National Culinary Arts Month in July recognizes the professional cooks and chefs who bring innovative, and unique cuisine from their kitchens to our tables. Green Energy Biofuel will talk with some of our great chefs to bring attention to their unique styles and environmental focus.
By Taylor Strickland, 07/02/2020
Noble Jones Augusta, GA
Noble Jones is located in historic downtown Augusta, GA, adjacent to the Savannah River. Created by Chef J.D. Wier, Noble Jones specializes in “Southern a la cart” cooking, with menu items ranging from po-boys, catfish, and fried chicken to fried pickled okra, homemade tots, and smoked macaroni and cheese. J.D., who has a culinary arts degree and a pastry degree from Johnson and Wales, has worked in top tier restaurants and private clubs with award-winning chefs from South Carolina to Texas.
Q: What is your philosophy of cooking?
A: We strive to acquire the freshest and highest quality ingredients, to create food that is bold and new, yet maintain that uniquely Southern quality. I tell my kitchen staff to cook every dish like it will be served to the person they love most. We want our patrons to feel at home when they dine at Noble Jones.
Q: What is your favorite food to fry?
A: That’s so difficult to answer. I like to fry anything and everything. One Halloween I made a dessert that was fried snickers. I froze the snickers and covered them in waffle batter and then deep-fried them and added some homemade blueberry-pancake-bacon ice cream. Currently, we have an oak-smoked fried chicken sandwich, on a brioche bun, with an herb de provence mayo, and pickles. Smoking food with oak wood is something I picked up in Texas.
Q: Do you have a certain type of cooking oil you like to use when you fry?
A: Personally, I try to use rice bran oil when possible. It has a high smoke point, so foods will cook with less oil absorption. There is a subtle, nutty, earthy flavor to rice oil, which compliments our dishes. It’s perfect for deep or stir-frying.
Q: Why is recycling used cooking oil important to you?
A: I like to know where the food I serve comes from, farm to table is how I do things. I also want to know how our waste is being used. I don’t want the trash from my restaurant to harm the environment. I try to use recycled materials within Noble Jones. We remodeled the restaurant with reclaimed wood and compost our waste materials when possible. Having our cooking oil recycled into biodiesel goes perfectly with what I want Noble Jones to represent. Something no one really thinks about is used cooking oil, and that is probably the most environmentally beneficial thing to recycle from a restaurant.
Our experience:
Upon Chef J.D. Wier’s suggestion, I tried the
oak-smoked fried chicken sandwich. It was a whole chicken breast, so it was huge. You could taste all the smoke in every bite, and the herb de provence mayo complimented the flavor. As a side, I got the homemade tots, which came with spicy ketchup and a Texas crystal sauce. It was all fried to perfection and was not greasy. I plan to go back and eat it again.
816 Cotton Lane
Augusta, GA 30901