A good man may be hard to find, but if one looks with a trained eye for good restaurants, they are becoming almost as easy to discover as beaches in the islands.
The Hatzidakis family, natives of Xios, the Greek island near Turkey, launched a culinary wonder in Apex back in May that came to the Triangle by way of Northern California where the Hatzidakises began their restaurant careers serving Greek Taverna cuisine. The cuisine is island, starring the produce that grows on Xios and highlighting preparations that you would find on island tables, offering intriguing variations upon the traditional Greek menu.
Walking into the new digs here, you feel California-island magic fusion immediately with the oversized conical hanging ceiling lights and similar shapes imprinted two dimensionally in the carpet below. Of course, photos of Xios line the walls. The stainless steel bar and chrome accents give the intimate space a luminous feeling of interior sunlight. We sat down to tables set with white cloths divining an evening of upscale dining and a dinner meant for the Gods. Yet this menu is priced for a weekday evening out.
First course: Horiatiki or village salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and traditional Greek salad trappings with capers added as an island accent. The wine, Constantine Lazaridi: Amethstos White, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with its Naked Lady label evoking visions of Greeks in bars ordering by the nickname alone with a look of anticipation or regret. The Lazaridi was young, unbalanced with no chance to rival the similar blends from France or California. Winemaking, of all the artisanal arts, may be the most Greek to the Greeks, while food is their apotheosis.
You don’t need to sit in the shadow of the Parthenon to appreciate the second course—although it would be nice to have it at dusk in Delphi near the sacred altar where the oracle once spewed her predictions because the Saganaki arrived brandy flamb. Popular on Xios, the aged kefalograviera cheese tasted of butter and cream, scoring high on the evening’s menu. Owner Kirk said the same cheese appears in the Tirokeftedes, or fried cheese balls (almost equally transcendent) in course four.
By course three the soothing Tsatziki was welcome along with Dolmathes (vegetarian is traditional Greek—anise seed makes these islands), Spanakopita, with secret herbs—a star dish at Xios and Tiropita, phyllo stuffed with feta, ricotta and herbs.
Owner Kirk Hatzidakis told me he moved to Apex because his wife’s family lives nearby, and there is a substantial Greek American community with a Greek Orthodox Church in Raleigh, which he would attend more frequently if he weren’t spending 80 hours a week at the restaurant. Chef Jason Heisenberg joined the conversation at the table saying he dittoed those working hours apprenticed to Kirk’s restaurateur father, George, who day-by-day hand-teaches Jason everything he knows in the state of the art open kitchen at the rear of the restaurant.
Jason came to Xios by way of Bloomsbury Bistro. Prior to that he cooked at Glenwood Grill and Cactus Flower and TJ Fridays. His job at Xios is to learn the recipes exactingly and to experiment with two daily specials offering his individual interpretations of island cuisine. “I recently did a stuffed calamari,” he said, “with rice, mint and garlic. I put in the tentacles and served it with a reduction sauce.” I noted here Bloomsbury’s influence on the chef with the sauce and his culinary curiosity.
The calamari is flown in from China and owner Kirk stresses the amount of time and care they all spend procuring ingredients that are fresh and of the highest quality. They have their own herb garden flourishing right outside the restaurant already.
Chef Jason’s favorite Ketenes (grilled meatballs) arrived as the fourth course with roasted potatoes and fried cheese balls. Jason said he eats five or six meatballs as they come out of the oven in the mornings. They melt in your mouth and are irresistible. The potatoes marinated in rosemary and olive oil overnight exhibit original tenderness and deep flavor. I had a Proustian experience while eating them. I recalled abundant rosemary on the dry hills of the Peloponesian Peninsula not far from the olive groves reaching up the mountains. All those tenacious roots held the dry earth, bearing fruit above the dramatic pink granite valley where in the gymnasium athletes gathered and read poetry. Body and mind converged in classical times over exercise and food and the arts. These same athletes later marched up to the game fields to test their physical and mental limits, as did the athletes this year in Greece at the 2004 Games.
