There’s a general consensus that leftover takeout food isn’t always the most attractive option for the next day’s lunch or dinner. But there are lots of great ways to make your leftover meal last and taste just as good—if not better—than on the day you ordered it. We asked local chefs and restauranteurs for some of their tried and true tips for making the most out of takeout food, including how long different foods keep and how certain tricky foods should be reheated for the best result. Since we’re all going to be stuck at home for a while, we want to be sure you’ll look forward to eating takeout leftovers long after you’ve made that initial order.
Reheating
When it comes to reheating food, The Kitchen’s consulting chef Bobby McFarland says that the best way to reheat a dish is to cook it the way it was originally prepared. For example, pizza should be reheated in the oven (at 425 degrees, according to Jon Garrison of Lilly’s Pizza) and stir-frys and pasta should go in a hot pan with oil or butter. McFarland suggests reheating deep-fried foods such as fried chicken, wings or French fries in a hot oven at around 425 degrees to crisp them back up. Wet or soft dishes—such as soup—can easily be reheated in the microwave, but Melanie Dunia, an executive chef at Empire Eats, likes to put leftover soup in a pot on the stove with a little extra water or broth to prevent any ingredients from drying out.
Southern Mac from Relish Craft Kitchen & Bourbon Bar
When it comes to mac and cheese, Sharon May, owner of Relish—a restaurant celebrated for its delectable mac and cheese skillets—says that big portions of mac and cheese should go in the oven to ensure the mac and cheese is heated evenly without any need to stir; small portions taste just as good reheated in the microwave. Mac and cheese, and pizza, are great leftovers because they can last up to seven days in the fridge and freeze well.
Burgers and other sandwiches are some of the most tricky foods to reheat, given their combination of cold and hot ingredients. Keep them around for up to three days before tossing. McFarland advises taking the burger apart, removing any cold ingredients such as lettuce or tomato, and heating the bun and burger side by side in the oven. You can also try May’s trick of reheating the bun in a sandwich bag in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds, which steams the bun and makes it moist again. Rice can also be tough to reheat as it tends to get brittle when it’s left in the fridge. McFarland likes to make his leftover rice into fried rice, which makes a good base for other leftover foods such as sautéed vegetables and chicken.
Sacre Bleu Burger from Mandolin
While leftover seafood might not sound like the most appetizing option, chef Oscar Diaz of The Cortez assures that it can still be good. But only keep raw seafood, such as ceviche, for one to two days in the fridge as fish begins to denature and become mealy; cooked seafood can last three to four days. Diaz’s preferred method for reheating cooked seafood is in a toaster oven on low, or covered in a regular oven. Separate any cold toppings or base ingredients and reheat any sauces in a sauté pan.
Get Creative
You don’t always have to re-prepare leftovers the same way you got them. Turn a plain steak into a hearty steak and eggs breakfast or chop it up for a sandwich. Pork, chicken and other meats also make great fillings for sandwiches, says McFarland. Get creative with cheese, bread and any other ingredients you have on hand in your fridge or pantry. Diaz likes to repurpose leftover seafood in dishes such as stir fry, stew, soup or in an omelette. When preparing seafood in this way, add it in at the last minute to avoid losing texture. Chef Eric Montagne of Locals Oyster Bar likes to get creative with his seafood leftovers. He recommends turning leftover fish into a fish salad or mixing it with bread crumbs and seasonings to make fish cakes.
Keep, Freeze or Toss?
A general rule of thumb when it comes to leftovers is to keep them in the fridge for three to seven days, depending on the food (meats are on the three-day end, while most vegetable and pasta dishes can last up to seven days). If there are any signs of mold, no matter how many days have passed, definitely toss. Most foods can also be frozen, usually either in covered, glass storage containers or in sealed ziplock bags with all air removed. A good tip is to cut things like pizza or bread into individual portions first and seal separately.
The Five Point and South of the Border from Lilly’s Pizza
Re-Prep Your Takeout
PIZZA Bake at 425 degrees for five to 10 minutes or until heated through.
MAC AND CHEESE Bake large portions in a lightly oiled or buttered baking dish at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. For small portions, microwave in a microwave-safe bowl with a splash of milk, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for about one minute.
