Dining Out: North Carolina’s ‘Gate City’

By: The Week

April 28, 2023

Print Works Bistro Attached to the eco-friendly Proximity Hotel, this “lavish” white-curtained, high-ceilinged restaurant “manages to avoid feeling stuffy,” making it the place to go for special occasions. Seasonal offerings might include seared scallop risotto with goat cheese and leeks, while weekend brunch, “especially on Print Works’ patio.” is also worth the trip. 702 Green Valley Road

A Little Romance on Your Valentine’s Menu? 2 of the Top 100 Restaurants are in Greensboro.

By: Steve Doyle, Fox8

February 2, 2023

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – We learned last year that Greensboro isn’t very highly regarded among the best cities for singles or the best cities to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Now we know, though, that neither is because of an absence of romantic restaurants.

WalletHub, the financial services site that crunches data and creates rankings, took the measure of the Gate City and found there were 163 better cities for single people and 52 better places to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Those lists haven’t been updated for 2023 – although we know that North Carolina ranks at No. 15 among best states for singles – but we wonder if the image of Greensboro might be improved by the presence of two of the 100 most romantic restaurants in the nation.

The dining site Open Table created that list based on reviews posted on its site and included Green Valley Grill and Print Works Bistro, two fine dining establishments on Green Valley Road, as the only two restaurants in all of North Carolina.

That’s also the same number of restaurants as Open Table cited from the food mecca of New Orleans and twice as many as ultra-chic San Francisco.

Open Table says of its list and Valentine’s Day: “Food is its own love language, but when it’s served in a cozy room or a candlelit booth? Guaranteed fireworks. For those looking for a quintessential Valentine’s Day dining experience, start with the most romantic restaurants across the US, created by analyzing over 13 million reviews.”

Its top 100 includes nine from the Phoenix area, eight from Las Vegas and in Hawaii, six in greater Los Angeles and five in the vicinity of New York City.

Green Valley Grill, located in the O Henry Hotel, and Print Works Bistro, on the first floor of the Proximity Hotel, about a half-mile east, are not only neighbors but also corporate cousins.

Both restaurants are owned by the employee-controlled Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels, which also owns Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen locations in Greensboro and Cary.

Both are known for their eclectic menus of American cuisine, their not-out-of-reason prices and their white-linen service. They also both have been widely honored.

Open Table recently listed Green Valley Grill among its top 100 “Most Beloved Restaurants in America,” based on its more than 7,800 reviews.

Both were named among Open Table’s top 100 best outdoor dining restaurants in America in July and the top 100 best restaurants for a date in America in August. They’ve also been recognized by Wine Spectator’s Award for Excellence 2022.

In evaluating the romantic eateries, Open Table included this about Green Valley: “Always a special treat to dine at Green Valley Grill. Food and service were great.”

About Print Works Bistro: “This is the place to go for Brunch! Why? The overall experience is always delightful and never disappoints.”

Two Greensboro Restaurants Make “Date Night” and Outdoor Dining Lists

By: Nancy McLaughlin, News & Record

August 19, 2022

GREENSBORO — When it comes to date night and outdoor dining, two local employee-owned restaurants are among the 100 best nationally — at both.

Print Works Bistro and the Green Valley Grill, part of the Quaintance-Weaver Hotels and Restaurant group, made lists compiled by OpenTable, a restaurant reservation service that tracks ratings by diners. OpenTable also matches diners with restaurants based on their needs and occasions.

Green Valley Grill, with its exposed bricks and dramatically high ceilings, and a leafy patio inspired by hidden urban gardens found throughout Europe, has a wood-fired rotisserie and grill. Print Works Bistro at Greensboro’s Proximity Hotel, which has picturesque patio dining with a passing stream and buffer to a nearby busy thoroughfare, offers classical and modern versions of French bistro dishes created with locally sourced food.

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at the restaurant.

OpenTable looked at millions of those reviews before finding the Top 100 places for each list.

“Met an old friend for lunch,” read one Green Valley Grill review. “Nice and quiet to catch up. Server was very nice and did not hover. Made good recommendations. Our food was excellent and served perfectly. Will absolutely be back.”

Among other places featured in “100 Best Restaurants for a Date in America” are Battista’s Hole in the Wall in Las Vegas and the Twisted Tree Steakhouse in St. Louis. Only one other North Carolina restaurant, Rey’s in Raleigh, made that list.

