Belcourt Theatre celebrates 24 of Hitchcock’s films

In light of the release of the new film “Hitchcock,” Belcourt Theatre celebrates the famed director by playing his films once again on the big screen.

The series Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense features 24 of his films through Jan. 17.

This weekend alone, fans can see “Vertigo,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Rear Window” and “Rope.”

Fans also can attend the Hitchcock Brunch and Talk with food, holiday libations and a talk with Paul Young, associate professor of English and film at Vanderbilt University who has taught Hitchcock since 2003.

The brunch is at 11 a.m. Saturday and is followed by a showing of “Vertigo.” Tickets are $20, $15 for members, $10 for six-pack ticket holders and free with a full series pass.

A full series pass is $138, $115 for members, and includes all events and films in the series. The six-pack is $39, $30 for members, and can be used for six films in the series.

For a schedule of event dates and times, visit www.belcourt.org or call 615-383-9140.

— Jen Todd, The Tennessean

 

Tennessee White Trash makes sweet, salty treats

It’s that time of year — time to get last-minute gifts and additions to the menu. Tennessee White Trash is a crunchy, sweet and salty snack that meets both needs.

Patti Hibbett, owner

Name/product: Tennessee White Trash Inc.; Tennessee White Trash, peppermint bark, peanut brittle and more.

Location: Santa Fe, Tenn.

Contact: www.tennesseewhitetrash.net, 615-974-1386

Number of employees: Two. My son, Tripp, and I are partners in crime.

How did your company get started? My main business is Trimac Specialties. We sell logo merchandise. I started making the trail mix (Tennessee White Trash) and packaging it in tins to give to my corporate customers. We ended up incorporated and got into old-fashioned tea cakes, peppermint bark, chocolate-covered nuts, and we do hats, T-shirts and aprons.

Why Tennessee White Trash? I used to make it for my kids growing up, and when the last one was older and all his friends were eating it, they said, “Ms. Patti, this is so good, you ought to sell it.” So that’s when I started thinking, you know, I might do it with corporate customers.

It looks like trash because it has clumps of nuts, chocolate and stuff. Some call it puppy chow.

Where are your products available? Loveless Cafe and Perfect Setting in Franklin carry a lot of our products.

Where are they manufactured? My husband and I bought an old 1900s house right on Santa Fe Pike and renovated it. We’ve got a commercial kitchen in there. It’s not open to the public yet, but it will be in a couple of months as a gift shop.

How long have you been making these products? Personally, I’ve made it most of my life, because my mother made it. Professionally, I guess we incorporated it maybe eight or nine years ago.

Is this a full-time or part-time job? It has been part-time. The bulk of our business is in the holiday season, but because of the T-shirts and hats and stuff, we’re hoping it will go all year.

What’s next? We want to get into wholesaling. We’d like to get into other areas of Tennessee, into Gatlinburg and gift shops. We’d eventually like to get into sauces and other products, too.

What’s your favorite Tennessee-made product besides your own? Aunt Lizzie’s cheese straws.

 

Meet The Mac (and Cheese) Daddy of Music City

Mac and cheese is no longer just a kids’ dish — nor just a side. Dan’s Gourmet Spot transforms the childhood favorite into a grown-up gourmet meal.

Dan Stephenson, owner

Name/product: Dan’s Gourmet Spot, Fresh-Frozen Artisan Mac & Cheese

Contact: www.dansgourmetspot.com, 615-669-2439

Location: Nashville

Number of employees: Three part-time, plus the people at Chairmans Foods.

How did your company get started? I was thinking about the idea of a food truck, just because I had a passion for food. I didn’t necessarily have only one thing I liked making or made really well. I’m a financial analyst for Ingram Barge, so my analyst side kicked in. It’s really tough to make a lot of money from a food truck. I was cooking dinner for my girlfriend, Mandi Jones, and I, and I made mac and cheese with spicy sausages, red onion and three cheeses — Mac Attack. My buddy Tony of Tony’s Naturals said, “You need to be selling this today.”

Why mac and cheese? Mac and cheese has really come full circle for me. It was my favorite food growing up. Before I could even reach the stove, I was standing on a chair making blue box mac and cheese and adding my own stuff to it.

Where are your products available? Our first store was the Produce Place, and we’re still there. Right now we’re at the Franklin and West Nashville farmers’ markets. A month and a half ago, we had our first order to Central Market in Texas. Two weeks ago, Whole Foods added us in the Southeast region.

Where are your products manufactured? Mandi and I were making every batch at 150 pounds. Now we’ve turned it over to Chairmans Foods, a manufacturing co-packer. I gave them the recipe and they signed a disclosure. They can do 5,000 pounds a day for me.

How long have you been making these products? Two years.

What’s next for your company? Expanding our presence nationally through different retailers and getting national distributors. I think there are some unique opportunities with certain sports for branding. I’ve come up with mac and cheese flavors for 15 out of 32 NFL cities.

Is this a full-time or part-time job? Some people enjoy their free time. I enjoy stimulating time. If I work 40 hours for Ingram — and I know people working 80 hours week — I spend the other 40 working on this.

What is your favorite Tennessee-made product aside from your own? Dozen Bakery’s baked goods. They have a pecan bar that’s to die for.

 

Katie Cook to sign new children’s book Sunday

Dec. 11, 2012

Katie Cook’s new children’s book ‘Little Big Benny.’

Local CMT host and musician Katie Cook has added a new form of media to her repertoire — book writing.

Cook will visit The Beveled Edge on Sunday to sign her new children’s book, “Little Big Benny.”