FRIED FOOD (fried chicken, French fries, etc.) Bake at at least 425—and up to 500 degrees—for about five to 10 minutes, checking every two minutes, until golden and crispy.
BURGERS Let burger come to room temperature, then separate patty from bun and condiments. Bake the patty on a metal rack at 400 degrees for two to three minutes on each side. Optional: Heat the bun in a sandwich bag in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds, then place in the oven when flipping the patty. Reassemble the burger.
SEAFOOD (un-fried) Cover with foil and bake on a rimmed pan at 275 degrees for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 125 to 130 degrees.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Raleigh Magazine April Takeout Special
If you order takeout from one of these locally-owned Raleigh restaurants you’ll get a free copy of our April issue in your to-go bag!
Celebrity chef Kenny Gilbert, whose Raleigh restaurant Cut and Gather opens in Wakefield early next year, shares the recipe for his popular Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. Yes, he’s made it for Oprah!
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
• 9-inch raw pie shell • 1 cup bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips • 1 cup chopped pecans • 1/3 cup melted butter • 1 ¼ cup brown sugar • ½ cup Alaga cane syrup • ½ cup molasses • 2 Tbsp. bourbon • ½ Tbsp. cinnamon • ½ tsp. Chinese Five Spice • 4 eggs, beaten • 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Place pecan halves and chocolate chips in the raw pie shell.
3. Place butter and sugar in a pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until the mixture forms a caramel. Add molasses, cane syrup and spices. Mix well. Add bourbon and pull off the heat. Add the remaining ingredients using a whisk and mix well. Scoop the filling into the pie shell.
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
High Horse now open
Photo by Nancy Granados
High Horse, the much anticipated restaurant from Top Chef alum Katsuji Tanabe, opened in City Market at 208 Wolfe St. last month. The name references the old horse stables in City Market and the restaurant serves dishes influenced by Mexican, Japanese and American cuisines cooked on two wood-fired grills that are visible to diners. Menu items include okra with bottarga, spare ribs with tamarind vinegar sauce, roasted bone marrow with sweet and sour crab, charred flat iron steak, Skuna Bay salmon, roasted oysters with country ham aioli and lime, North Carolina shrimp marinated in Togarashi (a blend of Japanese spices), churros and a famous cornbread made from a recipe from Tanabe’s grandmother (a portion of the cornbread sales will benefit the pay-what-you-can café A Place at the Table). High Horse’s drinks menu features rosé, green tea and whiskey lemon ice shots, a Cheerwine Old Fashioned and other creative cocktails. High Horse is open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday; expect a brunch service and outdoor dining next year.
Fenton Development
Phase one of Cary’s $850 million Fenton development—a 92-acre project located next to the Wake Med soccer park (the largest in Cary’s history) and future home to Atlanta-based chef Ford Fry’s Tex-Mex restaurant Superica—is underway. The first phase includes 350,000 square feet of retail, much of it already leased, as well as 170,000 square feet of office space. Announced tenants also include Scott Crawford’s upcoming steakhouse Crawford Brothers, Indigo Road Hospitality Group’s Colette (an Italian restaurant), Honeysuckle Gelato and Cru Wine Bar. Shops include Sephora, Bailey’s Fine Jewelry and Free People. A 125,000 square-foot Wegmans and a boutique movie theatre will anchor the project and 400 multifamily housing units will open in the first phase of the project as well.
Raleigh’s first batch of celebrity chefs has arrived.
No one would dispute that the mayor of the Flavortown that is Raleigh is Ashley Christensen, homegrown heroine and the nation’s reigning James Beard award-winner for outstanding chef.
But heavy is the head that wears the crown of Flavortown: AC put us on the map. Our secret is out, in other words.
In the next year or so, no fewer than three celebrity chefs will open new concepts in the Raleigh area. There’s Top Chef’s Katsuji Tanabe’s as-yet nameless wood-fire grill coming soon to City Market. There’s Ford Fry’s elevated Tex Mex restaurant, Superica, opening in Cary. And, Raleigh Magazine is pleased to be the first to announce, in North Raleigh, Kenny Gilbert—another Top Chef alum—will open a wood-fire grill and kitchen-slash-Southern comfort style smokehouse, Cut and Gather, in the Wakefield neighborhood by the end of the year.