According to OpenTable, one of the greatest stressors for date night or cozy event is picking the right spot.

“If we had time to celebrate, we might,” said company co-founder Dennis Quaintance with a laugh. “They say you are only as good as the last meal you served.”

While Quaintance can’t exactly have a favorite between the two restaurants, he admits he and wife Nancy start date nights at Print Works Bistro with the calamari.

He says that having the spotlight locally is good news for the city and all that it offers.

And he loves hearing that guests would specifically note these properties.

Reviews show diners come back for more.

“My fiancé and I came here as a first date and decided to come back for our first year anniversary,” read a Print Works Bistro review. “Our server Willy did a fantastic job and provided great recommendations thank you for helping make it a night for us to remember.”

While the Quaintances continue to lead the group of restaurants and hotels, they and co-founder Mike Weaver sold their interest in Quaintance-Weaver to the Quaintance-Weaver Employee Stock Ownership Plan Trust.

“We’re sort of all in this together,” said employee-owner Theresa Martin, who has the titles design team manager and people department communications manager. But in a company this size, she sometimes even works at the restaurants, carrying food from the kitchen or ushering guests to their seats.

She previously worked for four years at one of the hotels. The smallest details — experience, quality of service, food, ambiance — are part of the company DNA, she said.

The two restaurants made the 2022 list for great outdoor dining places in July, with Asheville’s Sunset Terrace at Omni Grove Park Inn the only other restaurant in the state to make that list. The Green Valley Grill has previously been named a great place for brunch and Print Works Bistro was the most booked restaurant in Greensboro in 2017.

“I think ownership changes your perspective,” Martin said, “and our guests can feel that.”

More Fresh Ink

OpenTable’s List: 100 Best Restaurants for a Date in America

Triad Business Journal: These Triad Restaurants Rank Nationally for Dates, Meetups and Meetings

News & Observer: Best Restaurant For a Date? Three in North Carolina Rank Among the Nation’s Favorites

OpenTable Press release: Take it Offline: OpenTable and Bumble Reveal Top 100 Dining Guides for IRL Romantic, Platonic and Professional Meet-Ups

Best restaurant for a date? Three in North Carolina rank among the nation’s favorites

By: Simone Jasper, The News & Observer

August 11, 2022

If you’re seeking a romantic night out, three North Carolina dining spots might have you covered.

Rey’s Restaurant in Raleigh joined Green Valley Grill and Print Works Bistro in Greensboro on a list of the nation’s top places to go for a date, according to results shared on Aug. 4. To come up with the findings, the restaurant reservation website OpenTable said it studied more than 13 million U.S. reviews that users left on its site from June 2021 to May 2022. It also considered each restaurant’s score, which is “made up of unique data points, such as overall diner rating, user klout, total number of reviews, and regional overall rating.”

OpenTable, which teamed with the dating application Bumble to create the list, also searched for the word “romantic” within the reviews that made it onto its radar, results show. Of the 100 restaurants that earned spots on the list, three were in North Carolina.

In Greensboro, two restaurants earned spots on the OpenTable list.

Green Valley Grill, which said it focuses on “Old World European and Mediterranean flavors,” earned online praise for food prepared on its namesake grill. Several diners reported loving the customer service and visiting the restaurant for special occasions. Nearby, Print Works Bistro has French-inspired dishes made with “locally sourced food,” according to its website. Some OpenTable users have raved about the restaurant’s ambiance and foods ranging from French onion soup to beignets with chocolate sauce. The two Greensboro eateries are part of the same restaurant group and are no strangers to receiving nationwide recognition.

In July, both were named among the country’s best spots for outdoor dining, McClatchy News reported.

This time around, OpenTable and Bumble didn’t only focus on top locations for a romantic date. The companies also considered the best places to meet with friends and business associates, results show.

The North Carolina spots making the lists:

• The Bistro at Childress Vineyards in Lexington (friends)
• Rey’s Restaurant in Raleigh (friends)
• Green Valley Grill in Greensboro (friends)
• Print Works Bistro in Greensboro (friends and business)
• Ryan’s Restaurant in Winston-Salem (friends and business)
• Steak 48 in Charlotte (business)

More Fresh Ink

OpenTable’s List: 100 Best Restaurants for a Date in America

News & Record: Two Greensboro Restaurants Make ‘Date Night’ and Outdoor Dining Lists

Triad Business Journal: These Triad Restaurants Rank Nationally for Dates, Meetups and Meetings

OpenTable Press release: Take it Offline: OpenTable and Bumble Reveal Top 100 Dining Guides for IRL Romantic, Platonic and Professional Meet-Ups

Print Works Bistro, Green Valley Grill rank among best U.S. restaurants for outdoor dining

By: Nakylah Carter, Triad Business Journal

July 19, 2022

A Greensboro restaurant group has landed two spots on OpenTable’s 2022 edition of the nation’s 100 Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining.

