An innovative chef in Wisconsin and a new Netflix documentary series highlight how Blacks have shaped—and continue to shape—American food.
WE ATE A LOT OF GOOD FOOD on our visit to Appleton, Wisconsin, last weekend, but nothing surpassed our dinner at Wilder’s Cutting Edge Bistro. Co-owner and executive chef Terrance Wilder is known for his innovative cooking. When he opened his own place, he created a menu that honors his family’s Mississippi roots with inventive, contemporary takes on their recipes.
Wilder’s is named not for the chef, but for his grandparents, Bud and Lora Wilder. They were from Mississippi and taught him how to barbecue and make soul food. Their portrait dominates the reception area of the restaurant, and their wings recipe, Bud and Lora’s Mississippi-style, is on the menu.
Other family members grace the menu too. The chicken and sausage gumbo is “straight off Aunt Shirley’s stove-top.” Uncle Jessie is credited for the jambalaya. And Marion had Judy’s Lobster Mac. I had the classic Southern dish, shrimp and grits; it came with cornbread and black-eyed peas on the side.
The food was transcendent. So was the service. We’re already planning our next visit to Appleton for a number of reasons; chief among them is to have more meals at Wilder’s.
The new Netflix docuseries, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, tracks the journey of many foods we think of as American from Africa, through the kitchens and farms worked by enslaved Blacks, and successful businesses built by free Blacks.
Based on the James Beard Award-winning book by culinary historian Jessica B. Harris, the four-episode series is hosted by food writer Stephen Satterfield. He takes us along on his travels to Benin (where he meets up with Harris), the American South, Philadelphia, Paris, New York and, finally, Texas, for a Juneteenth celebration feast.
At every stop, there is food being prepared and shared—and stories being told. As Netflix says, it is a celebration of “the courage, artistry and resourcefulness of the African American people. This is not just an African American story; it’s an American story.” Watch the trailer above. We think, like us, you’ll want to see and hear and taste it all.
Sounds like a wonderful restaurant! And _High on the Hog_ sounds like both an excellent TV show. I’ve been wanting to read the book, and you’ve helped encouraged me to bump it up my list. 🙂
I can’t see grits without recalling all the teasing I got as a 7-year-old living in Atlanta, Texas.
An old hotel had been converted into apartments, some with kitchenettes and some without, but everyone ate breakfast in the restaurant. Booths, tables and chairs or, in a child’s mind, the best seats were the stools at the counter.
Every meal included grits with butter and pepper (some insisted on salt too) or hush puppies.
Sundays I could have pancakes and ham but the other six days of the week I had a bowl of grits with milk and sugar. The scandal!
Everyone accepted it when the black chef came out the first morning and said if I wanted grits with milk and sugar then that was all right with him.
That’s still the only way I’ll eat them.
It sounds like you found a real treasure in Wilder’s Bistro.