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Continental Beginnings
Smart, born and bred in the Queen City, landed one of his first culinary
jobs in 1975 at the then posh Café Eugene, located at the corner
of Providence and Sharon Amity roads. Smart worked his way up from pastry
and desserts to head chef, gleaning both kitchen and business knowledge
at the well-known dining establishment owned by Paul and Connie Ostrow.
“The Ostrows were in the import/export business so they traveled
all the time, particularly to Belgium, France and Italy. They had a love
for food and wine, and every time they went to a restaurant they liked,
they would make arrangements to bring the chef back to Charlotte for a
two- or three-week period,” explained Smart. “It was unbelievable,
really. The Ostrows talked these guys into coming over to the States for
a working vacation. They would work with us in the kitchen, sharing skills,
techniques and recipes. It was an invaluable experience and a great on-the-job
way to learn from real professionals.” In time the Ostrows had other
ventures to pursue and decided to sell their restaurant business. Smart
left, too, for the kitchen at Cedarwood Country Club. In 1987, after four
years at the club, he moved on to run the corporate kitchen at J.A. Jones
Construction Company.
A Smart Move
At first, the job at Jones entailed only lunch for the company’s
executives. But as the construction business grew, Smart was soon serving
midday meals for 300 people or more. While it was demanding to turn out
innovative upscale meals on a daily basis for such a large group, Smart
notes that the really great thing about the job at Jones was that it was
just lunch. In the evenings and on the weekends, Smart still had access
to the kitchen and began to use the facility and his free time to do some
private catering. “Like everything, it started out small at first,”
said Smart. “Someone in the company would have a child getting married
and I’d do the reception – things like that.” When J.A.
Jones went out of business in July 2003, Smart decided to make a go of
it in the private catering business. He bought all of the equipment from
the Jones kitchen to set up shop. While Smart was making the transition
from working for someone else to working for himself – a one-and-a-half
year period of time that included looking for a catering location and
then building the space – he happened upon Key lime pie on a stick.
A Taste of the Tropics
“I wish I could say it was an original idea, but it wasn’t,”
Smart said with a laugh. “In 2004, I was at the Minnesota State
Fair, of all places, and one of the vendors on the arcade had frozen pie
on a stick. We tried one … it was good, not great, but we thought
it was a neat idea.” When Smart returned to Charlotte, he and his
family turned his mother’s kitchen into the research and development
center for the perfect Key lime pie. Smart experimented before landing
what he and his family considered to be the smartest combination of flavor
and consistency. As a tribute to all of the encouragement, space, time,
effort and sweat equity his mother put into the project, Smart now calls
his frozen confection Grandma Smart’s Key Lime Pie on a Stick.
Pie in the Sky
While Smart was working on creating his catering kitchen and his frozen
confection, he saw a Food Network special that featured a place in Key
West, Fla., making Key lime pie on a stick. Smart taped it and has reviewed
it repeatedly to see what they do. “Down there they made the Key
lime custard first and then poured it into molds, you know, like triangular
ice cube molds,” Smart explained. “Once frozen, the custards
are popped out of the mold, put on a stick, rolled in graham cracker crumbs
and finally dipped in chocolate.” Smart makes whole pies with real,
from-scratch, traditional graham cracker crusts. He freezes the whole
pies first, cuts them into wedges, pops the sticks in and finishes each
piece with the chocolate dip. “I’ve never had the pies from
Key West, but I just feel like ours have more integrity,” he said.
This food writer agrees. Although Smart isn’t individually squeezing
the tiny Key limes for the juice for the pie, neither is anyone else.
The cost would be prohibitive. Instead, most everyone in the Key lime
pie business, frozen and otherwise, uses Key lime juice. Smart’s
choice, Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice, is available
in grocery stores. While I wouldn’t ask him to divulge any trade
secrets, I do know that fresh lime zest in Smart’s Key lime custard
packs a full punch of flavor. The custard is delicious – not too
sweet, not too tart. The chocolate coating and the crunchy crust surrounding
the custard inside make the perfect foil to match the creamy confection.
Certainly Charlotte’s own Key lime pie on a stick is one of the
best frozen treats I’ve had in years.
Catering to the Public
Smart now owns a 1,600-square-foot commercial kitchen at 3623 E. Independence
Blvd., which he designed exclusively for catering. “It works well
for us, lots of open space and plenty of room to move around,” Smart
said. Aside from offices and the working kitchen, Smart also has room
at his facility to meet with customers. “That’s really all
we need. I have a small staff – just one full-time employee and
I bring on freelance people as needed.” Smart sells his Key lime
pies directly to the public, via stands and coolers at several area farmers’
markets, including the Regional Farmer’s Market on Yorkmont Road
on Saturday mornings. If you’d like a number of Key lime pies on
a stick for a party or special event, Smart also sells in bulk; call for
information. Key lime pies aside, Smart’s catering company, Smart
Choice, is up and running. He continues to do a good bit of corporate
lunch business, describing his fare as “mid to upscale, affordable
elegance.” Smart uses as many fresh, locally and organically grown
products as he can and buys them from his brother and sister-in-law who
own Nise’s Herbs in Stanley, N.C. In addition to growing produce
specifically for many of Charlotte’s restaurants, Nise also has
a booth at the Yorkmont Road Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings.
Arrive early for fresh greens, heirloom tomatoes, fresh herbs and more.
If you would rather have someone else do the cooking, call Don Smart at
Smart Choice Catering at 704-532-2800.
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