Spices, goodness, and cornhole: a perfect fall afternoon

By Catherine Levasseur

Sept. 17, 2018

After a couple of trips down Carolina Street, I finally located the restaurant. The strong aroma drifting from the smokehouse made me wonder why I did not scroll my windows down and let my nose direct me instead of Google Maps.

Behind the large silos is an outdoor playground. This is my favorite part of Carolina Watershed. The picnic tables and cornhole boards remind me of a backyard cookout. The owner, Mac Hopper, said a lot of work was performed in order to create this large natural dinning room. Despite Memphis’ warm and steamy weather in the summer, tall trees offer shade and waterfalls (cooling what?)

The food is influenced by the southern artisan-cooking trend. Andy Knight, executive chef, cures bacon and pickles vegetables on site. In addition, the restaurant uses local farms produces and follows the farm-to-table trend popular in Memphis and nationwide.

As a northerner from Canada, southern cuisine intrigues me. It is a food culture I am not quite familiar with, but yet, the cooking style makes me feel at home.

Customers typically describe Caroline Watershed’s food as “bar food”, but Hopper said the menu is more thoughtful than that. “It is Southern food, we want to keep it country.”

The garden, the vegetarian option out of the eight sandwiches offered, was an overflow of goodness: just like any potager in spring should be. Big chucks of avocado, cherry tomatoes halves, spinach leaves and sautéed mushrooms fall from the sandwich to the plate. The toasted brioche buns could not handle all this freshness. Happily, I use my fork to eat what fell on the plate.

Consider the menu’s sides, a category of food the Watershed does not treat as an after-thought. Along with the garden, I ordered the honey glazed spiced baby carrots. Steamed whole baby carrots coated in a sticky red-hot lava of honey and hot chili sauce, and topped with cooling crème fraiche. The crème balances the sweetness of the honey and the heat of the chili peppers to create a harmonious dish with a kick.

I played a game of cornhole and headed home thinking about the spicy honey glaze and how well it would complement grilled turnip and bell peppers during festive summer cookouts. I can’t wait to recreate the sauce at home this summer.