Page 22 - The Hunt - Fall 2023

MEMORANDUM
continued from page 18
Coatesville Cultural Society) and The Record Kitchen
+ Bar, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary this fall. The latter’s name comes from the lively spot’s former occupant, the Coatesville Record newspaper. When Mark Sherman, Lane Udis and chef Arthur Cavaliere took over the building, they divided it in two; Splitting Edge Axe Throwing now occupies one side. The restaurant space is elevated yet urban, with framed newspaper pages paying tribute to the building’s history.
The Record’s menu offers everything from old-school meatballs and sticky pork ribs to a chicken calabrese sandwich and roasted branzino. But the headliner is the wood-fired pizza, offered at half price on Tuesdays. “We were excited to get in there and start early, even if nothing else was going on,” says Udis. “We knew we could create a community ourselves. The city only grows through projects like these.”
Born and raised in Coatesville, realtor Amber Turner
is the downtown manager for 2nd Century Alliance, a private/public partnership that’s a major player in the city’s economic development. She’s witnessed the revitalization firsthand, and she likes what she sees. “There’s new life,” she says, noting that a jazz cafe is also in the works.
Adds Phil Ferro: “I really believe people will be fighting over all those vacant buildings and storefronts in the very, very near future.” TH
After Scott left Chester County
to attend Temple University, he found work in kitchens across Philadelphia, training mostly in European styles. He initially scoffed when mentors suggested he explore soul food. “I stubbornly dismissed who I was in an effort to mold myself into something I wasn’t,” he writes in his book. “No wonder I couldn’t find my own voice.”
As he struggled to find his focus, Scott remembered the photos of relatives on the walls of Nana’s Coatesville home. “I’d just walk right by them for years,” he recalls. “It wasn’t until I started to discover who I was and grow into my spirit that I wanted to know who those people were.”
When Scott’s four children came along, he felt a responsibility to pass down family recipes and traditions.
Hence Homage, which earned a James Beard nomination. “I call it a love letter from my mother and grandmother through me to my kids,” he says.
The book’s Amish soul food concept shines through in recipes for crawfish hushpuppies, cheese grits with jerk pork, lemonade buttermilk fried chicken, and whoopie pies. Today, Scott is capitalizing on those recipes at Butterfunk Biscuit Co.
in Harlem, New York, where he’s often seen shoveling snow for the surrounding storefronts. “That’s Nana in my ear,” he says.
And what about his hometown? “It’s always been a fantasy of mine to eventually come back home and have a little shop in Coatesville,” he says. “Maybe once my kids are grown and on their own.” —G.L.
20 THE HUNT MAGAZINE fall 2023