“The vacancy sign went ‘on’ in Raleigh,” says Max Trujillo, a dining industry veteran, host of the NC Food & Beverage podcast and frequent Raleigh Magazine contributor. What started, he explains, with the rise of the craft beer industry in North Carolina—with Midwest and West Coast breweries New Belgium and Sierra Nevada opening production facilities in the state—has now extended to the food scene.
“This is the evolution of [what the beer industry started],” Trujillo continues. “From the outside looking in, the food industry here has evolved from being in a symbiotic relationship to other industries—tech, real estate—to being a draw on its own, the reason people come to town. We can’t fly under the radar any longer.”
Katsuji Tanabe, f8 Photo Studios
Each of the incoming celebrity chefs has their own reason as to “why Raleigh.” For Tanabe, he’s eager to get his young family out of Los Angeles.
“It’s a very douche-y city,” says the Japanese-Mexican Top Chef fan favorite, laughing, as we stroll around the perimeter of Moore Square. His restaurant will marry flavors from both cultures, but don’t call it fusion, he advises; call it dinner. The personable chef is excited to plant roots in a place where friendships happen organically and spontaneously. “You drive everywhere in LA,” Tanabe continues. “There’s no conversations. You don’t go to a bar and talk to a stranger.”
As well as offering an opportunity to escape the douchey-ness, the Triangle impressed Tanabe with its food culture—he raves about the bagels at Transfer Company’s Benchwarmer’s, about the shrimp at Local’s Seafood—and its friendliness.
“Few places in America have a real cuisine,” Tanabe says. “The Carolinas have barbecue, watermelon, shrimp, amazing fish. The Farmer’s Market felt like [the markets in] Mexico. They have all the produce just laying there and you’re talking to the guy who grows these peaches, the lady who grew these herbs.”
That sense of welcoming to a newcomer extends from folks across the local food scene, Tanabe explains.
“Lately, all the friends I’ve been making is because I go to restaurants, meet bartenders, servers, managers,” he says. “I’m from the idea to embrace each other. Safety in numbers. The more bars, restaurants you open, the better.”
Kenny Gilbert, Photo by Agnes Lopez
It’s a philosophy chefs Gilbert and Fry are likely to agree with. Unlike Tanabe, neither is personally relocating to Raleigh. But both are venturing outside of markets they’re already familiar with, and successful in, with new concepts to take a chance on the Triangle.
Gilbert, who has cooked Oprah Winfrey’s Thanksgiving dinners for the past four years and owns two restaurants in Florida, is famous for his down-home takes on everything from pizza to nachos, salads to superfoods. His menus feature barbecue and other smoked meats as well as side dishes inspired by his Florida-born mother’s southern cooking. For Raleigh, Gilbert envisions a venue that’s homey and inviting, “like walking into your Grandma’s house and getting a warm hug,” he says. Family-style dining and fellowship will be emphasized: “Being able to bring out a platter of food to share amongst loved ones, to me, is what it’s all about.”
The 46-year-old Gilbert’s lengthy resume includes maintaining a AAA Five Diamond kitchen as chef de cuisine of Salt, the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island’s fine dining restaurant, at just 23 years old. His successor to that position was none other than Scott Crawford, and Crawford’s success at Herons and the Umstead, and then with Crawford and Son and now Jolie, Gilbert says, factored into his decision to open Cut and Gather here.
“We’ve been friends for the last several years,” Gilbert says of Crawford. “He’s a family guy. I knew he wouldn’t be planting roots with his family if people there didn’t appreciate good food and that he’d be able to help educate them on food.”
It may be a growing local food world here in the Triangle, but it’s still a small one: as it happens, Crawford’s next concept, a steakhouse, is slated to open in the same Cary shopping center, Fenton, as Fry’s Superica.
Ford Fry, Photo by Andrew Thomas Lee
Fry, a Houston native with a restaurant empire that spans cities across the Southeast, including Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte, says he has a mission to bring the kind of Tex-Mex he grew up eating in Houston to the region at large.
“People call it elevated Tex-Mex but I look at it as super casual,” Fry says of Superica, which has existing locations in Atlanta, Houston and Nashville. Offerings, including tortillas and salsa, are all homemade and food is cooked on a wood burning grill. “It’s got kind of an Austin, Texas vibe, with classics, and some modern Tex-Mex, margaritas.”
