardou
with artichoke hearts and hollandaise
-or-
Filet Mignon au March de Vin

Dessert:
King Cake Bread Pudding

Our Mardi Gras Special Dinner #205: A Tribute to Galatoire’s, a Bourbon Street Legend takes place February 28 at 7:00 pm. $75 per person. Our special dinners sell out fast, so your reserve your seat here today!

He’s been called a “walking historical encyclopedia of early American music”, and here at Zingerman’s, we call him a friend. Dom Flemons is a Grammy Award winning musician lauded for his unique interpretations of a spectrum of  traditional American music forms, from Piedmont blues and country to ragtime and jug-band music. He’s also a producer, slam poet

Those who were lucky enough to get a seat a the sold-out 12th Annual African-American Foodways Dinner: Biscuits for Your Outside Man, on January 17 at Zingerman’s Roadhouse will be treated to a selection of music chosen by Dom.