Holt Lake Bar-B-Que & Seafood Restaurant
Smithfield, North Carolina

Some time ago, Monique was invited by her steel industry associate Norma Dressler to visit the outlet shops and mall in Smithfield and at dinnertime they went to eat at Holt Lake. Monique ordered the seafood platter, which consists of fried shrimp, oysters, flounder, scallops and a stuffed crab all with Cole slow and French fries too. She ate half of the platter and brought the rest home in a take out box. About an hour and a half later, I warmed up the leftovers and it was the best fried seafood I had eaten in North Carolina. The shrimp were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, the flounder was perfect and the stuffed crab delightful. At Holt Lake Norma introduced Monique to her favorite server, Angie Holt Hamilton, one of the family members who continue to operate the restaurant.

About a month after her initial visit, Monique and I made the trek back to Smithfield and shopped at the outlets, then ate at Holt Lake for dinner. Monique introduced Angie and she served us at our table too. Again, the seafood was great, fresh Gulf oysters fried to crispy perfection and the shrimp were excellent too. We still needed to try out their BBQ and other family dinner delights as well.

Monique and Angie

Last weekend my parents were in town visiting and we all made the drive to meet some of their friends the Bitzer’s at Holt Lake for Saturday evening dinner. Our party of eight also included Ben and his friend Dan, turns out we sat at Angie’s section, but another server waited on us instead. Something about rotating tables during the dinner service hours, Angie was okay with the assignment it seemed.

Pork & Chicken Combo

The family friendly and casual atmosphere reminds me of many seafood joints found on the Gulf coast in Louisiana and Mississippi. Water, sweet and un-sweetened tea is provided in pitchers at every table, and drinking cups filled with ice are brought out just after being sat for each diner along with an extra bucket of ice for refills. The casual service is reminiscent of Brunings Seafood restaurant at the West End Lakefront location, which met its demise with Katrina in 2005. Easily this is the best place in North Carolina for fried seafood that I have had the pleasure of tasting and experiencing.

Shrimp & Oyster Combo

Joe ordered the oyster platter, Ben and Dan both got the shrimp platter, Monique ordered the pulled pork and fried chicken dinner, Martha had the chicken liver platter, Maryanne tackled the red snapper platter, Don ate the pulled pork sandwich, and I ordered the two-combo platter with fried shrimp and fried oysters. From all accounts, everyone was very happy with his or her meals. I tasted some of the fried chicken and pulled pork, both are quite tasty and the chicken is crunchy and not greasy at all. The pulled pork is tender with a hint of smoke and in typical Carolina fashion of being a dry BBQ served with the vinegar-based sauce. Not my cup of tea, while the pork is tender, just me, but I prefer a wet BBQ in the Memphis BBQ and Texas BBQ styles…I like a lot of thick sauce.

Large Shrimp Plate

Overall, the menu is very reasonably priced and they offer a take out service with drive-up window too. All entrée items give you a selection of two side items from their vegetables list including slaw, French fries, potato salad, applesauce, boiled potatoes, string beans, Brunswick stew, baked potato (after 2:00 PM) and a side salad. Any vegetable can also be ordered on the side for $1.50 or the baked potato for $2.25.

Dan & Ben at the Table

The pork menu includes plate selections of both small ($6.00) and large ($7.25) portions of Pulled Pork, a Pork Chop Plate for $6.00 and an Old Timers Tray for $6.00. The chicken menu selections include Chicken Tenders for $6.50, a small plate (1/4 chicken) of either Dark for $6.00 or White for $6.50, a large plate (1/2 chicken) of either Dark for $7.00, White meat for $7.00 or Mixed for $7.25. They also have fried Chicken Livers for $6.00, Chicken Gizzards for $6.00 or a Liver – Gizzard Combo for $6.50, in addition to a Chicken Salad Cold Plate for $6.50 and a Char Grilled Chicken for $7.50. Combination plates of the Bar-B-Q pork and Fried Chicken also offer options for either Dark for $7.00 or White chicken meat for $7.50.