Fry’s draw to the area?
“I love putting restaurants in cities I really like to go,” Fry says. He travelled to the Triangle often with his son who, before leaving to play college tennis at Auburn, played in tennis tournaments around the Triangle. “This was one I thought was super cool, it had great food. Cary was a good opportunity.”
And that in itself could be the crux of it, says Trujillo; chefs, and other industry people in general, just really like Raleigh. And, dare we say it, they like it more than the larger markets where the talent is already concentrated.
“There’s the argument that, to open another restaurant in a well-established city could potentially be more difficult, more challenging, more expensive than to set up shop in a place like this,” Trujillo says. “There is more opportunity here, for a better price.” And while it may mean higher prices for diners, it will also mean higher quality food, more creativity and more variety.
“The diner wins because there are higher expectations, the bar will be set higher,” Trujillo says. “That’s not to say local chefs are any less talented but they’ll be competing more, on a larger scale. Having celebrity chefs here, with their huge social media presences, makes our area more noticed. So they’ll continue to come. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Based on Raleigh’s booming economy, growing population and love of, and support for, the food and beverage industry, it makes sense that outsiders would set up shop in the City of Oaks—not unlike yours truly, who moved here from California six years ago for a better life. Raleigh offers new opportunity on a relatively undeveloped canvas.
So, naturally, here come the celebrity chef carpetbaggers! What exactly is a carpetbagger, you may ask? It’s something of a derogatory word, so I write this with a tongue-in-cheek touch of irony. Essentially, the term “carpetbagger” refers to a Northerner who moved down here to make money off of the rebuilding South post Civil War, an era known as Reconstruction.
Here in the Triangle, we’re not rebuilding, but rather, creating a thriving restaurant scene. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing to get outside help. As I pondered the city’s ongoing development, it dawned on me that Raleigh hasn’t had a ‘Celebrity Chef’ join our ranks. We’ve got home-grown talent like Ashley Christensen, Vivian Howard in Kinston and chefs like Scott Crawford and Cheetie Kumar who, though not from Raleigh originally, really made their names here.
The Celebrity Chef is what’s coming next, from reality cooking show talent to big-city chefs expanding their empires. Katsuji Tanabe from Bravo’s “Top Chef” is opening a restaurant in Raleigh, and Atlanta’s Ford Fry is opening one in Cary. Both are already big names.
Back in Los Angeles, I worked for one of the most famous chefs of our time, Wolfgang Puck. Say what you will about his frozen pizzas and canned soups—which are better than most—he defined the Celebrity Chef persona on the West Coast. Puck forced the hands of other chefs to constantly get better if they were going to compete with his talent and marketing genius.
So what’s good about this and what’s bad?
First, the positives.
These out-of-town talents didn’t become successful without being really damn amazing in the kitchen. That means we’ll see a push for even higher quality dining experiences. And think about the variety and selection. Instead of a handful of options, our city’s restaurant scene will look like Christmas morning under the family tree.
We’re already seeing Raleighites embrace locations from larger restaurant companies. Think about the Dillon: you have Barcelona Wine Bar, O-Ku Sushi and the Oak Steakhouse. Capital Grille in North Hills is always buzzing. Granted, for every Shake Shack that opens, you get a failed Wahlburgers. Yikes.
Which leads me to the bad.
Get ready for prices to go up, lines to get longer, 100 percent having to make reservations and needing to take an Über, because good luck finding a parking spot. Sadly, these are some of the aspects I loathed about living in a big city. There’s also the real threat that Raleigh’s charm as a mid-sized, largely non-corporate Southern city could get lost along the way. So it’s our duty to remind outsiders of Raleigh’s spirit, part of the reason why they moved here in the first place. We have to keep supporting businesses that are locally owned. But we can still be welcoming and have fun exploring and trying new things. A little bit of them and little bit of us can make it better for all. They’re coming, it’s inevitable. But it doesn’t mean Raleigh will change for the worse. I mean, you’re reading a rant written by, like, a totally chill West Coast carpetbagger, bruh…there’s room here for everyone.