Those were good weeks for business at Xios. They say they are already in the black here, and there’s no contesting the honors for authenticity in this restaurant. Julia, Kirk’s mom, brought out her pastries—Baklava and Galaktoboureko, along with kisses for dessert. She added extras in take-out containers for breakfast.
They truly perform Olympian feats daily at Xios, bringing their island to us with a beautiful openness you don’t often see in this country anymore. It’s often too risky to live openly—wearing your heart emblazoned on your shirt. Better to wear black or a designer T-shirt. And here at Xios there’s a whole hive of genuine folks who can cook the way El Greco could paint. I’m just glad they came to Apex instead of Toledo. I urge you to get with the buzz and go taste the gold at this burgeoning new hot spot on the map of the Triangle.
Over a delectable dinner of “classical European specialties with a modern regional twist,” prepared by Chef de Cuisine Michael Seese at La Rsidence in Chapel Hill, I talked with Moreton Neal about her debut cookbook: Remembering Bill Neal, just out from the University of North Carolina Press. Georgia Kyser reminisced with us over the years Bill and Moreton spent building their cooking expertise until Bill emerged as the South’s first male chef of note in the 1980s with the publication of his debut book, Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking.
Here’s a slip of our conversation:
Q: Moreton, you’re a part of this town’s culinary history and in a way the book describes the region’s culinary history. Tell me about your intentions.
A: I’ll do better. I’ll give you an example. Here’s a recipe from Georgia’s kitchen. She smiles at Georgia Kyser here, years of friendship resonating between them. Bill and I stayed at Georgia’s house when we were moving restaurants, and she’d whip things up for us at night. This one is Lemon Cake Pudding. Moreton reads from the memoir section of her book.
“You called that a quick dessert,” Georgia says, that really wasn’t that quick.” Moreton smiles her quiet, knowing smile.
Q: And that’s in the section called “At Home.” The other two sections are “Crook’s Corner” and “La Rsidence.” Tell me about divisions in the book.
A: The La Res recipes I rescued from our old recipe box Frances Gualtieri kept at the restaurant. I got them when they were considering selling the restaurant. They were a treasure trove of our staples but unpublished. I asked David Perry at UNC Press if he thought anyone would be interested in them and he said yes. The Crooks’ section is here because of Gene Hamer’s help. And the At Home segment is what we cooked at home.
Q: So is there also a chronology to this?
A: I see the book as a history of food in the American culture in the 20th century even if you don’t know who Bill Neal is. Between the home recipes from the 1950s to ’60s, and some later from the ’90s— healthy stuff. Then the La Res section is from the 1970s— country French. And finally Crooks is Southern food from the 1980s.
Q: Who are your mentors?
A: My main mentor is Jean Anderson, author of The American Century Cookbook, because she wrote the history of American food.
As we sipped our champagne and savored duck confit, Georgia commented on the marriage of Bill and Moreton, remarking that Bill possessed the most incredible taste buds in the world and Moreton possessed the most elegant taste. Together they made restaurant history. Now their cookbooks will make history side by side on our shelves. Whatever the turmoil in the marriage— and Moreton has been candid all along regarding this book as a means to work through feelings about the rough patches the two went through together— their union was productive and constructive for the world of food and for their three children, now grown.
The difference between the two culinary personalities remains obvious: Style. Bill would knock on any door he wanted to have opened for him without reserve, including Eudora Welty’s. If a patron complained and threatened to walk out of the restaurant he was known to say, “ It will be my greatest pleasure.” And his focus was always the food. He talked food all the time. Moreton will always ask before she knocks on any door. For Moreton the company around the table is equal in importance to the food. And she wouldn’t want anyone to walk out of her restaurant or her life. She would trod on the caviar for any good friendship.
Q: We were finishing our entrees when I asked Moreton what Bill would say to her at this moment of publication?
A: Great question. Hmmm. This one takes a minute…Okay… I think he’d say. Honey, I wish we’d had lots more meals together. And, Look how far we came. And… Wasn’t it a great ride? And, well, one more… here she’s laughing her contagious, mirthful laugh: Aren’t you glad we never went on a diet?
Whether you forgo dieting or not will be your personal choice, but once you get your hands on this cookbook you will definitely want to cook and enjoy these fine new Neal recipes in the company of your good friends.