Sandwich menu offers reasonably priced items at $3.00 each such as the Pork Chop sandwich, Bar-B-Q, Chicken Filet, Chicken Salad, Grilled Chicken, and a Hotdog for $1.25; lettuce, tomato and cheese is 25¢ extra.

Family & Friends at the Table

The seafood menu offers a Small Oyster for $11.00 and a Large Oyster for $12.50, Small Fried Shrimp for $8.00 and a Large Fried Shrimp for $9.50. Small Boiled Seafood for $11.00 or a large for $12.25, Fried Scallops is $11.00 for the small and $12.25 for the large. Fried Flounder filet is available in both the small and large sizes also at either $9.25 or $12.00, a Whole Fried Flounder sells for $9.00. Other fried fish includes Catfish for $8.50 and Trout for $7.25. Devil Crab is available in two sizes with the small 2 Crabs portions selling at $7.75 and the large 3 Crabs for $9.25. An 8-0unce portion of Fried Clam Strips sells for $8.00 and then Combination platters are available in varying sizes of mix and match your own fried seafood including Combination of Two for $11.00, Three for $12.00 and Four for $13.00. In addition, rounding out the seafood menu is the Seafood Platter, which consists of Fried Shrimp, Oysters, Fish, Scallops, and Devil Crab for $15.00, no substitutions on this item.

Menu Cover and Inside Pages

The menu also offers a variety of family style menu selections for a minimum of four people with an all you care to eat selections for $7.50 per person, the entire table must order to participate in these unlimited portion options. In addition, daily specials can range from Red Snapper, Virginia Mullets to Soft Shell Crabs, just to name a few.

The restaurant also offers private party rooms, banquet facilities, catering services and business meeting space.

Holt Lake Bar-B-Que & Seafood
3506 US Highway 301 South
Smithfield, NC 27577-9495
(919) 934-0148

Open
Monday 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Tuesday – Saturday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Accepts
Cash, American Express, Discover, Visa, MasterCard

More Reviews

Hell’s Kitchen contestants are given just 45 minutes to develop prepare and present an entrée and can be quite a challenge for any budding chef. Moreover, what was so amazing is the gumbo recipe that Tennille Middleton pulled off in such a short period. Her Short Shrimp Gumbo and Cheddar Grits must be the quickest gumbo I have ever seen done; she did not win this competition so not sure that a “short gumbo” is the best way to go in this sort of event. This listed on the page as her favorite recipe.

The learning point here is actually what not to do with a gumbo, and that is to take a traditional slow cooked recipe and distill it into a 45-minute preparation. The ingredient list is about the most unorganized and with 35 in total and must max out for a gumbo.  The original recipe follows:

Short Shrimp Gumbo and Cheddar Grits

INGREDIENTS

12 shrimp (peeled, deveined with tails on)
4 oz. Vermont white cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 lb. salted butter
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups grits
1 cup half and half
¼-cup kosher salt
¼ cup pure ground black pepper
2 TBSP sugar
4 oz. super lump crabmeat, picked for shells
1 sprig fresh thyme
½-gallon water
¼-cup kosher salt
¼-cup brown sugar
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 orange, quartered
¼ pound all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ pound unsalted butter
½ cup ½“diced celery
½ cup ½” diced Spanish onion
¼ cup ½” diced green peppers
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼-pound fresh okra
1 tsp file powder
4 oz. ½” diced Andouille sausage
4 cups seafood stock or clam juice
1-cup chicken stock
¼-cup chef tomatoes
¼-cup tomato sauce
2 TBSP tomato paste
1-cup pale ale beer (Sierra Nevada recommended)
1-teaspoon Tabasco sauce
½-teaspoon cayenne pepper
½-teaspoon paprika

METHOD
Shrimp/Brine:
Combine brine ingredients (water, kosher salt, brown sugar, thyme, oranges) in stockpot and heat over high flame until sugar is dissolved. Place in stainless bowl quickly to cool. Add shrimp to brine.

Grits:
In soup pot, bring chicken stock to a boil.  Add grits, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook over medium-high heat stirring often.  Gradually add in butter and half-and-half, thirds at a time.  When grits have thickened, stir in cheddar and crab.  Reduce heat and cover.