The book is the first of a three-part series about Benny Armstrong Jr. and the characters who exist in his imagination. It explores life’s mysteries with humor and hope, while explaining everyone has a universe within. The book targets children ages 9-12.

Cook has been host of several shows and specials for CMT and also has appeared on CNBC, MSN and CNN. Before her TV career, her band Reno released an album and toured the U.S. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Nashville and continues to write and perform music locally.

Cook will sign books from 2 to 4 p.m. The Beveled Edge is at 73 White Bridge Road, Suite 114. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/thebevelededge or call 615-356-7784.

 

Rachael Ray visits Nashville for Wednesday book event

Dec. 11, 2012

Rachael Ray comes to Nashville to promote her new book, ‘My Year in Meals.’ / Handout email

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray is coming to Nashville, but not to cook or film a show.

Ray will appear on Wednesday in an event presented by Parnassus Books and Belmont University to promote her new book “My Year in Meals,” featuring a year’s worth of dishes she made at home, just for her family and friends.

Ray and her husband, John Cusimano, recorded the meals and drinks they created and added personal vignettes and photos. The book is really two in one: Flip it over for Cusimano’s “My Year in Cocktails,” where he lists recipes for more than 100 cocktails he created for various holidays, seasons and events.

At Wednesday’s event, Nashville Scene food critic Carrington Fox will interview Ray and Cusimano. The audience can also participate in a Q&A after the interview. And don’t worry about bringing the book — a signed copy is included in admission.

Ray is a well-known Food Network TV personality, bestselling cookbook author, editorial director of her magazine “Every Day with Rachael Ray,” and founder of the non-profit organization Yum-o!

This event begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Belmont University’s Massey Performing Arts Center, 1900 Belmont Blvd. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by visiting www.parnassusbooks.net and clicking on the link in the “An Evening with Rachel Ray” announcement. For more information, call 615-953-2243.

 

Jay’s barbecue sauce flavors meat, taters

Most popular variety good for dipping

For some barbecue lovers, it’s all about the sauce. And for some barbecue sauce lovers, the dippin’ is good for side dishes, too. Jay’s Hole in the Wall Foods makes all-natural sauces, suited for different pieces of the meal.

Jay Wilfong, owner

Name/product: Jay’s Hole in the Wall Foods; Mild, Spicy and Firey Irie BBQ Sauces and Tennessee Tater Dip’n Sauce

Location: Mount Juliet

Contact: 615-975-0374

Number of employees: It’s me and my gigantic staff of me.

How did your company get started? I opened my first drive-in restaurant when I was 19 in Indiana. The recipe I use for barbecue sauce dates back to that time, in 1971. Over the years I’ve had three different barbecue restaurants and, finally, here the last couple of years I decided to start bottling sauce.

Why barbecue sauces? Barbecue’s a kind of religion, and I’m a follower. I like to cook other types of food, but barbecue has always had a special place for me. My sauces are influenced a lot by the Caribbean — Jamaica in particular. They have some of the same spices used in jerk cooking, a form of barbecue.

Tell me about the Tennessee Tater Dip’n Sauce. Going into some of the restaurants I sell sauce to, I noticed that some of the people eating there would use my spicy barbecue sauce on their fries and chicken wings. It’s the most popular variety.

Where are your products available? My biggest account is Kroger. My sauces are in a lot of downtown Nashville souvenir stores and in little restaurants in Nashville and Mt. Juliet.

Where are they manufactured? Cumberland Culinary Center in Lebanon.

How long have you been making sauces? About a year ago, I started going through FDA and getting everything licensed. I started actually producing sauce in May 2012.

What’s next for your company? I’m anticipating hitting the road here sometime in March to talk to big distributors and other large supermarket chains. Another thing, too, is looking forward to putting together our own production facility sometime next year.

What’s your favorite Tennessee-made product aside from your own? Tennessee Gourmet. They make an apple barbecue hot sauce combo, Apple & Spice. It’s a real interesting flavor.

 

Perl Catering expands with Perl cafe and market

Perl Catering’s expansion doesn’t stop with just a cafe — it’s also a local marketplace and event rental space.

“The cafe is kind of best of all worlds,” said owner Elizabeth Spinelli.

What began as a catering business opened its cafe today, serving breakfast and lunch along with coffee and pastries. And just like the catering business, the food’s all local.

“We have a really strong passion for supporting local businesses,” Spinelli said. “All of (our food) comes from local farms and, in the marketplace attached to the cafe, we sell local products like honey, bread, vegan products, jams and mustard.”

The chef is Spinelli’s husband and business partner, Robert, who has worked at Miel, Mad Platter, Tayst and more.

“He has kind of a few different influences,” Elizabeth said. “The best way to describe our food is Southern American with French influence.”

Guests can find such dishes as chicken and waffles with the chicken fried in waffle batter; the DLT, a BLT with duck confit; and even the Perl Burger with caramelized onions, bread-and-butter pickles and crispy pig ears.

Even their kids menu varies from traditional.

“We have some healthy things on there, like the hummus plate,” she said.

The interior decor features second-hand furniture, refinished by Spinelli, and local art on the walls.

“It’s family-friendly, but it’s also a place for a college student to use the wifi and have a cup of coffee.”

In the marketplace, the Spinelli family also sells its own product line of jams, mustard and more as well as to-go dinners.

“It’s sort of like a high-end deli,” she said.

Both the cafe and marketplace are open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with open seating from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Outside of business hours, the building becomes a rental space, “for smaller private events like a rehearsal dinner, birthday party or bridal shower,” Spinelli said.

The restaurant is located at 7114 Highway 70 S in Bellevue. For more information, visit www.perlcatering.com or call 615-646-1390.