The Foster's Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night by Sara Foster and Sarah Belk King. New York: Random House, 2002.
Fresh Everyday: More Great Recipes from Foster's Market by Sara Foster and Carolynn Carreno. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2005.
Sara Foster's Casual Cooking: More Fresh Simple Recipes from Foster's Market by Sara Foster and Carolynn Carreno. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2007.
Foster's Market Durham
2694 Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard
Durham, NC 27707
919-489-3944
www.fostersmarket.com
Foster's Market Chapel Hill
750 Martin Luther King Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919-967-3663
www.fostersmarket.com
Foster's Market was supposed to be a market where you could buy fresh produce and coffee and takeout. When Sara Foster converted an old lawn mower repair shop to her new market, there was one picnic table. But the customers came and came and seemed to want more, so we have the restaurant where people are welcome to sit and drink a cup of coffee or have a whole meal with friends. And they come because the food is full of flavor, freshly made, and the menu is ever changing. Foster's Market was named Small Business of the Year in 1995, and Sara is on the advisory boards of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission and the North Carolina Pork Council. The Southeastern Booksellers Association in 2001 gave the Cookbook of the year award to her Foster's Market Cookbook. 
If it weren't for the architect who found the old place on a road lined with pawn shops, if it weren't for the antique and salvage dealer who brought in the old pine for the flooring, if it weren't for the demographic research that targeted the Triangle as an area of potential growth, if it even weren't for Sara Foster's growing tired of the New York scene and wanting something more stable, we wouldn't have the beloved Foster's Market.
Sara made the journey from rural Tennessee in a small town not too far from Memphis to Durham and later Chapel Hill via time in Europe New York, and Connecticut. The journey had some fascinating stops along the way that each nurtured her creative spirit.
Earlier tonight my friend and I stopped by Six Plates. Most people were sitting outside in the gorgeous spring evening, but we stayed inside and absorbed the gentle atmosphere. My friend had the chilled gazpacho with the shrimp-avocado-Elodie Farms chevre panini. I had the tuna stack, a minutely constructed small cup of sashimi grade tuna in a avocado, mango, and vanilla vinaigrette.
Most memorable was the salted caramel gelato: vanilla salt and dark chocolate caramel gelato. And the perfect wine for chocolate, said Matthew Beason, Sant Evasio Brachetto D'Aqui '06. Barely sweet light red and with a slight sparkle, chilled as if it were a champagne, it was perfect with the chocolate, and I would have had more and will when I have my next chocolate fix.
All the chefs in the area are preparing for the Big Weekend that has already started with families coming to town and getting together--where else--at an excellent restaurant. Last night, in fact, I had dinner at Pop's. The sauteed ocean scallops with greens and potatoes were wonderful. Balanced taste and texture. And tomorrow I'm going to Six Plates with a friend or two.
Next week though I'm interviewing Walter Royal, who was gracious and welcoming, and Sara Foster, of the indispensable Foster's. Look for the posts to follow.
Sitting on my front porch, I took out my last truffle from Dolly Mama and slowly savored it, looking for the notes she's hidden in each truffle. I detected cherry. Or it may have been strawberry. And a hint of coffee. Beautiful on a Monday morning.
I can keep this up till my box of truffles is empty. Tonight was hazelnut truffle. The shell thin, crisp, and dark, enrobing the ganache. The silkiness touched my tongue and offered a deep, dark chocolate taste with just an undertone of hazelnut. Nothing heavy. All heavenly.
The Kitchen
I tasted the chili truffle at Dolly Mama's booth at the Durham Farmer's Market. The sensation was of moving through layers of deep chocolate notes. I relished the experience and forgot where I was. I wanted to have the same experience again, but the one truffle and its aftertaste satiated me.
Another day I tried the coconut truffle and couldn't reach the deep chocolate notes I had with the chili truffle. Then I bit into the Buddha truffle. The texture alone amazed me, crisp, mouthful with the rich, gentle ganache and brittle shell.
I'm just learning the palate of chocolate and sometimes I'll note more flavors then other times. I'll check in with you to report what I perceive.
The Kitchen
Dolly Mama (get it?) thought long about the name she chose for her business. But the final choice is mellifluous and memorable, almost as memorable as her chocolate truffles. You can find them currently at the Durham Farmer's Market.
Her chocolate is all handmade, each one a work of art. She enrobes the ganache by rolling it in her hand. Each one. "By rolling them in my hand, I get a really thin, crisp shell with nice silken ganache inside," Dolly says. She gets her cream from local dairies and is inspired by the fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market.
A few of the truffles are made with a mold. She has a Buddha mold about the size of your thumb and she hides Farmer's Market finds in its belly.
"My husband is a sculptor. He'd love to get into mold making. And I think there must be a way to get local sculptors involved," she says. "They have to be small, but for art pieces they can be bigger."
Dolly Mama learned to bartend when she was nineteen and has expanded her wine palate through study in books and by taking classes. She now works with wine-expert Brandon Carr at Four Square restaurant and learns more from him.
"When I started out, they would ask me 'What are you picking up?' and I'd say, 'Grape.' But over time I could pick up other notes. The experience has taught me to be able to relax and to taste what's there. My wine palate has created a template of understanding that's the way to taste," Dolly says.
Her expanded wine palate has allowed her to appreciate to subtleties and complexities in chocolate.
(Read about Dolly's chocolate sources and the notes found in each one in the next page. And find out a little more about the woman who's a bartender and chocolatier.)
In a day or two you'll see my post on Dolly Mama. She can detect the differences in the tastes of chocolates from different regions. But more importantly for you and me, she makes exquisite truffles from these chocolates, local cream, and the fruits she often finds at the Durham Farmer's Market.
Watch this space for the conversation I had this afternoon with her about her work.
