Sometimes an enterprising entrepreneur will pursue a culinary path paved with the tasty dishes he grew up with. If he’s lucky, the public will follow. If he establishes his concept in a town oozing with historic charm, chances improve.
When owner Ed Thomas opened the 95-seat Stumptown Diner last January (in the space formerly occupied by Dockers), history was on his mind. Downtown Matthews has always exuded a certain level of historic small-town appeal. Renfrow Hardware (circa 1900) has more than 100 years of experience selling nuts and bolts, sleds and seeds, and baby chicks and turkeys. Plus, Renfrow is a reminder that not so long ago Matthews was primarily farmland; in fact, only in the late 1980s did Renfrow’s owners retire the cotton gin.
The brilliant blue angular sign in front of Stumptown depicts a place setting; the plate is a cross section of a tree. Why the stump imagery? During the 1800s, Matthews (then known as Fullwood) was nicknamed Stumptown for the stumpy remains that were left after farmers cleared the cotton fields.
Tree stumps gather along the entry wall of Stumptown Diner, but there is where the stump theme ends and the look of a 1950s diner takes over. The interior was designed by Mike Walker, who recently finished work on Discovery Place’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. In contrast to that exhibit, Stumptown is alive with color: purple, teal, aqua, yellow. Stained concrete floors run into hardwood.
The main eat-in bar is luminous chrome, shaped into a question mark echoed above by a dropped soffit. The shiny chrome stools, upholstered with silvery tops, and the comfortable, colorful booths bring together all the elements of an innocent 1950s. Servers wear black-and-white bowling shirts, blue jeans and black shoes. But then you hear the music, 1970s music — Elton John, Al Green, Billy Joel. Not exactly Elvis.
Before Thomas opened Stumptown, he spent six years at Avanti, an easygoing southern Italian greatest-hits kind of place in the Arboretum. Thomas bought Avanti from the original owners. Prior to that, he cut his teeth working with the TGIF chain. “But I always wanted to create a family restaurant — something fairly simple with good food,” he says. Thomas chose Matthews because he lives there.
Stumptown’s menu was designed by Atlanta-based Aria chef Gerry Klaskala, who established himself at Atlanta’s Buckhead Diner and Savannah’s 45 South. But what you find on Stumptown’s lunch, dinner and brunch menus is relatively common food. Dinner entrees include Gerry’s veal meatloaf, roasted chicken and turkey, Carolina mountain trout, and a double-smoked ham chop with black-eyed pea salsa. With Klaskala’s upscale exposure, things might have been different. Still, the menu of burgers, barbecue and biscuits does reflect a sense of place.
With the unchallenging menu, one has the right to expect simple, wholesome food. And this is the case much of the time, although there are a few missteps. The chicken quesadilla appetizer was listless despite the grilled onions and red peppers, and the crab fritters were unevenly cooked.
The pulled pork barbecue sandwich was more impressive for its size than for its taste. The large stand of ribs was lusciously succulent and happily splashed with a sweet tomato-based sauce and served with a side of thickly sliced but not spicy jalapeno coleslaw. The Angus burger, on the other hand, had overstayed its time on the grill.
Better were the morning dishes, the best of which were the sensational biscuits: flavorfully dense yet texturally light. The turkey hash was uninspired. The hash was really just turkey slices, and the poached eggs were cooked rock-solid. The kitchen sent out a new plate with only one egg overcooked. I didn’t want to try a third time.
Offered all day are the “build your own” omelets, which can turn out fairly expensive if you go crazy with additions. The base cost is $5.95, but if you add shrimp ($4) and a meat such as bacon ($2), you wind up paying $12. Dinner entrees range from $9 to $17 for a ribeye. Sandwiches are $6.50 to $9 and include fries.
Finally, Stumptown Diner has an exhilarating parade of good, sugar-rush inducing desserts. In one booth a group of teenage girls passed around a singular dessert. Very small town. Very welcomed.
Eaters’ Digest
Legendary Southern regional chef and cookbook author Edna Lewis died February 13, two months before her 90th birthday. Beloved by many home cooks are Lewis’ cookbooks: The Edna Lewis Cookbook (Bobbs-Merrill, 1972), The Taste of Country Cooking (Knopf, 1976), In Pursuit of Flavor (Knopf, 1988) and, co-authored with Scott Peacock, The Gift of Southern Cooking (Knopf, 2003). Among the kitchens she worked was the renowned Middleton Plantation in South Carolina and the Fearrington House in Pittsboro, NC, which still serves her famous chocolate soufflé. Walter Royal, famed executive chef at the Angus Barn in Raleigh, apprenticed with Lewis at Fearrington.
Lewis became Grande Dame of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international association of women food professionals, in 1999. She earned the cookbook hall of fame award from the James Beard foundation in 2003. Lewis will be buried in Virginia.
Have a restaurant tip, compliment, complaint? Do you know of a restaurant that has opened, closed, or should be reviewed? Does your restaurant or shop have news, menu changes, new additions to staff or building, upcoming cuisine or wine events? Note: We need notice of events at least 12 days in advance. Fax information to Eaters’ Digest: 704-944-3605, or leave voice mail: 704-522-8334, ext. 136. To contact Tricia via e-mail: tricia.childress@creativeloafing.com.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2006.
