Greetings from Carrboro,

My grandmother loved to fish. In the summer, she’d assemble rods and bait after breakfast. Then we’d march across cow pastures and over barbed-wire fences to test our collective luck in some neighboring farm pond. But mostly she caught the fish – spot and bream, a rare catfish. The rest of us just ate blackberries from the brambles that hugged the shore, our patience for fishing chased away by bugs and the heat. About the only memorable thing that I ever brought back was an arrowhead that I found in the red clay soil on the backside of the dirt dam.

One of my favorite photographs is of her in waders, knee-deep in rough ocean surf, casting out over the waves. It looks cold with a gray sky and muted sun. You can tell that she knows what she’s doing; her hat says as much. I always assumed that she caught a lot of fish that day. But who knows; it’s not easy to catch fish. That’s something that I often forget when ordering fish for the restaurant. I get caught up in all the work that we have to do once the fish is in the kitchen and don’t think twice about the work it takes just to get that fish to us.

So, we’ve decided to fix that. Starting tonight, we are going to feature a seafood special with mahi-mahi brought directly from the Carolina coast today by our backdoor neighbor, Salvador Bonilla @ Tom Robinson’s Seafood. It doesn’t get any fresher – or better – than that. We will run that special throughout the weekend or until, well, we run out. And then do the same thing next week. Simple. Hopefully, we will even get to the point that we can know the name of the person who caught the fish that we’re serving. Do we call that Hook to Table? I’m pretty sure that my grandmother would just call it delicious.

This weekend @ Acme: Shooting Point oysters. Chili-rubbed NY strip steak. Classic coquilles St. Jacques. Acme wedge salad. Southern mushroom pie. Brussels’ sprouts. Pecan-crusted fried chicken. Honey pie with preserved pears. Seared tomahawk pork chop. Flash-fried flounder. Tuna ceviche. Acme calamari salad. Carolina shrimp cocktail. Blackened salmon. Acme cornbread. Oyster po’boy sliders. Smashburgers! Brunch waffles and biscuits and sausage gravy! Forever roasted pig. Key lime pie. Martha’s chili relleno. It’s the weekend – leave the cooking to us.

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

Cheers,
The Staff at Acme