Plums: Soft shell crab and wine dinner extraordinaire

-Lecian Henry

Once again Plums Cafe proved to be one of Beaufort’s best restaurants by successfully hosting a sold out wine dinner on April 14.

Owner Lantz Price and Chef Will Mclenagan took advantage of the short soft shell crab season by creating four wonderful courses that were inspired by the crab and complemented by wines paired by Emily Clark of Grass Roots Wine Wholesalers.

The dinner began with she-crab bisque, a stellar introduction that set the tone for the meal. The bisque was paired with the South African Bradgate Chenin Blanc-Sauvignon Blanc 2007. The wine’s crisp elegance balanced the lush richness of the bisque, making it a harmonious first course and left the guests wanting more.

Dinner progressed with a dainty tower of blue crab, cucumber, avocado and a gazpacho vinaigrette. A highlight of the meal, the avocado and cucumber enhanced the delicate blue crab without overpowering. The gazpacho vinaigrette pulled it all together nicely with the perfect amount of flavor and acidity. The crab tower was served with Domaine de Ballade Cotes de Gascogne Blanc 2007, a lively dry white wine blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Colombard from Southwest France.

The third crab course was a pan fried soft shell crab served over a Carolina succotash of smoked bacon, hominy, sweet white corn and red peppers. Soft shell crabs are often overly battered or fried into a greasy mess, but the crab at Plums was handled with finesse, resulting in a crisp and perfectly cooked dish. Le Drunk Rooster Chardonnay 2007 (available by the glass at Plums), a clean, medium bodied French Chardonnay, enhanced the course and seemed to marry the flavors of the sweet crab and smoky bacon.

The dinner was concluded with fresh Dempsey Farm strawberries topped with crème fraiche, a perfect ending to a delightful meal. Price ended the meal on a high note by bringing out his house lemoncello in a porron, which is a festive Spanish communal drinking apparatus.

Overall the atmosphere was inviting, and the crowd fun and energetic. The meal was exceptional and I am eagerly awaiting the next wine dinner at Plums in June. The other bit of good news is that all the wines served are available at Bill’s Liquor.

Crustacean Intoxication

-Lowcountry Weekly

Mark Shaffer reviews a recent Wine Dinner at Plum’s.

For a few weeks each Spring something strange happens in the Lowcountry. Perfectly normal people from all walks of life are suddenly afflicted with a kind of crazed culinary lust, if you will. They begin to queue up at restaurants milling about before the doors open like a pack of movie zombies, clawing at the plate glass, muttering the word “softshell” over and over again. Indeed, people I’ve given up for dead during the winter months suddenly reappear Lazarus-like when the first vague rumor of softshell crab whispers down the river. It is the surest sign of spring in the Lowcountry, a promise as intoxicating as the thick perfume of jasmine and tea olive and just as brief – the promise of the Holy Grail of local seafood, the softshell blue crab.

For the uninitiated, the blue crab molts as it outgrows its shell, literally backing out of the old exoskeleten. For a short while the crab is literally soft and spongy, the meat is somehow sweeter and – once properly cleaned – the entire crab is completely edible. For the short few weeks the crabs are in season, softshell aficionados will gorge themselves in a prolonged feeding frenzy at local restaurants. And nowhere is this delicacy more revered or better treated than at Beaufort’s own Plum’s.

Plum’s owner Lantz Price recently invited The Lowcountry to his venerable waterfront restaurant for a sort of crustacean bacchanal, a softshell-themed wine dinner prepared by Executive Chef Will McLenagan with wine pairings by Emily Clarke of Grassroots Wines. The stars of this four course event are fresh, early softshell crabs plucked from local waters by Gault Seafood of Lady’s Island and a dessert of strawberries from Dempsey Farms of St. Helena Island hand selected by Davey Dempsey.

First Course
She Crab Bisque
Bradgate Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc

The dining room is packed and buzzing, even the bar is full for this evening’s meal. A storm front blows out to sea, painting a dramatic backdrop across the huge picture windows framing the Waterfront Park and the Beaufort River. The restaurant has undergone the always slightly miraculous transformation from casual, laid-back lunch spot to elegant, intimate dining room. Candles flicker against white linen as Lantz introduces Emily who, prior to each course, offers up the background of the wine. Grassroots Wines specializes in the unique and unusual, wines you definitely won’t find languishing on a supermarket shelf. The name implies the mission: to find well-crafted wines from small, mostly organic producers the world over.

One of my favorite pretentious wine snob moments in “Sideways” comes when Paul Giamatti’s Miles detects a note of – dare I say? – asparagus as he sniffs a glass of white. This Bradgate blend of Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc is rife with it, but in a good way. It has Chaucerian character – deep and complex, just the thing to stand up to Chef Will’s She Crab Bisque, which is a balancing act on it’s own. The bisque is not so heavy as the usual take on She Crab Soup. This is on the lighter side, but with generous amounts of roe and meat with the proper dash of good sherry to accentuate the natural richness of the crab. Not too heavy, not to thin, but just the thing to whet the appetite for what’s to come. The Bradgate, a South African boutique wine, cuts the bisque nicely with a kind of pagan earthiness that seems appropriate for the occasion. What hints at being too forward on its own is perfect with the bisque – a wine for food.