Gumbo:
Add butter to cold Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Add Andouille and cook until brown and slightly crisped. Add celery, onion, peppers and garlic, sauté until tender. Add flour, tomato paste and spices. Allow the mixture to brown and flour to cook before adding fluids. Once mixture has thickened, add stocks, tomato sauce, tomatoes and beer. Add bay leaves and allow mixture to come to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. 10 minutes prior to serving, add shrimp, okra and Tabasco.

Entrée:
In center of large bowl, place a scoop of grits. Ladle gumbo mixture around grits, and plate with 6 shrimp. Sprinkle with filé powder.

While the recipe sounds like it might be good, the only thing resembling a gumbo here is the use of Andouille sausage, okra and filé powder. The addition of the flour and tomato paste together might resemble some sort of a roux; however, I have never added both at the same time, so this is only conjecture. Having not tested this recipe either, I am only going on intuition or 21+ years of restaurant experience, but this seems more like an elaborate etouffee. In any case, her variation on “gumbo” just goes to show you that there are many ways to prepare the same dish. There must be a different gumbo for everyone who makes one; none is ever the same it seems.

Continuing from the “Lessons Learned” post from Hell’s Kitchen (HK) Season 6 of yesterday, here are a few more I wanted to share.

Another ingredient that Ariel uses in the Pan-Seared Black Cod with Shiitake Ponzu and Baby Bok Choy recipe is Wondra flour. The quick thickening and mixing flour primarily used for sauces and gravy preparations and Ariel’s use of it as a dusting for the black cod filet is a peculiar application. Wondra is great because it will not clump or glob up when mixing into hot or cold liquids for thickening, however, its use for dusting fish has never been tried in any of my kitchens. I would be interested to learn if anyone else has used Wondra for flouring or dusting fish, seafood, veal, chicken or other proteins. Interesting too that the General Mills hyperlink to the Wondra specifications mentions in the last sentence…”It is also ideal for breading fish and poultry”.

According to the General Mills site: “Quick mix Wondra flour is the perfect answer for lump-free sauces and gravies. Through an exclusive, patented agglomeration process, General Mills creates tiny flour “pellets” that dissolve instantly in liquids. Wondra also stands up to heat. It resists separation, even when subjected to heat for extended periods of time”.

For the same competition Dave Levey prepared a recipe of Grilled Halibut Cheeks over Grilled Romaine Hearts with Fresh Ruby Red Grapefruit and Orange Beurre Blanc Drizzle with Mixed Roasted Baby Beets. Whew, now that is one long descriptive menu item title! The preparation that caught my eye on this one is the Beurre Blanc. Beurre Blanc in the literal French translation means white butter. And is a favorite among trendy kitchen chefs, yet it’s preparation has been in use since it’s invention at the start of the 20th century by chef Clémence Lefeuvre.

At the Columns Hotel kitchen, our Beurre Blanc base consisted of a sauté of minced shallots then a flame of white wine and reduction of lemon juice or lemon pulp until the au sec stage, or almost dry. Then the addition of softened butter cubes whisked in at the end and off the heat, seasoned to taste with salt and white pepper at the end, and then strained if necessary.

At the Eiffel Tower Restaurant kitchen, a Beurre Fondue was similar in preparation with the exception that thickened and reduced heavy cream is incorporated into the softened and whisked butter preparation. The heavy cream addition aided in holding the butter sauce for service without worry of separation or breaking. The Beurre Fondue matches the similar preparation technique that Dave uses for his halibut recipe in that heavy cream is incorporated.

Dave’s Beurre Blanc recipe:

2 cups white wine (preferably fruity, user’s choice)
1/4 stick of unsalted butter sliced into pats
Juice of 2 Ruby Red Grapefruit
1/2 cup orange juice
1 TBSP heavy cream (optional)

In a small stainless steel pot, add wine and fruit juice. Bring to a simmer and reduce until you have something close to a paste.  (Keep an eye on your reduction as it may only take a few minutes.) Remove from the heat and immediately whisk the butter into the reduction; it will begin to emulsify and become glossy.  Add the heavy cream, as this will help in stabilizing the sauce. Set aside.

