These days, Newton is a long way from Arkansas, but in this Brooklyn zip code, he’s plating the flavors of his roots.
When did you decide you wanted to become a chef?
I got the idea in 1994. I went to culinary school at New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, and I realized in school that I had grown up with a family that cooked well and how important that was. My dad would make country ham and biscuits every Sunday. I understood how to make gravy. We had a garden, and my dad ground his own cornmeal. Stuff like that was inspiring. I was working as a private chef when I realized I really wanted to get back to that sort of cooking.
Tell us about Seersucker—where does the name come from?
I was wearing my seersucker suit driving a rental car to a wedding down South during this period when I was feeling disenfranchised with being a private chef. I wanted to build a community and my own kitchen…a place where I could express where I had come from through food. Good food can tell the story of your life – where you’re from and where you are going. And to wear seersucker in the South means you’re a headed to a special occasion. Any time you have it on, you are happy. And, more often than not, you have a glass of bourbon in your hand. It was the perfect name, because this is what the South means to me. I want to portray the finer side of the South that exists in every Southern town.
We know you serve a serious plate of fried chicken, but what else is on the menu?
It changes a lot—sometimes daily. I have favorites from season to season. Right now, it’s the vegetable fricassee. The main components in that come from the farmer’s market across the street. I have Kentucky soy sauce and North Carolina peanuts in there too. Then the local vegetables are fried shitake mushrooms, spring onions, snap peas, and shaved squash. I think the important part of the menu is that we want to change the notion that Southern food is only fried, super heavy, and very bad for you. I want to highlight the fresh, delicate beauty of this region. I could sell just chicken and biscuits and maybe make more money, but I won’t do that. I want to break boundaries, break the stereotype.
You have to head to Brooklyn to experience Newton’s soft shell crab, his shaved Edwards & Sons country ham, or his grilled North Carolina trout, but you can mix up a cocktail from his menu at home. This libation is a spicy ode to well-known Southern writer Truman Capote, who wrote In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s while living in Brooklyn Heights.
THE CAPOTE
2 oz. Breuckelen gin
¼ oz. home-made Serrano pepper vinegar
½ oz. dry Vya vermouth
Herbsaint
Rinse a coup glass with Herbsaint and shake out excess. Set aside. In a mixing tin, add gin, vinegar, and vermouth. Add ice. Stir and double strain it into the rinsed coup.
To make vinegar:
Puncture 3 or 4 medium-sized Serrano peppers. Submerge them in 1 quart of vinegar and seal for 2 weeks. Strain and reserve infused vinegar.
