While most music venues serve food, they are rarely known for their
ability to satisfy a picky palate. After all, patrons are inclined to
be, shall we say, open-minded when it comes to filling the stomach with
food after filling it with alcohol. But it’s not the same old song and
dance at the Hi-Tone Café.
The club’s current menu was established by Jonathan Kiersky almost
immediately after he purchased the venue in December 2007. Kiersky
expanded the hours to include happy hour and launched a simple,
unpretentious menu, which at first glance could be that of any music
venue or bar and grill. There’s a decent selection of appetizers,
sandwiches/burgers, and several pasta dishes. The show-stealer is the
pizza.
justin fox burks
“I always wanted New York-style pizza, so we decided on that early,”
Kiersky says. “Plus, it’s ‘standing food.’ You don’t have to sit to eat
it.”
Kiersky replaced the Hi-Tone’s old kitchen with a pizza kitchen,
where the doughs and sauces are made in batches so that the pizzas can
be made-to-order.
Kiersky says he also makes it a point to shop with locally or
regionally owned purveyors. “I don’t use any of the big houses,” he
says. “Our barbecue is from Hog Wild. All our meats and cheeses are
bought at Gordon’s. We use Adams Brothers and EasyWay for our
produce.”
Then there’s brunch. Forever the eating-out/public equivalent to
soaking up some NPR or attending an art opening, brunch is affluent
America’s excuse to be seen in the middle of a Sunday morning, acting
as though a jazz trio covering the Grateful Dead isn’t imposing on the
enjoyment of conversation and food.
“The people who come to brunch here want fresh food and to be able
to sit down where it’s quiet and not be bothered by others or a band,”
Kiersky says. “A lot of the people coming to brunch were drinking here
the night before — sometimes we have 80 percent of the people who
left here at 3 in the morning. They want dark.”
Certainly for people who dislike the standard brunch experience, the
Hi-Tone’s 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. time slot on Sundays makes up for the lack
of outdoor seating or live music with the only thing that should really
matter: food.
There’s no quasi-rural, forced-Southern goofiness to the menu. It’s
what you really want to eat for breakfast. (This writer recommends the
French toast with bacon, biscuits and gravy, and if adventurous —
translated: two hours blocked out for a nap later — the pork
chops with scrambled eggs.) This food is worth the extra minute or two
wait.
“We get people who eat for real. People who appreciate the fact that
our hollandaise is made-to-order. It may take an extra two minutes to
get a pizza out of the kitchen, but at least they know that pizza is
100 percent fresh,” Kiersky says. “The way we cook here is the way you
would cook in your kitchen if you had the time and ingredients. It’s
just that it takes us 12 minutes. We’re not a bang-’em-out operation.
We put a lot of care into our product.”
