SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
Reid’s Café & Catering—Boone’s Culinary Connection to Farm and Field
Reid’s Café & Catering co-owners Tina Houston and Angela Kelly, pictured from left to right, are Boone’s culinary connection to farm fresh produce and meats. With a menu that changes daily, Houston and Kelly create lunch and dinner dishes from the best of what’s available from farm and field. Photo by Sam Calhoun This summer, interest in area farmers’ markets reached new heights. Established markets prospered alongside new markets and, at the height of the summer, residents could access farm fresh produce and meats at a market on every day of the week except Monday. Yes, the green movement is becoming even more entrenched in these mountains, and we are fortunate to be home to a restaurant that furthers that endgame by creating unique culinary creations based off what is brought into town from farm and field.
Welcome to Reid’s Café & Catering, a restaurant and catering business that offers lunch, dinner, beer, wine and meals-to-go located at 142 South Water Street in Boone’s former jailhouse building. In business since April 2, 2008, Reid’s Café & Catering is co-owned by Tina Houston and Angela Kelly and features a new menu every day and night, crafted carefully by Houston, Kelly and the restaurant’s cooks, who collect ingredients from local farmers, such as Liza Plaster of Ripshin Goat Dairy, New River Organic Growers, Matt Cooper of Lively Farms, Andy Bryant of Big Grower Farms, Charlotte’s Greenhouse, Sarah and David Wimmer, Brooks Reckard and Josh Rigell, just to name a few.
“It’s as local as you can get,” said Kelly. “It’s a good way to support the entire community. Think about it—we go to the local farmers’ markets, buy from local producers, then we make it, you buy it, you love it and the whole local system keeps going. And we have a great location to do it from—one of the oldest buildings in Boone. Tons of people walk through those doors and love it; they feel comfortable, relaxed, like they are home.”
That “home” features 28 seats inside and another 24 seats in the landscaped front yard. The location is even available for rent for catered parties; if weather cooperates, the location can serve parties of 50 to 60 people. “Our yard is the best place to be at if the weather is nice,” added Kelly.
Since opening more than a year ago, Houston and Kelly have made some slight changes to how the restaurant operates. Lunch still features a “chalkboard menu,” with at least three soups of the day and at least four sandwiches of the day, all prepared from the freshest ingredients available that morning. “The daily menu is dependent on what we can get locally and fresh; it’s whatever we can get our hands on. And the menu changes with the seasons, as well,” said Houston. A variety of salads, tamales and empañadas are also offered, along with coffee from Espresso News.
Dinner at Reid’s now features an expansive menu with smaller plate sizes and table service. Dinner customers will find unique salads on the menu, such as watercress and chevre, smoked bacon-wrapped peaches with walnuts and Manchego cheese over Charlotte’s Greens and all-natural fried chicken on a bed of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese, roasted red peppers and buttermilk dressing. For the main course, customers can choose from hand-tossed pizzas, fried chickpeas with sage, homemade pimento cheese flatbread, tamales, homemade macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie, fish and chips, bison burgers, mahi mahi, gnocchi and meatballs or Indian dishes, such as shrimp Vindaloo and Saag Paneer. Sides such as local kale, sesame roasted carrots and marinated mushrooms, cucumbers and onions are offered, as well as homemade desserts, including Reid’s famous homemade ice cream and artisanal chocolates.
And the best part—customers can special order all items as a lunch or dinner to go. “If you find anything on the menu you love, you can take it home,” said Houston.
“We use nothing but real, high-quality ingredients; real cream, real butter. Everything is made from scratch, even the aioli; we even make our own ketchup,” continued Houston.
“Yep, we use great ingredients, make everything in house and absolutely love what we do,” added Kelly.
Both the lunch and dinner menu can be found by clicking to www.reidscateringco.com on a daily basis, so customers can view the farm fresh offerings from the comfort of their own home before venturing out. Bottled beer and wine are also available at Reid’s.
The quality of food at Reid’s can be directly attributed to the quality control of its co-owners. Since the establishment opened in spring 2008, Houston and/or Kelly have worked every shift, assuring that every dish that leaves the kitchen is of the standards they have set. The attention to detail is paying off, as Reid’s has become a community meeting place and a popular eatery for local professionals, second homeowners, students, large groups, downtown residents, visitors, professors and restaurant workers—basically the entire local population.
Reid’s is currently celebrating the new sidewalks that the Town of Boone installed in front of their business. “We’re very appreciative of them,” added Kelly.
For the future, Reid’s “is playing around with the idea of liquor by the drink,” said Kelly, and also thinking of hosting various events on Saturday afternoons, such as oyster roasts. To receive email updates on upcoming events at Reid’s, click to www.reidscateringco.com and join the mailing list.
Reid’s Café & Catering is located at 142 South Water Street in Boone in the old jailhouse. The restaurant and to-go service are open for lunch patrons from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and for dinner patrons starting at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday are reserved for catering duties. For more information, click to www.reidscateringco.com or call 828-268-9600.
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