Dave’s Beurre Blanc replaces the more commonly used lemon juice or lemon pulp with grapefruit and orange juice. The white wine of course typically becomes a price point in most kitchens for food cost considerations, typically an inexpensive but good wine desired. And Dave’s use of heavy cream as a stabilizer is perfect for kitchen service usage, nothing is more irritating than having your sauce break or separate and then to whip up a Beurre Blanc in the middle of service. However, in my experience the heavy cream was thickened by reducing a bit to a sauce consistency, then cooled and whipped into the butter sauce. In addition, the same goes for hollandaise sauce, difficult to prepare that in a hurry!

The wonderful point about Beurre Blanc sauce is that it has a blank canvas style inspiring endless variations. So refreshing to learn more variations on a theme and the palette of flavors, ingredients and techniques is only limited by ones imagination. Take Beurre Rose (red butter) for example, replacing the white wine with any red wine will produce a pink or red tinted sauce, perfect for other cuts of meat such as filet of beef, lamb or game meats such as rabbit. Another example is the wasabi Beurre Blanc shown in the image at left.

Come back tomorrow when I wrap up with Tennille Middleton’s Short Shrimp Gumbo and Cheddar Grits!

The seared ahi with wasabi buerre blanc image was originally posted to Flickr by n1s at http://flickr.com/photos/79253201@N00/1451560264. It was reviewed on 18:16, 7 April 2008 (UTC) by the FlickreviewR robot and confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.

Enjoy learning something everyday in the culinary world and even primetime television can find a golden nugget here or there, and without trying. Hell’s Kitchen (HK) Season 6 ended a few weeks ago with the top contestants vying for the coveted head chef position at the Araxi restaurant in the Whistler Resort, British Columbia, and site of the Olympic Winter Games in 2010.

Dave Levey, of San Diego, CA (Hometown: Chester, New Jersey) won the competition and right to work for one year as the top chef under James Walt, executive chef of the Araxi Restaurant and Bar, his stint begins on January 4, 2010, just six weeks before the games begin.

According to Walt, the first two weeks for Dave will be working all the stations to rotate experience throughout the Araxi kitchen. The hope is that he will be ready when the 4,500 reservations start pouring into the dining room as the Games kick off on February 12 and run through the 28th.

A few weeks before the Hell’s Kitchen series came to a close the top five contestants had the opportunity to prepare a meal in 45 minutes and judged by the Bon Appetite editorial staff along with Gordon Ramsay. The recipes for this competition were available for download on the Fox HK site and upon reading and reviewing the document; each contestants writing style keenly reflects in their individual ingredient and procedure formats.

The learning points from HK contestants include a sauce, salad, a dressing and a gumbo. Every chef will prepare their own variations of common and basic preparations; it is always a treat to see how a chef prepares their version of a Beurre blanc, gumbo, marinade, vinaigrette dressing or salad.

Ariel Contreras-Fox of Los Angeles, CA did a Pan-Seared Black Cod with Shiitake Ponzu and Baby Bok Choy. Until reading the recipe, Ponzu was unknown to my culinary database, so research showed me a few variations including hers with mirin, soy sauce, water, yuzu juice and corn syrup. I have worked with mirin and soy sauce, but yuzu juice was a new ingredient for my vocabulary. Not only did Ariel shed light on a preparation, but an ingredient as well. Since Ponzu is a citrus-based sauce, the yuzu provides this for the preparation. According to About.com Japanese food, Ponzu means various citrus juices. The sour sauce made with citrus juice, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, dashi stock, or katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), or Kombu (kelp) is often called Ponzu shoyu or Ponzu sauce. Ponzu sauce typically is used for dipping shabu shabu, mizutaki, and so on.

Ariel’s recipe uses 1 cup of light soy sauce, 1 cup of warm water, 1 ounce of mirin, 2 ounces of yuzu juice and 1 ounce of corn syrup. In the remaining recipe, she also deglazes the pan with the sauce, reduces the sauce, and serves it over the pan-seared cod.

Come back tomorrow for the second lesson learned.