Cuisine Review

Sometimes I overdo it on the eating.

I arrived at Will Hughes Catering, on Main Street in Daphne across from Manci’s, fresh from a run and a 20 minute lunchtime drive. Several restaurants have occupied this small yet airy end storefront. Will Hughes and his wife Kelly pack a lot into the space but leave plenty of room for eight or so café tables for two or four.

This is primarily a take-home food store and catering operation-prepared along with gourmet items-dressings, soups, coffees, beer, wine, etc. Hughes serves a daily special, some wraps and salads each day from lunch until afternoon.

Two walls of the store bulged with local hot sauces, dressings, olive oils and such. For example, all of the chow chows, pickled watermelon rind and some jellies from Punta Clara kitchen are here. Bama Boys sauces-they have a great hot sauce-and some of Will’s concoctions, as well, are on the shelves.

Will likes to promote and sell as many locally produced food items and he does a fine job. Especially for someone like me, who is not always in Fairhope, Port Clear or Elberta. They have an ample selection of cheeses from Sweet Home Farms in Elberta. Their Bayside Blue cheese is the finest and freshest-I am nibbling on some now, creamy and mildly punched with blue cheese-also try the Bama Jack.

Microbrews, Beignet mix and corn pasta round out the mix of items not always found in better grocery stores. A long span of wall is taken up by large coolers full of in-house-made items. Oversized pecan pies beckoned me to shell out the money for them, but there is no way my waistline could have handled it.

A plethora of soups-Duck and Andouille Gumbo, Old South Brunswick Stew, Potato and Corn Chowder, Charred Tomato and Basil and Turtle (which is their best seller, and none was around on my visit, to my chagrin). I took back with me some Roasted Red Pepper and Corn Soup (quart, $10.99) and meant to take it home, but left it at work. So I ate it for breakfast the next day. The soup was just shy of being pureed. Fresh pepper and some hot spices were the tastes left behind after the crunchy corn.

There were some casseroles that escape my memory at the moment, but their turnip greens are well known and spoken highly of by several people I know. Every day there is a lunch special and you cannot predict what it will be; it is Will’s choice. On my visit it was Meatloaf atop smashed potatoes with a green salad ($7.99).

The meal is placed in a to-go container and the meatloaf not only took up the length but the width as well. It was enormous. Had I not been selfish, two people could have eaten it. Get it. Moist, mild and with a nice touch of parsley, Will makes it from ground chuck and chopped tail end pieces of beef tenderloin! Every bite for me was meatloaf gravy and potato and quite hearty. The side salad was fresh spinach leaves with some locally grown tomato wedges with a fig vinaigrette. This dressing was light and not sweet.

My friend could not decide what to get and as she pondered, I looked in the display case full of salads. An apple, bacon and blue cheese “slaw” ($8.99 a pound) sounded interesting, so I added it to my meal. It was pleasing, more satiny than stocky, and the blue cheese just barely overpowered it. Other salads that day were an grilled asparagus with feta and tomatoes in a lemony white balsamic vinaigrette, fruit salad and marinated tomato and fresh mozzarella. My friend had the asparagus, which had obviously been made that day with a dressing that was not overly acidic with undertones of lemon instead.

In addition to the daily specials, several wraps alternate through the week. On this day the choices were a smoked turkey wrap ($5.65); BLT wrap ($6.75) – which had loads of large bacon and fresh, Baldwin County tomatoes; a pork tenderloin wrap ($6.75) or a beef tenderloin wrap ($6.75).

My friend chose the beef tenderloin wrap and it was bold in its simplicity. Large, incredibly tender slices of choice beef stood strong, interspersed among fresh lettuce, those Baldwin County grown tomatoes and cheese. All of this was shaped into a herb flavored wrap tortilla. Hughes has many items that can be prepared and taken home, one being osso bucco-which was coming out of the oven when I arrived.

Some adventurous man ordered this for lunch; it smelled incredible and it was as big as one of my calves. As much as I wanted to taste it, that would have been weird to ask a stranger, but when he left I noticed he seemed satisfied and did not have a to-go box with him.

Hughes is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., so it is really only an eat-in at lunch, but everything is served all day. On Saturdays, Will fires up the grill and cooks barbecue all day, from 10-6 and it is quite popular. I want to make a plan to go by and pick up some pulled pork or ribs soon.

The market also serves as Hughes’ catering kitchen and they have a full selection of traditional and beyond-the-basics items from which to plan a dinner or party. Sometimes after I have eaten, I will introduce myself, which I did on this day. Will was making a chopped salad – mincing up purple onion to go into a large bowl with what appeared to be peppers, celery and other vegetables to be combined in a mayonnaise-base dressing, but chopped fresh shrimp was to be added as well.

To sum it up, when I was on the phone with one of our editors on my way back to LoDa, she asked how it was. I blurted out something stupid like “kick-ass!” She told me I had to put it in the column. Maybe because that is so not me. But I meant it.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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