This awesome Huntsville dish takes more than 3 days to make

This awesome Huntsville dish takes more than 3 days to make

Juventino “Tino” Manuel is quiet, but his food’s raucous.

He’s the executive chef at Purveyor, an upscale restaurant in downtown Huntsville known for its eclectic American fare filtered through ethnic cuisines.

Some chefs are naturals at venturing out to the dining room and talking with guests at their tables.

Manuel though, “truly speaks through the food that you get,” says Stephanie Nell who along with husband Matt Mell own and run Purveyor.

One of the dishes Manuel speaks loudest through is the restaurant’s pork muso buco. It’s a Mexican twist on an Italian classic that eats as magnificently as its monolithic, arthouse looks.

Pork muso bucco at Purveyor, a restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/[email protected]Matt Wake

To make their pork muso buco, Purveyor cooks pork shank for three days, simmering in a mix of chipotle, chili, onion, garlic, tomato and cilantro copped from Mexica tinga sauce. Then that’s all braised along with carrots and celery for an additional five hours the morning the restaurant serves it.

Plated, the bone-in island of pig is drizzled with toasted nut mole sauce and crema gremolata and garnished with tropical looking flowers.

The result is as tender as any meat I’ve ever consumed. You don’t really need a knife. Then there are the marrow-enhanced rich savory flavors accented with the sauces’ seamless earthy and luxe notes.

Purveyor

Pork muso bucco at Purveyor, a restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/[email protected]Matt Wake

Purveyor serves their pork muso buco (or as they spell it, “bucco”) with gnocchi. But instead of being made from potatoes, they make these particular gnocchi from plantains. The extraterrestrial texture and delicately sweet sapor are really something else. The rare side that’s a star in its own right.

Purveyor

Plantain gnocchi at Purveyor, a restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/[email protected]Matt Wake

Nell says the pork muso buco is, “personally my favorite dish that we do. It’s been on the menu for a fairly long time for a restaurant that changes its menu often.”

Purveyor changes its menu nearly every day they’re open, depending on whatever’s the best produce and other accompaniments, which they call “setups,” are available to support their proteins.

But this pork muso buco is just too good to, in sports parlance, keep out of the lineup. At the time of this interview, they’d sold nearly 70 of the entrée in the last seven days. Other Purveyor signature dishes include their Wagyu tacos, crisp oyster mushrooms and a glazed Kabocha squash salad with miso lemon vinaigrette and micro greens. They also serve a posh, mouth-melding burger.

Purveyor

Pork muso bucco with plantain gnocchi at Purveyor, a restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama. (Matt Wake/[email protected]Matt Wake

Purveyor is housed in an oblong space exuding chill, cozy yet sultry vibes.

This year, they added a piano bar were local and touring talent performs on an antique, hand-built grand piano. No amplification is used. The piano gets going around 10 p.m., there’s no cover and small plates are available until late in the night.

At Purveyor, Matt Mell, whose mom often entertained at home, handles front of house, training and finances. Stephanie oversees the aesthetics, from the flatware and glassware to the décor to the lighting, as well as clerical stuff, payroll and their businesses’ philanthropy.

Matt Mell is originally from Scottsboro. Later, their family relocated to New Jersey. Matt first met Stephanie, who studied fashion, in a bar in Manhattan through mutual friends who were all at the same birthday party.

They’ve now been together for 24 years and married for nearly 20. “We work together, live together and we still like each other,” Stephanie says with a sweet laugh.

Away from work, Matt’s an avid sports fan especially University of Alabama and New York Giants football. Stephanie likes to luxuriate with a massage or trip to the spa. “I never get my nails done because I’m in the restaurant industry,” she says. At home, she gets away from it all by reading a book in her favorite chair.

When training Purveyor’s front of house employees, Stephanie says their mantra’s, “If you don’t know what to do, treat that person like that your mother, your grandmother, your father, your grandfather, and you’ll be fine.”

After starting with Church Street Wine Shoppe around 2011, the Mells local empire has grown to 10 ventures, including Italian spot Mazzara’s, subterranean watering hole Catacomb435 and Sea Salt Urban Oyster Bar. Across all properties, they employ a hundred or so people. They’d originally conceived Purveyor as a bourbon bar before pivoting to a restaurant that also serves elite bourbons.

Manuel is originally from Mexico, later trained in Asian kitchen here and has been with Purveyor since they opened in 2017 at 201 Jefferson St., starting as sous chef.

Even prior to ascending to executive chef around 18 months or so, the Nells thought Manuel was ready to lead the kitchen.

“We were like, ‘Man, he’s just amazing,’” Stephanie recalls. “He’s just creating every day and we said, “Do you want this opportunity?’ At first, he said ‘No, not yet. I’m not ready.’ And eventually we were like, ‘You are so ready,’ and really empowered him to take the helm and said, ‘We got your back, we support you. You could do this.’”

Nearly seven years into Purveyor’s existence, due in no small part to Manuel’s magic, Stephanie says, “I think the food at Purveyor is the best it’s ever been.”

During my recent interview with Stephanie at Purveyor’s handsome wooden bar, Manuel stays in the kitchen, getting ready for that night’s dinner service.

He’s quite content to let her do the talking, which she does well. When another employee brings out the pork muso buco though, you can see Manuel peaking through the kitchen window opening to the dining room. I hope he saw my smile and eyes-widen after I took that first bite.

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