Two For Tripping and West Indies Soul
The Churn for May 8, 2026
In this week’s edition of The Heavy Table’s Churn newsletter, we go deep on an old-school University Avenue Caribbean favorite and check out the new hockey-themed spot in the old Annie’s Parlour location.
BRIEF NOTES FROM A LEBANESE DELI
I don’t know if it’s age, or the degenerating appeal of social media, or a reaction against AI, but I have been getting more and more obsessed with “real” food whenever I dine out.
Real food isn’t a food service-vended revenue solution that goes directly from walk-in freezer to industrial fryer to provide maximum value for owner-operators. It’s whole ingredients marinaded, chopped, blended, charred, and otherwise shaped by human hands, hearts, and minds into something served by people to people. Real food looks imperfect, but it frequently tastes like love.
I tried Emily’s Lebanese Deli for the first time yesterday and it was a case of love at first bite. I’ve been to the Middle East multiple times; I make a mean kofta on the grill; one of my favorite recipes involves spreading a huge platter with homemade hummus and covering it with slices of cooked beef.
Real Middle Eastern food is one of my soul foods, and Emily’s serves the real deal: big, lovely, perfectly charred skewers of meat, raw beef kibbi with plenty of cumin and citrus punch, smokey baba ghannuj, Turkish coffee - it’s not a massive menu, but everything on it looks and tastes like the real deal.
One of the (plentiful) arguments for immigration is a culinary one: when you’re cooking for your people, the people who come from your far-away country and who speak your language, you must come correct.
Everyone’s going to have their own grandma-gifted interpretation of the “right” way to make the dish in question, and they all will have tasted it hundreds if not thousands of times before. You can’t buy it in a box, or thaw it from a freezer - you need to know the nuances on an elemental level.
A kebab is not just a kebab when it’s made by someone from Lebanon for someone from Lebanon. I can’t put my finger on the nuances the way a native can, but I can taste that the food is balanced and real. That works for me. – James Norton
HEAVY TABLE’S HOT FIVE
#5 Bratwurst from Jenifer Street Market | Madison, Wisc.
A brat is a brat is a brat… right? Not so much. From the garbage made by Hillshire Farms to the country meat shop beauties that give Minnesota and Wisconsin a worldwide claim to culinary fame, there’s a lot that separates a bad sausage from a great one. The brats at Jenifer Street Market in Madison are as classic as they come - made in house, with an assertive (but not rubbery!) snap, a fine (but not pulverized) texture, and bold but not aggressive classic bratwurst seasoning. Jenifer Street Market makes some first-rate brats. – James Norton
#4 Buttermilk Biscuit with Spreads at Silver Fern | Minneapolis
What a treat to enter a cafe to order a caffeinated beverage and find a buttermilk biscuit on the menu. If you get it with “the spreads,” you have made the correct decision. The biscuit is served hot and golden on all sides. On a recent visit, the spreads were raspberry jam and cinnamon-maple butter.
Please picture this butter melting into the biscuit and sigh accordingly. The spreads are seasonal; a past apricot jam was equally memorable. Silver Fern is inspired by the cafe culture of New Zealand and Australia (the silver fern is a national symbol of New Zealand), so grab your flat white and biscuit and you too will be golden. – Roseanne Pereira
