English roots, French technique and American tastes

Eddie Neill has been around the block a few times. Past projects include Café Provencal, Fresh Gatherings, Jazz at the Bistro … and now he’s involved in a new venture in Grand Center, Wm. Shakespeare’s Gastropub. Neill brings a love of traditional cuisine to each of his restaurants, and Shakespeare’s is no exception. Walk into the pub and you’ll see Neill roaming the floor, but don’t think that he’s abandoned the kitchen. You’ll find his stamp on everything the restaurant offers. You’re in the kitchen but not on the line? No, far and away too old for that. I’ve been spending quite a bit more time on the floor, so Pete Knobbe’s taken over the helm on the day-to-day stuff. Pete was with me in Clayton [at Café Provencal] for a number of years. How is Shakespeare’s different from what you’re doing at The Dubliner? This is more geared toward food. The Dubliner, we do quite a bit of food business, but it’s essentially a big pub that serves food. This is a restaurant that serves … a number of beers and esoteric wines. What have you learned over the years that informed the way you launched Shakespeare’s? We toned down the menu quite a bit. It was a little, I guess the normal person would say, off the wall. I would consider it better usage of product. We use as much of, for example, a pig, as we can. We try to be a little bit inventive with it. The pig’s feet didn’t sell as well as I thought, so I maneuvered it into a charcuterie platter where people say, “That’s really neat, what is it?” And when you tell them it’s a pig’s foot, they either look like they’re going to throw up or they say, “I never would’ve thunk.” So how do you prepare it? We have them going halfway up the shank, so we have extra meat and it cooks for about eight hours sous vide – and that’s after about three days of a cure in the package. Then we let it rest for a week to give it a little bit of personality. After that, I break them apart, put them back together and then cook them for another three hours sous vide. So it gets a lot of cooking time at about 180 degrees, but it maintains its integrity. How is it served? I actually put it in beef intestine. It has the appearance of head cheese. How “English” is the menu? It’s pretty authentic. The pork pie, I got the recipe from the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association. We tried a number of English ones that we thought were dreadful ’cause they were all [made with] ground [pork]. But the Mowbray has chunks and we’re using [uncured] hams from Hinkebein Hills Farm. And that’s key. For the Mowbray Association, it’s all uncured. What are some other items in the English style? Their mushy peas, which I found just horrible. We changed it to where we use six, seven types of dried beans. The marrow fat peas are only available sporadically and the ones I’ve been able to get have been flavorless and colorless. It’s upset some people that I don’t have the puke-green mushy peas, but we do what we think is the best. Well, you’re not in England. You have to suit your clientele. I always start off more authentic than I should be. … But, rabbit has always been a fun thing. I’ve talked people who have never eaten it in their life into eating it. We cut it down and then marinate it for a couple days with lemon, mustard, a little bit of fennel seed, a touch of white wine and a little duck fat. We vacuum-pack ’em and let ’em sit for a couple days. Then we cook ’em for four hours in the water bath. After that, we let it reconfigure itself for a couple days and then, when it’s time for service, we’ll have a leg and a loin section and we lightly bread it with a mustard batter and then we deep-fry ’em. Why so much of the sous vide? The intensity of flavors. You can season less, but you get more out of it. Rather than using a cup of garlic, you use a clove of garlic. This way, the food marries much, much better with whatever seasoning you have. There are a number of vegetarian items on the menu too. The tikka masala – we have vegan and one for carnivores. Pete[’s] sister was lactose intolerant, so he cut the yogurt and cream out and went with soy milk and found we have much better texture. It didn’t curdle on us. And you change the menu frequently. I try not to keep one item on the menu too long. … Yes, we are doing our homework. Yes, we love to cook. That’s why we change it. We don’t sit back. I’ve always changed the menu almost on a daily basis. It keeps your people fresh. It keeps your waiters looking for what’s new today.