Bon_Appetit 2019-10-01

PIG EAR

In the South it’s all about pork and peas.

Manning turns pig ear into paper-thin sheets,

then tops them with peas and beans of all

types (green and black chickpeas, English

peas), fiery guajillo broth (a by-product

PORCINI AND CHOCOLATE

“Super cute!” That’s how most guests respond

to Fitzroy Phelan’s whimsical dessert: an emoji-

approved mushroom-shaped chocolate cake

dusted with dried porcini and cocoa. Porcini

ice cream and bits of verdant parsley cake give

the ever-so-savory dessert a woodsy feel.

LOBSTER

“I lived in Italy for 11 years, and in Liguria

everyone eats seafood with a fava bean and

mushroom salad,” Manning says. He riffed on

that by tossing beech mushrooms and favas in

ginger vinegar and cherry blossom shoyu from

MIGNARDISES

“I tried to change the gold bar,” Fitzroy

Phelan confesses. But people kept asking for

the black-sesame-tahini-chocolate confection,

which comes alongside blueberry macarons,

pâte de fruit rolled in whiskey-smoked sugar,

and sage-caramel bonbons.

tell the circuitous 15-year epic of the

three chefs behind it. (Let’s just say

it involves a stint in Alba, Italy, and

many arduous hours in the catering

world.) Eventually they reconnected

and decided to move to Richmond,

where they launched Longoven pop-

ups in 2014. I stumbled into one at Sub

Rosa Bakery in 2016. Given what they

were able to pull off with a wood-fired

oven and two camping burners,

I was very curious about how they’d

do in an actual kitchen.

Well, spoiler alert: The brick-and-

mortar Longoven, which finally

opened last year, is mind-bogglingly

good—each dish so technically

precise, so truly dedicated to

ingredients, not to mention so, so

pretty. This is very beautiful and very

serious food served in a very beautiful

and very serious space. Yet there is

none of the “staged-at-Noma-once”

ego trip that has mucked up many

similarly ambitious projects. Instead,

there’s a refreshing graciousness and

hospitality—a sense that everyone is

actually happy you’re here. Behind it

all is the earnestness and maturity of

three people who have worked harder

than I can imagine to get to this place

and who take none of their (unlikely)

success for granted. —J.K.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY EMMA FISHMAN

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