Print Works Bistro and Green Valley Grill, owned by Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels, both made the list. Open Table’s list was curated from 13.6 million verified diner reviews between May 2021 and April 2022 and features restaurants from 25 states.

“We looked at outdoor dining not as just a place to put some tables and parts and people, but we decided we would design what we call outdoor rooms and each location has its own sort of design intent,” said Dennis Quaintance, CEO of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels.

Print Works Bistro’s outdoor space at the Proximity Hotel is the Creekside Terrace, and Green Valley Grill’s outside area at the O.Henry Hotel is the courtyard. The company also owns Lucky 32 in Greensboro that features an outdoor veranda.

Green Valley Grill and Print Works features shading and discrete overhead fans to help customers stay comfortable and to keep the bugs away from the food.

“We’re constantly working on the gardens adjacent to these areas,” Quaintance said. “I personally think that getting to dine outdoors in an environment that is carefully considered is great.”

Quaintance told TBJ that the company, which is 100% employee owned, was “delighted” to be on the list.

“The Triad is so tiny. I mean there are over 300 million people in the United States and less than 1 million here. It’s improbable that even one, let alone two, restaurants would be featured on the list,” he told TBJ.

“I think Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem are often sort of under appreciated, wonderful communities and to be able to have someone in Charlotte or Raleigh read that there are two restaurants in Greensboro it’s like, we do some fun stuff up this way too.”

Nationwide, the number of restaurants listing outdoor dining spaces grew exponentially, according to OpenTable, a platform that connects over 1 billion people with restaurants annually and provides software that helps restaurants with reservations, payment, reviews, operations and many other things.

Two other North Carolina restaurants made the list — The Oyster Rock Waterfront Seafood in Calabash and Sunset Terrace at Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

“Outdoor dining played a major role in buoying the restaurant industry over the last few years, and restaurants took note – whether adding, expanding or elevating their offerings,” said Susan Lee, Chief Growth Officer for OpenTable. “Offering outdoor dining is now a key part of restaurants’ business, and we’re happy to see that diners continue to embrace it.”

California held the most restaurants on the list with 37.

More Fresh Ink

News & Observer, Charlotte Observer: These 4 NC Restaurants Rank Among Nation’s Best Places For Outdoor Dining. Here’s Why.

Print Works Bistro Creekside Terrace

Green Valley Grill Courtyard

CURRENT FEATURES

Print Works Bistro features classical and modern versions of French bistro dishes created with locally sourced food.

 PWB & GVG both Rated Top 100 in USA for Date Nights & Outdoor Dining! Read more.

The below is just a sampling! See our Full Menus: Breakfast | Brunch | Dinner | Dessert | Wine List | Cocktails | Beer

100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America: OpenTable Releases Its 2019 List

By: Karla Alindahao, Forbes Magazine & OpenTable

April 2019

OpenTable, the restaurant reservations system, just released one of its more popular user–generated lists: The 100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America.

And its timing couldn’t be more fitting. Mother’s Day is nearly upon us—as in less than two weeks away. Thirteen days, if we want to be more precise. But alas, thousands upon thousands of grown children (and their fathers) do not have anything special planned. Yet.

Let’s face it: Many of us attempt to cobble together an exceptional experience way too last minute. But anything done without consideration, time, or preparation always falls short. So let’s save ourselves from all that this year. You don’t want Mom to feel like her one day out of the year was nothing but an afterthought. Is there anything worse than a woman’s silent but palpable disappointment? No there is not.

So book a table today. Order some flowers. Get the family organized and on the program. Plus don’t forget the presents. (Pretty blooms and chocolates do not count as presents.)

