Last month, when Brian Luscher announced his ginger executive chef Danyele McPherson would soon cook her last meal at The Grape, details about her departure were foggy. That she was going to HG Sply Co. was clear, but her specific assignment was as murky as a sloppily prepared chicken stock.
McPherson would only say that she's not replacing HG Sply. chef Ronnie Esposito, but that the two would be working on a new spring menu. It turns out they're also working on a brand new restaurant.
The Eats Blog reported earlier this week that The Remedy would be opening adjacent to HG, and that McPherson would take charge of the kitchen. What type of food we can expect from the new spot, though, is even murkier than that crappy stock.
Owner Elias Pope would only say that Remedy was based on a favorite book of his: The Dispenser's Formulary: Or, Soda Water Guide. If you're not familiar (I wasn't either), the book is a guide to soda fountain dispensaries, published in 1915.
If you want to take a better guess where Pope is going with this, you might check out Jerry Thomas' Bartender's Guide, published in 1862, a text that helped fuel the craft cocktail movement. Just as Thomas' book is filled with far more than martinis, The Dispenser's Formulary contains a lot more than recipes for root beer. Picture sodas flavored with banana that start with simple syrup and simply end with smashed fruit. Then extrapolate that to apricot, cinnamon, clove, cherro limetto and more.
Most retro soda fountains evoke 1950s-style shops with malted milkshakes and grilled cheese sandwiches. If Remedy takes a small square of Greenville Avenue back an entire century it could turn out to be a very interesting place. Not to mention there's a bar and roof deck involved.
Brandied milkshakes anyone?
