Back in March, we learned that The Grape's Danyele McPherson had been tapped to open a new restaurant on Greenville Avenue. We knew the new spot, dubbed The Remedy, was coming from the same folks that brought HG Sply Co. to Lower Greenville, and we knew it would be modeled after an old-school soda fountain. But that's about all we knew when we talked to McPherson back in March.
Plans are coming together now, though, including an opening planned for before the end of the year and some clarifications to that soda fountain model. You know the 50s joints with the checkered floors, red vinyl seating, paper hats, Buddy Holly on the jukebox, and plenty of chrome? "That's exactly what we're not," McPherson says, when asked how the restaurant is shaping up.
Your standard old-school soda fountain wouldn't think of serving you a dry-aged Duroc pork chop with pumpkin spoon bread, Brussels sprouts and applesauce. McPherson hopes to cook some life into all those old dishes that shaped her staff's childhood food memories, in the hopes that they'll resonate with your memories, too. She also plans to bloat them with all the soda and ice cream they can handle.
When it's finally installed, the machine they've procured will be able to turn out 3-gallons of frozen dairy at a time, and other than a basic vanilla (loaded with plenty of real vanilla beans), the flavors will constantly shift at the kitchen staff's whim. Expect a chocolate rotator, which will make use of cocoa nibs, fudge swirls and other ingredients to keep the flavor interesting. Also expect a number of more innovative flavors, often named after the staff or the people that inspired them.
McPherson points to Brian Luscher, who hired her at The Grape years ago. McPherson claims Luscher incorporated corn into what may have been one too many recipes at the neighborhood bistro, so when sweet summer corn is back in season next year, she plans to use it in one of her flavors. All of these sweets will be overseen by Guillermo Tristan, who most recently worked at FT33.
Sodas will be charged with carbon dioxide like they are at most restaurants, but the bar will also make use of other gases like nitrogen to lend different textures to each soda. And if you want to know who will be operating those siphons in addition to pouring the cocktails, you'll have to wait. The bar staff should be named in a few more weeks.