We do have one thing going for us: Technology. OpenTable makes the meal part of the celebration easy with its massive brunch roster. A few clicks on the app and you’ve got a confirmed reservation. And you know you can trust the platform to be “democratic” and on-point: As with many of its 100-strong lists, the brunch roster was based entirely on data culled from 12 million verified diner reviews that involved more than 30,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“On Mother’s Day 2018, we seated more diners than any other day that year and recognize that celebrating Mom is a priority for our diners,” OpenTable’s chief dining officer, Caroline Potter, said in a statement. “The honorees on this year’s best brunch list are creating experiences that will dazzle her and make embracing our #DiningMode challenge a snap, with sublime drinks and dishes and friendly service.”

And while there are no winners in all of OpenTable’s lists (they are arranged alphabetically sans ranking), California came out as the most recognized state with 16 restaurants—followed by New York with 12. Illinois and Pennsylvania have eight. Florida, Texas, and Washington, D.C. boast seven each. And Louisiana claims five.

To view the full list, scroll down—or click here.

100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America: OpenTable Releases Its 2018 List

By Karla Alindahao, Forbes Magazine
May 2018

In New York City, where I live, power lunches and breakfasts have always been a thing. But when the weekend comes, you can be sure that nearly every New Yorker (dressed in city chic attire) will convene for indulgent brunches—replete with glasses of rosé, mimosas, and Bloody Marys.

But let it be known that brunch is not just a New York ritual—it’s practically the holy grail of weekend pursuits everywhere. So you can appreciate how OpenTable’s annual “100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America” can be more than a little helpful—especially when it’s released a few days before Mother’s Day. (Fantastic news for the procrastinators among us who have been anguishing over reservations.)

But beyond that, it’s only one of the many 100-strong rosters that the company is known for publishing several times a year. “The 100 Best Restaurants in America,” “The 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in America,” “The 100 Most Scenic Restaurants in America,” and more are rolled out every few months or so—and they’re all highly anticipated. And that’s great for diners who truly enjoy a good meal. Why? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Because OpenTable’s lists are the most democratic. They’re not trying to be Michelin or The World’s 50 Best. These restaurants in this list do not have servers pointing out each element of a dish with a finely-manicured pinkie finger. They don’t cater to people who dine professionally and only do tasting menus that cost four figures. There are neither titles nor rankings. There are no special commendations and special awards.

Instead, each list is user-generated—culled from the reviews of verified OpenTable diners (not critics or so-called food influencers). Essentially, the rosters are for real people by real people. It’s easy to forget that the measure of what makes a good restaurant is simple yet relevant. All you need is great food, amiable service, and a good environment—plus a well-stocked bar and decent wine cellar. Stuffiness and pretentiousness are not requirements. (Personally, many of my favorite New York restaurants have never been on a list.)

Dennis Quaintance’s ESOP fable

By Chris Burritt, Business North Carolina
Photos by Stacey Van Berkel

Edgar Lujan, right, has worked for three Quaintance-Weaver properties since 1998. He now is a server at Print Works Bistro

Back in 1978, Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family’’ reverberated through Dennis Quaintance’s first restaurant in Greensboro. Franklin’s Off Friendly had just opened, and the disco music was intended to pump up the waitstaff.

A year ago, Quaintance dusted off the ’70s hit for an even bigger employee gathering. He and his partners had decided to sell their company, Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels, operator of some of Greensboro’s best-known upscale establishments. The O.Henry Hotel is attached to the Green Valley Grill, while Print Works Bistro adjoins another boutique hotel, the Proximity. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen operates two restaurants, one in Greensboro and the other in Cary, after closing eateries in Winston-Salem and Raleigh about nine years ago.

Seller financing of ESOPs is a rarity among business owners, who typically prefer selling to the highest bidder rather than risking their own retirement savings on an employee plan, says Dale Gillmore, principal of Make An Impact Consulting Inc. in Cornelius. Much of the net worth of most owners of privately held companies is tied up in their businesses, and their ownership stakes typically represent most of a company’s value.

Owners typically don’t want to wager that a company’s value can be sustained or increase, says Gillmore, who wasn’t involved in the Greensboro deal. Weaver and the Quaintance family “are betting on themselves and the employees to maintain and improve the company’s culture. It’s a gamble they’re willing to take. They are not getting rich with an ESOP.’’

Selling the business to an independent party “would have broken my heart,” Quaintance says. The couple’s 19-year-old twins, Dennis and Kathleen, are not interested in working for the company. “We sold the business, but we did not sell the culture. In fact, we enhanced the culture.’’