Second Course
Plum’s Crab Tower with cucumber, avocado and gazpacho vinaigrette
Domaine de Ballade Cotes de Gascogne Blanc 2007

The Crab Tower is a delicate construct of texture, flavor and allure – essentially a variation on a California Roll minus rice – it is clean, fresh and light, quintessentially spring. The gazpacho vinaigrette is perfectly bright and works nicely with the French white. Emily tells us the Cotes de Gascogne hails from the same part of southern France as Le Chevalier Charles de Batz-Castelmore, better known as D’Artagnan and the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas’ most famous Musketeer. The wine is appropriately young and fearless with a nose of pink grapefruit and a crisp, clean finish that marries well with the avocado without overpowering the crab. Emily calls it “a classic French porch wine,” made mostly with the Columbard grape, a fruit known for its fine acidity. I would recommend a well-chilled bottle or three to compliment any Lowcountry porch sitting experience.

Third Course
Pan-fried Local Soft Shell Crab over Carolina succotash with smoked bacon, hominy, sweet white corn and red peppers
Le Drunk Rooster Chardonnay 2007

Ah, the main event – and a challenging wine pairing. The successful preparation and enjoyment of softshell crab is an exercise in simplicity. The key is to avoid overwhelming the crab. That can happen with a side dish, a seasoning or the wine. Both Emily and Chef Will are on the same page. Chef’s approach is a dish stripped down to bare flavor. The whole crab is lightly battered, seasoned and sautéed then presented on a bed of Carolina succotash, a delightfully wicked combination of sweet, rich, creamy and smoky all at once. The crab is crispy, light and sweet. The shell is barely detectable and it’s not the least bit greasy. The wine is an un-oaked French chardonnay from the Languedoc-Roussillon region along the Mediterranean coast. Again, there are notes of citrus but much less forward than the Gascogne. It all makes for a hell of a combo: the succotash lays down the bass line, the crab takes lead horn, and the Drunk Rooster does a nice job on percussion.

Dessert
Dempsey Farms Fresh Strawberries with crème fraiche
House Lemoncello

There are few things as perfect as the first strawberries of spring and few strawberries as perfect as the first fruit from Dempsey Farms picked by an actual Dempsey. The Chef lets the berries speak for themselves: luscious as lips, tart, sweet and deeply crimson against a dollop of crème fraiche. The chilled Lemoncello (essentially lemon-infused grain alcohol) is Lantz’s own recipe. “Just sip it,” he cautions. “It’s got a little kick to it. Actually it’s got quite a kick to it.” Before dessert is finished at least two spontaneous and vastly different renditions of “Happy Birthday” break out. The strawberries are unmatched and the Lemoncello is a perfectly dangerous accompaniment, two distinctly different types of tart and sweet swinging together like Fred and Ginger.

Emily makes the rounds a final time, answering questions about the wines, taking orders. Lantz – who’s been running food, pouring wine and generally chatting up the clientele – takes a knee by our table to see how we’re doing and get an opinion on the lemoncello. I ask for the recipe. He gives me a brief but detailed dissertation on the entire process.
“How about that succotash recipe?” I ask.
“More lemoncello?” he grins.

Falling for the hearty new menu at Plums

-The Island News

The Lunch Bunch was treated to a rare dinner, this time to sample the exquisite new fall menu featured at Plums.
Kim, Elizabeth, Tess and I dined by candlelight with Junior Lunch Bunchers William and Anna Kathryn (Kim’s children).Our server Jessica was lovely and attentive, and her recommendations were spot on.
Chef Josh Castillo, who has been in the kitchen for four months, said they are excited to unveil the new menu, but regulars fear not, they have kept their most popular staples.

We started with a whole variety of delicious appetizers including the fried oysters, the pimiento dip with baguette croutons and the fresh mussels steamed in Pale Ale, shallots, parsley, garlic and Dijon butter sauce. The mussels are usually my favorite, but that was until I tried the Oyster Stew. I’ll be honest, it didn’t sound that good at first and I was skeptical of the dish. But once I tried a hearty spoonful full of plump oysters, sweet potatoes and spicy chorizo, I was hooked. We all agreed it is a must-have appetizer.
The entrees saw a superb selection of sea-inspired dishes.
Elizabeth ordered the classic Carolina Crab Cakes with arugula salad, Jasmine rice, tomato coulis and topped with an amazing green apple chutney.
Kim chose the Grilled Yellowfin Tuna with roasted red pepper risotto, collards and hot pepper buerre blanc. She said tuna is one of her favorite dishes, and this was cooked perfectly rare to her liking.
William — who was in a bit of pain because he just had braces put on that day — and Anna Kathryn both tried the Shrimp and Grits. You know it’s yummy if even the kids like it. Plums also offers a separate kids menu for picky eaters, but Kim’s obviously raised her children right since they have more sophisticated palates.

I was enticed by the Mahi Mahi special. Served of over orzo with beets and topped with pecans, it was simply outstanding.
By Jessica’s suggestion, Tess tried the Lowcountry Bouillabaisse which is made with wild caught shrimp and local clams steamed in a savory broth with chorizo sausage, roasted red potatoes and corn. The taste was so unique and delightful, it’s hard to even describe. It had a rustic, authentic flavor that was complex yet simple at the same time; the ultimate gourmet comfort food. This was our definite must-have of the night.
For dessert, Tess had the Lemon Tart, Elizabeth had the Sweet Potato Cheesecake and I had the Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake. (These desserts seem meant to be shared because the portions were enormous!) Each item was decadent and magnificent, but the Sweet Potato Cheesecake was our winner. It’s the perfect way to end a fall feast at Plums.
Don’t forget the restaurant has a complete oyster bar as well as many specialty salads. There’s also an extensive beer and wine menu at reasonable prices.
Plums is one of my favorite restaurants, the place I take guests visiting from out-of-town because the atmosphere is always lively and bustling, the staff is always friendly and, whether for lunch or dinner, the food is always fantastic. It represents the best that Beaufort has to offer.