I am hopelessly addicted, in helpless and ruinous surrender to the thin, crisp, delicately sugar-glazed, anise-scented crackers the size of a saucer, wrapped individually in waxed paper, with blue print reading, “Tortas de Aceite de Ines Rosales.” It started the night my car-head companion spotted a flawless twilight blue E-type 1964 Jaguar convertible parked across from the Press Room. He rushed over to admire it, declared, “I have to meet the owner of this car!” and dashed back to the restaurant. As we chatted with the couple we found, who had driven from Millwood for dinner, I realized that the Jaguar-owner’s friend is an avid gastronome. Juliet Mackay-Smith, a seeker of the sublime, an accomplished artist and chef—and the cause of my newest affliction—is the proprietress of the Locke Modern Country Store, a specialty food store and catering business in Millwood, Va.
Located near Boyce in the tiny village of Millwood, the Locke Store continues a tradition of store-keeping dating back to 1836, when James Clarke built the brick building and began selling goods. Millwood retains a cluster of remarkably well-preserved structures that have housed businesses dating to the late 1780s. The district has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Burwell-Morgan Mill, built in 1782, still grinds flour and cornmeal, as it did when it operated around the clock milling grain to supply the region.
Juliet, who has family roots in Clarke County, moved to Boyce in 1989 from Cambridge, Ma., where she graduated from the Museum School in Boston and worked for one of the city’s top caterers. A high point of the job was the night she cooked dinner for Julia Child. In Boyce, she had a huge garden, raised chickens and pigs, fell in love with architectural renovation, started a catering business, and established the Berryville Farmers Market with her aunt. For years she had an eye on the Locke Store and loved the aesthetic of its wide, welcoming porch, tin ceiling, worn wooden floors, and antique display cases. She jumped at the chance to take over the business from the retiring owners Phil and Oppie Cunningham, who had operated the general store for 58 years.
Mackay-Smith and her partner Alex Damron opened the store in 1992 as the Locke Modern Country Store, resurrecting the title from old Locke Store stationery. Honoring the store’s tradition, the renovation preserved many of the store’s features and recast its inventory to provide top-notch, freshly prepared take-out foods and baked goods, excellent coffee, cheeses, packaged delicacies (including Tortas de Aceite) and a sophisticated wine and beer selection. The take-out menu changes daily, with appealing offerings such as chicken enchiladas with green sauce and cotija cheese, wild-caught salmon Nicoise salad, and shrimp and coconut corn soup. Juliet’s signature tomato ginger jam, superb chicken liver pate, and other specialties are under the store’s Never-Enough brand. Never Enough is also the name of the catering business that Juliet admits is so successful, it’s unbalancing my life.
The twice-monthly wine tastings feature local and international vintages. Juliet sells Linden wines from Virginia, when I can get them, describing Linden’s owner, Jim Law, as a sort of guru of wine-making. For him, it’s an intellectual commitment.
The Ladies of Locke Store, the all-woman staff who run the store and cook, are passionate food experts. You have to be obsessed, says store manager Peg Simon, who travels well over an hour to the famed Polyface Farm in Swope, Va., to pick up Joel Salatin’s biodynamically-raised chickens and rabbits. I am always looking for foods grown in the area. We get beautiful produce every Thursday from local farms. During my visit, chef Denise Morris served her soup of the day, a flavorful cold red-pepper puree topped with a tiny scoop of chive-flecked Greek yogurt sorbet. A lunch customer exclaimed over his meatloaf sandwich, Since you opened the store, I’m so spoiled now, it’s too close for comfort!
Locke Modern Country Store, 2049 Millwood Rd., Millwood, Va., (540) 837-1275; www.lockestore.com.
Garlic Scapes
Scapes are the flower bud of garlic plants and are removed in June and July to induce the garlic plant to concentrate its energy into the bulb. They can be a little fibrous, especially the long thin tips and large stems, but the interior is crunchy-tender, with a delicate garlic flavor. Trim the tough skin from large scapes, which can be pulled off the stem in strips. They are available at local farmers markets.