Quaintance started working in the hospitality business at 15 as a housekeeper’s assistant at a Missoula, Mont., hotel. After high school, he worked at several hotels in the Northwest before moving to Greensboro in 1979. Sipping a sparkling water on the patio of the Proximity Hotel, a cool space shaded by magnolias and tucked between the tall darkened windows and white brick of the hotel and Print Works Bistro, he asks a server to turn up the volume of a Roberta Flack song streaming over the sound system. Walking past a shrub, he plucks a stray dead leaf and tosses it out of sight.

Quaintance’s meticulous style stretches back to his early days in the industry. Just weeks after partnering with Bill Sherrill to open Franklin’s Off Friendly 38 years ago, he spotted a college-age waiter goofing off while emptying ash trays. Quaintance grabbed the waiter — this writer — by the necktie and told him loafing on the job was unacceptable. I worked there in the summer of 1979 and the following Christmas break. Mary Lacklen, also a former server at Franklin’s, is now director of Red Oak Brewery’s beer hall in eastern Guilford County, opening later this year. “He always believed in training his staff and setting them up for success,’’ says Lacklen. “He has a methodical approach to everything he does.’’

During his stint at Franklin’s, Quaintance met Weaver, a regular customer, and his future wife, Nancy King, who worked at the restaurant while on Christmas break from Cornell University. After leaving the restaurant in 1981, Quaintance had stints in business planning, wine importing and managing chain restaurants. Nancy worked for Marriott Corp. in Charlotte.

On a trip to Europe in the mid-’80s they decided it was time to plan their future. Riding a train on the Brenner Pass between Italy and Austria, they settled on three possible choices: “Mr. and Mrs. Hotel and Restaurant” in Greensboro; “barefoot and pregnant” in New Mexico, where Nancy would teach and Dennis would buy, fix and resell airplanes; or move to Europe, with Nancy working for Marriott in London or Amsterdam.

Both wrote “Greensboro” on slips of paper. “It sounded so typical,” Quaintance recalls, “but why should we sacrifice what’s exciting to us?”

The Proximity Hotel, which opened in 2007, is named after one of Greensboro’s first textile mills. One hundred rooftop solar panels give a nod to a modern-day achievement: It was the nation’s first hotel to receive the highest environmentally friendly honors from the U.S. Green Building Council. To retain its uniqueness, Quaintance has never signed a franchise agreement with a major hotel company. The goal is to provide a memorable stay for travelers while also entertaining neighborhood folks, much like the old hotels that were centers of community life.

On a recent afternoon in June, Quaintance wore khaki shorts, a blue-and-white-striped shirt and sandals. The look is in keeping with his hotels, which are high-brow but comfortable with unexpected touches reflecting the CEO’s personality.

Two bikes propped inside the entrance to the Proximity Hotel are available for guests. An afternoon tea at the O.Henry attracts locals, while refurbished London taxis provide transportation for hotel guests, including complimentary rides to the company’s three restaurants. In Quaintance’s view, the ESOP is like one of those taxis: He figures to keep driving for at least a decade, unless “I notice I’m slipping, or people tell me I’m slipping, or if I lose my mojo,’’ he says. Shared ownership is a fuel additive, boosting morale and productivity that will result in more satisfied patrons.

Selling Quaintance-Weaver to employees addresses one of the biggest headaches for the hospitality industry, which has a high turnover rate: “How do you get people to stay?’’ Greensboro restaurant critic John Batchelor says. “You make it in their interest to stay by making them partners in the enterprise.’’

Given wage rates in hospitality, motivating workers is a constant challenge. Half of Quaintance-Weaver workers leave within a year, typical for the industry. Another four in 10 leave in the first four years. “If their hearts aren’t into it, we’d rather they go off and find their bliss,’’ Quaintance says. “If our dream is a 10, we’re at a six,’’ he said. “We’re still unfolding.’’

The ESOP also helps Quaintance move toward his goal of creating a meritocracy. “We don’t [care] about what your gender is, whether you are skinny or chubby, if you are black or white, gay or straight, Muslim or Christian,’’ he says. “What we care about is how you behave when you’re here. We are professionals. We don’t need to be friends. We want to be colleagues. We wind up with these amazingly rich relationships without the complications.’’

“We have no idea what the value of those retirement units will be in the future,’’ Quaintance says. “They could be really low; they could be significant. It all depends on how well we take care of our guests and colleagues and if we are lucky enough to have at least somewhat favorable market conditions.”

