The story below is from our November/December 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Restaurant owners and chefs share their favorite holiday family memories.
Tis the season once again.
Time for harvest colors, then Christmas red. The Drumstick Dash and Dickens nights. It’s the season of 10 extra items on your ‘to do’ list, and somehow, so it seems, 10 fewer hours in every day.
But there at the end of the lists and shopping and always-in-a-hurry, is the meal. The calling to the table for fellowship and feast. Whether it’s the pre-game paper plate spread or the china serving bowl main event, it is our food traditions that hold fast and center us amidst all the other bustle. Every year they patiently wait and quietly beckon us to taste and see all that is truly good, right and beautiful about our lives.
It is in this spirit we share with you the food traditions of some of our area’s beloved restaurant owners and chefs. We asked them what food traditions they hold dear; those smells, tastes and memories at the center of their families, bringing them to the table.
Jason & Carolyn Kiser, Blue Cow Ice Cream
“Our favorite holiday food tradition happens around the pre-game aspect of Thanksgiving. As we await the turkey, we sip Bloody Marys while eating fresh Rappahannock oysters – grilled and raw, as well as chips and dip. Every year my dad makes a giant bowl of his classic clam dip. We typically partake of our pre-game feasting around a large piece of plywood placed on two sawhorses in the driveway. This is where the oyster shucking is done for our big crew. We’ve always had this clam dip and Bloody Mary tradition. The oysters came into play around 15 years ago, now. But the rest [of the tradition] we’ve been doing as long as I can remember.”
–Carolyn Kiser
Courtesy of the Kiser family
The Kiser family smiles for a group holiday photo.
Bob Rotanz, Mac and Bob’s Restaurant
“What I usually do for Christmas morning is make sausage gravy biscuits, homemade applesauce and bacon. The key is that I make the sausage gravy with seasoned flour from Big Spring Mill in Elliston. The seasoned flour totally makes the gravy. I started this tradition when my daughters were young. I would make this breakfast for them whenever they had a sleepover.”
–Bob Rotanz
Courtesy of Bob Rotanz
Bob Rotanz and his family enjoy his homemade sausage gravy on holiday mornings.
James & Dawn Ferroni, Remini’s Restaurant
“James’s family history is Italian and a big part of his family’s tradition is the Feast of the Seven Fishes. It’s a dinner of six to eight or so dishes made with only seafood eaten on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas Day, they eat prime rib. The first Christmas we were married, James made a huge feast combining his Italian Catholic heritage and our new blended family, making all our children’s favorites. Twelve years later, this tradition continues. James does all the cooking. He makes lamb, prime rib, crab cakes, clams casino, ham and all the sides – twice-baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli casserole and mac and cheese. It’s a little of everything.”
–Dawn Ferroni
Courtesy of Dawn Ferroni
The Ferroni family celebrates Feast of the Seven Fishes together.
Nathaniel Sloan, bloom
“A favorite holiday food tradition of ours is Grandma Dorothy’s Turkey Tetrazzini. A staple for generations now, Grandma’s tetrazzini evokes warm memories of nourishment and comfort. One of the many aspects that I love about this tradition is Grandma’s dedication to the ‘waste-not’ culture of her generation. Even as a child I was inspired by her ability to transform ‘leftovers and gizzards’ into a nourishing meal for our entire family. She gained this appreciation from growing up in inner-city Chicago during the Great Depression. There, Dorothy learned at a very young age to take no ingredient for granted, and to be eternally grateful.”
–Nate Sloan
Courtesy of Nate Sloan
Nate Sloan of bloom honors his grandmother’s turkey tetrazzini.
Madison & Kelli Ruckle, Mama Jean’s Barbecue
“My best tradition is that I usually have my chefs, cooks and maintenance guys come over to my house for the holidays. I’ve been doing this for about the last 10 years or so. I have an oyster roast or a low-country boil and always a ham we make ourselves – city ham, wet brine style. We started this tradition because we all had to stay in town for the holidays. It’s such a busy time for barbecue catering.”
–Madison Ruckle
Courtesy of Madison Ruckle
Mama Jean’s Madison Ruckle hosts his industry friends for low-country boils or oyster roasts.
Will & Joanne Williams, Caribbica Soul
“Our holiday food tradition is Jerk Turkey. The tradition started because we wanted to try a new taste and decided to try jerking the turkey. So now for Thanksgiving and Christmas time we cook two turkeys: the traditional turkey and the Jerk Turkey with Ms. Luv’s famous baked mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, stuffing, cornbread, cranberry sauce, fried plantains, black-eyed peas and potato salad. Then we wash it down with my Sweet Daddy Tea that is homemade tea made with ginger and lemon. I cook the Jerk Turkey and my wife, Chef Luv, cooks the traditional turkey.”
–Will Williams
Susan Fleming, Scrambled
Courtesy of Susan Fleming
Susan Fleming of Scrambled makes Springerle cookies each year, passing the tradition on to her children.
“As our children have grown up and now have their own families, our holiday traditions have evolved. Sometimes, we all gather for Christmas morning breakfast. Other times, we gather for lunch or dinner. But the one tradition that has remained the same in the Fleming household is Springerle cookies. We’ve made these and shared them with our family (and now extended family) and friends for years. The cookies have to dry for 24 hours before baking, and then they sit in tins for two weeks. The kids always knew the holidays were near when they saw the Springerle molds. While some traditions have changed through the years, our family always looks forward to the time of year we can be together and share these cookies, and the memories we’ve made around them.”
–Susan Fleming
Kathryn Pascal, Farmburguesa
“Both my parents are first-generation Americans from Colombia. One way my mother has kept our Columbian heritage alive here in America is by making a traditional Columbian cheese bread called Pan de Bonos (translated: bonus bread) during Christmas. It’s a timely process, taking all day to make, so they are a real treat. My mom makes hundreds of them, but never tells us how many she’s made. Then she hides them throughout the house for us to find. Even now that we’re grown and have our own families, she still hides them. Everyone goes hunting for them. We have so much fun with it, fighting over them while laughing at ourselves, too. My mom just giggles the entire time. And just when we think the Pan de Bonos are all gone, more will magically appear at the next morning’s breakfast to enjoy with our coffee.”
–Kat Pascal
Courtesy of Kat Pascal
Farmburguesa’s Pascal family members honor their heritage with Pan de Bonos – and a scavenger hunt for them!
The story above is from our November/December 2021. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!