Greetings from Carrboro,

There are rabbit holes. And then there are rabbit holes. The former leans towards getting sucked into a video vortex at work watching someone jump off of a cliff in a wingsuit. The latter is where you find yourself actually jumping off those same cliffs in that aforementioned wingsuit. One questions your priorities while the other, your sanity.

Most restaurant rabbit holes are rather tame pursuits of trends and/or fashion. Tame in the sense that you’re not taking your life in your hands and more that you decide to put tarragon in everything. But this time of year evokes a certain annual culinary pilgrimage to insanity. And it’s wildly popular with professionals and amateurs alike, god save them.

Now, let me be clear; I do love hot sauce. And chilis of all sorts. But I do draw the line – firmly – before copious tears or any paroxysm of serious suffering is caused by eating, well, anything. The fact that there’s a scientific scale used to measure the amount of pain one chili can inflict gives you an idea of how much this “rabbit hole” is more akin to a well-traversed cavern with stadium lights and tour guides. You’d think, right, that the scale would be a warning of what chilis to avoid casually noshing. Hahahaha. In this upside-down world, it’s more a guide to the promised land of ultimate tastebud armageddon.

It’s a world full of entire shops devoted to hot sauces that require medicinal droppers with names invoking death and logos of people on fire. There’s even online chatter that a hot sauce isn’t a hot sauce unless it causes a certain “exit wound.”(IYKY-really-K) Think fiereating without putting out the flame and you’re getting close. Yikes.

But I have to admit that I understand the addiction. Sort of. Because every year we make batches and batches of hot sauces – with hot implying spicy and not sweet-Jesus-I’m-gonna-die. We smoke peppers and we ferment them for year round use. And we make fresh sauces from all kinds of chilis to capture the season and eat right now. How can we resist? And we use local chilis in so many ways in September and October. They truly are delicious. So if you’re a tad chili-curious – or a lot – Acme just might be your dream date for the next little bit. Sometimes rabbit holes do lead to wonderland.

In that vein, our next Tuesday Supper Club will be the evening of October 1st with a four-course menu with a decided chili pepper theme. We’ll roast them and stuff them, sauté and purée them. All kinds of peppers woven into the quintessential flavors of fall. Tickets for the Supper Club are $48. We will get started at 6:30 with doors opening at 6:00. As always, Supper Club tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis. The final menu will be decided once we are closer to the date and we know what chilis we can get for the event. I hope that you can join us.

This weekend @ Acme: 16oz Wagyu beef strip steaks. Southern tomato pie. Pumpkin & corn spoonbread. Pan-seared Carolina tuna. Shooting Point Oysters. Acme wedge salad. Not-your-mama’s green beans. Pecan-crusted chicken. Raul’s gumbo. Sweet potatoes. Ice-cold martinis. Acme tomato plate. Back-to-school pie. Carolina red drum. Brussels’ sprouts. Fried okra. Martha’s chili relleno. Peel & eat shrimp by the pound. Forever roasted pig. Acme smashburger. Pecan pie a la mode. Watermelon salad. Hushpuppies. Fried flounder. Pork tenderloin. Curried mountain apple soup. Calamari salad. Mint chocolate chip ice cream sundae. Acme cornbread. Sunday brunch! Crab cakes. Fried oyster po’boys. Blackened salmon. And eating on our patio couldn’t get much better.

Well, that’s all the news from Carrboro. The staff at Acme look forward to serving you soon.

Cheers,
The Staff at Acme