Edgar Lujan, a server at Print Works Bistro, is betting on his company’s success. The ESOP is “like a cherry on top of the cake,’’ he says. “We work at a place that enables us to pay our bills, buy a house and take care of our families. It’s hard for me to think about working for another hotel or restaurant.’’

In the 22 years since he moved to the U.S. from Mexico City, Lujan, 45, has worked in restaurants and construction, sometimes two jobs at a time. Moving to Greensboro 20 years ago, he worked initially as a dishwasher at Red Lobster.

He joined the O.Henry Hotel as a porter when it opened, then became a waiter at the adjacent Green Valley Grill. He shifted to the waitstaff of Print Works Bistro in 2007. “There is stability — that is what I love about this place,’’ Lujan says. “If you perform well, you will be successful. Having retirement, that’s awesome.’’

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Quaintance-Weaver joins other ESOP-owned companies active in North Carolina, including Valdese-based Valdese Weavers LLC, San Francisco-based design firm Gensler; Milwaukee, Wis.-based money manager Robert W. Baird & Co.; and Omaha, Neb.-based engineering and architecture firm HDR Inc. As of 2014, 126 ESOPs were based in North Carolina, according to the Oakland, Calif.-based National Center for Employee Ownership.
The largest U.S. ESOP, Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets Inc., entered the state in 2014 and now operates 27 stores that collectively employ more than 3,000 people. More than 80% of company shares are owned by staff, with the balance held by the founder’s family. Shares equal to about 8% of annual pay is distributed to those who have worked for the company for at least one year. Many long-term employees accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars of Publix stock over their careers, perhaps explaining why turnover is a fraction of the retail industry’s average, Fortune noted in a 2016 story. With about 1,150 stores from Florida to Virginia, the company had profit of $2 billion on revenue of $34 billion last year.

Williams on Wine: Cooking + Wine

By: Ed Williams, 1808 Magazine

October  26, 2017

THE DISH

Print Works/Green Valley Grill’s Cooking Class series is and isn’t about the cooking. Sure, Executive Chef Leigh Hesling shows you step-by-step how you’re dish is prepared, aided by large video screens and mirrors. This sit-down food-and-wine pairing is all about experiencing the textures, aromas, taste, culinary ambiance and fellowship with your table mates.

THE CURRICULUM

This three-course meal varies depending on date and season — and what’s in season. The wines paired with the courses are particularly well-thought out.

THE GUY

Chef Hesling claims Australian roots, his Aussie accent unmistakable. He’s part Julia Child, part Tasmanian devil and equal parts Barnum & Bailey. He and his assistants fly around the room, dropping ingredients tableside or showing the dish in-process.

RECIPE?

Yep, you get ’em. Each step of the prep work, sauce, or entrée is outlined on a set of cards so you can follow along. Even if you never try to replicate the dish, you’ll learn cool tips and tricks of the trade.

THE COCKTAIL

This kick-starter is a special concoction from the resident mixologist — and explains why I’m spending more and more time in the bitters section at my favorite food store.

THE WINE

Well-chosen from the U.S., Spain, France, Portugal, Germany and Australia. Chef Hesling explains why they work alongside his dish.

THE LANGUAGE

Perhaps the most entertaining piece of a two-hour afternoon. Avocado should not be subjected to “smoosh-tification.” Raw tuna should be “dice-tificated” provided things don’t get out of hand during the “mix-tifaction” part of the dish, which might include some “soak-tification of the beans” and “jam-ifacation of the plums.”

Hesling reminds: “Of course, I’m in charge of the Queen’s English.”

Other phrases you might hear: “Because I can.” “Because it’s so awesome.” “Because it’s so sexy.” “Now that’s a life-changer.”

WHY YOU SHOULD GO

Most fun you can have with your clothes on. The 2018 series makes a special holiday gift.

2018 SERIES

Proximity Hotel (704 Green Valley Road): 12:30 p.m. Feb. 17, 12:30 p.m. June 9, 12:30 p.m. Sept. 22

O.Henry Hotel (624 Green Valley Road): 12:30 and 6:30 p.m. March 24,12:30 p.m. July 28, 12:30 p.m. Oct. 27

Tickets: $85 per class or three for $235. Order at www.printworksbistro.com/cooking-class/ or contact Lee Healy at 336-478-9126 or lhealy@qwrh.com. Reservations required.

Ed Williams, director of public information at Alamance Community College, likes to pass along helpful tips from this class to culinary students at his college.